KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
—
Kansas City, Missouri, leaders broke ground on a $300 million redevelopment project Friday at Parade Park Homes, one of America’s first Black cooperative housing developments.
The city says the project at 18th and Vine streets will transform the area into a mixed-income neighborhood with 1,100 affordable homes.
The BBQ grills and flowers on the front porches of some homes are signs some residents still live at Parade Park Homes. They have to move out by the end of the month because a new development will replace their homes.
Jamie Marzett has spent most of his life at Parade Park Homes. He arrived there as a newborn.
“It’s hard leaving a place that you love,” Marzett said. “It’s just hard losing it.” He says he found out two years ago that he’d have to move out, but it was too hard for him to do it.
Sitting on the staircase, he remembers the days he would sit on the back porch with his dad. He says they could hear Kansas City Royals games being played nearby at Municipal Stadium, East 22nd Street and Brooklyn Avenue.
Now, he has to pack up all his memories. He feels like he’s being forced out.
“It breaks my heart because this was where we lived,” Marzett said.
Across the street from Marzett is the home of Mary Louise Williams. Williams has called Parade Park home for more than 45 years.
“It feels like you’re leaving your life behind,” she said as she prepares to leave her home by October 31.
A groundbreaking for the new development on Friday included Mayor Quinton Lucas and other civic leaders.
“It’s an area that needs to be revitalized,” said Dwayne Williams, president and CEO of Twelfth Street Heritage Development Corp.
Mayor Lucas said his mother used to live at Parade Park before moving out a few years ago.
“This investment’s going to change it all," Lucas said. "It’s embarrassing it ever got to this place."
Lucas told KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva the investment in the development is the solution to many of the area’s problems.
“No longer are kids walking by dilapidated structures," he said. "We’re not seeing burnt-out buildings.”
Over the past nine months, the Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department said there have been nine fires at the site. The latest fire happened this week.
Despite the break-ins and fires in vacant units, current residents say they still feel safe.
We’ve been following Parade Park Homes for years now.
In January 2024, we spoke with Carrie Miller.
She was hesitant about the changes, but on Friday she joined the celebration, excited about what’s to come.
“Feels good to know that it’s going to be torn down,” said Miller, who left Parade Park in August after 48 years. “This is not home. You can’t call this home.”
Since the foreclosure sale of Parade Park Homes in March 2024, many residents have moved out as developers continue the three-phase redevelopment process.
In September 2024, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council approved the redevelopment as a collaboration between Flaherty & Collins Properties and the Twelfth Street Heritage Development Corporation.
But beyond the memories and neighbors, residents say there’s something else they’ll miss.
“Oh, and I’ll miss the price of rent,” said Mary Williams.
Residents currently pay a little over $800 to live there and said they haven’t been able to find another place to live for a similar price.
When asked about future rent prices, Dwayne Williams said they don’t have that number yet.
Developers hope to finish the project in four years and former residents “have the right to return,” Kansas City, Mo., Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley said. “You don’t honor a legacy by erasing the people who created it.”
While some, like Carrie Miller, hope to take up that offer, others had a different answer to the same question.
“My feelings are so hurt,” Mary Louise Williams said.
—
