After decades of losing residents to the suburbs, Downtown Kansas City has seen an influx of residents in the last decade. Thanks to billions spent on the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Sprint Center Arena, the Power and Light District (and its various restaurants, clubs and shops) and an upcoming street car system, much of this new population has come in the form of millennials, who see Downtown Kansas City has having a cool factor it hasn’t enjoyed in years (if it’s ever had that reputation in the past).
A recent New York Times article profiled real estate developer Michael Knight and the Commerce Tower Group, which recently purchased the Commerce Tower. Built in 1965, the Commerce Tower was one of the region’s first modern high-rise office buildings with a glass curtain wall. Now Knight and his partners plan to convert the 500,000 square foot property into a “vertical city” of sorts, made up of residential and office space, retail, restaurants, an early childhood school, fitness center, rooftop gathering area and even a satellite campus for the Kansas City-based Park University.
Downtown Kansas City: Hot Commodity
With more businesses and residents returning to the Downtown Kansas City area, space will be at a premium. Downtown Kansas City self storage will become an even hotter commodity as residents streamline their homes for more comfortable apartment living and downtown businesses find off-site storage areas for surplus inventory and equipment to free up valuable space on the sales floor or work areas.
StorageMart is a leading provider of self storage space in the Kansas City area, including its Downtown Kansas City location on Grand Blvd. New residents and business owners to the area can rely on the store’s 24-hour accessibility, available climate-controlled storage units, covered loading/unloading areas and rentable post office boxes for all their self storage needs.
Kansas City is just the latest metro area to reinvest in its downtown area with extensive revitalization projects. As more cities join the trend, self storage will continue to provide a valuable service to residents and companies who want the convenience and enjoyment of downtown living and working without giving up all the benefits of living in the more wide open spaces of the suburbs.