From Concept to Construction in the Marlborough Neighborhood
Since 2021, Monte has been working with the Kansas City Community Land Trust, founded in the neighborhood of Marlborough, to advise on the redevelopment of the former neighborhood elementary school with Multistudio.
The Community Land Trust acquires and develops real estate to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing to low-income homeowners while working to ensure a culturally, ethnically, and economically diverse and stable community where generations can thrive in place. For the organization, this commercial renovation project is unique and benefits from ongoing feedback from Monte and the team.
The building will be repositioned as “Marlborough Marketplace”. It was built in 1927 and was a neighborhood elementary school until 2007. The three-story structure is now owned and being renovated by the Community Land Trust, and offers unique spaces for neighborhood-friendly business in a beloved community landmark. Current renovations underway will include a new roof, windows, and interiors, and space ready for personalization for services, movement studios, artists, offices, restaurants, and more!
Since the acquisition, the land trust has accomplished amazing feats — they have raised over $1M in private sources and philanthropy; they have rezoned the property to allow for commercial uses; they have replaced the entire roof, finished environmental remediation, they hired an amazing team of professionals who know how to work incrementally and act as productive partners, including Odimo architects.
Our goal? To help them make this a hard-working building that will sustain itself financially. This principle is key for enabling the project to be a long-term neighborhood asset and destination, and contributing to the organization’s primary goal of providing attainable housing so that locals can build wealth.
