Redevelopment of the Reardon Center at 5th and Minnesota Avenue is one of the topics to be discussed at tonight’s Unified Government committee meetings.
The Unified Government Neighborhood and Community Development Committee will meet at 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, in the fifth floor meeting room, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.
That meeting will be followed by the UG Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting.
On the agenda for the Economic Development and Finance Committee are a fourth quarter 2019 cash and investment report; two resolutions on a downtown campus redevelopment; two resolutions on issuing industrial revenue bonds and approving a development agreement for Village West Apartments, Phase III; and an appearance on the public agenda from Tscher Manck to discuss development in the northeast and downtown areas.
The committee will be asked to approve a public hearing at 7 p.m. March 26 for the downtown campus development proposal. The development is at the site of the Reardon Center, 510 Minnesota Ave., according to the agenda.
The $22.7 million downtown proposal includes a four-story mixed-use retail and residential building with about 70 to 85 market rate apartment units, about 6,000 square feet fitness center, and about 10,000 square feet of first-floor retail and commercial space, according to the agenda.
The proposal also includes a multi-purpose meeting space in the Reardon Center of about 11,000 square feet, and a recreational athletic field space at 6th and Nebraska, according to the agenda. The meeting room would have the capacity to seat about 350 people, according to the agenda information.
A Community Improvement (CID) District sales tax, and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District are part of the proposal. The agreement also allows the UG to grant $1 million of the UG’s transient guest taxes generated within the CID to reimburse the developer. IRBs would go toward construction materials and furnishings. The UG also would apply for Section 108 loans of $5 million for nonconstruction work related to the project, according to the proposal.
According to the agenda documents, the UG owns the project site and would transfer title of the portion of the Reardon Center site needed for construction of the multi-family space, fitness center and retail site, to the developer, Lanier United LLC.
The UG under the proposal would ground-lease the portion of the Reardon Center site needed for construction to the developer for 50 years, and the athletic field site for 10 years. The ground lease would allow the UG to use the center and athletic field for at least 10 events per year each, and schedule additional UG events at 50 percent of standard rental fees, according to the agreement. In return, the UG would provide a one-time contribution of $1 million from the Reardon Center maintenance fund for hard construction costs for the Reardon Center, according to the proposed agreement.
The UG would develop and construct some sidewalks, drives and other road projects near the development, according to the agreement. Those costs would come from the CID and TIF, according to the proposal.
According to an agenda document, the total estimated project costs would be $22.7 million. TIF funding would be capped at about $3 million, with CID funds capped at about $3 million, according to the agenda documents. Sales tax reduction would be capped at $1 million. According to the document, the costs of financing, interest, city expenses and additional required improvements are reimbursable to the developer as outlined in the TIF plan.
Neighborhood and Community Development Committee
On the NCD agenda are several Land Bank items.
These include transfers from the Land Bank, 4533 Orville Ave., Unified Government; 4533 R Orville Ave., Unified Government; 1305 Sandusky Ave., CHWC; 648 Ohio Ave., CHWC; 1300 Armstrong Ave., CHWC; 1107 Grandview Ave., CHWC.
A donation to the Land Bank is proposed at 2532 N. 51st St., from Roger Wallace, on a landlocked lot.
Also on the agenda is an update on the Land Bank rehab program.
For an agenda, visit https://www.wycokck.org/Clerk/Agendas.aspx.
Why do we need an athletic field downtown?
The field is for the people in the market rate apartments to exercise. The key word is market rate which is a shady way of saying expensive. So the rest of us can drive by and watch the rich people exercise. How about some affordable housing for the working men and women of this County.