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Housing Rekindles Allure of Urban Livings

From the charming streets of North Kansas City through downtown to The Country Club Plaza, the area’s oldest neighborhoods are opening a new page in their history, adding new faces and personalities to communities full of character and vitality. The powerful attraction of living where you work and play is bringing thousands of families to the city’s urban core.

Nowhere is that trend more evident than on the 2008 Spring Homes Tour, presented by the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City. Opening May 4 and continuing through May 18, a record 26 homes among 22 different communities are featured within the Urban Living section of this year’s tour, illustrating how life has changed in these neighborhoods in recent years.

In Downtown Kansas City alone, more than 16,000 residents live among the more than 5,600 townhomes, lofts, apartments and flats with thousands of more homes under development or in the planning stages. The residential renaissance led a wave of downtown redevelopment that has reached its apex with the completion of the Sprint Center and the opening of the Power & Light entertainment district. Today, Downtown Kansas City is an independent neighborhood where it’s possible to enjoy all the advantages of living in a animated city within walking distance of your home.

In many ways Downtown Kansas City is becoming much like The Country Club Plaza, which for generations has ranked among the city’s best neighborhoods and has inspired countless communities across the nation. Yet even as the Plaza nears a century of serving its residents, new housing choices are joining the streetscape. Just minutes away in the historic neighborhoods of Kansas City, Kan., along the 39th Street corridor, new homes are drawing homebuyers seeking to live closer to their jobs in a location with exciting restaurants and other entertainment.

The story is much the same in North Kansas City, where public and private industry have turned the page back to the traditional neighborhoods of post-World War II to bring new housing choices to an urban location. With its scenic downtown and community amenities, North Kansas City has brought new single-family homes and townhomes inspired by historic neighborhoods such as The Plaza.

The result of these urban endeavors has been to attract new generations of residents to some of Kansas City’s oldest neighborhoods. With housing choices ranging from under $100,000 for working families and singles just starting out to upper-bracket homes and condominiums priced at more than $1 million, Urban Living has opened up a whole new world for local homebuyers.

The 26 residences in 22 downtown neighborhoods featured on this year’s Spring Homes Tour are open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the Spring Homes Tour May 4 through May 18. For more information, be sure to visit www.kcspringhomestour.com or pick up a copy of the official Spring Homes Tour Guide at any one of the communities on this year’s tour.

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