Snitch on the ditch: River Market development in limbo
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Third street at the Streetcar stop. Photo: Travis Meier/Axios
"There's just this giant pit."
Those words, spoken by Ann Perkins on "Parks and Recreation," might as well have been talking about the trench near the City Market at Third and Walnut.
Why it matters: The River Market, one of KC's busiest neighborhoods, was supposed to get a new apartment building, but property values and construction costs have landed this lot in limbo.
- The eyesore has been around since 2021.
Catch up quick: The city first approved a 94-unit project in 2018. Demolition crews got the green light to raze the vacant warehouse there in October 2020, and the pit materialized by the following year.
- Local developers sold the land in 2022 to Oaks Properties, which still owns it today.
What they're saying: Alex Bjornnes with Oaks Properties tells Axios construction costs are too high to justify a ground-up build, but property values are too low to consider selling.
- "We fully believe that we will be able to build at one point in time," Bjornnes says. "We believe in and love the River Market."
The intrigue: The Third and Grand apartment project across the street, which got final approval from the city in 2023, is making fast progress and on track to finish as early as this fall, according to developers.
What's next: Bjornnes said Oaks plans on holding the land until it makes sense to develop, but did not provide a timeline.