Banking on KC – Bill Dietrich of Downtown Council of Kansas City
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. On this episode, Bill Dietrich, the president and CEO of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, which is a nonprofit organization that supports Downtown growth, will talk to us today about Kansas City's progress on some of the economic development and community development projects, and initiatives that are underway to create a more vibrant and sustainable Downtown. Welcome, Bill.
Bill Dietrich:
Thank you for the invitation, Kelly. It's a pleasure to be here.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, as I said before we started, what a great time to be in Kansas City. So many good, positive things happening. Happy to have you here today to talk about some of those. Let's go back a bit. When I interviewed you in 2020, you were really bullish on the population growth in the Downtown area.
You also were talking about the streetcar expansion, the development of the 18th and Vine entertainment districts, so I want you to take us forward four years later and bring us up-to-date on all of those, and have they progressed as you thought they would? What impact are they having?
Bill Dietrich:
The pandemic was not kind to any of us. In 2020, we were moving forward with a lot of different projects, and when the pandemic hit, for instance, a number of hotel projects that were going forward stopped. People left their offices. There was that doom cycle kind of scenario that the media and academicians were pitching about downtowns, and in our case and in many cases, but I think we were in a very good place, that didn't happen in Kansas City. We collect a lot of metrics.
We measure everything, and we do a lot of historic data, but we also have a new data source, which is called Placer.ai, which lets you track mobile device use in real time, and so we can really get very accurate about how many people are visiting Downtown, how many employees are back into Downtown, and if data like that, and it's been very encouraging if we look at the visitor and tourism industry. We are really at about 10.5 million visitors in the first half of this year, which is 95% of our kind of pre-COVID numbers. So you can see a real recovery that's happened there. On the employee base, we have about 122,000 employees in Downtown, and of those, 76% are back in the office at least three days a week, and give you a sense of ... We think there's something to do with commute patterns and density. Within two miles of Downtown, 100% of those employees are back. When you look at a five-mile circle, it drops down about 86, when you go farther out, it drops down about 70.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. That makes sense. Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, it's that commute.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right.
Bill Dietrich:
I think that commute element comes in play, and very, very well to our suburban partners and allies. They're around 56% kind of repopulating the office market, and that's really important to me because that's what keeps the retailers alive, restaurants alive, that kind of vibrant cultural environment that we've built Downtown moving forward. So we're really thrilled to see that level of recovery, that on the visitor and tourism, that puts us third in nation in recovery, a percentage of base, just behind a couple of cities, which is really strong.
Kelly Scanlon:
That's extraordinary.
Bill Dietrich:
And on the employee recovery, back in office, that places us in the top four cities in America. So I think that the nature of Kansas City lends itself to that kind of recovery because we had diversified our economy, we had diversified our employee base. Interesting, I've kind of jumped in a little bit on the residential folks, a little bit on the residents, because residents drive everything in Downtown, and it's a real new phenomenon last 15 years. During COVID, we added 3,300 people in the Downtown area. And again, there was this doom cycle that everyone was going to flee Downtown, and I think counter-intuitively, the exact opposite happened in downtowns across America.
Because of the multiple points of ingress and egress, the multiple venues, you actually lowered your chances of COVID. Where I live in a suburb and I go to Costco with 10,000 of my closest friends, you kind of create these little super ... What we used to call them.
Kelly Scanlon:
Super-spreaders.
Bill Dietrich:
Super-spreader events.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
And so we actually continue to add residents during the COVID period. To date, we have about 33,000 people live Downtown, which again is really, really a strong number. We have about 1,400 units under construction today. My concern with residential growth is really, "What's in the pipeline?"
Kelly Scanlon:
How so?
Bill Dietrich:
Well, there were some policy initiatives made, a number about four years ago, which put some goals for the city to promote affordable housing, which we all need and we all want, but the specific strategy isn't working, and so we're hoping to work with Andrea Bough. Councilwoman Bough is moving forward with an economic development strategy for the city, which really takes a look at the city's approach, prioritizing what's important to it, and we're involved in that dialogue and we hope to raise the housing issue, because if you think about that earlier stat, where people living within two miles of Downtown or 100% back in the office, that's real competitive advantage to grow the employee base, add new companies, and it's driven by housing. So we need to prioritize housing, we need to green tape it, streamline, and make it easier for developers, and financial institutions, and the design build community to continue to do infill development in Downtown. We have lots of infill opportunities left. So we hope that we can work with the city and revise the policy to kind of enable that pipeline to come back and fill up, as well as come up with some successful strategies to achieve affordable housing.
