Arts & Entertainment
Forget the Alamo, Remember the B&B?
(Editor’s note, April 23: Cordish and B&B Theatres confirmed a lease has been signed for the historic Mainstreet Theater. “B&B, a family-owned and -operated company out of Liberty, Missouri, plans to open the movie theatre after making some enhancements to the historic space later this year,” according to the press release. “B&B has exciting plans…
Airline History Museum Hits Turbulence with Landlord
By Kevin Collison The Airline History Museum, an attraction at the Wheeler Downtown Airport for 35 years, is fighting to prevent its collection of classic airplanes from being evicted by the private operator of the city-owned facility. The non-profit’s dispute is with Signature Flight Support, which holds the master lease with the city on several…
Are We Live Yet, Downtown?
By Kevin Collison Live entertainment is slowly returning to downtown stages and sports venues, but that world isn’t expect to return to anything close to a post-Covid normal until September. The T-Mobile Center was the first big venue to turn on the lights for live performances on Jan. 28 following a 10-month pandemic freeze when…
Historic Attucks School to Become Major Art Center at 18th & Vine
By Kevin Collison The resurrection of the historic Attucks School as a major art center at the 18th & Vine Jazz District is moving forward, three years after the city awarded redevelopment rights to the Zhou brothers, renowned international artists based in Chicago. The planned Zhou B. Art Center of Kansas City is slated for…
Hotel Kansas City Looks to Local Artists for Style
By Kevin Collison The recently-opened Hotel Kansas City has emerged as a significant new patron of local artists and crafts people, spending an estimated $175,000 to purchase their works in keeping with its homegrown style. “With our name being Hotel Kansas City, we wanted to have that local flavor,” said Ryan Baldwin, general manager. From…
Monarchs 21st C Reboot Honors Past and Helps Museum’s Future
By Kevin Collison While the new Kansas City Monarchs reboot is a salute to the Negro Leagues storied past, it also should yield significant revenues for the future of its signature museum at the 18th & Vine Historic District. The announcement the former T-Bones minor league ball club will be called the Kansas City Monarchs…
Basketball Coaches Association May Leave, Helps Bring Tourneys Worth Millions
By Kevin Collison City and civic leaders are mounting a full-court press to keep the National Association of Basketball Coaches in Kansas City, a small organization with an outsized role bringing major tournaments worth millions of dollars to downtown. The NABC, which was founded in Kansas City, has been approached by Indianapolis, Dallas and other…
KC Artifact Offers Industrial-Strength Decor
By Kevin Collison Developer Vince Bryant is mining his redevelopment properties including the old Kansas City Star building for salvageable gold and has opened a weekly venue where people can shop for those industrial treasures. The space debuted in mid-December and is called KC Artifact. It’s only open Saturdays and is located on the ground…
Busy Westport Intersection Calmed by Street Art
By Kevin Collison The intersection of Westport Road and Wyandotte is a calmer, more attractive place thanks to DuRon Netsell and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. A $25,000 grant from the Asphalt Art Initiative, one of Bloomberg’s philanthropic endeavors, has allowed Netsell to blend traffic-calming measures and street art to create a whole new…
New Strategy Hopes to Reanimate Disney Laugh-O-Gram Building
By Kevin Collison Backers of the effort to reanimate the historic Laugh-O-Gram building where Walt Disney got his start a century ago believe they finally have a winning strategy to complete the languishing project. The new plan calls for the building near 31st and Troost to be renovated for multiple uses: a small theater and…