Layne Stracener

Editorial Assistant

The Pendleton ArtsBlock is scheduled to be completed by August 31. The goal is for residents to be able to move in by September, according to Brinshore Development Executive Vice President Todd Lieberman.

Lieberman gave an update and tour of the Pendleton ArtsBlock at the monthly Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Pendleton ArtsBlock is an apartment being built on the Paseo Gateway. It is catered to artists and located in Pendleton Heights – a mixed-income community.

“The goal is that regardless of what you make, you have an opportunity here,” Lieberman said. “It’s not about where you live – but how you live.”

In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development executed a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant to renovate the Paseo Gateway. The Pendleton ArtsBlock is part of the multi-phased Paseo Gateway project. The construction of Pendleton ArtsBlock costs about $5.7 million, according to Lieberman.

So far, the Pendleton ArtsBlock has received 200 pre-applications and 400 calls from people interested in living there. Full applications will be accepted in a month, and artists get first priority.

Space on the first floor is reserved to give resident artists an entrepreneurial opportunity to participate in the Start Up residency program and live there for free for one year.

“This art-focused program is a partnership between the developer and the Charlotte Street Foundation, who is instrumental in providing support and catalytic opportunities for Kansas City-based arts initiatives, entrepreneurs, and collaborative groups in their earliest stages of development,” according to the Pendleton ArtsBlock website.

The first floor also offers an art workshop space, fitness center and community gathering space. Pendleton ArtsBlock will also offer its residents enrichment services through the Mattie Rhodes Center.

Lieberman said the first floor will be available for community meetings and events.

“It’s a place for micro-retail providers to really extend their impact,” Lieberman said.

Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bobbi Baker-Hughes said she thinks the Pendleton ArtsBlock is a great addition to Pendleton Heights because it will bring the community together and offer opportunities to artists.

“This gives artists a great space to not only live but to share their art,” Baker-Hughes said. “Our artists are starving because they don’t really have the business background they need with marketing and accounting and everything. This is going to allow that to happen and then they can really flourish.”

The building will have 38 units: 6 spacious loft-style studios, 21 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom units. The cost of rent ranges from $400 a month for a studio apartment to $800 a month for a two-bedroom.

Each unit is an open-floor plan and includes a washer and dryer, thermostat, dishwasher, refrigerator, microwave, oven and range. Every floor will have a chemical sink to dispose of paint and other materials. The Pendleton ArtsBlock is certified by Enterprise Green Communities and uses Energy Star appliances to save energy.

For more information, visit PendletonArtsBlock.com.