There are pressures in Downtown. Values go up, rents go up, so there's always pressure on affordable housing. You have to be very thoughtful, intentional to retain the housing you have, as well as add to it. And we think there's a very specific strategy out there that will help us advance that, and it's critically important because we think housing for all is one of the real advantages to Downtown. Someone coming out of high school or college can live Downtown, someone in the service industry, a waiter or a chef or ...
There's alternatives for the [inaudible 00:05:27] Downtown that are not auto-dependent, helps them put that eight grand, 10 grand a year in their pocket, for their education. And so we think it's really, really critically important that we have a continuum of options for people to move up to as they advance to their lives and their careers are downsized and that whole ecosystem of housing.
Kelly Scanlon:
What are some of the big projects that you have on your dashboard right now?
Bill Dietrich:
Well, big projects on my dashboard are projects such as the South Loop Project, which is to build a four-block park over I-670 from Wyandotte to Grand. It's a space that doesn't exist in our community. It'd be operated by a 501(c)(3) conservancy that did nothing but program that park 24/7 during 65 days a year. So there are concerts, there are community events, there are neighborhood events, there are book fairs, there are health fairs, there's yoga classes, there's rock climbing, there's dog parks. There's anything you think of that creates an active urban environment.
It's a 220-plus million-dollars project. Today, we've raised about 174 million.
Kelly Scanlon:
So more than two-thirds, about two-thirds. Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, with great expectations to break ground here in early spring. I guess we're not breaking ground because we're building something over again. We're making ground.
Kelly Scanlon:
But you're going to start in ... Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
We're going to start in the spring if all goes according to plan. We have a very ambitious timeline to have at least the superstructure of one or two of the blocks done by FIFA World Cup. So you think about connecting the Loews Hotel to the central business with all the great amenities going on. It'd be a wonderful experience for people. It says, I think great things about our communities.
We're working that in partnership with the city of Kansas City and Port KC, so it's kind of a three-party partnership, which is working really well together. So I'm very confident you're going to see that new investment come, and it's important ... People don't understand, it's like Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, if you've been there, are the Gene Leahy Park in Omaha, which are two great contemporary examples of how these become gathering places for your whole community, for visitors, for tourism. We have real commitment to STEAM programming, working with local public school districts, to make sure that the park is built in a way, that if they're studying ecology, or environmentalism, or water control and flow, they have an opportunity to be that curated experience for them in the park.
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly. You have a practical project that you're working on, and it's not just a bunch of textbooks and numbers on computers that you're ... Yeah, you see what you're applying, that it's growing before your eyes.
Bill Dietrich:
Exactly. Other projects that are really important to us, of course, are the Downtown, potential for the Royals, to make their new stadium and headquarters in Downtown, as well as a ballpark district around it. It's a couple billion dollars of new investment. That conversation's ongoing.
Kelly Scanlon:
It is, and it's just been in the news again in the last couple weeks with the Washington Square area.
Bill Dietrich:
Couple of- Yeah, exactly right. We believe that there are multiple sites that work Downtown, so we're kind of site-agnostic, but we think Downtown helps the Royals be as successful as they can be, and is the best return for our community because of the ability like ... These kind of unique assets and investments feed off each other.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, definitely. Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
And when you look at the new current stadium down on the riverfront, which what a great success story, that is now fortunate. We are in our community to have the first professional women's sports facility built here in our community.
Kelly Scanlon:
It is incredible, yes.
Bill Dietrich:
It just says such great things about our community. It's two kind of fun facts I'd learned. Some of the away teams are having their home games at our facility because it's more financially successful for them, as well as this year, which is really kind of neat, so we get more games here than just ...
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly.
Bill Dietrich:
Which is a lot of fun, as well as this year, the championship game will be played at CPKC Stadium, and that's really exciting, but those kind of investments feed off each other, and they spark new development. One of the things, because that investment is there, and because the mixed-use projects, $800 million is going forward on the riverfront, which is, isn't it great to see the riverfront finally come back after so many generations?
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes. Oh, it's so much fun. It's looking so good down there. But you talk about how this is all intertwined, and it strikes me, as you're talking about all this, going back to increasing the residential density. When you have all of these different amenities within walking distance of Downtown, that makes it a more attractive place to live too.
