Abandoned apartment complexes near downtown KC get new look

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Several abandoned apartment complexes near downtown Kansas City are going to get a much-needed face lift.

“Paseo is one of the most beautiful boulevards not only in our city but in our country,” says Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

Unfortunately for years a certain stretch of Paseo called the Jazz Hill area hasn’t been showcasing that beauty, that’s why a roughly 35-million-dollar project will help renovate 11 buildings in the area. This afternoon city and community leaders broke ground on the project that will turn the boarded-up buildings into affordable housing options.

The plan is to create 14 studios, 147 one-bedroom and 36 two-bedroom units, that will include new appliances, flooring and elevators throughout the complex, all costing below one thousand dollars monthly rent. The complex was financed with 4-percent low-income housing credits with Twelfth Street Heritage and Flaherty and Collins Properties being the main investors.

Kansas City provided just over 4 million in central city economic development funds.

“This is probably one of the most complex projects that anyone will do here in Kansas City. I’m sure people will say well, it couldn’t have been that difficult. What I’ll say is when you look at projects like this and you see what they are going to look like, and you say they couldn’t have been that difficult, I want to remind you about something, is that you didn’t do it,” says Dwayne Williams, the President & CEO of Twelfth Street Heritage.

Over the next 16 months, the buildings will open as they’re completed.

Contractors say the redevelopment will be completed by the summer of next year.

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