KANSAS CITY—Like many cities across the US, Kansas City has seen its urban core become a popular residential neighborhood. But the Paseo Gateway district adjacent to downtown has struggled for years with poverty and a lack of investment. All that may change thanks to a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods grant from the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to the city and its public housing authority, which over the next five years will replace the Chouteau Courts public housing site with a mixed-income development.

Unlike the federal HOPE VI program, which began in 1993 and focused most of its attention on actual public housing sites, these grants encourage city planners to take a broader view, and aim to spark investment throughout the chosen neighborhoods, Nando Micale of Wallace Roberts & Todd, tells GlobeSt.com. WRT, a Philadelphia-based design firm of architects and planners, partnered with HAKC to lead the planning process for this grant application.

"It's a comprehensive neighborhood plan," he says, "and the idea is to rebuild the market in the area." Another difference between the HOPE VI efforts and this plan is that the former typically replaced only a portion of the public housing units lost. In this case, all of Chouteau Courts' 134 severely-distressed units will be replaced. The plan also calls for 115 market rate units and 111 affordable units.