Bill Dietrich:
That is a strategy, yeah. Every great downtown needs 10 great destinations, and the richer we make that environment, the more fun, the more exciting, the more diverse, the more successful we're going to be in attracting new businesses and new investment. And one of the things I'm really thrilled about is that our Downtown today remains an affordable Downtown. Now, again, there's great pressures. It won't stay affordable if we don't be very thoughtful and conscious and intentional about helping it stay affordable, but it still is.
And we have over 2,500 units, which are affordable units in our Downtown out of the total kind of the inventory of about 17,000 units and growing. And we're also the most diverse neighborhood in our community, which I think says just great things, and that's diversity of ethnicity. We're pretty much split 50/50, men to women, so the demographics are very diverse, which is one of the strengths. It really enables us to offer something for everyone. So more of these assets that we put in the marketplace, the more attractive it becomes for folks to live there, as well as to work there.
The other projects I would mention, one would be the streetcar expansion. You see that going forward. I don't think people, along the line, from the Union Station to UMKC, have any idea what's coming their way. Private capital follows infrastructure investment. In Downtown, when we did the $100 million streetcar starter line, we did a Transportation-Oriented Development plan around it. So we're telling the market, "Here's the kind of investment we'd like to see, and so you can be more focused and targeted on what you're attracting."
And that's true going through Midtown down to the plaza, as well as UMKC. By having that TOD plan in place, a little more than $3 billion in investment have followed along that streetcar line. And when we talk to those developers, it's usually one of two answers. It's, "Look, I'm a national developer. I look around the country where people are doing these kind of investments.
I come and see if there's an opportunity. If there is, I come and invest, but for your streetcar, I wouldn't even looked at you." So there's that kind of group of folks, and the other ones are, it really heavily influenced my decision to say yes, and it's been, I think from an economic development strategy, successful, because a lot of that investment's not from our community, so we're attracting new capital to our marketplace that wasn't here prior to that. That trend is going to continue right down Main Street, and it's going to continue at the right size and appropriate scale. There's lots of great organizations like Midtown KC, who are kind of working right now with KCO, with the Streetcar authority and others, so it'll be very kind of right-sized, but you're going to see that infill happen, and you're going to see a more mixed-use residential retail kind of investment come in, which now are empty lots.
And so from an economic development perspective, great things are coming. The other one I always like to throw out to people is, imagine you're staying here on the plaza, in a beautiful hotel, and you can jump on a free streetcar, ride to Midtown, have lunch at a fabulous restaurant, jump back on, go to a concert at T-Mobile Center, or an event at the current stadium, and not need a car.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right, right. And the streetcars are free too, so you don't have to worry about additional transportation costs, and just even if you're not here visiting on the plaza, to attract people from the suburbs too, downtown. People always like, even with the stadium, the possibility of a stadium down, "Now, where are we going to park? Where are we going to park?" But the further the streetcar expands, that'll be able to take some of that pressure off of parking.
Bill Dietrich:
And give us more alternatives like parking ride opportunities. So driving from the suburbs, but park here, jump on the streetcar and ride Downtown, where you'll have less expensive rates in the suburbs or the kind of ... Not the suburbs because we're still in the urban car, but in the neighborhoods south of Downtown.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Bill Dietrich:
What we've seen Downtown, and we were really surprised by this, with the Streetcar project, we actually have greater ridership on the weekends than on weekdays.
Kelly Scanlon:
Because the people coming in from the outskirts.
Bill Dietrich:
People coming in from the outskirts are parking at River Market, and with the family and for fun, they go to the market, then they ride down Union Station, or Crown Center, where the aquarium is, but it's really becoming a destination connector, so it really enables people to discover their city in the way that they haven't before. Another project that is in its infancy, but the time is right for it, is to come up with a redevelopment plan for Grand Street. If you look at Grand Street, it should really be our Michigan Avenue. It should be our State Street, and it isn't, but there are a large number of really good property owners along that line who are looking forward to working with, as well as the city, to come up with a development plan, that really overlays, "What tools are here today? Where are the sites that we are prioritizing for infill development?"
