A gas explosion Tuesday morning destroyed one of the buildings in the Rosedale Ridge housing complex, an affordable housing project which closed in 2015 due to poor conditions.
The Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department reported heavy damage to the building, one of six in the complex. The building has been torn down.
Heidi Holliday, executive director of the Rosedale Development Association, helped residents advocate to close down the housing complex, which had been cited by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City Kansas rental licensing department for problems with mold and fire hazards.
"I'm grateful that nobody was living there and nobody was injured," Holliday says.
Housing at Rosedale Ridge was subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Residents were given housing vouchers to rent new homes and ended up scattered throughout the metro.
According to Unified Government records, Rosedale Ridge is still owned by the Creative Choice Group, a private real estate investment company based in Florida.
Sylvia Maria Gross is a reporter and editor at KCUR, and senior producer of the show Central Standard. You can reach her at sylvia@kcur.org and @pubradiosly.
