Crestwood Condos

[ShowMeKC]

This will be located at 5401 Brookside Blvd.

It will be 8 floors and have about 40 units...

It's gonna be a rehab of a current building on that site, nothing really new... It is surrounded by tons of dense housing.

Former UMKC dorm slated to become luxury condos

By KEVIN COLLISON

The Kansas City Star

Treadway Hall, a vacant college dormitory in Brookside that opened in 1919 as a hotel, is expected to reopen in 2004 as The Crestwood, a luxury condominium building.

The $15 million project will put the former University of Missouri-Kansas City dorm at 54th Street and Brookside Boulevard back on the tax rolls, Mayor Kay Barnes said Tuesday, and reinforce the neighborhood.

"I lived in this neighborhood for 40 years, and my daughter lives a few blocks away," Barnes said. "I know how important this development is....This is a magnificent neighborhood."

The plan calls for renovating the existing five-story building and adding two floors to create 42 condos. The units are expected to sell for $250,000 to $650,000.

The one- and two-bedroom condos will range from 1,100 to 2,800 square feet. All units will have terraces. Other amenities include 81/2- to 10-foot ceilings, hardwood floors, fireplaces, and marble and granite kitchen surfaces.

It all sounded so good to Sandra Burd that she wrote a check at the news conference to reserve a $270,000 condo on the fifth floor. The first model unit is expected to be ready for review next summer.

Burd, who lives near the Country Club Plaza and owns a country home as well, said she expects to get more for her money at the new development.

"I heard about it recently and heard the architects were doing a great job," she said. "They have fireplaces, terraces, high ceilings -- things you can't get on the Plaza."

The developers are Ralph E. Myers Jr., a co-owner of Mpress LLC with an extensive resume in property development and banking, and architect Fred S. Truog.

Myers described the property as a place where "families who now enjoy these neighborhoods or would like to live in these neighborhoods could have a condominium lifestyle that was not previously available."

The building began as the Brookside Hotel and was reputed to be one of the better family hotels in the city. During World War II, it housed Army Air Corps personnel attending Rockhurst College.

After the war, it again served as a resident hotel. The St. Paul School of Theology acquired it in 1962 and used it as a dormitory. UMKC bought it in 1966.

By the 1990s, the building needed substantial repairs. The $6 million cost of renovation helped university officials decide to close it in 1997.

Myers and Truog have a purchase agreement with UMKC for the property. They hope to close by next spring. The model unit would open in the summer, and full construction would begin in the fall.

The interior of the structure will be removed and rebuilt. The project is not seeking historic preservation or other tax subsidies. There will be significant changes to the exterior.

In addition to the two new floors and the terraces, two new elevator and stair towers will be built. Parking will be provided for 76 cars. Common areas will include a library, a social room, a fitness room and a grill area.

"The exterior of the existing building will remain with its traditional appearance," Myers said, "while the interior may be characterized as a crisp, new, warm, refreshing look, sophisticated but not pretentious."

A temporary sales office will be set up in Bloomsday Books, 301 E. 55th St., in a few weeks, developers said. Prudential Lofts and Condos Realty is the sales agent.