Quality Hill
Encyclopedia
Quality Hill is a historic neighborhood near downtown
Kansas City
, Missouri
, USA
, situated on a 200-foot-high bluff which overlooks the confluence of the Kansas River
and Missouri River
in the West Bottoms
below.
It is located on the west side of downtown, bounded by Broadway to the east, I-35
to the west, 7th Street to the north, and 14th Street to the south. The Kansas
border is half a mile away through the West Bottoms. Since 1978, Quality Hill has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. Today, it includes residences, large businesses (including the headquarters of Kansas City Southern Industries
and DST Systems Inc.
and a large branch of the State Street Corporation
), retail establishments, entertainment venues, two cathedrals, and private clubs.
itself, Quality Hill is the oldest established residential area in the Kansas City metropolitan area
to remain continuously inhabited.
and English
, which states that the corner was the site of an early-18th-century French
missionary
church, the oldest structure known to have been built by Europeans in the region. This would have been in keeping with the era of French fur trappers who traveled the region's rivers. The first officially recorded church on the site, however, was built in 1822 at the behest of François Chouteau
, who is credited with being Kansas City's first Euro-American permanent settler and chartering what would become Kansas City.
Today, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
, seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, is located on the site of Chouteau's church. Known for its gold
-covered dome, the cathedral is the oldest standing building on Quality Hill. Two blocks down Washington Street is Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, which was built beginning in the 1860s, and serves as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese
of West Missouri. Several buildings on Quality Hill date to before the Civil War.
On September 15, 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition
stopped on what is now Quality Hill, on its return from the Pacific Ocean
. Meriwether Lewis
noted in his journal that the site offered a "commanding situation for a fort." Today, the site is commemorated by a large bronze sculpture, informational signposts, and a lookout point at the north end of Case Park, located at 8th Street and Jefferson Street.
in 1857 and a short time after the end of World War I
, Quality Hill was the most fashionable and expensive neighborhood in Kansas City. Many of the city's leaders of power and industry lived high on Quality Hill's limestone bluffs in large houses overlooking the West Bottoms below, which contained the city's industrial heart, rail center, and famous stockyards
. There, they had ready access to their businesses and to the ports of commerce.
One figure who greatly influenced Quality Hill's rise was notorious political boss Tom Pendergast
. In the early 1900s, his brother, Jim Pendergast, a saloon owner in the West Bottoms, began a Democratic Party
political machine which soon achieved nearly total power over politics in the region. His chief rival was Joe Shannon
. Shannon's faction was nicknamed "the rabbits" because of their connection to the old ways of doing things in lowlands along the rivers (one of the early nicknames for Kansas City was "Rabbitville"), while the Pendergast faction was nicknamed "the goats" because of their desire to climb out of the Bottoms. Tom Pendergast succeeded his brother.
In 1941, Pendergast arranged for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's Works Progress Administration
to have a large park built on Quality Hill overlooking the Kansas City Downtown Airport
, which also was built during his reign. This park remains as Case Park today, occupying the entire edge of Quality Hill's bluffs. Tom Pendergast commissioned a statue of his brother Jim to be placed in the park, and it remains there today. Until the completion of Kansas City International Airport
in 1972, Case Park was a popular spot to watch planes take off from the Downtown Airport. One consideration in deciding to build the new airport was that when taking off from the Downtown Airport, planes had climb steeply to avoid the 200-foot bluffs and Quality Hill's buildings. Today, the Kansas City Riverfront Bicycle Trail, a 20-mile bicycle route along the Missouri River around downtown Kansas City, also runs through the park and along the bluff.
In 1953, the American Hereford Association
placed a fiberglass
statue of a bull on a 90-foot pylon at its headquarters at 715 Kirk Drive, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower
presiding. The bull was nicknamed "Bob" by locals, a name derived from the acronym created by the phrase "bull on building." It either was loved as an icon or reviled as kitsch detracting from the city's beauty. The statue's sculptor was Will Decker with Rochetti and Parzini of New York City
, and was manufactured at the Colonial Plastic Corporation of Newark, New Jersey
.
Beginning in the 1960s, Downtown Kansas City's population began a steep decline. The city's center of population
moved south, and those who used to live on Quality Hill gradually moved to upscale areas farther south, such as the Country Club Plaza
and Sunset Hill
. As a result, Quality Hill gradually fell into extreme disrepair.
By the mid-1970s, most of the old Quality Hill mansions were owned by Arnold Garfinkle, an investor. "Mysteriously," over the course of only a few years, all of the stately houses he owned burned to the ground, thereby erasing much of Kansas City's rich history from its oldest neighborhood. Thereafter, the Hall Family Foundation
, DST Systems, and the Kauffman Foundation
acquired nearly all of Quality Hill. They built many new structures, both residential and commercial, and refurbished some old ones. In the 1980s, the Hall Family Foundation granted management rights over its eight-block portion to a private lessor company from St. Louis, McCormack Baron Ragan (now McCormack Baron Salazar). After several years, the Foundation gave the property to the company, subject to certain restrictions.
