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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume 5, Issue 4 April 2003   A TALE OF TWO PROJECTS New Planning Processes Change Community Attitudes 1998 could have arguably been among the worst of times for a developer and an institution trying to sell Kansas City on their unrelated plans for expansion or redevelopment along the Brush Creek Corridor. That summer the city was embroiled in disputes over these projects and both initiatives were ultimately scuttled as a result of strong community opposition. Five short years later, the University of Missouri-Kansas City has a new master plan that has been embraced by its neighbors, while a redevelopment project just west of the Plaza has earned its necessary approvals with the backing of the community. Common to both projects and their demise in the late 90's was the lack of community participation in their planning processes. The recent success of these two undertakings can not only be attributed to the production of better plans for the area, but also that community engagement has been an underpinning of both UMKC’s and developer Raymond Braswell’s projects. Both of the new plans were supported by Brush Creek Community Partners and received the city’s approval this spring. West Edge Integrates New Office, Retail and Hotel With Existing Apartments In 1998, Cecil Van Tuyl abandoned efforts to redevelop the block from 48th Street to Ward Parkway between Belleview Avenue to Roanoke Road soon after the City Council decided to let voters determine if his Brush Creek Plaza project should receive benefits of tax increment financing (TIF). The proposal to raze all the residential buildings on the block to build new apartments, shops, restaurant space and a large office building was moving through the approval process in spite of vocal opposition to the project and plans to use TIF to help finance it. The West Edge view from 48th Street features European design retail space and the entry to the boutique hotel. Courtesy Gould Evans Goodman At about the same time the Brush Creek Plaza project was making headlines, Ray Braswell, president of the Chaswell Group, Inc., started having thoughts about developing a boutique hotel in Kansas City. The western edge of the Plaza was not his first choice, but he ultimately approached Van Tuyl about the idea. Upon reaching an agreement with the property owner to proceed with the development, which had to start with an acceptable master plan for the block, among the first things Braswell did was talk to the neighborhood. The input of the residents who opposed the original plan in 1998 was specifically sought, as well as that of community leaders involved in historic preservation. Their involvement led to development of a West Edge mixed use plan that Braswell could take to City Hall and other venues with community support. Critical to securing this support was the agreement to retain three older apartment buildings on the south end of the block along Ward Parkway. Braswell has a 17-year career in design and construction with extensive experience in hotel, entertainment and retail development, redevelopment and consulting. Plans for the West Edge include construction of a boutique hotel with up to 125 rooms over approximately 25,000 square feet of European style retail and restaurant space fronting 48th Street. The West Edge retail component will strive to attract local merchants, small boutique shops and service retail. West Edge Roof Level Plan Courtesy Gould Evans Goodman In the middle of the block between the apartments and the hotel/retail area, an office building of 203,000 square feet of leasable space will be built. The building faces Roanoke at ten stories plus a penthouse, and then cascades down to the street to a site at Belleview where building heights are three to five stories. Braswell credits the West Plaza Neighborhood Association for creating this concept. The West Edge view from Roanoke Road festures the ten story office structure. Courtesy Gould Evans Goodman Below grade parking, subsidized by TIF revenues, will include more than 700 spaces to accommodate the new development and neighboring residential needs. Braswell is optimistic he can start building the $80 million project next spring with construction taking approximately 18 months.   Revamped Master Planning Effort Results in "Partners Project for Planning" Soon after Martha Gilliland took office as chancellor of UMKC in the spring of 2000, she knew the university needed a master plan to guide its land use decisions. She also knew she could not use the one born in a storm of controversy and adopted in the face of continuing protest just prior to her arrival in Kansas City. It seemed no one she met was reticent in telling her what they knew about the conflict between the institution and its residential neighbors. Gilliland was determined to do what was necessary to produce a master plan that not only met the future needs of the school, but it would be one she could take to the University of Missouri Curators with the support of just about all of UMKC’s neighbors. Signature UMKC Volker campus entrance looking southeast toward Rockhill Road. Courtesy Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC In May 1998, neighbors of UMKC’s Volker campus were shocked by plans to demolish houses between 53rd to 55th Streets, Rockhill Road to Troost Avenue to first provide temporary parking and ultimately build soccer fields. Their agitation grew when it was revealed this was only the first phase of a master plan that called for expanding the campus to 55th Street between Holmes and Troost. Opposition was waged like a political campaign, gathering support from local politicians and the media. While the university already owned many of the houses it planned to tear down, the community had not been consulted in the development of its land use plan. The master plan that was ultimately accepted in 1999 was the product of negotiation between university and neighborhood representatives involving a federal mediator. Changes to that agreement by the university system left many neighbors dissatisfied. Gilliland launched a fresh master planning effort in September 2001, soon after the university adopted a new vision, values and strategic goals for the future of UMKC. The purpose of the new master plan was to align the physical development of the campus with the school’s areas of