Developer’s plan would turn downtown KCK parking lot into 12-story apartment tower

A developer wants to build a 12-story tower and an adjoining low-rise building with hundreds of new apartments on a publicly owned site in downtown Kansas City, Kansas.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas announced Wednesday that officials selected a redevelopment proposal by the firm Flaherty & Collins for a key property at Fourth Street and Minnesota Avenue. The Board of Commissioners still needs to approve the plan.

It comes after a yearlong process where city leaders gathered community input and reviewed developer pitches. Known as the Triangle Site, the downtown real estate — currently home to a large parking lot — is among the publicly owned properties the Unified Government is seeking private investment for through the KCK Redevelopment Initiative.

Flaherty & Collins, based in Indianapolis, is proposing a two-phase project that would include 472 apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. Also envisioned is a concealed parking garage, 26,650 square feet of commercial space and expanded parks to connect with the riverfront.

Proposed rents in the residential tower would range from $1,075 per month for a studio and $1,980 for a two-bedroom with two bathrooms.

Building the tower, which would contain 244 apartments, and other components of the project’s first phase would cost about $73.8 million, according to financials prepared by the development firm. The developer is seeking at least $21 million in tax incentives, including tax-increment financing and a land contribution valued at $2 million.

Developers hope to break ground by April 2025 and finish the first leg of the project by 2027.

In a joint statement shared by the Unified Government on Wednesday, developer David Wingerson of Flaherty & Collins said the project “will be a catalyst for additional growth” in the downtown area.

Gunnar Hand, the Unified Government’s planning and urban design director, said the proposal marks an initial success of the process “to redefine community development in KCK.”

“From the new sidewalk and trails connections to the Kansas River, reintroducing the historic street grid, creating a semi-permanent location for the farmer’s market and a new privately-owned public open space, the project delivers on identified public improvements,” Hand said in the statement.

Elected leaders and Unified Government staff have long pointed to downtown development as a top priority. Among the other publicly owned properties the Unified Government is seeking to offload is the defunct Jack Reardon Convention Center.

The Board of Commissioners earlier this month approved a renewed agreement with a private developer to raze the shuttered Reardon Center to build apartments, retail and a smaller convention hall.