CitySceneKC
Potential Super Bowl Celebration Carries Super Price Tag
By Kevin Collison Being a successful NFL city doesn’t come cheap. The estimated cost to city taxpayers for a hoped-for Feb. 15 celebration should the Chiefs win the Super Bowl was estimated at least $2.25 million at a City Council committee meeting Wednesday. That figure includes a $750,000 transfer to the KC Sports Commission to…
New Bakery, Enchanté, Joins French Culinary Corner at Main and Westport
By Kevin Collison The one-woman Frenchification of the angled intersection where Westport Road meets Main Street has an enticing new aroma, this one drifting from The Bakery, Enchanté. Heather White opened her French brasserie Tailleur at 3933 Main in August 2021 and her Parisian dessert bar Cheval at 3940 Main in September. Now, Enchanté has…
Historic Muehlebach Hotel Bar Reopening After 40 Years
By Kevin Collison The former Rendezvous bar in the historic Muehlebach Hotel, a luxurious watering hole where Truman Capote once worked on “In Cold Blood” and bygone businessmen talked deals over whiskeys and cigars, is reopening soon as the Voo Lounge. The old bar at 1214 Baltimore has been largely dormant since 1983, but thanks…
Four Former KC Mayors Talk Shop at Plaza Library Event
By Kevin Collison It was a unique gathering last week when four former KC mayors discussed the perennial issues confronting the occupant of City Hall’s 29th floor including crime, East Side redevelopment, affordable housing and Jefferson City. The executive quartet brought together at the Plaza Library by KCPT-19 and the Citizens Association covered a lot…
Cycle City Opens in River Market
(Editor’s note: This article originally was published March 25, 2022) By Kevin Collison Cycle City has opened at 201 Main St. in the River Market and owner Joe Fox is envisioning a deal you’ll like at the microbrewery next door while waiting for your bike to be serviced. “I’m working on free drink tokens with…
Hall Family Foundation Donates $15M for UMKC Hospital Hill Project
The Hall Family Foundation is donating $15 million toward the construction of the planned medical and dentistry building in the UMKC Health Sciences District on Hospital Hill. “This new building will enable UMKC to expand its important work in equitable and inclusive health care delivery and we are inspired by the collaboration between UMKC, Children’s…
Goodwill Considers $50M ‘Opportunity Campus’ in East Crossroads
By Kevin Collison Goodwill Industries has decided to hold onto its former building at 18th and Charlotte in the East Crossroads and is considering demolishing it to make way for a $50 million office, education and social service center. The agency listed the four-story, 78,000 square-foot building for sale three years ago after it relocated…
Aloft Hotel Opens at Plaza; Strang Food Hall Coming Next Door
By Kevin Collison The new Aloft hotel has opened on the north edge of the Country Club Plaza, bringing a contemporary vibe to the venerable shopping district that includes a spacious “re-mix” lobby anchored by the WXYZ Bar. “We very much believe in the unique environment of the Plaza, the experience is unlike anything else…
Fire By Downtown Freeway Latest Flare-up in MoDOT’s Trash Problem
By Kevin Collison The Crossroad district’s frustration with MoDOT’s inability to care for its property, including a recent fire, is the latest flashpoint over the agency’s shortcomings maintaining the downtown freeway right-of-way. “MoDOT is either non-responsive or takes no action,” said Suzie Aron, a past president of of the Crossroads Community Association. “All of us…
Larks Landing Downtown, New ‘Active’ Entertainment Franchise
By Kevin Collison A new “active entertainment” concept that offers affordable, easy social activities including shuffleboard and arcade games with multiple players is planned for a unique location at 11th and Walnut. Dallas-based Larks Entertainment is opening a Larks franchise in the space below the WallStreet Tower condos formerly occupied by The Clubhouse Experience which…