New Town at Liberty

The developer of the Midwest’s biggest and most successful traditional neighborhood development (TND), New Town at St. Charles, has planned an equally ambitious TND in the Kansas City area. Whittaker Builders’ New Town at Liberty will eventually have up to 10,000 houses in five neighborhoods with a major town center on 939 acres, according to the Kansas City Star. The $2 billion project was planned in mid-January by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, the firm that planned New Town at St. Charles near St. Louis. “This is the largest and most hardcore new urbanist project we’ve seen,” Matt Derrick, a spokesman for the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City, told the Star. “…The industry is excited to see something on this scale.” Whittaker Builders, the largest home builder in Missouri, has become a big supporter of New Urbanism. New Town at St. Charles was the fastest selling community in 2005 and early 2006 out of 17,280 developments surveyed in a region that includes all or part of 16 states (see the April 2006 issue of New Urban News). Whittaker said he hopes to break ground at Liberty in the spring of 2008 and have homes ready to sell in the fall of 2009. Developers and city officials expect New Town at Liberty to be completed in about 20 phases over two decades. The City of Liberty, Missouri, the seat of Clay County, is collaborating with Whittaker Builders on the project.
Liberty has been laying the groundwork for this project for years by integrating traditional neighborhoods into its long-range plan and overhauling development ordinances, Steve Anderson, Liberty planning director, told the Kansas City Star.
The city’s relationship with Whittaker Builders began in October 2005, when nearly 30 Liberty officials visited New Town at St. Charles, Mayor Bob Steinkamp told the paper. Then talks between the city and developer intensified. After considering sites in St. Louis and in Overland Park, Kansas, Whittaker agreed in October 2006 to buy the Liberty tract from Hallmark Cards Inc.