An open house and ribbon-cutting was held April 17 for the Village West Luxury Apartments at 11024 Delaware Parkway in the Village West area of Kansas City, Kan. The apartments are on 110th between State and Parallel, near The Legends Outlets. (Photo by Bridget Koan)
The first large luxury apartment complex in decades in Wyandotte County is doing well and poised to announce its second phase.
The Village West Luxury Apartments, 11024 Delaware Parkway in the Village West area of Kansas City, Kan., held a ribbon-cutting and grand opening last week.
Brent Miles, vice president of NorthPoint Development, the developer, said that two buildings in the first phase are complete and a third building is nearly complete. The three buildings have a total of 306 apartment units.
In phase two, another 300-plus units are planned, which will give the project around 616 total units, Miles said.
The second phase is scheduled to start this summer with a projected opening in the fall of 2015, he said. Each phase has a cost in the $30 million range, for a total project cost of $60 million.
“Wyandotte County hasn’t really seen a luxury apartment project for a number of years,” Miles said. “What we’ve built sets the bar at a new level.”
The luxury apartment complex has salt water pools, a concierge service, an on-site masseuse, and state-of-the-art fitness center. And it’s within walking distance of The Legends, other stores and attractions. The location near The Legends Outlets was the key, Miles said.
“We just wanted to build the highest level possible,” Miles said.
When it was first announced it was expected that some new employees at the nearby Cerner office complex may want to live there. Some Cerner employees have decided to live there, but the complex also is seeing employees from the University of Kansas, the Army base at Ft. Leavenworth, the Unified Government, Board of Public Utilities and other places, he said.
Miles said the apartments have had a very good reception, with a large number of renters signing up.
A new law signed last week by Gov. Sam Brownback will better protect Kansas senior citizens against fraud and financial abuse, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.
Schmidt praised Brownback and legislators who have created the new crime of “mistreatment of an elder person.”
“This new measure significantly strengthens the ability of law enforcement and prosecutors to protect Kansas senior citizens from fraud and financial abuse,” Schmidt said. “It has tougher penalties, better investigative tools and clearer boundaries to protect seniors from having their life savings stolen or wrongfully misused.”
The new law applies whenever a victim of financial abuse is age 70 or older. Under its provisions, penalties for stealing from an elder person are substantially enhanced – potentially reaching more than 40 years in prison for large-scale financial abuse.
The new law also makes clear that misusing a trust instrument or a power of attorney in order to misappropriate an elder person’s life savings is a crime.
“Our office takes seriously the duty to protect Kansas senior citizens from fraud and abuse,” Schmidt said. “These new tools will build on the record financial recoveries our Consumer Protection Division has obtained in recent years and will allow the state to go further and put con artists who prey on Kansas seniors behind bars.”
The new measure first was proposed in January by Senators Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita, and Jeff King, R-Independence. Schmidt joined in support of their proposal during legislative consideration of the measure.
