A block of empty buildings in the Historic Northeast neighborhood is primed for a development upgrade that includes hundreds of new apartments and a public market.

Arnold Development Group plans to turn the corner at Independence and Hardesty avenues into a community space and hub for one of the metro’s most diverse neighborhoods.

Their plans include turning the 12-story Hardesty Self Storage building, completed in 1920, into apartments. Abandoned buildings behind it, formerly the Federal Hardesty Complex, would become a public market, coworking space and public gathering space.

Danny Roberson, development director at Arnold Development Group, said the entire project is estimated to cost about $400 million.

“These beautiful buildings have been, really, sitting here, unused or underutilized, for 30, 40 years,” he told KCUR after a media tour of the site Thursday. “It's just kind of been a blighted community asset that hasn't really seen its full realization.”

Roberson said the surrounding area, just across Independence Avenue from the South Indian Mound neighborhood, has seen years of disinvestment. He said a neighborhood association brought Arnold Development to look at the area for a potential project, and it’s five years in the making.

“We've just been really working on: How do we finance it and how do we get the community support behind it?” Roberson said. “Because something like this doesn't happen without that much community support.”

Roberson said they met with neighborhood groups and organizations in the Historic Northeast to hear what residents want out of the development, which is where they got the idea to create a public market, a playground and a daycare center.

“Another thing that they wanted to make sure of was that we weren't going to come in and make this a Lowe's or Home Depot, and bring national brands in,” Roberson said. “We want this to be an organic, local, community-made space.”

Carmen Chopp, CEO of Historic Northeast Public Market collaborator Nomad Develops, helped bring together the Lenexa Public Market in 2017. The new Kansas City project would be about twice as big as the one in Lenexa, and Chopp said there’s demand from people in the Northeast.

“This is really a third place, a community space, where people can come hang out, let their kids splash around in the splash pad, run around in the green space, enjoy a festival, connect around food, learn how to make something,” she said.

A mixture of financing

The entire 22-acre development received a mixture of public funding from the federal government, the state of Missouri and Kansas City.

The development received low-income housing tax credits from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, so some of the units will be priced affordably for low-income residents.

The project is also receiving historic federal and state tax credits, and an investment tax credit will go toward a 4 megawatt solar array system and 228 geothermal wells to supply energy to the development.

The development also received more than $7.5 million from a fund with the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up contaminated sites called brownfields.

And the Kansas City Council approved a tax increment financing plan for the project. The economic development tool allows future property taxes on the development to pay for public infrastructure construction and other improvements.

The public infrastructure and the first phase of construction for the Historic Northeast Lofts is estimated to cost $178.9 million.

Roberson said construction is expected to start in September or October, with construction for the residential building expected to take about three years, and construction of the public market and other amenities to take two years. Roberson said the plan is for the entire development to open to the public around the same time.

Affordable housing, ‘great food’ and cultural events

The Historic Northeast Lofts are set to include 395 mixed-income apartments, 83% of which will be designated for people making between 30% and 80% of the area median income. Other units will be priced at market-rate. The solar system and geothermal wells mean residents will not have a utility bill.

The 29,500-square-foot public market will include 18 food and retail vendors, and a commercial kitchen. Chopp said the market will emphasize local businesses and restaurants, and will be a space for people to host celebrations and cultural events.

“There's a lot of great food already here in the Historic Northeast,” she said. “We really just kind of want to encourage and create that ecosystem for small businesses.”

Nomad Develops is currently looking for local business owners who are interested in operating in the market.