New apartments on the southeast corner of 19th Street and Vine Street will be the first new units in the neighborhood in the last 15 years. Developer 1900 Vine Street LLC seeks to build on a vacant lot, adding 66 market-rate + 14 affordable-housing apartments.

Funding

Earlier this month, the Planning Industrial Expansion Authority approved a plan to aid the build. It includes reduced property taxes — 100% abatement for the first 15 years — and no sales tax on approved construction materials. PIEA Executive Director David Macoubrie said the project fits their mission of investing in under-served, blighted areas.

Phases

The 80-unit building is the No. 1 of 3 phases, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. Phase 2 includes 200 middle-income housing units with built-in retail space and a grocery store. The building would go in the vacant lot across Vine Street from Phase 1. 1900 Vine LLC already owns this land.

Phase 3 includes 60 market-rate units, restaurant + retail space along Vine Street while preserving historic structures. This land is currently owned by Kansas City.

Rendering of the Phase 1 apartments at 19th and Vine. | Photo from PIAE application via CitySceneKC.

District revitalization efforts

These plans are part of a groundswell of revitalization efforts in the Historic 18th + Vine Jazz District. The City Council also established the Vine Street Community Improvement District, spanning mostly vacant land south of 18th Street.

The district will levy an extra 1% personal property sales tax, expected to bring in $22.18 million in 5 years. That money will go toward public infrastructure, like a parking garage, plus landscaping, security + maintenance.

Just down the street, developers seek to turn the abandoned Water Department at 2000 Vine St. into a mixed-use retail space — including a new brewery. A couple blocks away, Keystone Community Corp. seeks to build an innovation center at 18th Street and Troost Avenue — the hope is to spark business in the area.

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