Downtown Living
Downtown YMCA Project Wins Key State Funding Needed to Complete Fundraising
By Kevin Collison After a 36 year absence, a full-service YMCA is returning to downtown Kansas City following approval Tuesday of state tax credits needed to help finance building its new home in the historic Lyric Theater. The Missouri Development Finance Board approved up to $4 million in state tax credits, a move that’s expected…
Historic Brookfield Building Reopening Soon as Hotel Indigo and Fairfax Lofts
By Kevin Collison Back in its previous heyday, the historic Fairfax building at 11th and Baltimore, later known as the Brookfield, was the place to buy a train or airplane ticket in Kansas City. When it opened in 1930, the 12-story Art Deco tower was named after the then-new Fairfax airport in Kansas City, Kan….
Downtown Dazzle Lights Up Washington Square Park This Holiday Season and Expands Schedule
By Kevin Collison The fourth annual Downtown Dazzle, downtown Kansas City’s holiday showcase, is decorating Washington Square Park this year with a new light show intended to create a festive, walkable district that includes Crown Center and Union Station. It’s all part of a new strategy for the annual celebration that seeks to better connect…
New York Developer has Found a Little Tribeca in Garment District
By Kevin Collison Andrew Bolton specializes in historic redevelopment projects and had worked in New Orleans and Washington D.C. before coming to Kansas City. He liked what he found so much he decided to relocate here from New York. “I came to Kansas City in the 1990s on business,” he said. “I didn’t know much…
Meshuggah Bagels Rolling Into Downtown this March
By Kevin Collison The bagel that ate 39th Street last spring is rolling into downtown Kansas City, hopefully in time for the Big 12 basketball tournament in March. Meshuggah Bagels plans to open its fourth metro outlet in a 1,400 square-foot space off the ground-floor lobby of One Light apartments at 13th and Walnut streets….
Appetite for Downtown Living Continues, Newly Redeveloped 915 Broadway Project Nearly Full
By Kevin Collison The 915 Broadway project, a $10.5 million redevelopment of two historic buildings in the Garment District of downtown, is close to fully leased five months after it opened in June. The 44-unit development, which combined two buildings at 911 and 915 Broadway, has four one-bedroom apartments remaining, according to its manager Erica…
Developer Plans to Renovate “Abandoned Fortress” Building into Apartments
By Kevin Collison A vacant, dilapidated brick building at 27th and Madison that was built in 1920 as a power substation is slated to re-energized as a 10-unit apartment building. “It struck our eyes as being a catalyst to revitalizing that neighborhood and continue Kansas City’s overall revitalization of the urban core and downtown area,”…
Two New Residential Projects in the Works for Paseo Gateway Area on Downtown’s Northeast Edge
By Kevin Collison Construction on two residential projects, a 57-unit apartment development and 22 townhouses, is scheduled to begin next month in The Paseo Gateway redevelopment area on the northeast edge of downtown. The $12.9 million Quinlan Place apartment project and $5.1 million Quinlan Row townhouses project were endorsed by the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority…
ClusterTruck Promises Fresher, Faster Online Downtown Meal Delivery Service from New River Market Location
By Kevin Collison (Editors note: The Kansas City ClusterTruck location opened in late December) ClusterTruck, an online meal delivery service that rolled out in downtown Indianapolis two years ago, is opening a new kitchen in the River Market later this year. The business plans to compete successfully with the likes of other online food delivery…
Downtown’s School, Crossroads Academy, Named Top Charter School in Missouri
Crossroads Academy, founded five years ago to be downtown’s school and a place where students utilize the city as their outside classroom, has been named the best charter school in Missouri for 2017. The Missouri Charter Public School Association named Crossroads its Charter School of the Year. The organization represents 68 charter schools across the…