The Penn Valley Redevelopment Project was a 1971 plan to demolish homes in Kansas City’s Valentine Neighborhood and to replace them with a multimillion-dollar office and residential complex.
The Plan
The project plan used Missouri’s Chapter 353 Urban Redevelopment Corporations Law. The law allows “the right to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any real property in the redevelopment area” and the property “shall not be subject to assessment or payment of general ad valorem taxes imposed by the cities affected by this law, or by the state or any political subdivision thereof, for a period not in excess of ten years”. The case was presented to the Kansas City City Plan Commission on April 1, 1971 and was unanimously defeated despite approval by the city staff. However, the plan continued to affect the Valentine Neighborhood. The application was submitted by the Penn Valley Redevelopment Corporation. This corporation was organized by the Kansas City Life Insurance Company and other members of the Broadway Area Association. The president was Donald L. Thompson who was also Financial Vice-president at Kansas City Life. The plan included seven stages or phases:
Conflict
Opposition to the plan led to the creation of the Valentine Neighborhood Association in early 1971. VNA’s first president, Joe Cigas, led the effort by residents to oppose the plan. He was supported by City Councilman Joseph Shaughnessy, Jr. and mayor-elect Dr. Charles B. Wheeler, Jr. In a May 16, 1972 speech to employees of Kansas City Life, Administrative Vice PresidentWalter E. Bixby, Jr. reflected on why they pursued the plan: Bixby also mentioned that he believed the creation of Penn Valley Community College in 1969 foreshadowed that the area would become more commercial. He compared 1951, 1961, and 1971. “In 1961, the picture shows more commercial properties in the neighborhood – Panhandle Eastern, Interstate Securities, the Broadway-Valentine Shopping Center.” He then said, “Now in 1971, we see the layout for the Penn Valley Junior College which is going to cause a large environmental change in the neighborhood.” After the plan was defeated, Kansas City Life continued to buy properties in the area. Some were rented, others demolished. On September 7, 1972, a lawsuit was filed by Cigas and six others alleging that Kansas City Life perpetrated a scheme of buying property and allowing them to deteriorate and then demolishing them leaving vacant spaces throughout the area. The suit further charged that Kansas City Life falsely stated that the Valentine neighborhood was a blighted, unsanitary, crime-ridden, deteriorated area and as a result, homeowners were unable to use their property as security for mortgage loans. The court ruled in favor of Kansas City Life, and the ruling was upheld on appeal. The court cited precedence that the “defendant had the absolute right to the reasonable use of its own property” and that no evidence was presented that Kansas City Life encouraged abuse by tenants.
The 1980's
On April 16, 1983, 10 Valentine residents created a partnership called The Jefferson Group. The group competed with Kansas City Life to buy homes in the area and resell them.
In 1984, Miller Nichols, Chairman of the J.C. Nichols Company, commented that he saw a need for more executive homes in the midtown Kansas City area because of plans by several developers to construct office space. Despite the fact that the Penn Valley plan was for offices and apartments, he referenced the conflict saying, "If Kansas City Life had been encouraged by the city and the city had been willing to work with them, we'd probably have 1,000 or 2,000 homes in there." He said, "I'd like to have the city fathers go to Kansas City Life and say, 'Look, we made a mistake.'" Joseph R. Bixby, President of Kansas City Life, built a large Spanish-style home at 3530 Pennsylvania, across from the Kansas City Life headquarters. One might speculate that it was a show home for such a plan, but it was actually built several years before Nichols' remarks.
Since Then
When the Valentine Neighborhood Association was created, the western boundary was Southwest Trafficway, the eastern boundary was Pennsylvania Avenue, the northern boundary was 33rd Street and the southern boundary was Valentine Road. The VNA has since expanded its eastern boundary to Broadway Blvd, and its northern boundary to 31st Street to include Penn Valley Community College. The southern boundary was expanded to 40th Street. The VNA successfully completed two initiatives to down-zone to single family. The first was south of Valentine Road in 1991. The second was for the area just north of Valentine Road in 2012. A Kansas City Life representative testified that they supported the north Valentine down-zoning. Regarding the referenced commercial properties: The Interstate Securities building was razed to provide more parking for the Panhandle Eastern Building. Both the Panhandle Eastern Building and the Broadway-Valentine Shopping Center began redevelopment projects in 2019 to convert them to mixed-use residential and small retail. Kansas City Life continued to purchase properties with “no immediate plans.” They have demolished buildings as recently as July, 2020.
