Tuesday, May 27, 2014

A Bright New Day on Minnesota Avenue

Whenever I post historic pictures or postcards of Minnesota Avenue, I always get comments that it's a shame we don't have as much activity as we used to downtown. People tell me that they are sad to see so many vacant buildings and so many fewer people compared to years ago.

Thanks to the investment of a new community partner, two buildings in the 700 block of Minnesota Avenue will be completely renovated and will soon become home to dozens or even hundreds of new workers in our slowly re-growing downtown.

Loretto Properties, LLC is a Kansas City real estate company founded by Lamar Hunt, Jr. and James Arkell. Their motto, “Investing in Families by Investing in Communities” clearly expresses the belief of both men as they work to build up communities throughout the metro.




Both men recently spent some time in downtown KCK and saw enormous development possibilities with a new Transit Center and streetscape at 7th & Minnesota along with several structurally sound buildings that were vacant and ready for redevelopment.

Loretto Properties purchased the building at 730 Minnesota Avenue (where Katz Drug operated on the 1st floor when I was a kid) a couple of months back and has already started the redevelopment work inside that historic structure. They envision a coffee shop and maybe some other shops on the ground floor with state of the art offices above.

Although it housed Katz Drug on the 1st floor when I was a kid,
this building was built in 1910 as Wyandotte Masonic Lodge No. 3.
It had been vacant for years, and
the former owner was 10 years delinquent in paying property taxes.
Those taxes all got paid in full
when Loretto Properties bought the building.

At last Thursday's Unified Government Commission meeting, the Commission voted to approve an agreement in which Loretto would also purchase the "old" EPA building at 736 Minnesota from the UG and redevelop it as well. Between the two buildings, Loretto Properties has committed to spending at least $1.5 million on renovation. When Mr. Arkell presented the proposal to the Economic Development and Finance standing committee, he said that Loretto wants to make these buildings the model for what can be accomplished in urban redevelopment.

Just west of the old Wyandotte No. 3 building is a building that is called
the "old, old EPA building" around City Hall.
The EPA was headquartered here before they moved
to their (now abandoned) new building at 5th and Minnesota.
This building had been in the Unified Government's Land Bank
for the last several years.
When the new Transit Center opened at 7th and Minnesota almost a year ago, I lamented the fact that the wonderful new streetscape (street, curb, sidewalk, etc.) only extended west about half a block and then just stopped mid-street. The remainder of the block was not scheduled for upgrade until 2016.

However, thanks to the vision and commitment of the Unified Government Board of Commissioners, that streetscape will soon extend all the way to 8th Street and it will provide a beautiful path to the two historic buildings that are being renovated.

In recognition of the significant investment being made by Loretto Properties on Minnesota Avenue, the Commission agreed to accelerate the timetable for finishing the streetscape and moved the project up one year to 2015.

The beautiful new streetscape that was built
around the Transit Center at 7th and Minnesota...
...will now extend the rest of the block all the way to 8th Street!

Because of the large plate glass windows in the storefront along the sidewalk, the new owners of the building needed to build a plywood wall to keep everyone safe while they remodel. However, they didn't want to just put up raw plywood on Minnesota Avenue, so they contacted Community Housing of Wyandotte County and asked if community organizer Steve Curtis and his Art Squad could paint a mural on the plywood construction barrier.


(You may remember that the Art Squad was profiled on KCUR last September for painting murals to help combat graffiti).

The Art Squad showed up yesterday morning and, under the direction of Steve Curtis and Jamina Bone, they have executed a gorgeous mural on the plywood construction barrier.

The mural was a collaborative work between Jamina Bone...
...and Steve Curtis
Members of the "real" Art Squad worked hard
Monday and Tuesday to create the "downtown KCK" mural ...
... while future members of the Art Squad made the grass grow.

In another very cool twist to this story, Mr. Hunt and Mr. Arkell have said that, when the construction is finished and the plywood needs to come down, they are going to separate the mural into several sections and then auction those sections to raise money for the Art Squad and for A Cup On The Hill (Facebook) (web site) (Pitch article), Jamina Bone's new not-for-profit coffee shop that will set up operation on the first floor of the renovated building right next to the street.

It may not be 100% geographically correct,
but the mural is gorgeous and highlights
many downtown landmarks.
You can see the door for construction workers
where the sun meets the green hill.

It is absolutely energizing to talk with Mr. Arkell and hear both his passion and his vision for helping remake downtown KCK into a "destination location".

Many thanks to Loretto Properties for their partnership and for their investment in our future.

Lamar Hunt, Jr. spent some time this afternoon
talking with Amy Hawley of KSHB (Channel 41)
about his vision for redevelopment in KCK.
Click here to see Amy's story online.

Have a great week!
~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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