"Next time someone constructs something new, hopefully it can be done without a subsidy," Ford says.
Not everyone is buying that philosophy.
"It's a little tough for some people, especially when you look at the workforce," says Donovan Mouton, once an aide to former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes who now works as a housing consultant for prospective developers. "You only have x number of people earning between $40,000 and $60,000, but the bulk of your workforce are those in the $20,000 to $30,000 range — teachers, bank tellers, policemen. Spending $1,100 a month in rent is pretty pricey for some people."
One Light is expected to fetch between $950 and $1,800 in rent, translating to about $1.75 a square foot. In bigger cities, high-end apartments fetch more than $2 a square foot.
"I don't think by 2020 that we become a Chicago or Minneapolis, where you can charge over $2 a square foot," Mouton says.
Still, downtown boosters hope for a more cosmopolitan south loop and Crossroads District by that time. They envision a city core populated less by men in pinstriped suits and women in pantsuits but and more by city dwellers wearing Chuck Taylors and maybe students from a proposed University of Missouri-Kansas City Downtown Arts Campus.
I got to the last page of the article and thought it was joke after the downtown focus, then I realized that it was for ALL of KC, not just the important parts.
I wonder if Mouton's skepticism has anything to do with the amount of work he does with low income housing and HUD programs. After all, tis is the guy who brokered the snafu of a deal at the Bainbridge on Armour.
Also... pretty sure police make more than $30k a year. Right?
Eon Blue wrote:He's tried recently to broker some other redevelopment deals downtown; most have been unsuccessful AFAIK.
Donovan is a solid guy. Nothing wrong with his work. It's a hard bit of business in which he is engaged and the past 6 years he has stayed above the sod. Says something.
