KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Council has approved a project that will bring new apartments to the River Market.

The project, known as City Harvest, will feature a 13-story building in the location of the current parking lot at 5th and Main, where City Market employees and shoppers park.

City Council passed the City Harvest project by a vote of 9 to 1, with Councilman Brandon Ellington being the lone no vote.

The project sparked controversy among business owners due to parking and traffic concerns.

“There’s 300 people moving into this building, and they’re 100 spaces short of supporting those 300 people. So 100 of those 300 people could potentially use up this publicly available parking,” said David Lindahl, who owns HyperKC, a t-shirt shop in River Market.

Flaherty & Collins is the developer for the City Harvest project. The building is supposed to have 230 spaces for tenants and 160 parking spaces for the public.

During Thursday’s full council meeting, an amendment was approved that will require the developer to provide right of first refusal to neighboring businesses currently renting parking stalls at 5th and Main.

Residents and employees of the new apartment building will also not be allowed to use the 160-space lot.

Developer Ryan Cronk hopes that 160 number alleviates the concerns business owners have. 

“It’s real important for the success of the long-term of the streetcar,” Cronk said of planning for less parking than people who actually live in the building. “The streetcar needs people to use that, and the less parking you build, the better it is for the long-term health of the streetcar.”

Construction on the project is set to begin this fall.