$8,000 rent in KC? Take a look inside Three Light luxury apartment opening this fall
Despite the fact that cement slabs, beams and brick sit exposed as construction workers toil away inside the 25-story building, tenants will move into Three Light — Kansas City’s newest luxury apartment building — on Sept. 1.
The building’s opening downtown comes about five years after the city first approved tax incentives for the $150 million project, which took inspiration from The Cordish Companies’ other luxury developments, One Light and Two Light.
“This is going to be our most luxurious building here in Kansas City,” said John Moncke, president of Kansas City’s Power & Light District. “It’s really like living in a luxury resort.“
Moncke and Chase Hamilton, the leasing manager for the apartments, led The Star on a tour of the under-construction building, showing off an 839-square-foot one-bedroom apartment model, the 30,000-square-foot amenity level, and the first floor lobby area earlier this week.
Work is very much still in progress — before heading up to the amenity level on the eighth floor, Moncke joked about feeling afraid of heights because of the construction elevator that he described as being “basically outside.”
But developers said they’re on schedule for the September opening.
Luxury living, luxury rents
The building will have 288 market rate units total, including studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom plans, and four floors of penthouse apartments. Moncke said about 25% of the units are already leased.
Apartments will have floor-to-ceiling glass windows for panoramic city views, concrete ceilings, white quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances.
Rents at Three Light will be:
$1,461 - $2,144 for a studio
$2,143 - $3,272 for a one-bedroom
$3,627 - $8,078 for a two-bedroom or two-bedroom penthouse
$13,561 for a three-bedroom (This one is on a waitlist.)
The amenity level will have billiard, party and theater rooms, and a demonstration kitchen for classes and tastings. While the amenity spaces are included in the price of rent, many can also be rented for private events.
The luxury building will also have a fitness center and infrared sauna, coworking spaces and a reservable conference room.
The outdoor terrace includes an infinity pool, 16-seat hot tub, cabanas, TVs, a bocce ball court, grills and a brick pizza oven.
Like One Light and Two Light, the building has a liquor license. Its indoor and outdoor bars will be staffed Thursday through Sunday.
Hamilton said the One Light and Two Light apartments are 99% pre-leased and occupied over 96%.
A long time coming
Construction for Three Light began in 2021, years after the Kansas City Council approved a 25-year, 100% property tax abatement on the luxury apartment building in 2018. Developers said the pandemic contributed to building delays.
In lieu of paying property taxes on the building, The Cordish Companies agreed to make other payments to Kansas City Public Schools, libraries and mental health programs — all of which depend on property tax revenue — adding up to about $8.6 million over 25 years. The Star previously reported that if Three Light was built without the abatement, Cordish would have been obligated to pay $12.5 million over the same amount of time.
In the years since approving incentives for Three Light, Kansas City’s policies around tax incentives for housing developers has been contentiously debated and changed multiple times. As of last summer, the latest city policy requires developers seeking tax incentives to set aside one-fifth of their units to those earning 60% of the area median income, which comes to about $1,200 for a one-bedroom for a single person.
In 2018, the council also agreed to spend $17.5 million to pay for Three Light’s parking garage, a controversial arrangement that city officials agreed to in exchange for the company’s commitment to building apartments for low and moderate income tenants as part of another development it had in the works.
Those apartments, called the Midland Lofts, will open in the first half of 2024, with rents starting “under $800 a month,” according to Moncke.
“All 135 units will be workforce housing,” he said.
When asked about plans for additional luxury apartments in the Power & Light District, Moncke said he couldn’t comment on the details, but that “we’re certainly evaluating opportunities for more buildings.”
The Star’s Bill Turque, Kevin Hardy and Kynala Phillips contributed reporting.
