‘Do not kill Kansas City’s market.’ High-rise project approved despite parking concerns

Plans to develop a City Market parking lot into a new apartment tower won approval from the Kansas City Council despite opposition from neighboring residents and businesses.

Locals have protested the plan to build 300 new apartments at 400 Main St., which is currently a surface parking lot directly west of the City Market. Local businesses say they are already facing parking challenges in the popular district and worry about the impact of more residents with fewer places to park.

Called City Harvest, the 13-story apartment plan is the result of a request for proposals issued in 2020 by city officials, who aim to build up residential density in neighborhoods like River Market. Indiana-based Flaherty & Collins Properties was selected as the developer of the city-owned lot.

The City Plan Commission in early February voted 4-3 to recommend denial of the project after residents and businesses protested plans to significantly reduce public parking spaces. Since then, the plan has been altered: the project will replace all 160 spaces that will be lost from the parking lot with the creation of new spaces in a parking garage.

The garage includes 358 new parking spaces — 160 for public use and 198 for use by apartment residents.

But even after those changes, several business owners asked elected officials to delay or reject the plan.

Opponents questioned how many of the new parking spaces would actually be made available to the public. With only 198 spaces dedicated to the 300-unit building, Kyle Getz told the committee the project was at least 150 parking spaces short of what’s needed.

“So where are all of these people going to park?” said Getz, who owns Opera House Cafe.

Donna Slaughter, who with her husband owns the Planters Seed Co. store in the area, said local businesses rely on parking access to thrive.

“Do not kill Kansas City’s market. Because if you take the parking away, you will kill it,” she told the City Council’s Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee on Wednesday. “It’s a thriving, thriving area. Do not kill it by taking the parking away.”

In an interview, Slaughter said her business will be fine as it has its own parking lot. But she worries about the farmers and vendors who work the market on weekends and rely on customers who drive.

Aside from the parking, she criticized the modern design of the high-rise, which she says will “stick out like a sore thumb” in the historic neighborhood. She pointed to the apartments at 531 Grand as an example of new development that fits in with the existing character of the River Market.

“I think the building is a travesty,” she said. “They’ve allowed out of town investors to come in and dictate what goes in a historic area that’s been there over 100 years.”

Opponents criticized the committee for how it debated changes to the development plan, which were negotiated in private and were not made available to the public until after the meeting.

In addition to the new tower, the development plan contemplates extending Main Street from 5th Street to 3rd Street, which would create 20 more on-street parking spots. But that could disrupt existing parking, neighbors said, as well as cause problems for trash disposal and deliveries to market businesses.

Forrest Chumley, who said he built a condominium in the River Market Neighborhood in 2007, also noted that the new road would reduce the size of the shady City Market Park.

“The more I’ve learned about it, the more alarmed I’ve become,” he said of the project. “Frankly, it seems ad hoc...It seems like the opposite of careful city planning.”

Chumley said residents flock to the neighborhood for its unique character, which could be changed by the new development.

“It’s fundamentally going to change the neighborhood,” he said. “If you want to live in a skyscraper apartment building, go live at the Plaza. We don’t need that kind of building in the City Market.”

The committee voted 3-2 to move the proposal to the full Council for consideration. On Thursday, the Council voted 9-1 in favor of the project. Councilman Brandon Ellington, who represents the 3rd District at large, voted against the measure.

The city’s original request required the new development to replace all of the existing 160 parking spaces. Flaherty & Collins originally proposed doing that, but in January trimmed the number of parking spaces as it added more affordable housing units.

Flaherty & Collins could not be reached for comment.

Councilwoman Andrea Bough, who represents the 6th District at large, noted that the council pushed for the additional parking spots in response to concerns from neighboring businesses and residents.

The Port Authority of Kansas City has already awarded tax incentives to the developer.

Last year, the board overseeing Port KC approved a 25-year property tax break: 85% for five years, 75% for the next five years, 50% for the next 10 and 25% for the final five years.

The project may still face red tape with the Federal Aviation Administration, which has previously raised concerns about its height because of its proximity to the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport.

Last year, the FAA determined that the apartment building “would be a hazard to air navigation.” That decision was reviewed after the agency received a petition from the developer.

An FAA spokesman said an aeronautical study of the development is ongoing, though the city is responsible for the final decision on the project.

“By law, developers must give the FAA the opportunity to evaluate proposed structures near airports to determine if it would pose a hazard to airplanes or interfere with navigation aids,” said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro. “However, the FAA does not have the authority to limit building heights.”