And again, I guess my buzzwords for the year is thoughtful, intentional. If we're very thoughtful, intentional about this, we can see that we can build on the investment [inaudible 00:13:43] happen on Main and Walnut based on the streetcar over to Grand, and that's, for me, that's Grand really from the river all the way to south of Crown Center. Washington Square Park, which we mentioned as a potential ballpark site, needs revitalization. It's a space that is not conducive to activity.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, Blue Cross is exiting that area, a major employer.
Bill Dietrich:
Blue Cross is exiting, yeah, and we're thrilled to have Blue Cross in the central business district. They're going to add to that density. They're going to help support kind of the retail and the vibrant cultural and arts community and environment that's going forward today. And I think it's a headquarters. It sends very strong signals to the national and regional kind of marketplace that Downtown is a good place for kind of headquarter properties like that.
So we're really excited to see that, as an aside, coming into the marketplace. I think early next year is when we start populating.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, it's coming up, from what I've read.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, yeah. Goes by fast.
Kelly Scanlon:
With all of this going on, I'm curious to know how some of the more recent national and international spotlight events, for example is the NFL draft, the World Cup, those are just a few of them that are coming up, or hopefully we've got another Super Bowl coming up, but how are those kinds of spotlight events driving Downtown development?
Bill Dietrich:
What they do is they bring millions of new potential customers to Kansas City and to our Downtown. It exposes people to an environment that they may not have realized has changed as much as it has, and it's so important to expose people to the product.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right.
Bill Dietrich:
It makes a huge difference when people come. My friends and visitors and relatives from the coast, West Coast, where I'm from, come to Kansas City, and I think they have an expectation of Eastern Colorado or Western Kansas or something, and they go, "Wow, this is really pretty cool."
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, I have friends from LA who've said the same thing.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, yeah. And I love, because having the Power & Light District there is wonderful for these mega events.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, and it's so fun to see it on national television with everybody down there, celebrating during those events. Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
And I don't think that the Power & Light District being the official site for the FIFA World Cup a couple of years ago on the U.S site.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right.
Bill Dietrich:
I don't think that hurt us in a bit because it was like, "What commitment?"
Kelly Scanlon:
No.
Bill Dietrich:
So it exposes millions of new people to our Downtown, and I think that's really kind of an important part of it. The one I really love is that we've secured the Big 12 Tournament, Men's and Women's through 2031, I think it is, seven years, as well as the wrestling title, which is by visitors, larger than the basketball tournament, which is kind of amazing.
Kelly Scanlon:
Really?
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon:
The wrestling.
Bill Dietrich:
I think that's what Kathy Nelson told me down at the CBA and Sports Commission, thank you. Yeah, it's kind of surprising, but apparently, people travel from all these Midwest universities.
Kelly Scanlon:
It's kind of like the race car folks who just go all over the country and follow their favorite drivers.
Bill Dietrich:
And follow their favorite drivers.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, exactly. And I think that's so cool, and I really appreciate that because these are regional folks. These are folks from Des Moines, from Oklahoma City, from all these places that come and have a great time in the Power & Light District during the event. It's a real activity generator and people generator. You can't buy the kind of publicity that Kansas City has gotten over the last year with FIFA World Cup.
I mean, having ... I just saw today in the paper, Jason and Travis Kelce signed a $100 million podcast contract.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, for heaven's sakes, I saw that too. My gosh.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Taylor Swift doesn't hurt either.
Kelly Scanlon:
No. It sure doesn't.
Bill Dietrich:
But, you know, you never know when momentum comes.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
You don't know how long it stays with you, and you don't know when it leaves.
Kelly Scanlon:
That's true.
Bill Dietrich:
So write it while you have it. And these national events and the great work they're doing at Sports Commission and Visit KC, to track these kind of venues, will have an indelible effect on our community. FIFA will be, I think, the largest event ever hosted by Kansas City.
Kelly Scanlon:
It doesn't surprise me.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, it doesn't surprise me either, and it's a global event, being a host city actually added to that.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right. You mentioned something a few minutes ago. You brought up about the safety. You hear that in various parts of our city, the safety, go out at night and enjoy all of the wonderful things that you've talked about, the events, the restaurants, and so forth, but people won't do it if they don't feel safe. What are you doing to address that issue?
