WWII Quartermaster Depot site could get new use
Site could be distribution center for locally-grown food
A New York-based nonprofit wants to turn the abandoned site of a World War II Quartermaster Depot in Kansas City into a distribution center for locally grown food, and is also planning several other projects at the site.
As many as 2,500 people worked at the depot during the war, distributing food and supplies to the troops, or sorting through personal effects of those killed in battle before sending them to the soldiers' families. But the depot has been abandoned for more than a decade, and it's currently an industrial wasteland of brick buildings and weeds.
A group called Asian Americans for Equality bought the six remaining buildings in 2011. The social welfare group and its Kansas City partners are planning a food distribution site, and say they could bring other projects to the site, although no plans are final, The Kansas City Star reported.
Neighborhood and social groups are meeting to discuss other possible uses for the 18-acre site. University of Kansas architecture students have also been asked to submit ideas.
"There's lots of possibilities," said project manager Jim Turner. "Some might work and some of them may fall on stony ground."
Kansas City Councilman Scott Wagner said a food hub would be a big boost for the struggling area.
"I think that really has an opportunity to be a game changer for that site and that area," Wagner said.
This is the first project outside of New York City for Asian Americans for Equality, which was founded in 1974. For nearly four decades, the group has been developing affordable housing and providing other social services in and around New York City's Chinatown. But it decided to look elsewhere because the cost of land in New York City made it too expensive to do large-scale projects.
The required environmental cleanup in Kansas City will cost millions of dollars, and it will be expensive to make the buildings fit for reuse. The federal General Services Administration is remediating the soil, which was polluted by toxic residues from chemicals used at the depot. Asian Americans for Equality will need to renovate the buildings and is seeking grants for some of that work.
Turner moved to the city about a year ago and began working on the project, helping form a nonprofit known as Hardesty Renaissance, as well as connecting with social service groups serving the neighborhood. The organization commissioned the Kansas City Port Authority to study the local food supply system with the idea of setting up a food hub.
Diana Endicott, who helped form the Good Natured Family Farms cooperative, said the food hub would provide a market for small producers, while likely making healthier food available to inner-city grocery stores.
Before anything can happen, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will have to be consulted. Hardesty Renaissance wants to operate the food hub out of one building while environmental cleanup continues on the rest of the site. If approval comes in a couple months, the hub could be operating in a year or two, Wagner said.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.