Dorri Partain

Managing Editor

Following discussions involving Kansas City’s Planning and Development Department, the Housing Authority of Kansas City (HAKC) and the federal office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), approval to sell the 6.8 acre parcel — once the site of Chouteau Courts public housing — will allow for new development, namely a mental health facility built and operated by the State of Missouri and University Health.

A public engagement session was held on Aug. 12, 2024 to outline the proposed facility, with representatives from the Missouri Department of Mental Health, University Health’s Behavioral Health Administration and Missouri House of Representatives District 19 legislator, Ingrid Burnett present. Comments during this session ranged from positive — supporting the need for additional mental health services within Kansas City — to negative, due to the amount of such services already concentrated in Historic Northeast.

Kansas City City Council voted unanimously to support Ordinance #240691 on Aug. 15, 2024.

While the site for this development was presented as “Belvidere Park,” this site proposal includes property at 533 Tracy Ave., 1408 and 1200 Independence Ave. — the former site of Chouteau Courts.

Belvidere Park was vacated as park land by vote in November 2019 and Chouteau Courts was demolished in 2020. HAKC acquired the property in 1955 to build its third low income housing on the northeast side.

Columbus Park resident Kate Barsotti contacted the Executive Director of HAKC, Edwin Lowndes following the Aug. 12 announcement and received this reply, in an email:

“The Housing Authority intends to sell/dispose of the Chouteau Courts property, however, we have not agreed to sell our property to the City or any other entity.  In fact, we continue to remind the City representatives that we are required to follow a very specific process when selling any property that was formerly a public housing site and supported by HUD funding.  This process includes obtaining authorization from HUD.  HUD has a specific process that we are required to follow and this will take some time to complete.”

On Dec. 16, 2024, Barsotti attended a meeting at the HAKC office (3822 Summit St.), to testify on behalf of Northeast residents opposed to the project. Barsotti provided the following information to the Northeast News; No media was advised in advance of this meeting, according to Barsotti.

John Monroe, director of the City’s Planning and Development department, presented to Lowndes and the HAKC board during same meeting this Recommended Action:

“It is recommended that the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of Kansas City, Missouri authorize and approve the Executive Director to seek HUD approval of the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s offer to purchase 6.8 acres of vacant land that was the site of the former Chouteau Courts public housing development for the nominal sum of ten dollars and execute all documents and exhibits required to complete the sale to the city upon HUD approval.”

The nominal sum offered was justified as: “this site is not suitable for affordable housing redevelopment due to its isolation and the need for environmental remediation … estimated cost for the remediation is $16,9996,802 as determined by TetraTech. This cost is in excess of the site appraisal. Thus, the net fair market value is $0.00.”

This site’s appraised commercial value is $1,630,000. The isolated location is due to the construction of the midtown freeway (Interstates 35 and 70) during the 1950s.

Prior to the demolition of Chouteau Courts, the 22 buildings on-site were tested for asbestos and household hazardous waste, with each building certified by an environmental firm as removed.

An email query to Lowndes from the Northeast News confirmed “that the asbestos and household hazardous waste was disposed of as part of the demolition process. The environmental issues that remain involve the ground itself. Apparently, due to uses of the land prior to the construction of Chouteau Courts, including a gas station and dry cleaning facility, there is significant ground contamination that requires clean up prior to any new construction occurring. The City and State provided the estimates based on an independent contractor’s analysis.”

26 residences and business structures were razed in 1957 to clear the site for Chouteau Court’s construction. A City Council announcement in 1956 approving the site stated “(new) public housing represents just one phase in Kansas City’s war on slums.”

Chouteau Courts was completed and ready for occupancy in October 1958 with 140 units.

Following demolition, the site was included in a study by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in October 2020. A Northeast News article published on Oct. 28 stated, “The panel’s designers created various options for what future development could look like, including office space and housing. The five-year plan for the development includes repurposing the area that is currently the highway on ramp area between Forest and Troost avenues, developing a corridor reinvestment strategy for the properties on the south side of Independence Avenue, the Paseo Gateway Realignment project, and the addition of bus rapid transit.”

Recalling that study, Barsotti said, “The ULI report was evidently just aspirational and had nothing to it. It let everyone have false hope.”

The site at Independence Avenue and The Paseo has seen numerous camps for the unhoused with one proposal for a more official camp. In a story published Nov. 10, 2020, Northeast News wrote: 

“The Downtown Council, an organization of downtown business and property owners, is looking to the City and Jackson County to fund a proposal to establish a camp for unhoused people on the site of the former Chouteau Courts housing project.” The proposal offered space for 25 tents and monitoring with two on-site staff members. Northeast residents quickly vetoed the idea and it did not proceed.

Lowndes retired from his position at HAKC and did not inform the Northeast News of HUD’s approval of the purchase offer. Neither the City or the State of Missouri has commented on which entity will pay remediation costs.

For previous coverage of this development visit https://northeastnews.net/pages/?s=state+facility.