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, and the crime spike post-COVID is very real throughout our entire city, as well as almost every city in America, and I'm not even sure why that is. I mean, I think there's a probably complicated matrix of reasons that come together to, given this kind of spike, but concerns us very much. And, again, we track the metrics in our greater Downtown area really closely on crime, and that spike that we've seen is mostly crimes against property, so it's breaking into a car or those kinds of crimes, otherwise the stats are very low Downtown. It's a very safe Downtown, but you only have to look at St. Louis to see a wonderful city, a peer city that I love dearly, horribly impacted by crime and perceptions that's not safe in there in Downtown. I mentioned earlier we had 33,000 people living in Downtown Kansas City. You have 6,000 living in St. Louis.
Kelly Scanlon:
Big difference, yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
And the architecture, there is so monumental structure, and they have not had the repopulation of their office buildings like we have had in our marketplace. It just feels unsafe when you're the only person on the street. You're looking for someone to make you feel more comfortable. That's where our community improvement district does. Having 65 folks out in that street every day, you always have someone who can help you, heck, find out where the bus goes, or how to get to the streetcar, or where a nice restaurant is. So they're really trained really well in those kind of concierge services.
Kelly Scanlon:
And these are the YellowJackets?
Bill Dietrich:
These are the YellowJackets, yeah. These are paid for by the business community and the central business district and the River Market. They self-assess to create a budget, to provide clean, safe, green, and assistance with the kind of transitional homelessness, and by doing that, by being evolved in that marketplace every day, the sidewalks are clean, graffiti's taken down immediately. If you're like in a Hollywood movie and you're making a crime scene, you'd go in an alleyway and break out a few lights, and put up some graffiti, and throw in a dumpster, well, these are the folks who go back and stand that dumpster up, and get rid of that graffiti, and work with those property owners, get that window fixed, or that light back on, and it's had a profound impact. I'm not sure there's anything profound, positive impact on Downtown, the River Market.
I'm not sure there's anything we've done in 20 years that was more important than taking back the control, the quality of our product. Another thing they do, by the way, is they leverage your investment. So there are kind of base budgets about three million a year, and through just contracting with a wide range of folks from MoDOT to the library, to the streetcar, and you expand that reach by sharing this kind of public safety network. So there are annual budgets, about six million a year. Again, I think we have approximately 65, 70 employees, and they're kind of split up between a landscaping team and a maintenance team and a public safety team.
We call them ambassadors because they're soft security. They're eyes and ears. They're there to help you, walk you to your car, if it's late in the evening and you're feeling uncomfortable. They're just really there to provide that community feel. I would say they set the stage for all the good things that have happened, and I cannot tell you how many compliments I've gotten from both local and visitors on, "Your ambassador helped me." By the way, just in closing on that, our public safety team is connected by radio to the central dispatch to the police department.
Kelly Scanlon:
So they can get the police out there quickly.
Bill Dietrich:
And we're huge advocates for increasing the police budget, and we're just successful in getting a B patrol reinstituted in Downtown, which a B patrol is important, because those are officers who aren't driving cars and chasing 911 calls. Those are folks who are working in your community, problem-solving. We have an issue here, and they'll work with our CID teams to reclaim that public space. More importantly, they're coming to community meetings, they're participating with different neighborhood organizations, problem-identifying, and then problem-solving, and bringing kind of outside police resources to bear, which may not have known about that. That was an issue if they hadn't been kind of eyes and ears to the police department in that environment.
Community policing to me is a huge deal, and without the Community Improvement District, this KCPD wouldn't have a working partner. They're also huge advocates for capital investment. I mean, over the years, we've gotten millions of dollars invested in Downtown for sidewalks, and intersections, and curbs, and gutters, and storm drains. That wouldn't have happened, but for the Squeaky Wheel constantly saying, "We need this, we need this to be competitive." I used to tell people, "You think about suburban alternatives, I can go this nice, clean parking lot, and park in this big building. Everything works," or back in 2002, Downtown, the street lights didn't work, the curbs were all busted, the storms ...
How do you sell class A product when that's kind of the environment? And the CID has changed out 180 over the last 15, 20 years.
Kelly Scanlon:
I'm going to take you a little bit further south now to the Plaza, where we are right here. What advice would you give to the new Plaza owners and the Plaza Council, because it strikes me, especially you just talked about 2002, which coincides with about the time you got here, it strikes me that they may be in the same position that you were in when you came to Kansas City from Seattle? So do you have any advice you'd like to offer to them?
