Chatham Hotel gets KCMO Council Approval?

According to an email from the Broadway/WestportCouncil, the old Chatham Hotel received the recommendation from the Kansas City Council for 4% MHDC Tax Credits. The money would help the developers turn the old, historic hotel into apartments for Seniors (I'm assuming some type of government assisted housing).

There will be a news conference on the front porch/lawn of the Chatham Hotel next Monday morning at 10 AM. The MDHC will vote on the tax credits on Friday May 21st.

The Chatham has been a blight on the this stretch of Broadway in Midtwon, near Westport, for years. And not only has it been an eye-sore, but it has provided housing for vagrants and other crime as well, causing safety issues in the neighborhood.

I don't know all of the specifics of the deal -- nor can I find anywhere in the media where the KCMO Council has approved the recommendation, but I do know that generally, fixing old, abandoned, historic buildings and making them into housing so we can improve the population density of our core is the type of project I generally support.

12th & Main originally brought up this story earlier this week -- but for some reason has taken the post down. I'm hopeful that some of the real media in this town will take it upon themselves to at least report what is going on with some potential redevelopment in town.

Comments

[smh]

Toellner, I know about as much as you on this project (mostly because I read your post and 12th&Main's). While I am all for redevelopment, certainly along Broadway, I get a little concerned about redevelopment projects that target such a narrow portion of the population. I presume that this development is likely to be for seniors with limited incomes.

Going off of your earlier posts about Armour, wouldn't having income limitations in this context invite many of the similar problems experience in your neighborhood, though perhaps on a lower scale? Or am I off base?

[Brent]

I don't love the vertical segregation for seniors -- but these projects don't bring with them the same types of problems that the non-senior ones bring. Let's face it, when it comes to crime in this city, it's not the 55+ crowd causing the majority of the problems. There are several of these projects around and none of them are epicenters for crime hot spots with the police (unlike the Armour properties). There is a major project in an old hospital in Beacon Hill, and another on Linwood -- just east of 71 Hwy. And I could be wrong, but I think the one in the old hotel at Linwood and Paseo also is -- and there is never the type of crime around these apartments as there are around the others.

That said, I would agree that I'd much rather see this get turned into a mixed-use or market-rate apartment. It's just amazing that the incentive structure is always in favor of subsidized units.

[InsideBub]

The Chatham was on the top of the list of projects that City Council is supporting for 4% low-income housing tax credit projects. City Council adopted the project recommendations at their meeting on Thursday.

[Mark Funkhouser]

The financials for this project were strong and it had a great deal of neighborhood support. Seemed like an obvious call to support it.

[smh]

Thanks for the response Brent. I'm glad to hear about the other projects that appear to have been successful. I look forward to the Chatham turning out in the same fashion. I love this stretch of Broadway and I hope that it redevelops a bit.

[InsideBub]

Okay, lets add a little more information. Did you know that the PIEA is currently preparing an amendment to its existing PIEA on Broadway in order to add the Chatham property? And, of course, that would only be done if the developer intended to seek PIEA tax abatement. Now, I'm not saying that this would be bad; I'm just saying that it looks like a strong possibility. Mixing 4% low-income housing investment tax credits, historic rehab investment tax credits (federal and state) and a PIEA property tax abatement probably makes sense, but this project will need to be vetted financially before it can be approved.

[Brent]

Thanks Bub for the details.

I only got an email from the Broadway/Westport Council (who seems to be on board) -- it's been pretty interesting that the media really hasn't covered this at all.

This is a building in an area that makes sense to support -- you know, as long as the math makes sense.