Sustainable Development Partners shared this vision of a redeveloped Westport High School and Middle School earlier this year.
Developers now have the go-ahead to transform Westport High and Middle Schools into the Westport Commons: Center for Creativity and Innovation.
The school district has approved the sale of Westport High to Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners, LLC for the historic redevelopment of the building as a mixed-use project.
That’s the same group that bought Westport Middle in January of 2014. It includes Bob Berkebile, David Brain, Butch Rigby, Louis D. Steele, and E.F. Chip Walsh.
Neighborhood interest in the school district decision has been high, with the latest public discussion last February drawing a standing-room-only crowd.
Sustainable Development Partners proposed a project it says could become a new collaborative business model not just for Kansas City, but for the whole country. The group said most recently the middle school would become hub for 16-20 nonprofit groups, which would share common spaces like the auditorium and benefit from the synergy of being in the same building. Their ideas for Westport High include a “maker space,” a shared workspace for design and manufacture of products, and a coding school to provide software development training skills for entry-level employment as a computer developer. The proposal also includes 20-30 live/work units in the high school.
The district said it will host two public meetings with the Southmoreland, Old Hyde Park and Hyde Park neighborhood associations before any rezoning or special use permit hearing to give the neighborhoods an opportunity to weigh in as the project progresses.
Thank you Butch Rigby Thank you,
May it go the way it is meant.
Best regards.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
GREAT JOB!