Simmons says he and his business partners hear those worries and appreciate them. KCUR 89.3 After years of fits and starts in the Jazz District, developers are finally seizing on opportunities to find private investment to move forward on projects. Simmons says that, for the first time in decades, something is finally going up in the Jazz District instead of coming down.įor residents, though, this raises red flags - concerns about gentrification and displacement, and rising costs that could push out the people who’ve lived here for years. “We're farther than anybody has gotten in the last two-plus decades,” says Kelvin Simmons, who’s a co-developer behind two projects slated in the district. Ground is set to break on an 80-unit apartment complex just south of the barbershop.Īnd earlier this month, the Kansas City Council signed off on a $23 million plan to develop the 1800 block of Vine into a mixed commercial and residential space. Within a quarter mile of Thomas’ barbershop, private developers are investing in the renovation of the Boone Theater, Attucks School, Wheatley-Provident Hospital and the former Public Works building. “The long term plan for 18th and Vine is so unclear. “The leadership of 18th and Vine is so unclear,” he says. He remains skeptical of what this outside investment will bring. In 2019, Thomas ran for the District 3 seat in City Council hoping to have a larger role in the neighborhood’s development. But it was so unclear as to what was available.” “They wanted to have the opportunity to invest, whether that be, buy buildings that's available, land that's available.

“A lot of stakeholders down here,” Thomas says. But Thomas says it’s not necessarily available for anyone. Only now is money really starting to flow into the district. He is frustrated by a lack of information for small investors and skeptical of the direction the historic district is headed. KCUR 89.3 Joey Thomas runs 18OV Barber Salon on Vine Street.

Kc jazz district