A Kansas City council committee advanced a rare redevelopment plan Wednesday: one that would renovate 304 apartments in the urban core.
The issue is blight, one all too common in Kansas City's 3rd District.
Green Village Apartments along Topping between 17th and 23rd Streets were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The 304-unit complex was kept nearly full for more than 20 years, but now 70 percent of the apartments are vacant.
Roxsen Koch of the Polsinelli law firm spoke on behalf of the developer who wants to renovate the 1-4 bedroom apartments.
Koch explained that the project is not traditional redevelopment in that there will be no demolition and no new buildings constructed. However, she said, the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority looks favorably on the project because the vacant buildings are blighted by mold, peeling paint and graffiti.
She said the plan is for market-rate apartments with rents ranging between around $450 dollars for a one-bedroom apartment a unit up to under $700 dollars for four bedrooms.
They will be affordable, Koch said, and while eliminating blight their renovation would provide needed family housing in the area.
The developer will ask for 100 percent tax abatement for 10 years, then 50 percent abatement for another 15 years.
The full council will vote on the plan tThursday to facilitate a mid-September PIEA tax abatement hearing.