In the 1990s, the architecture firm HNTB
bought the American Hereford building for its world headquarters and removed the bull statue from the building. In 2002, HNTB and other firms arranged to have it moved across I-35 to Mulkey Square.
In 2004, Kansas City Southern Industries completed a multi-million dollar new headquarters, designed after Quality Hill's distinctive architectural style, located between the two cathedrals. Around that time, State Street purchased Quality Hill property from DST Systems and opened a major branch. The Heart of America United Way (the Kansas City Metropolitan Area branch of the United Way) also maintains its headquarters in the heart of Quality Hill, in the former Virginia Hotel and two 19th-century houses along Washington and Pennsylvania streets.
Since its initial refurbishment, Quality Hill once again has become a highly upscale urban neighborhood. It is widely regarded as one of the best successes in urban renewal
in the United States. Quality Hill's attractiveness to potential inhabitants derives from both its historic beauty and its ready access to the cultural and business benefits of downtown Kansas City. Its architecture – both historic and new, echoing Kansas City's origins and in a similar architectural style to St. Louis's
historic Soulard
neighborhood – is mostly in a 19th-century French colonial style.
In February 2008, McCormack Baron Salazar, who owned and managed its large property as a development called New Quality Hill sold 21 buildings consisting of 382 residential units to C.R.E.S. Management LLC, a Kansas City-based development company. It plans a major restoration and revitalization of all the buildings and area landscape. Many other properties today are privately owned, including residences and businesses. Quality Hill still does contain a great deal of undeveloped land, most of which is owned by DST Systems and the Kauffman Foundation
. This includes several large, often-unused parking lots and many vacant house lots. It remains unclear when or if the land will be developed, or what it will become.
The Kauffman Foundation has continued refurbishing its remaining historic buildings for lease. Recently some residents voiced concerns that the New Quality Hill portion of the neighborhood slowly is falling into disrepair once again. McCormick Baron Salazar initially said it was working to address those concerns, but in November 2006 but instead decided to sell the bulk of its property on Quality Hill.
As redevelopment of Downtown Kansas City burgeons, and with the population having swelled from 3,000 in 2002 to over 16,000 in 2006, Quality Hill's population continues to grow rapidly (and the cost of living there continues to increase).
The Quality Hill Playhouse, one of downtown Kansas City's most popular theater venues, features many Broadway
and off-Broadway
shows.
The River Club, one of Kansas City's most exclusive private clubs
, also is located on Quality Hill, on 8th Street between Jefferson Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Lewis and Clark historic site.
Downtown Kansas City
Downtown Kansas City is the central business district of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It is located between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east to Troost Avenue as defined by officials of the...
Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, situated on a 200-foot-high bluff which overlooks the confluence of the Kansas River
Kansas River
The Kansas River is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwestern-most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwestern-most portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its name come from the Kanza people who once inhabited the area...
and Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
in the West Bottoms
West Bottoms
The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River. The area is one of the oldest areas of the city....
below.
It is located on the west side of downtown, bounded by Broadway to the east, I-35
Interstate 35
Interstate 35 is a north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. I-35 stretches from Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border to Duluth, Minnesota, at Minnesota Highway 61 and 26th Avenue East. Many interstates used to have splits or spurs indicated with suffixed letters , but I-35...
to the west, 7th Street to the north, and 14th Street to the south. The Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
border is half a mile away through the West Bottoms. Since 1978, Quality Hill has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Today, it includes residences, large businesses (including the headquarters of Kansas City Southern Industries
Kansas City Southern Industries
Kansas City Southern Industries is the former diversified parent company of the Kansas City Southern Railway, a Class I railroad headquartered in the Quality Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, USA...
and DST Systems Inc.
DST Systems Inc.
DST Systems Inc. is a software development firm that specializes in information processing and management, with the goal of improving efficiency, productivity, and customer service...
and a large branch of the State Street Corporation
State Street Corp.
State Street Corporation, or simply State Street, is a U.S.-based financial services holding company. State Street was founded in 1792, and is headquartered in the Financial District area of Boston at One Lincoln Street...
), retail establishments, entertainment venues, two cathedrals, and private clubs.
History
Situated within fourteen blocks of the Missouri RiverMissouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
itself, Quality Hill is the oldest established residential area in the Kansas City metropolitan area
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
to remain continuously inhabited.
