These days it seems like Troostwood is surrounded by construction crews. Everywhere you turn there is work going on, which for us is a good thing. All of this work not only improves our neighborhood, but the surrounding communities, and furthers Troost Avenue redevelopment efforts. All of this construction started with work beginning on a new Troost Bridge. Then the new Troost MAX bus service started going in and is now up and running. Now at the south end of the neighborhood at 52nd (Rockhurst Road), work has begun on a new multi-level parking structure. What’s next? The installation of storm drains at 49th and Paseo is expected to begin sometime in the near future.
The development of this new parking structure located at the north end of the Rockhurst University campus began nearly 18 months ago. Starting with dramatic revisions to the Campus Master Plan, the garage became a key piece of the first phase. Eventually, in Phases II and III, a similar parking structure is to be built to the south of campus along with new academic and residence halls. One important element in the design of this new structure, was to not to simply make it a garage, but to add some retail opportunity in the first floor that could draw both neighborhood residents and students on campus. While the new building will accommodate 400+ new parking spaces, it is also expected to offer space for three to four new retail establishments as well. Already lined up for one of the new spaces is an emergency care clinic run in partnership with Research Hospital. While other retail tenants have yet to be firmed up, one thing that’s certain is that all this new development around our neighborhood only continues to improve our community and the Troost Avenue corridor.