Milhaus residential and retail project near Crown Center moves ahead

From The Kansas City Star, by Steve Vockrodt, September 6, 2016 Milhaus Development’s ambitions for a corner near Union Hill represents what Kansas City leaders want: Replace surface parking lots with dense, mixed-use development. Milhaus, an Indianapolis-based development firm, will now present its plans for 423 residential units on 8 acres of undeveloped proprety to elected leaders after winning unanimous support from the City Plan Commission on Tuesday. Milhaus is working with local developer UC-B Properties to develop surface lots on the south side of 27th Street between Gillham Road and McGee Trafficway into a mixed-use plan. The project contemplates 53 condominiums and 14 townhomes on the western edge of the development. Those units will be offered for sale. On the other side of McGee Trafficway, the partnership plans to build 361 for-rent apartments, a six-story parking garage, more than 5,000 square feet of restaurant space and another 3,360 square feet of retail development. Jeremy Stephenson, president of Milhaus Development, said construction would start in November with the entire project wrapping up early in 2019. Milhaus and UC-B Properties will buy the 8 acres from Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation, which owns the land but hadn’t developed it. In other City Plan Commission action on Tuesday, commissioners recommended denial for a proposed used car lot in the Northland. The commission sided with more than a dozen nearby residents who argued that the operation wouldn’t fit in with nearby development and neighborhoods. Michael Fulton, president of Auto Bank of Kansas City, sought permission for a used car lot at the northeast corner of 50th Street and Antioch Road near the Antioch Crossing shopping district. Residents turned out to say an existing Auto Bank did not keep up an existing location on Truman Road. Moreover, the said the company earned low marks from the Better Business Bureau and would be out of place with the revitalizing area of the Northland. Fulton responded that he had fixed up his locations and tried to resolve complaints from customers, which came with the territory of running a used car business. In the end, commissioners pointed to a lack of community support and agreed with opponents that the development did not fit with its surroundings. Fulton’s proposal can still go before the Kansas City Council, but will require the approval of a supermajority — 9 of 13 council votes — to pass.