According to The Kansas City Star, developer Sustainable Development Partners has plans for the currently vacant Westport High School. Rehabbing the school could kickstart a mixed-use project that would encompass residential, commercial and educational components including an art conservatory for the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “You’re taking what is a blighted building because it’s not being utilized and it’s deteriorating and you’re putting it back in so that it becomes part of the social fabric again and adds to the vitality,” said Chip Walsh, a principal for Sustainable Development Partners.

The redevelopment proposal is still in its early stages, but it got a boost Wednesday with a zoning approval from the City Council Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee. The full City Council will still have to approve the zoning. Developers are not asking for a property tax abatement or other city incentives, Walsh said, but they are pursuing state and federal historic tax credits and federal new markets tax credits.

Walsh’s firm, in partnership with Platform Ventures, plans to first rehabilitate the 111-year-old old high school at 39th and McGee streets, which closed in 2010, to house the conservatory. If UMKC rejects their proposal, Walsh said, they’ll convert the high school into a multi-tenant office building.

Next, they plan to add a new apartment building with up to 220 units and a parking garage between McGee and Locust streets. After that, a one-story commercial building and garage is planned for 39th and Warwick Boulevard. On the south end of the property, they’ve proposed an open space and a fourth building that could serve UMKC or add more residential space.

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