focus and strategic goals. UMKC created the Touchstone Group, composed of civic, community and business leaders including representatives of the university’s residential, business and institutional neighbors and city agencies. Its purpose was to advise and guide the master planning process. The group met seven times throughout the planning process, which began experiencing some difficulty midway through the effort. UMKC engaged the skills of staff of the Kansas City Planning and Development Department, led by Assistant City Manager and department Director Vicki Noteis, to facilitate discussion and provide consultation. Renamed “The Partners Project for Planning,” the master plan concerning the Volker campus calls for the continuation of major academic facilities in the campus academic core, including a cultural arts district. Between 53rd and 55th Street, Holmes and Troost is designated a UMKC/Rockhill Crest neighborhood partnership area, supporting the goal of urban engagement and will continue to enhance the current mix of single-family owner-occupied and rental units, commercial uses and UMKC functions. It identifies attractive new amenities and calls for UMKC’s involvement in the redevelopment of Troost. Close consultation with neighbors adjacent to the Volker campus resulted in establishment of a Neighborhood Council, to foster ongoing understanding of respective neighborhood and university issues. The Rockhill Crest Neighborhood Commitments was signed by university and neighborhood representatives last July, right before the plan was adopted by the University of Missouri Curators. Gilliland believes a better plan has been developed as a result of the community’s involvement. HCA, HEALTH MIDWEST FINALIZE SALE HCA and Health Midwest officials signed final documents April 1 completing the sale of Health Midwest’s operating assets to HCA. The action marked the end of an eight-month process that began when the Health Midwest Board of Directors announced that it would pursue the possibility of selling the organization’s operating assets. As previously announced, the entire Health Midwest system was valued at $1.125 billion, including approximately $183 million of debt and leases assumed by HCA. The leases are for Overland Park Regional Medical Center and Independence Regional Health Center, both owned by Triad Hospitals, Inc. Entities originally included in the valuation of the transaction but not acquired are valued at about $87 million. As a result, the aggregate cash paid by HCA at closing was approximately $855 million. The HCA Midwest Division is led by Bryan Rogers, former president and chief executive officer of HCA’s Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside California. The division includes 12 hospitals and related health care entities serving Kansas City and surrounding areas. HCA Midwest President Bryan Rogers greets guests at a reception honoring Kansas City's new officials April 15. “We are excited about the great opportunities presented by the former Health Midwest organization,” said Rogers. “HCA has made a tremendous investment in health care in the Kansas City area, and our goal is for everyone to look back and be able to say the sale to HCA was a tremendous benefit to health care consumers in the Kansas City area.” HCA has committed to least $450 million in capital expenditures over the next five years and continue current levels of uncompensated care. Health Midwest will continue to operate certain businesses under the new name of Community Health Group. CHG will pay off Health Midwest’s financial obligations that exist at the sale closing, including long-term debt and other obligations. CHG will distribute the sale’s net proceeds of approximately $526 million, with 80 percent going to a Missouri foundation and 20 percent going to a Kansas foundation. Four Health Midwest organizations that are not part of the sale to HCA are continuing their operations under the CHG umbrella. They include Kansas City Hospice, Research Mental Health Services, the Visiting Nurse Association Corp. and VNA Plus. In addition to completing the Health Midwest sale process and distributing proceeds to the Missouri and Kansas foundations, CHG is also responsible for properties held for sale, including the former Trinity Lutheran Hospital and Trinity North campuses. PARTNER UPDATES William Downey, president of Kansas City Power & Light, has been elected vice president of the Brush Creek Community Partners Board of Directors. Downey fills the unexpired term of Gene Wilson, senior vice president of the Kauffman Foundation, who retires this month. Downey, a member of the BCCP board since November 2001, is also co-chair of the Kansas City Area Development Council. Karen L. Daniel is stepping down as a member of the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Commission following completion of her first, four-year term on the board. Mayor Kay Barnes has appointed CiCi Rojas, head of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to succeed Daniel. Appointed to the commission in 1999, Daniel led the commission’s work on the restoration of the Liberty Memorial, the nation's only congressionally designated World War I monument. Daniel, who is chief financial officer and executive vice president of Black & Veatch, served as the commission’s president this last year. The Kansas City Parks and Recreation Commission is a member of Brush Creek Community Partners and Commissioner Tim Kristl is a member of the BCCP Board of Directors. The H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute recently rededicated its resource room, renaming it the Roger L. and Joni Cohen Resource Room. The Resource Room, originally dedicated to Roger L. Cohen in 2000, celebrates his contributions to KCAI. He was on the college’s Board of Trustees, including service as its chairman, from 1992 until his death last December. The Artspace is located at 16 E. 43rd Street; the Cohen Resource Room on its second floor provides access to a variety of resource materials, space for selected exhibitions of works from the KCAI permanent collection and a setting conducive to reading, research and quiet contemplation. KCAI is a founding member of Brush Creek Partners and its president, Kathleen Collins, is a member of the BCCP Board of Directors. KCCatalyst has launched a new on-line service – the Entrepreneur Assistance Center – for greater Kansas City’s technology and life sciences-focused