This moody condo at Campbell Lofts is energized by the downtown environment.
Property Profiles
Welcoming Urbanism Back
An update on Kansas City’s core revitalization efforts: beyond expectations.
BY
Kimberly Stern
PHOTOGRAPHY
courtesy of Master Realty Properties

“Urban living” in Kansas City isn’t a hollow phrase devoid of substance — it’s a reality, a niche, the very fabric of what makes downtown tick, and no longer just a curiosity for suburbanites venturing out for a Saturday excursion. It’s a metropolis that more than 20,000 citizens have chosen as their permanent address and where they thrive in the pulse and energy that defines the urban lifestyle.

Unlike the suburbs, where elbow room is paramount, everything in an urban setting must be within strolling distance, a bike jaunt or the bus stop. Urban living is without the exasperating commutes from the exurb home to the downtown office and the relentless pursuit of goods and services scattered throughout suburbia. In true city-living fashion, an urban dweller must have proximity to the essentials of daily life: work, entertainment, dining and shopping.

Dana Gibson, chair of the Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) Housing Task Force, was one of the early pioneers enthralled with investing and growing downtown Kansas City. Along with Mel Mallin of Mallin/Gibson Family Properties (trailblazers of loft-style living in areas such as the River Market), Dana has been obsessed since 1984 with the vision that old buildings in Kansas City’s downtown core and surrounding areas could have revitalized life.

“We’ve been able to create a community one building at a time,” Dana says. “We’re absolutely blown away by what has happened because it’s beyond the clarity of what we initially recognized. We spent many years seducing developers and now they have the same kind of passion we do, see the opportunity and choose to invest their career in building an urban landscape in downtown Kansas City.”

The number of downtown residents has increased over the past decade, whereas previously the population was declining because more housing was being destroyed than built. “The trend changed in the 1990s,” Dana notes, “but today’s available downtown housing inventory is not fulfilling the demand that’s out there. Even with a tough housing market downtown, Kansas City has a diminishing supply.”

But several projects are still in the works. Christina Boveri, owner/broker of Boveri Real Estate Group has grown the company to three offices and a crew of passionate urban-centric salespeople who are ambassadors of the urban lifestyle. “We have exciting projects in the pipeline like 350 luxury rentals in the River Market area and a seven-story new construction project,” she says. 

Dana says that rental housing currently is 100-percent full but that options for homeowners are slim. “We can anticipate that in two years there won’t be any housing stock to buy other than resale units.” He also acknowledges that while downtown is certainly a vibrant, flourishing urban mecca, its resident population must double in order to be entirely successful. “It’s in the city’s best interest to have more people living downtown. People support the restaurants, retail, event and entertainment venues, and employers will be attracted because of an available employee base,” he continues.

An increasingly palpable energy starts with the Power & Light District, the newly renovated Midland Theatre, the all-digital AMC Mainstreet Theater complex, the  successful Sprint Center and the highly anticipated performing arts center slated to open in 2010. “A lot of things are converging to raise interest in downtown,” he says.

Jeff Kaczmarek, president and CEO of the EDC, says one of the missing pieces of downtown has been an urban supermarket. Residents and workers will benefit by the hip and upscale Cosentino’s Market Downtown, located across from the H&R Block headquarters at 13th and Main, which will rival suburban gourmet emporiums. “A grocery store ranks No. 1 on downtown dwellers’ list of amenities. People — including the 110,000 people who work downtown — are clamoring for it,” he says.

Retail is a final component that experts say will help solidify downtown as a viable 24-hour community. Stores in the Power & Light District will open in 2009, according to Jeff.

Even as each component is still coming together, Dana calls his urban lifestyle rich and rewarding. “There’s so much activity and so much that’s mere minutes away from where I live and work. The play of people and interesting things is constant,” he says.

Kansas City’s downtown pioneers are optimistic that new projects will continue to entice people to cultivate their urban lifestyles in an attractive environment that has everything on their wish list.