The project would create apartments and retail space in the Warden Plaza, 908 First Ave. S., and create a new facility where people could swim, work out and take in a performance. A new parking garage with intermodal transportation links would link the two.

The project would transform the north side of First Avenue South between Ninth and 12th streets.

It began in July 2016, when the city government acquired the Warden Plaza under the state’s abandoned buildings law. In December of that year, the City Council gave the property to to KDG LLC, of Columbia, Missouri.

The project had a setback last year, when the city did not receive a $7.63 million federal grant that would have been key to building the $11.5 million intermodal hub. City officials had hoped that grant would have been the first big piece of funding that would have launched the construction phase of the entire project.

After learning in December that the grant would not be awarded, city officials began looking at ways to build a smaller version of the intermodal hub.

“Preliminary calculations suggest that the city could possibly phase the project and build a smaller version of the intermodal hub and covered parking,” City Manager David Fierke said.

“The total number of spaces would be reduced significantly, but the scaled-down project could provide enough parking to meet the demands of the redeveloped Warden, the new community recreation center, and the existing surface parking,” he said. “Additional parking would be in later phases should funding be secured.”

As originally proposed, the intermodal hub would have had parking spaces for 500 vehicles. Some of those spaces would have been reserved for residents of new apartments in Warden Plaza. Other spaces would have been reserved for people visiting the cultural and recreation center and still others would be reserved for employees working at the Carver Building, which is just north of the site.

Part of the dispatching and ticketing operations of Dodger Area Rapid Transit would have been moved into the intermodal hub. The main bus stop and transfer point at Central Avenue and Ninth Street would have been moved there as well.

A rack full of bicycles to rent would be placed in the intermodal hub.

Fierke said the failure to get the grant “does not change the city’s commitment to the project or expected redevelopment timelines.”

Throughout 2018, the developers and city officials worked on the process of convincing the National Park Service that the Wahkonsa Annex is a separate building from the historic Warden Plaza. The Wahkonsa Annex is a light-colored brick building attached to the east side of the Warden Plaza. It is to be torn down as part of the project.,

As the process of administratively separating the Wahkonsa Annex from the Warden Plaza goes on, the city is seeking a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help pay for removing asbestos from the building to be demolished.

The KDG LLC plan for the Warden Plaza calls for commercial space on the first two floors and 80 to 150 apartments on the upper six floors. The cost of the project has been estimated at $35 million.

The planned cultural and recreation center would be on First Avenue South near 12th Street. It would include swimming pools, a running track, exercise rooms and a black box theater that could be set up in different ways to accommodate various performances. The cost of the new center has been estimated at $37 million.

In November 2017, the City Council and the Webster County Board of Supervisors created the Webster County Wellness and Cultural Authority to finance the construction of the new facility. After the facility is built, the authority will lease it to a non-profit organization that would operate it.