French Origins
The Chouteau Society, a society dedicated to marking Kansas City's French origins, erected a signpost at the northwest corner of 11th Street and Washington Street, in both FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, which states that the corner was the site of an early-18th-century French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
church, the oldest structure known to have been built by Europeans in the region. This would have been in keeping with the era of French fur trappers who traveled the region's rivers. The first officially recorded church on the site, however, was built in 1822 at the behest of François Chouteau
Francois Chouteau
François Gesseau Chouteau was an American pioneer fur trader, businessman and community leader known as the "Founder" or "Father" of Kansas City, Missouri....
, who is credited with being Kansas City's first Euro-American permanent settler and chartering what would become Kansas City.
Today, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Kansas City, Missouri)
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is a Catholic cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. Along with the Cathedral of St. Joseph it is the seat of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. It is a contributing property in the Quality Hill neighborhood, which is listed on the...
, seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, is located on the site of Chouteau's church. Known for its gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
-covered dome, the cathedral is the oldest standing building on Quality Hill. Two blocks down Washington Street is Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, which was built beginning in the 1860s, and serves as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese
Dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
The Episcopal Church is governed by a General Convention and consists of 100 dioceses in the United States proper, plus ten dioceses in other countries or outlying U.S. territories and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, which is similar to a diocese....
of West Missouri. Several buildings on Quality Hill date to before the Civil War.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
stopped on what is now Quality Hill, on its return from the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
noted in his journal that the site offered a "commanding situation for a fort." Today, the site is commemorated by a large bronze sculpture, informational signposts, and a lookout point at the north end of Case Park, located at 8th Street and Jefferson Street.
Quality Hill's Heyday
Between its formal inception as a neighborhood by Kersey CoatesKersey Coates
Kersey Coates was a Kansas City, Missouri businessman who developed Quality Hill, founded the Kansas City Board of Trade, and one of the businessmen who attracted the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to the city....
in 1857 and a short time after the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Quality Hill was the most fashionable and expensive neighborhood in Kansas City. Many of the city's leaders of power and industry lived high on Quality Hill's limestone bluffs in large houses overlooking the West Bottoms below, which contained the city's industrial heart, rail center, and famous stockyards
Kansas City Stockyards
The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991.Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from the 1948 to its closing in 1991.-History:...
. There, they had ready access to their businesses and to the ports of commerce.
One figure who greatly influenced Quality Hill's rise was notorious political boss Tom Pendergast
Tom Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...
. In the early 1900s, his brother, Jim Pendergast, a saloon owner in the West Bottoms, began a Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
political machine which soon achieved nearly total power over politics in the region. His chief rival was Joe Shannon
Joe Shannon
For the Major League Baseball player of the same name, see Joe Shannon .Joseph Bernard Shannon was a Democratic political boss in Kansas City, Missouri that was a rival to the more dominant Pendergast political machine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Shannon was born in St...
. Shannon's faction was nicknamed "the rabbits" because of their connection to the old ways of doing things in lowlands along the rivers (one of the early nicknames for Kansas City was "Rabbitville"), while the Pendergast faction was nicknamed "the goats" because of their desire to climb out of the Bottoms. Tom Pendergast succeeded his brother.
In 1941, Pendergast arranged for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
to have a large park built on Quality Hill overlooking the Kansas City Downtown Airport
Kansas City Downtown Airport
Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport , also known as Kansas City Downtown Airport, is a public airport located in Kansas City, Clay County, Missouri, United States. This airport is publicly owned by City of Kansas City.-History:...
, which also was built during his reign. This park remains as Case Park today, occupying the entire edge of Quality Hill's bluffs. Tom Pendergast commissioned a statue of his brother Jim to be placed in the park, and it remains there today. Until the completion of Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...
in 1972, Case Park was a popular spot to watch planes take off from the Downtown Airport. One consideration in deciding to build the new airport was that when taking off from the Downtown Airport, planes had climb steeply to avoid the 200-foot bluffs and Quality Hill's buildings. Today, the Kansas City Riverfront Bicycle Trail, a 20-mile bicycle route along the Missouri River around downtown Kansas City, also runs through the park and along the bluff.
In 1953, the American Hereford Association
American Hereford Association
The American Hereford Association is a trade organization that promotes Hereford cattle.It was founded in 1883 and operated out of the home of Charles Gudgel in Independence, Missouri....
placed a fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
statue of a bull on a 90-foot pylon at its headquarters at 715 Kirk Drive, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
presiding. The bull was nicknamed "Bob" by locals, a name derived from the acronym created by the phrase "bull on building." It either was loved as an icon or reviled as kitsch detracting from the city's beauty. The statue's sculptor was Will Decker with Rochetti and Parzini of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and was manufactured at the Colonial Plastic Corporation of Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
.
