Late Summer Start for Big Apartment Project at Trinity Lutheran Site

(Editor’s note: This article originally was published Feb. 13, 2023)

Construction is expected to begin in late summer on a $130 million apartment project at 31st and Main that will add 385 apartments along the new streetcar extension.

NorthPoint Development is building the project which will not only raze the derelict former Trinity Lutheran Hospital, but resolve the ongoing problems at the partially-completed Park Reserve condominium development.

Interior abatement work already is underway at the old hospital, and demolition is scheduled to begin in late spring, according to Owen Haake of NorthPoint. Vertical construction will then begin in late summer.

The NorthPoint “The Residences at 31st and Baltimore” development will be located on a prominent five-acres site by Penn Valley Park and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

It was approved for tax incentives in July by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority as part of its START (Sustaining Transportation and Investing Together) program. START is intended to encourage transit-oriented development.

The NorthPoint residential proposal is a half block from the planned streetcar stop at 31st and Main.

The project will resolve a couple major headaches from a previous developer: the partially-finished Park Reserve condo project that’s left dozens of owners in the lurch, and the empty Trinity Lutheran complex.

The plan calls the old hospital to be razed and replaced with a six-story apartment project, the acquisition of 12 unsold condos, spending $1 million to certify the remaining 90 condos for occupancy, and renovate the 420-stall hospital garage.

Another 40,000 square-feet of space at the site could become a mixed-use plan, and NorthPoint also plans to work with the Rehabilitation Institute on a potential solution to activate its corner at 31st and Main at the planned streetcar stop.

The NorthPoint apartment project is part of a wave of residential development along the streetcar extension which is expected to be operational in early 2025.

Mac Properties recently won approval to develop a 300-unit project at the southwest corner of Main and Armour, and Lux Living is building a 172-unit project that’s incorporating the historic Katz Drugstore building at Westport and Main.