Neighbors hope new KC rules could help ‘neglected’ historic building in midtown

Residents in a midtown Kansas City neighborhood say the owner of a century-old building they saved from demolition continues to neglect the structure and its upkeep, causing issues for neighbors. They hope proposed new city rules will make a difference for that property and others that are in poor condition.

Mayor Quinton Lucas has proposed a trio of code changes that would strengthen regulations for owners who leave their properties vacant, including requiring owners to disclose their plans for vacant buildings and adding “mothballing” standards to prevent them from deteriorating. Owners could face fines or liens for violations.

The changes would also aim to close the “dangerous buildings loophole,” which allows owners to demolish a building without special review if the city deems it dangerous. Neighborhood advocates say the loophole encourages owners to let their buildings deteriorate so that it’s easier to demolish them.

In Old Hyde Park, neighbors are worried that’s what could happen to the Carmen Building at 101 W. Linwood Blvd.

In 2024, the Old Hyde Park Neighborhood Association organized to stave off the potential demolition of the 1924 building by nominating it for local historic status.

The Kansas City Council approved historic status for the Carmen, giving the city’s Historic Preservation Commission power over demolition, which it can block for three years. The commission reviews any major change to the outside of historic buildings.

Now, the neighborhood group hopes the city’s proposed new rules could encourage the building’s owner to sell to willing buyers.

“This structure was nearly demolished but due to quick action from neighbors and partners, this solid 100-year-old building was saved,” the Old Hyde Park neighborhood association board wrote in a letter. “However, the owner continues to neglect the property and does not care about the drug-users and homeless people entering the building and its impact on the neighborhood.”

It’s not the owner’s only property with a history of complaints. Paramjeet Sabharwal, a surgeon at MISH Hospital and Clinics in Lenexa, is tied to LLCs that own both the Carmen Building and the former Incred-A-Bowl building in Overland Park, according to city, county and state records, which has also long-faced complaints of neglect and poor management.

Nadja Karpilow, president of the Old Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, told The Star that anything to pressure or incentivize the owner to move forward with a plan would be good.

“Too many property owners, many of them absentee, do not seem to care that their vacant properties sit idle in our neighborhoods,” Karpilow said. “Vacant buildings are a nuisance as people often break into them, set fires and overall degrade the community.”

‘Demolition by neglect’

The proposed rule changes would help the situation, the board wrote, and could help prevent what advocates call “demolition by neglect.” The new rules would counter that by requiring commission review for historic building demolitions, even if the buildings are considered dangerous. Emergency situations would be the exception.

And for all lots, not just historic ones, the registration system for vacant properties could expand to include land with no buildings and owners needing to document their plans for their properties as they face fines for violations, among other updates.

“Midtown has been plagued by developers acquiring existing, and often occupied, residential structures, then allowing them to deteriorate, then tearing them down, and then stockpiling the ground for a period of years,” the Old Hyde Park board wrote. “This pattern removes affordable housing without replacing it.”

Since the City Council gave the Carmen Building historic status in July 2024, the property has faced more than 25 city code complaints about its condition and unauthorized access.

City staff are still working on finishing up the concrete language for the proposed changes, and City Council members are expected to discuss them more fully later this month.

But so far, neighborhood organizers have thrown their support behind what Lucas has called a way to “fight the blight” as the city works out the final details of the proposal.

“It’s imperative for our public safety and economic development that we move forward on these important ordinances,” Evie Craig, president of the Paseo West Neighborhood Association, said at a hearing on Tuesday. “It’s a long overdue action on malignant vacancies that fester in our neighborhoods.”

Similar conditions across the state line

Like neighbors in Hyde Park, residents near the site on 151st Street in Johnson County have watched the long-neglected former bowling alley fall into further disrepair year after year since the owner purchased the building in 2015. While the owner filed various permits for different projects, nothing came to fruition.

The final straw for a frustrated Overland Park City Council came after potentially shoddy construction work done without the proper permits left the roof at risk of collapse. Last fall, they declared the building unsafe and ordered the owners to either repair or demolish the building by Jan. 16.

The site later passed its final inspection in December, saving the building from being torn down.

Sabharwal did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

According to Johnson County property records, the owner still owes more than $130,000 in property taxes — with more than $67,000 needed from 2024.

Once the building was deemed safe, the owner submitted several permits in order to redevelop the site into an event center — a project that first went before the City Council in 2024, according to city documents.

“It sounds like we have worked with them on a number of things over the last few months,” Overland Park spokesperson Meg Ralph said in an email. “We issued permits for parking lot improvements, for a bocce ball court and for the interior conversion into an event center. These are in various stages of permitting - some are still under review/resubmission.”

Dubbed 8500 Event Center, the proposal called for a 1,000-square-foot event center space. The remainder of the 65,000-square-foot space would feature a sit-down restaurant, movie theater, a “variety store” and a health and fitness club — the latter of which opened in 2024.

And at the Carmen Building, records show a 1992 addition to the building was demolished, while a permit is pending for “interior non-structural demolition work.” Further details were not immediately available.