The 505 Central project got the go-ahead on a development agreement on Thursday night from the Unified Government Commission.
The $40 million, 129-unit, eight story market-rate apartment building near 5th and Central Avenue will be located near the I-70 entrance off Central Avenue, close to Chicago’s bar, Slap’s Barbecue and Splitlog Coffee.
Commissioners considered the project on the same day they heard that more economic development was needed to fill budget shortfalls. They also heard Thursday about the UG’s need to repair or rebuild two closed bridges, to reopen the Fairfax fire station and to issue temporary notes of $12.4 million for a legal settlement in the Lamonte McIntyre case.
As part of commission meetings lasting around eight hours on Thursday, the 505 Central project’s development agreement was unanimously approved, and an ordinance was approved to establish a redevelopment district.
Opposition to the project was heard from some Kansas City, Kansas, residents, including Edgar Galicia, executive director of the Central Avenue Betterment Association; and Gil Pintar of the Hanover Heights neighborhood.
Karrin Huhmann, who lives nearby, said the 6th and Central intersection is not up to standards, and sightlines for the road need to be fixed now. She also said the community has a lot of needs and there would be better places to spend $8 million than incentivizing the project “on the back of poor people.”
UG staff said that the $6 million in TIF, plus an estimated $2 million on the sales tax exemption, is not being fronted from the UG, and there is no direct contribution from the UG for the project. The funds do not exist today and would just be reinvested into the project, according to UG staff.
Rose Kocour Eilts, who lives near the proposed project, said it was in a residential neighborhood and the brick façade wouldn’t fit the neighborhood. “It’s going to be lipstick on a pig, it’s just too big,” she said. She added no one she knows who lives on Russian Hill wants it to be built there.
She said a new master plan was needed to consolidate concerns into one plan. She said she didn’t think the UG could afford to have rich people with hands out asking for dollars.
Galicia said that at UG Commission meetings on Monday, they heard that the community is suffering because residents are being forced out of their homes over high taxes, can’t afford to live here and they won’t know where to go if displacement takes over. The people who have already self-invested in the community need the UG to help today, according to Galicia.
Anna Cole, a Strawberry Hill neighborhood resident, asked for a pause for the plan, saying they needed to get a real plan together.
Pintar, a former UG planner who is in the Rosedale area, said there was a need for the local government to adopt a housing policy, and look at the community need for affordable, mixed-rate and luxury housing.
There needs to be a city-wide consensus of how the UG handles a housing policy whenever a developer comes in to ask for tax incentives, according to Pintar. There were still some other loose ends in this current project, with the UG hoping to get some grants for intersection improvements, he said.
A letter was read from Wes McKain that said since 2014, they have seen housing prices rise in the Strawberry Hill area, and that local government must take the responsibility, developing a plan to address affordability.
Marge Gasnick, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident, said on Monday, the UG Commission heard it needed to find emergency shelter space for the homeless, and this project could have a ripple effect on rent levels that tenants are now paying. She suggested a delay so a plan could be developed.
Mark Moberly of Kansas City, Missouri, director of development with the Sunflower Development Group developing the apartments, told the commission that he didn’t notify a group of supporters to speak for the project because he had been in an accident in Bonner Springs and had been hospitalized before the UG meeting. A Kansas Highway Patrol report said he was the victim of another vehicle fleeing police that failed to yield and ran into Moberly’s vehicle on K-7 in Bonner Springs on Aug. 18. Supporters of the project had spoken at previous meetings, but at Thursday’s meeting, only Greg Kindle of the Wyandotte Economic Development Council spoke in favor.
Moberly said the TIF would still require the apartment project to continue to pay taxes today. “If we fail, the UG is not on the hook for those dollars, unlike other incentives,” he said.
Some residents objected to a blight designation, but Moberly said the designation is only on the project property, not on the surrounding neighborhood.
Moberly said the project was put together about 18 months ago and has been going through the planning process since then. He said he hopes to have the project under construction in eight months, with 16 months to build it.
Kindle said the Wyandotte Economic Development Council was in support of the project’s development agreement and district boundaries, and the project was appropriate and needed.
The apartments will add support for nearby businesses on weekends and evenings, he said. It provides housing that does not otherwise exist in the area, and there is a demand for the housing, he said. The project also will be contributing toward traffic mitigation through a $350,000 contribution.
UG Economic Development Director Katherine Carttar said changes over the course of the project have moved all parking to on-site at the building. There will be one parking space inside the garage for each apartment. She felt that on-street parking would not be needed. No residents or businesses will be displaced as a result of the project, she said.
A third-party traffic study paid for by the developer found minimal impact on daily traffic, she said. The independent study was verified as accurate by another third-party evaluation through the Planning Department, she said.
The project fills a market-rate multi-housing gap that exists in the downtown area, Carttar said. Also, a number of retail and commercial sites in the area are likely to increase their business and do well as a result of the project, according to Carttar. Benefits far outweigh any drawbacks, according to Carttar.
A pay-as-you-go tax increment financing project, it will not have any bonds issued, with no backing from the UG, according to Carttar. The maximum TIF contribution will be $6 million, making the public contribution 15.4 percent of the project, she said. The project will receive industrial revenue bond sales tax exemption on construction materials, and also, the developer has agreed to local, minority and women participation goals.
As part of the deal, the developer will pay the UG $350,000 as a neighborhood improvement contribution, according to Carttar. The UG has plans to use the funds to make improvements to the 6th and Central intersection, including traffic calming improvements. It would not rebuild the intersection, however, but these improvements might be part of a process in applying for a grant to do so.
UG Commissioner Brian McKiernan said he had outlined a proposal answering a lot of the objections from residents on this project. His ideas were welcomed by other commissioners at the meeting.
For example, McKiernan proposed to take a percentage of the city-side property tax ordinarily going to the general fund and instead redirect it to an affordable housing fund. The funds would accumulate over time and could be used for affordable housing options for community residents, he said.
Also, he mentioned a part of the property tax being used for a home improvement and repair fund to improve the quality of life for residents who are not able to make these improvements on their own.
He had several other ideas, and the commission decided to work on the ideas during the next few years. However, as the commission works on it, it will not affect or delay the development agreement or apartment project, according to UG officials.
Commissioner Melissa Bynum said she was in support of Commissioner McKiernan’s ideas. She said she recently found out that rents had gone up in the downtown area, but she did not think that bringing in a market-rate project is ruining the affordable market. She did agree that the UG needs to look into helping to propose some sort of affordable housing policy.
Commissioner Andrew Davis noted there could be some ARPA funding available for the UG to address affordable housing in the community.
Commissioner Harold Johnson said there has been a trend of developers filling up space in the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, area and looking to expand to the Kansas City, Kansas, downtown area.
“It seems to me this is an example of responsible economic development,” Commissioner Johnson said.
The UG needs diverse housing stock and every project can’t be affordable housing; some has to be market-rate, he said. He said he guessed these units would sell like hotcakes, with people spending money in the neighborhood.
“We cannot afford to walk away from any viable project, we’re not there yet, especially not on the east side,” Commissioner Johnson said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a viable project.”
