By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
May 13, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — There were a lot of firsts last week with Hardesty Renaissance.

Last Tuesday, during an open house, was the first time the public has been allowed to step inside Building 11. The building is on schedule for clean-up completion by July 1, 2015.

Throughout the evening, Ernesto J. Vigoreaux, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Real Estate Development for Asian Americans for Equality [AAFE], continually teased the announcement of Building 11’s first tenant. As excitement built throughout the evening, Vigoreaux had to break his silence sooner than he would’ve liked because the company’s owner had to leave early. After several guest speakers, Vigoreaux announced that the first tenant of Hardesty Renaissance is Rawxies.

Rawxies is a gluten-free, vegan and living foods company that creates delicious snacks that bridge the gap between nutritious food bars and indulgent desserts. The company’s owner, Callie England, said when she moved her company from San Francisco back to her hometown of Kansas City, Hardesty Renaissance was exactly what she was looking for. Negotiations with England and Rawxies began this past February and building 11 should be ready for the company to move into by Jan. 1, 2016.

“I am 100 percent on board with the purpose and dream [of Hardesty Renaissance],” England said. “When I was introduced to this project, I was so excited because it was everything that I wanted when I moved my company back to Kansas City from California.”

Vigoreaux was proud to announce his first tenant was a local, woman-led Kansas City health food company.

“You have to study the community and study its needs,” Vigoreaux said, adding this company is exactly what the Northeast needs. “The belief we have in the site she [England] bring to it as well.”

During the ceremony Vigoreaux, told the crowd of nearly 100 people AAFE is close to completion of phase one of the complex’s redevelopment – which includes the clean-up and reactivation of building 11, the first of six building on the 500,000 square feet site. And as of today, Hardesty Renaissance Economic Development Corporation [HREDC] has cleared roughly 24,000 linear feet of asbestos, roughly 12,000 square feet of lead-based paint has been stabilized and around 30, 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste has been removed from building 11. Also, HREDC has spent approximately $1.4 million on the site.

After the ceremony, tours of the building were held, to give attendees an idea of what the inside could and will look like once the rehabilitation process is complete.

Charles Herring, the vice president of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, attended the open house to see what was going on in his backyard. He said what Vigoreaux has proposed reminds him of the old City Market. And even though this transformation isn’t really his cup of tea, he supports the rehabilitation of the complex.

“It’s been a slow process but when it opens it’ll be good to the community,” Herring said. “Their plan is beneficial to the neighborhood.”