entrepreneurs. The center’s main function is to simplify how technology and life sciences-focused entrepreneurs in the bi-state region can access KCCatalyst’s business-support services such as business strategy, funding options, and business mentoring. The Entrepreneur Assistance Center’s primary feature is its on-line application form. Entrepreneurs can now submit applications to begin the process of getting involved in KCCatalyst’s comprehensive set of entrepreneurial-support services. KCCatayst is a member of Brush Creek Community Partners. For more information, contact www.kccatalyst.com. Dan Bradbury, immediate past director of the Kansas City Public Library, will receive the Council on Philanthrophy’s Non Profit Executive of the Year Award next month. Bradbury retired after 19 years with the library last January. He was a member of the Brush Creek Community Partners Board of Directors. RICK THAEMERT PROVIDES A STEADY BEAT BEHIND TELLING BRUSH CREEK'S STORY Rick Thaemert knows public realtions is not such a glamorous job. Effective long-term communications requires a steady, consistent commitment to the mission and messages — like a drummer in the back, keeping the band on the beat. As General Manager of Fleishman-Hillard’s Kansas City office, new Brush Creek Community Partners board member, and long-time drummer, Thaemert connects his professional and personal passions. “With the Brush Creek Corridor, we have to just keep banging away, telling the story, until people realize things are changing and we’ve moved forward.” Thaemert notes the life sciences movement, higher education in the community and Kansas City’s long-time racial division as issues to which he brings both professional and personal commitments. Rick Thaemert “Our future runs through the Brush Creek Corridor because all of the challenges and opportunities facing Kansas City—life sciences, higher education, race relations—are centered there," said Thaemert. "If we can address these issues along Brush Creek, we can address them metro-wide." On a larger scale, Thaemert’s human relations efforts include serving on the board of the National Center for Fathering and the Board of Governors of The Urban League of Greater Kansas City. On a smaller scale, he encourages all Kansas Citians to take a drive, or better yet take a walk, past Troost Avenue. “Troost has become symbolic of the division in this city, but the reality is we are making progress, thanks to visionaries like Swope Community Enterprises Chairman Frank Ellis and leaders like BCCP President David Welte.” In the life sciences, Thaemert and Fleishman-Hillard provide support to the Kansas City Area Development Council and the Kansas City Life Sciences Institute, noting, “life sciences is a huge part of our business; we’re very passionate about it.” And, with wife Jamie, with one daughter in college and one in high school, he also focuses on the value and role of higher education in the community. In any of the Brush Creek issues, the communications pro believes, “There is a great story that needs to be told and it really hasn’t been conveyed yet. There is a lot of awareness to be created and perceptions to be changed.” When he’s not out in the community, the University of Kansas journalism grad may be providing communications counsel to Fleishman-Hillard clients nationwide. Or he may be in the Kansas City office, Fleishman-Hillard’s fourth largest worldwide, perhaps taking care of more mundane tasks. “Running this office (of 110 associates) is like being the mayor of a small town. I’m responsible for corporate communications work, to hiring and growing great employees, to getting the plumbing fixed.” Like playing the drums behind the band, public relations is not always glamorous. But about both, Thaemert acknowledges, “You can’t do it half-baked. You have to be committed and you have to work up a sweat.” SWOPE GROUP UNDERGOES NAME CHANGE AND REORGANIZATION Model Cities Health Corp. and several of its entities have announced a reorganization and name changes. Swope Parkway Health Center, the largest outpatient clinic in the Midwest, has changed its name to Swope Health Services. Its parent organization is now known as Swope Community Enterprises. Other member companies are FirstGuard Health Plan, Applied Urban Research Institute and Swope Community Builders, whose name changes from Community Builders of Kansas City. The changes are designed to boost recognition and develop a common brand identity among the affiliated companies, capitalizing on the highly recognized and admired Swope name. Swope Parkway Health Center first opened its doors in 1970 as “Model Cities Comprehensive Neighborhood Health Center” and was located in the basement of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church on Linwood Avenue. Its mission then was to improve the health and well-being of the urban core’s underserved citizens. That year, funded by $100,000 from the Johnson Administration’s “Model Cities” program, staff served 2,000 patients. “Our system of services and locations has grown tremendously,” said Ralph M. Caro, president of Swope Health Services. “We have clinics in five counties in Missouri and Kansas, all of which were operating under separate names. In order to more effectively communicate where we are located and the quality of care we provide, we are changing the name of our health center and satellite clinics.” As a result of the name change, each health center and clinic will be identified as Swope Health followed by a geographic identifier. Swope Parkway Health Center at 3801 Blue Parkway is now Swope Health Central. “While the names may change, the mission remains the same,” said Caro. In 2002, with a budget of $23 million, Swope Parkway Health Center served more than 55,000 patients who visited the Health Center’s state-of-the-art facility on Blue Parkway as well as its satellite clinics in the Northland, Independence and Kansas City, Kansas. Ninety percent of those patients live below the poverty level and 10,600 are children. Services include adult health care, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, prenatal care, behavioral health, community outreach, pharmacy, laboratory, dental, optical services and transportation. Swope Community Enterprises is a member of Brush Creek Community Partners. Swope Community Enterprises’ Chairman, E. Frank Ellis, is treasurer of Brush Creek Community Partners Board or Directors.