Bill Dietrich:
A couple things on that. What's really exciting about the streetcar coming down through the Plaza to UMKC, it dictates urban form because the type of investment that comes along with it, and it also really connects these different parts of our city together. In Mayor Barnes, she had that vision of string of pearls.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Bill Dietrich:
And there was the River Crown Center Plaza. I mean, that's kind of the vision, and we're seeing that happen. So the Plaza area is really at the front end of ... I think you put it very appropriately, of organizing, of kind of beginning to inventory their needs assessment, and how can they maximize this new ownership group to benefit the entire neighborhood that is beyond just the retail that the new ownership group will be controlling? I think they have a really good team on board.
We actually met with them several times, just providing kind of background support, real basic questions that in that pre-development phase, you should be asking. So I think one, they've got a good team. I think they're putting together a little war chest to develop a Downtown Council type organization that represents the Plaza beyond, just beyond the retail, the resident, you have lots of issues with the infrastructure, public safety, cleanliness, the same type of issues. So I'm very confident that that's going to happen, that they're going to get the ... Well, they already have. I mean, they're going to build on it, create a business plan, a work plan, and have some good, positive impact over the years.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about your wish list. You've got a full plate, obviously. You have been called a positive visionary. I've seen that in several places. So if you could put on those visionary glasses of yours, what would we see?
Bill Dietrich:
I think that what we would see is continued residential growth, see 45,000 people living Downtown by the next seven years. That's kind of our projection curve, and I can't understate that, the importance of residents. There are 24/7 users of your Downtown and of your plaza and of your kind of midtown. They bring a political clout with them. Council members and others listen to voters, listen to residents, so it's really important, I think, from an advocacy perspective.
So continue residential growth, completing the South Loop Project. Again, this is a space that will ... I mean, think about the gorge between the Crossroads Arts District and the Central Business District, that is I-670. I was chatting with a GM over at Loews the other day, and they have this beautiful outdoor space on the north side of the hotel that no one goes to because it's loud, it smells of exhaust, it's noisy. It's not a pleasant environment. Imagine standing there, looking out at a four-block, five-and-half acre park that had climbing walls for-
Kelly Scanlon:
Changes everything.
Bill Dietrich:
Yeah, yeah. It had a playground area, had a dog park, had a Makers Faire kind of entrepreneurial space, where startup companies could come and show their Kansas City products, and programmed every day with concerts and kind of those activities that you want to see in your Downtown. It's transformational, it's generational. It is an investment that generation from today, people look back and say, "That was a good thing." It's one of the few projects I've worked on in 20 plus years here that has universal kind of support.
Kelly Scanlon:
Interesting.
Bill Dietrich:
I mean, think about this. We were able to advocate and receive $20.6 million from the federal government for this project. The team has gotten two tranches of funds from the state of ... I think they matched the Fed's 26.8, and 15 million additional this year, as well as five million tax credits, so you're approaching 50 million from the state for this project, about 25 million private sector with a goal of 50 to be kind of a third, a third, a third is the model and how the funding goes, but what I've ... I mean, think about the composition of the Missouri state legislature, and that they would vote almost unanimously for urban park.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right. That was a real win.
Bill Dietrich:
It is a real win. Yeah, and it speaks to the project. I mean, people, again, see it and kind of intuitively understand, "Wow, this is something that is transformational." That's one of my huge priorities. We really have an opportunity, again, like another generational opportunities, the Downtown Ballpark, streetcar expansion.
We've got to go north and south. Before I leave, I'd love to have that first East-West leg.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, yes. Yes.
Bill Dietrich:
One of the things I'd love to see happen is 18th and Vine get connected down Southwest Boulevard, so you connect these two wonderful heritage districts together for visitors, and guests, and friends, and employees, and residents. If that were the first East-West leg, it would actually help support the good investment that's happening today. Down at 18th and Vine, we're seeing a new residential project went in called One Nine Vine, a great new retail and office shared kind of office space at the Vine Street Brewery. First black-owned brewery, yeah. Very cool.
Great people. As we were talking earlier, the Zhou B Art Center, which is the old Attucks School, which how many years did that sit, blighting the east side of 18th and Vine? It now becomes a center for arts and culture. It's not only has gallery space, but it has workspace for artists in our community and nationally, so it's an amazing new facility.
Kelly Scanlon:
Definitely, yes.
Bill Dietrich:
Green infrastructure is important to me. We're really a hardscape Downtown still. Our tree canopy rates really low. I mean-
Kelly Scanlon:
That's true, yeah.
