EPC Real Estate, VeLa Development Partners, and Dan Carr’s “Encore on Broadway” project has been formally submitted to the City of Kansas City. The site is located at 1650 Broadway, or on the west side of Broadway between Los Tules Mexican Restaurant and the I-35 north exit ramp to Broadway.

It’s the first step in the process after PortKC awarded the development team an incentive package earlier this spring. The incentive plan is for up to $500 Million in bonds for the project and a 25-year tax abatement. For the abatement, years 1-17 will be a 90% abatement, year 18 will be a 60% abatement, years 19 and 20 will be a 50% abatement, and remaining 5 years will be a 25% abatement. According to PortKC, the current 4.25-acre site will generate just under $1.6 Million in property taxes over the next 25 years if left undeveloped. If developed as envisioned, the site will generate just over $19.2 Million in property taxes.

The submittal is the first step in KCMO’s review of the project. The initial submission includes only the apartment tower and the hotel component. A future office building is being looked at for the southernmost parcel of the “Encore” development, but is not part of the submittal. Rumor has it that the development team has secured an office tenant for much of the future office building, leading me to believe that the scope of that building is changing.

Plans call for the apartment building to rise 29 floors/335ft and feature 386 apartments with 471 parking spaces. The hotel will rise 15 floors/192ft and include 282 rooms and 295 parking spaces. 129 bike parking spaces are split between the buildings. Both buildings will feature a restaurant space on their first floors where an extended 16th Street meets Broadway. No hotel brand has been linked with the proposal yet. Since the initial project unveiling, the designs of the buildings have changed slightly with more glass being included and less masonry in favor of more metal cladding.

When EPC/VeLa and Dan Carr appeared before PortKC, they specified that it was their desire to have all components underway at roughly the same time with a completion in 2030 after starting by the end of year 2026. The submittal details that the desire is for the hotel to begin construction in December 2027 and wrap up in September 2029 with the apartment tower beginning construction in October 2027 and wrapping up in March 2030. The third building/office component could be weaved into the overall project schedule to achieve the previously discussed timeline. The only difference in the timeline, thus far, is the desired start date.

If successfully completed, the Encore project will add the tallest new addition to the Downtown skyline in decades as well as construct the largest single apartment building in Downtown by unit count. Encore’s location near the crest of a hill, being the highest vantage point in Downtown, along with no buildings of comparable scale in the immediate blocks surrounding the development site, mean that it’ll have a large presence on the skyline. Encore will appear taller than it actually is. For future residents, hotel guests, and office workers, their views of the City will be among the best. Encore will also join the upcoming building boom in greater Downtown Kansas City that includes Bellwether, the Royals Ballpark and District, a new Children’s Mercy Tower, and the CPKC Stadium expansion. Additional high-profile projects like Four Light, 800 Grand/UMusic Hotel, and the Roy Blunt Luminary Park are also likely to be underway during the same timeframe.

Hoefer Welker is serving as the project’s architect. Land 3 Studio is serving as the landscape architect. Encore is scheduled to go before the City’s Planning Commission on November 18th.

The gallery below features the elevations of the proposed apartment and hotel towers as seen in the submittal in addition to the renderings (old design) we saw earlier this year.