For these KC condo owners, the cost of living on the Plaza just rose — by $178,000

Even rich folks might blanch at a hefty repair bill.

According to real estate records, each of the condo owners inside Alameda Towers Condominiums — a 20-story building that overlooks the Country Club Plaza that is home to some of Kansas City’s most well-known wealthy families — were notified recently that they would have to pony up $178,000 each for a $10 million condominium repair project.

The exact assessment, in fact, is $178,679.

That bill will go out to residents of the Alameda that include Cliff Illig, who founded Cerner Corp., now Oracle Cerner and is an owner of Sporting Kansas City, and who, county records show, owns a place at the Alameda worth at least $1 million.

It will go to the Helzberg family of jewelry and diamond fame.

And it will go to the owners of all 53 units in the building at 49th Terrace and Wornall Road where apartments range anywhere from about $650,000 to nearly $2 million. Condominium owners are collectively responsible for paying for their building’s repairs and maintenance.

What’s the money for?

According to a “resale certificate,” prepared in July for Alameda Association, Ltd. and typically used for prospective buyers, the Alameda, built in 1989 by the J.C. Nichols Co., is in need of an unspecified “exterior/interior renovation project.”

A second tower originally planned for the site was abandoned in 2007.

Calls to the Alameda’s property manager, Michael Keller, were not returned. Beryl Raff, the recently retired chairman and chief executive officer of Helzberg Diamonds and president of the board of the Alameda Towers condo association, also did not return calls.

Residents of the building, however, told The Star that the money is to go to significant repairs to the building’s underground parking garage.

In April, the document says, “the Association approved a special assessment up to the amount of $7.5 million” to fund part of the proposed exterior/interior renovation. But, “based on the construction bids as of June 2023 and the engineer’s projections received by the Association, the total cost of this project is now expected to be around $10 million ($178,679 per unit).”

Two condominiums are currently for sale in the Alameda, according to the Realtors’ MLS, multiple listing service. One, a 2,284-square-foot unit priced at $675,000 with three bedrooms and three baths, has been on the market for more than 250 days. The other, for $995,000, has two bedrooms, three baths, occupies 3,800 square feet and has been on the market for more than 770 days.

In August, a unit there was purchased for $1.87 million.