Beacon Hill Redevelopment...
The Rebirth of a Grand Old Neighborhood

Rehab work to begin on these two homes located in the Beacon Hill Neighborhood.

HUD Regional Director Macie Houston addresses strengthening communities through homeownership.

A view of the Kansas City skyline from available single-family lots in the Beacon Hill Neighborhood.

Missouri Senator Kit Bond, Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, Fannie Mae and HUD recently kicked-off the Beacon Hill redevelopment project after four years of planning. The master plan provides for more than 400 units of new as well as rehabilitated housing in the old Beacon Hill neighborhood located just east of downtown Kansas City. The $70 million dollar public-private project is the City's largest single-family residential redevelopment project and one of the largest urban residential projects in the nation.

Community leaders and Beacon Hill residents gathered to unveil the development's "new urbanism" or traditional neighborhood design that will transform the financially depressed and barren neighborhood into a thriving, mixed-use residential community; a community that will include new open spaces, terraces and streetscape improvements, decorative lighting, fountains, a community center, an adaptive re-use of an old blighted hospital and homes that feature front porches and rear alley access to garages. The homes will sell in the $100,000 to $250,000 price range.

The rebirth now underway will bring back the old charm and vitality to a neighborhood where Victorian-style homes had lost their grandeur and scores of residents had moved out. Homeownership opportunities for individuals and families with a variety of income levels will attract residents who are eager to move back to Kansas City and those who want to live in a downtown neighborhood.

Initial development funding for the public-private project includes $10 million from Fannie Mae, a HUD Section 108 loan in the amount of $10 million, a HUD Brownfield Economic Development Initiative Grant of $1.25 million , $2.5 million from the Public Improvement Advisory Council (PIAC) and $6.9 million from Housing Economic Development and Financial Corporation (HEDFC) and other City of Kansas City sources. The developer is Beacon Hill Developers, LC (a joint venture of J.E. Dunn Construction, Taliaferro & Browne and The Zimmer Companies). Other partners include Beacon Hill-McFeders Neighborhood Association, Master Plan Architect Seidel/Holzman, Urban/Landscape Design HNTB, Market Analysis Development Strategies, American Community Foundation, Home Builders Association, Don Kelly Contracting, Woodstone Homes.