Adding to the progressiveness of downtown Kansas City, 909 Walnut (center above), one of the tallest residential buildings in the Midwest, announced that it’s undergoing a condo conversion after five years of rentals, which was required when the building was developed with historic tax credits. The change will take effect in October, said Alan Waterman, 909 Walnut condo conversion manager. “We’re ramping up in advance to go condo,” he said. “All along, that’s been our intention, to have a high profile building with a high level of luxury living. We already have 17 reservations from people who already live there and want to buy their units.”
How they are ramping up is of great interest to the local real estate community these days. Owned and developed by Glenn Solomon (below), 909 Walnut is embracing a new model of real estate that fully takes advantage of social media, featuring a reality campaign with actual residents that expands through a completely redesigned website. 909 Walnut has plans for fully integrated and heavily active social media platforms. The campaign takes potential residents inside the property and uses real people to share what it is like to live there as one of the first in the Midwest to integrate this emerging trend. Viewers will virtually step into 909 Walnut and meet their would-be neighbors. The campaign (developed by Travis Joyal and Lee Page of Page Communications) highlights various tenants with diverse backgrounds and lifestyles with ongoing plans for fresh content that will also translate to television and social media outlets. New videos will roll out monthly, introduced through the web and social media outlets. The first four videos are live for viewing at the following link: http://www.909walnut.com/faces-of-909.php?vid=1
Residential real estate price trends – second of two parts
MetroWire has analyzed five years of home resale prices by ZIP code across metropolitan Kansas City, thanks to data from the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. While resale prices in 2009 remained below 2004 levels in many ZIP codes across the metro area, there are plenty of pockets where prices have shown stability during those five years. This week, MetroWire presents some of those places on the Kansas side. Last week, we reviewed the Missouri side. On the Kansas side, some parts of Johnson County led the metro area in housing appreciation during the past five years, with double-digit growth in resale home prices. Below are those leading ZIP codes on the Kansas side:
| ZIP Code | Area of KC metro | 2004-2009 change in resale home prices |
| 66217 | Lake Quivera, I-435 corridor | 20.8% |
| 66220 | western Lenexa, Falcon Ridge | 16.5% |
| 66224 | far south Leawood | 13.8% |
| 66221 | southwest OP, St. Andrews area | 12.9% |
| 66218 | Mill Creek corridor | 12.8% |
| 66206 | older Leawood | 10.8% |
| 66062 | eastern Olathe | 10.6% |
Missions Hills 68th Progressive Lunch Tour
Earlier this week, Kristin Malfer & Associates provided lunch and desserts for a large number of agents and brokers during the three-home tour of Missions Hills’ beautiful 68th Street. Besides the free lunch and dessert, Kristin Malfer & Associates gave away $25 Country Club Plaza gift cards to Reese & Nichols agents Lorie Wilson and Patsy Cooley-Bouckhout. Although the gift cards were exciting prizes, the big winner of the event was Reese & Nichols agent Susan Palmer who won an autographed football from Kansas City sports icon Len Dawson.
Above, Tricia Napper of the Kristin Malfer team, Lorie Nelson with Reese & Nichols and Marti Shuey with Keller-Williams Diamond Partners stand in front of the ranch-style home at 2501 W. 68th Street. The home has an eat-in kitchen, a vaulted hearth room and a secluded back patio. The backyard is fenced-in and includes lots of leafy coverage from the mature trees.
On the east end of the tour was 2301 W. 68th Street, which is an Evan-Talan inspired masterpiece. The Scott Bickford designed $2.15 million home features a stunning two-story vaulted sky-light in the hearth room and sweeping spiral staircase in the foyer. It also includes a flexible guest bedroom on the main floor, and a great outdoor living space with lanai and fireplace.