Crews have begun demolition at Parade Park Homes this month. Construction of a new version of the historic housing co-op, meant to revamp the struggling and closed complex, has been delayed since its groundbreaking in October of last year.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said on KCUR’s Up to Date last week that the demolition was delayed due to “bureaucracy” while developers and the city awaited final permit approvals from the state and federal governments.
"We've had too many fires there lately,” Lucas said. “As we've gone through some winter challenges, I thought it was necessary that we do that key step of demolition and let people see what is coming next.”
The housing development was once one of the oldest Black-owned housing cooperatives in the country, but living conditions deteriorated, and conflict rose between residents and management. There have been more than a dozen fires at Parade Park since Thanksgiving of last year, according to KCTV5.
Flaherty & Collins Development and Twelfth Street Heritage Corporation are leading the $300 million project, which will include more than 1,100 apartments, townhomes and flats near the Historic 18th and Vine district.
About half, 490 units, will be affordable for people making between 30% and 60% of the median family income. Another 535 apartments will be priced affordably for people making between 60% and 80% of the median family income.
In future construction phases, 60 units will be available to own. Some will be specifically for senior housing, while others will be priced at market rate. The development will also include retail and office space.
A representative for Flaherty & Collins Development and Twelfth Street Heritage Corporation said the delays for federal authorization and abatement of the properties were not visible to the public, but were crucial for the development to be done correctly. Officials have previously said the first phase of the project should be completed in 2027.
“Construction will progress in stages, with the first residential units anticipated to come online before the full build-out is complete,” the spokesperson said. “While exact opening dates will be announced as milestones are reached, the community can expect to begin seeing visible progress throughout 2026, with initial occupancy following as phases are completed.”
The Kansas City Council approved $20 million to support the redevelopment project in March of last year. The project also received a 30-year property tax break from the Port Authority of Kansas City and $15.5 million in federal grant funding last year.
Parade Park was established in 1963 as Kansas City’s first Black-owned housing cooperative, where the residents owned a share of the nonprofit that controlled the development. But there wasn’t enough money to repair the aging townhomes from issues like black mold and leaking roofs. Eventually, the complex had low occupancy and low inspection scores from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“People have been leaving weekly for fear of being foreclosed on and not knowing what the situation was,” longtime resident Debra Williams told KCUR in 2022. “So, they just left.”
HUD took over the property in 2022 and foreclosed on it in 2023. Kansas City purchased Parade Park during the foreclosure sale and transferred the property to Flaherty & Collins and Twelfth Street Heritage Corporation for redevelopment.
The 18th and Vine district is seeing a lot of development outside of Parade Park. The city is building a parking garage there and studying an east-west expansion of the streetcar line into the area. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is planning to move to the Buck O’Neill Education Center, and the American Jazz Museum will expand in its current space.
Lucas said he wants to see more development for residents and private businesses in the area without increasing gentrification.
“I think what we are going to see is it continuing to be a place that's affordable, that's accessible, continuing to be a place that is a community that, frankly, gets some things right,” Lucas said.