Decline and Redevelopment
Center of population
In demographics, the center of population of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population...
moved south, and those who used to live on Quality Hill gradually moved to upscale areas farther south, such as the Country Club Plaza
Country Club Plaza
The Country Club Plaza is an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile...
and Sunset Hill
Country Club District
The Country Club District is the name of a group of neighborhoods comprising a historic upscale residential district in Kansas City, Missouri, and Johnson County, Kansas, USA, developed by noted real estate developer J.C. Nichols. The district was developed in stages between 1906 and 1950...
. As a result, Quality Hill gradually fell into extreme disrepair.
By the mid-1970s, most of the old Quality Hill mansions were owned by Arnold Garfinkle, an investor. "Mysteriously," over the course of only a few years, all of the stately houses he owned burned to the ground, thereby erasing much of Kansas City's rich history from its oldest neighborhood. Thereafter, the Hall Family Foundation
Donald J. Hall, Sr.
Donald J. Hall Sr. is the chairman of the board and majority shareholder of Hallmark Cards, the world's largest greeting card manufacturer and one of the world's largest privately held companies. Hallmark's headquarters is in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.. He and his wife, Adele, live in Mission...
, DST Systems, and the Kauffman Foundation
Ewing Kauffman
Ewing Marion Kauffman was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner....
acquired nearly all of Quality Hill. They built many new structures, both residential and commercial, and refurbished some old ones. In the 1980s, the Hall Family Foundation granted management rights over its eight-block portion to a private lessor company from St. Louis, McCormack Baron Ragan (now McCormack Baron Salazar). After several years, the Foundation gave the property to the company, subject to certain restrictions.
In the 1990s, the architecture firm HNTB
HNTB
HNTB Corporation is an architecture and engineering consulting firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri that has designed many bridges, roadways, airports and professional sports stadiums across the United States and around the world.The firm started in 1914 as Harrington, Howard & Ash...
bought the American Hereford building for its world headquarters and removed the bull statue from the building. In 2002, HNTB and other firms arranged to have it moved across I-35 to Mulkey Square.
In 2004, Kansas City Southern Industries completed a multi-million dollar new headquarters, designed after Quality Hill's distinctive architectural style, located between the two cathedrals. Around that time, State Street purchased Quality Hill property from DST Systems and opened a major branch. The Heart of America United Way (the Kansas City Metropolitan Area branch of the United Way) also maintains its headquarters in the heart of Quality Hill, in the former Virginia Hotel and two 19th-century houses along Washington and Pennsylvania streets.
Today
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
in the United States. Quality Hill's attractiveness to potential inhabitants derives from both its historic beauty and its ready access to the cultural and business benefits of downtown Kansas City. Its architecture – both historic and new, echoing Kansas City's origins and in a similar architectural style to St. Louis's
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
historic Soulard
Soulard, St. Louis
Soulard is a historic French neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. It is named after Antoine Soulard, who first began to develop the land...
neighborhood – is mostly in a 19th-century French colonial style.
In February 2008, McCormack Baron Salazar, who owned and managed its large property as a development called New Quality Hill sold 21 buildings consisting of 382 residential units to C.R.E.S. Management LLC, a Kansas City-based development company. It plans a major restoration and revitalization of all the buildings and area landscape. Many other properties today are privately owned, including residences and businesses. Quality Hill still does contain a great deal of undeveloped land, most of which is owned by DST Systems and the Kauffman Foundation
Ewing Kauffman
Ewing Marion Kauffman was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner....
. This includes several large, often-unused parking lots and many vacant house lots. It remains unclear when or if the land will be developed, or what it will become.
The Kauffman Foundation has continued refurbishing its remaining historic buildings for lease. Recently some residents voiced concerns that the New Quality Hill portion of the neighborhood slowly is falling into disrepair once again. McCormick Baron Salazar initially said it was working to address those concerns, but in November 2006 but instead decided to sell the bulk of its property on Quality Hill.
As redevelopment of Downtown Kansas City burgeons, and with the population having swelled from 3,000 in 2002 to over 16,000 in 2006, Quality Hill's population continues to grow rapidly (and the cost of living there continues to increase).
The Quality Hill Playhouse, one of downtown Kansas City's most popular theater venues, features many Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
shows.
The River Club, one of Kansas City's most exclusive private clubs
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
, also is located on Quality Hill, on 8th Street between Jefferson Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Lewis and Clark historic site.
See also
- François ChouteauFrancois ChouteauFrançois Gesseau Chouteau was an American pioneer fur trader, businessman and community leader known as the "Founder" or "Father" of Kansas City, Missouri....
- Downtown freeway loop (Kansas City)Downtown freeway loop (Kansas City)The downtown loop, also nicknamed the "Alphabet Loop", is a complex layout of highways in downtown Kansas City, Missouri involving 23 exits, four Interstate Highways, four U.S. Highways and numerous city streets...
- List of neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri