Former Federal Courthouse in Downtown Kansas City Becomes an Apartment Complex

The Former downtown Kansas City federal courthouse has been converted into a 176 unit apartment complex this week.


Despite the real estate meltdown, the developer from Wisconsin has finished the project that started 5 years ago.

The former courthouse has been renamed the Courthouse Lofts. The leasing agents started accepting residents last summer and only has 31 apartments remaining. Rents range from $555 per month for a one-bedroom to $730 for a two-bedroom. Affordable housing guidelines limit incomes for a one-person household to $25,350 annually, two-person, $28,950, or three-person, $32,550.

The project already has been recognized by two groups. It was named the nation’s top historic rehabilitation project this year by Affordable Housing Finance magazine, and the Historic Kansas City Foundation plans to present it with a merit award this week.

The completion of the Courthouse Lofts comes at a time when the demand for downtown housing, at least rental units, remains strong. Kansas City officials are working with the Downtown Council, an organization of business and property owners, to find ways to encourage more housing developments.

The Downtown Council has set a goal of doubling the area’s population, currently estimated at about 17,000 people, within the next few years. City Manager Troy Schulte said there’s a particularly strong demand for market-rate apartments, something that developers have struggled to deliver downtown.

Kansas City remains a relatively inexpensive place to rent apartments compared to other major cities, and builders generally have not been able to charge enough to make new projects financially feasible.

Schulte said the city is examining ways to reduce costs for new housing, including helping assemble land; reducing parking requirements, particularly if a project is near the proposed downtown streetcar line, and providing an automatic 10-year, 100 percent property tax abatement for projects in older parts of the city including downtown.

The city also would like to duplicate the success of the 466-unit Quality Hill residential development which was built in the 1980s with the help of private philanthropic contributions. There have been calls for a similar big housing development, this time with a thousand apartments, to help propel downtown to the next level of residential life.

Two of the areas where the city is considering as potential sites to help assemble land are the north section of the Crossroads Arts District near the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and the riverfront. Schulte said a proposal to relocate the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance could bring hundreds of students downtown as residents.

Specific recommendations to bolster downtown housing are expected to be released by the city sometime this spring or early summer, Schulte said.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/05/3303502/former-downtown-federal-courthouse.html#ixzz1fmMPJ1ap


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