I agree with you about Armour. It's so unappreciated for what it has. It's a beautiful, wide, tree-lined street with some wonderful old buildings, and the location between the Plaza and downtown is undervalued.

Armour could be a very cool and urbane stretch.  It reminds me of Lindell approaching the Central West End in St Louis.

I was reading an article in the New York Times about plans for repurposing old power plants in Manhattan, and I got to thinking about a future day where Trigen might shut down the old coal-powered steam plant at 2nd Street and Grand in the River Market.

These old power plant buildings are interesting and becoming more rare as they are demolished. They are more difficult to repurpose, but not impossible. They often feature large and soaring interior spaces with big windows that let in a lot of light. The sides around the open "gallery" space often feature several floors of smaller adjacent space.

Kansas City has one experience repurposing a former power plant with the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity at Union Station.

The Bolender Center.



Virtual tour of the Bolender Center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTtt_m5edfs

The 2nd and Grand site is also an unsual parcel with viaducts on two sides, but also some parcels of vacant land adjacent to the building. Further making the site difficult is are confusing street access ramps off of Grand to 1st Street, and 1st Street doesn't have a lot of other access points.

The surrounding area parcels also are confined by viaducts and railroad tracks--and somewhat inaccessible, but could be bundled with the power plant in a larger redevelopment.

So the premise of this fantasy is that Kansas City's downtown has become much more dense, with most surface parking lots filled by new infill buildings, and all older vacant buildings have been redeveloped. Property values have risen, and there is constant demand for new retail and commercial space. Many residents are now living in Greater Downtown, and specifically the Loop and River Market areas.

What are you ideas for repurposing the Trigen Power Plant and adjacent parcels into something useful?

The general area, and adjacent parcels.



The source article:

Streetscapes | Powerhouses
Old, Massive, Illustrious and Somehow Overlooked

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/realestate/streetscapes-old-massive-illustrious-and-somehow-overlooked.html?_r=2&ref=realestate

Here is an example of an another industrial power plant site that was redeveloped.

http://www.architecturelover.com/2012/02/umicore-office-building-by-conix-architects/

The Trigen steam plant in the River Market









The interior:



The site:

I'd like to see the Meyer corridor gentrified east to Swope Park with a secondary spoke emanating from Meyer north and south along the Paseo. Once a venerable neighborhood with some great homes.

Actually, I'd like to see everything west of US 71 gentrified with an eastern enclave up to the borders of Swope Park. Some nasty little homes in the latter area so probably would require some tear downs and rebuilds. It's a tall order but, hey, we're assuming I'm god.

I saw this building design on Archdaily.com by Zaha Hadid for a site in Belgrade. I saw an aerial of the design and thought of a good location for a building like this design.

http://www.archdaily.com/315688/zaha-hadid-to-regenerate-historic-site-in-belgrade/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

An aerial of the present site. This triangle of land is called Belvidere Park. It's rarely used. There is a soccer field there, but little else, and the park is not well-maintained. It's not a good site for a park. It's an odd parcel. The land slopes down from Independence Avenue to I-35.



The Courteau Courts public housing project is slated to be demolished. The City is putting together a Paseo Gateway renewal plan for the surrounding neighborhood.

My idea is to take this triangle of land north of Independence Avenue and build the Zaha Hadid building there. It could be a replacement building for the Stower's Institute for Medical Research. With the grade of Belvidere Park, a large underground parking garage could be placed under the building. Sitting atop the garage on that point between Paseo and I-35, the building would sit in a very prominent position as one enters downtown.

It would become an iconic building that would help transform Independence Avenue, and the north end of Paseo--creating a true "gateway" unto Paseo going south, and Independence Avenue heading east.

Placing the building next to Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences would boost the university as well as plant a seed for a public/private biosciences district in the Paseo West neighborhood.

My plan also assumes that KCUMB will grow into a larger university with more enrollment and on-campus housing. The campus would grow outward. My fantasy situation would be that the Housing Authority of Kansas City would sell all the nearby public housing projects to the university to use for student housing, and the residents of those projects would be placed in scattered sites around the City. Switching the population nearby from low-income public housing residents to university students would transform the neighborhood. It would also increase the value of existing residential buildings along Paseo.



In addition to the Zaha Hadid building, new structures and interior parking garages would be constructed along Independence Avenue and Paseo. A retail strip would be included between Forest and Paseo on Independence Avenue.

Right on! You go, Fang!

I like your dreams Fang.

I would like to create a corridor of mixed development that stretches east of the River Market linking the Columbus Park neighborhood, to the river front west of The John Ashcroft Bridge, and connecting to the East Bottoms. And try to come up with a workable plan to make that neighborhood more appealing. projects would include building a plethora of new houses and apartments similar to the ones built around 5th street and Locust. These apartments would range anywhere from 2 to 8 stories. I would also put in a grocery store, businesses of all kinds, bars and restaurants, and try to link up a rail line.

They actually considered calling it the John Ashcroft Bridge, until he demanded curtains be installed to cover the cable connections, because they resembled nipples; drug sniffing dogs were to be posted at each entrance; anyone caught trying to commit suicide by jumping from the bridge would receive the death penalty; and anyone on the bridge who looked suspicious or had a Muslim name would be arrested.
It does have a nice ring to it, though.

Not sure people would say this area is run-downed as a whole but parts of it definitely is. Most of it could be classified as tired. The area I am talking about is a large neighborhood called the Center School District. It's northern portions does have some problems and would be addressed first but the rest shouldn't be ignored. Sidewalks, curbs, water and sewer lines, as well as streets are infrastructure that has been lacking attention for some time. The school district is on the rebound and improvements here would provide an alternative location for someone looking at NE JoCo as a place to live.