Whole Foods development near UMKC won’t cut into the Trolley Track Trail

The popular Trolley Track Trail won’t get clogged by vehicle traffic headed to a forthcoming grocery and apartment project near the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The long-awaited Whole Foods-anchored mixed-use development near 51st Street and Oak, just west of UMKC’s administrative office building, made it to a KCMO City Council committee on Wednesday. The project contemplates 170 market-rate apartments atop a new Whole Foods grocery store.

One of the concerns with the project when it was originally proposed in 2012 was whether the developers would look to cut into the Trolley Track Trail to provide access for vehicles off Brookside Boulevard. The trail, which is owned by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, reaches its northern limit just past 49th Street and Brookside Boulevard.

“We listened to the neighbors and we won’t be crossing over the trolley track trail,” VanTrust Real Estate developer Dave Harrison tells The Pitch.

Vehicles will instead drive into the development through 51st Street.

Cindy Baker, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, says there may be some occasional interruptions on the trail to accommodate public works projects during construction, but added that the trail will remain intact.