This week's Pitch feature describes the interest that a J.P. Morgan investment fund showed in redeveloping Bannister Mall at around the time the owners of the Kansas City Wizards were sewing up their deal to remake the site.
Managers of the Urban Renaissance Property Fund, which at the time was targeting "green" redevelopment in inner cities and inner-ring suburbs, visited Kansas City in 2007. By that time, the Wizards had built political support for replacing the mall and surrounding acreage with a soccer-oriented development.
Last week, the Wizards announced they were going to build in western Wyandotte County.
What kind of opportunity did south Kansas City miss? Charleston, South Carolina, may offer a guide.
The fund managers came to town with a principal from GreenHawk Partners (now GreenHawk Corporation), a North Carolina real-estate development company. GreenHawk was part of a group that purchased land in an industrial section of Charleston in the hopes of creating the largest infill development in the city's history.
Magnolia, the name of the development, perches between an interstate and a tidal river. In the 19th century, the area processed a significant amount of the nation's phosphate ore.
The developers proposed a dramatic break from the industrial past and the creation of a mixed-use community emulating the great streets of historic Charleston. If completed, Magnolia will provide 4,400 residential units and more than 2 million square feet of office, retail and civic space. The developers have promised 24 acres of parks and access to the waterfront.
The planning commission in Charleston approved the Magnolia concept in 2007. Progress on Magnolia appears to be moving slowly. Earlier this year, a real-estate agent noted on her blog that the development company's billboards, announcing "Change is on the way," had become something of a joke in Charleston.
Still, she was able to photograph the construction of a bridge across a marsh intended to link the interstate with the Magnolia development.
A bridge is something.
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