Bill Dietrich:
That leads to health issues for people living in the neighborhoods, asthma and other kind of things, because there's not kind of clean enough and there's not enough tree canopy. That's why the South Loop Project's so important to me. Five a half acres of new green space. We're working with the city, and I think another one is to make sure that that's another priority, is to make sure that the South Loop Project is integrated to Barney Allis Plaza, which is kind of the convention center's garage, but on top, they're going to put a Park Plaza. And one of the neat things about this, if you go to Barney Allis today, and you stand at the Marriott and you look south, you'll see the top of municipal auditorium and the top of the music hall.
They're going to bring that down to grade. And so suddenly, you'll stand at that same viewpoint, and you'll see these two of the best art deco examples in America, these beautiful will anchor the southern end of the park.
Kelly Scanlon:
That looks wonderful.
Bill Dietrich:
And you'll see the entire facades of the buildings, and so we want to make sure that as we put this conservancy in place, that will manage the park seven days a week, 24/7, which is one of the differences, by the way, because we have lots of wonderful parks and wonderful parks department. This will be proactive, programmed public space, and that's kind of stepping over a new hurdle. So it's not a passive space with things in the park that you can do, it'll be a heavily programmed space, and we want to integrate that with Barney Allis Plaza so that they're managed in coordination. Very excited about kind of looking at these green infrastructure ideas of, "How do we make Downtown ..." Again, putting more amenities in environment, things like dog parks. If I have 33-
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, no. People love those.
Bill Dietrich:
If you have 33,000 residents, we got 45,000 dogs. You know what that is? They all need to go somewhere. And we've had some good success in creating some, but you always need more.
Kelly Scanlon:
You've been here for about 20 years, maybe a little more than 20 years, came from Seattle. And as you said, you had a big job to do, and you still do, but I mean, you really had a big job to do when you hit Kansas City. What do you think's been your greatest achievement?
Bill Dietrich:
You're right, we have lots of opportunities yet for new investments, so we're a work in progress. We're only kind of halfway to where we need to be, and our competition isn't waiting for us, so we need to keep our foot on that gas pedal going forward. You know, I thought about this question, and I appreciate you asking. It isn't something specific. For me, I think the greatest accomplishment that the Downtown Council has achieved is creating a kind of common space where people can develop a shared agenda.
We all disagree on a lot of things, but where are the 10 we can all agree on and work together towards making happen? And we really changed the focus from, "How do we revitalize an old, tired office core?," to a much broader focus of, "How can we create a sustainable, resilient, diverse, mixed-use environment that embraces business, embraces residents, but embraces culture, and arts, and entertainment, and sports?" And I think we've done that. It creates a sense of pride in our citizens from the whole community around. And to me, that's our greatest accomplishment, is that we turn that around from nobody cares about Downtown.
Oh, the old saying is you're all the time have had a dollar for every time I heard, "Oh, it's good enough for Kansas City." Well, no. These new residents and new businesses, they demand more, right? They're like, "Why can't we have streetcars? Why can't we have sports venues? Why can't we have entertainment, and arts, and culture, and restaurants?"
So I think that's what we've accomplished, is changing it from a hopeless kind of situation to one that's full of hope. We can deal with those. We are resilient. We came out of COVID better than almost every city in America based on our kind of diverse, resilient economy that we built in our Downtown. So for me, that's clearly the greatest accomplishment in my mind, is changes from a city that say, "Why?," to one that says, "Why not?"
Kelly Scanlon:
Bill, thank you so much for all that you and your team are doing at the Downtown Council, and for all the collaborative efforts that you have embraced, because they will get you a lot further as you said. And thank you especially for joining us today and bringing us up-to-date on everything that's going on.
Bill Dietrich:
Well, thank you for the opportunity, Kelly. It was very enjoyable.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Bill Dietrich for joining us on this episode of Banking on KC. Kansas City has made significant strides in revitalizing and transforming our Downtown area. The focus on community development and economic expansion has shaped a vibrant, sustainable city center that attracts business and residential growth. Through the advocacy and initiatives of the Downtown Council, collaborative efforts are fostering an environment where diverse, mixed-use spaces thrive, supporting culture, arts, and entertainment alongside commercial development.
At Country Club Bank, we are proud to support and be a part of these transformative efforts. We believe in the power of community and the potential of our city to continue growing into a destination and a home that offers opportunities for all. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, member FDIC.