News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Landscape Architecture Firm Finds New Digs in River Market
By Kevin Collison Vireo, a landscape architecture and community planning firm, has opened a new home in the River Market, finding space once used for a brewery garage as a welcoming new environment for its employees. Stephen Rhoades, a principal at the firm, said the company used the disruptive year when Covid forced its employees…
Nick’s Picks | Prepping for Memorial Day, Summertime
Nick Haines offers an outlook on the news week ahead in Kansas City.
KC Folk Festival Sunday To Be Free ‘Peoples’ Fest’
Downtown is the center of world folk music this weekend with a major conference of the Folk Alliance International at the Westin Crown Center and a free, public music festival Sunday (May 22, 2022) at Washington Square Park. The city has been home to the Folk Alliance since 2013 and several conferences attracting hundreds of…
Stalled Ashland Project Purchased, Work Expected to Resume This Year
By Kevin Collison The long-stalled Ashland on Third apartment development in the River Market has been purchased by a Minneapolis firm that’s expected to tweak the design and resume construction possibly by the end of this year. Oaks Properties has bought the project from KC Commercial Realty Group. KC Commercial began work on what was…
Inside KC’s Gun Culture: It’s Changing, and Not How You Might Expect
Millions of Americans have become first-time gun owners in recent years. Here’s a look at who they are, and why they’re arming themselves.
Developer Tackles Historic Building for $120M Affordable Housing Project
By Kevin Collison Fresh from building a super-green apartment complex from scratch, developer Jonathan Arnold is tackling a very different project, renovating a massive, century-old building into affordable housing. Arnold wants to convert the historic National Cloak and Suit Company building at 5401 Independence Ave. into 352 apartments at an estimated cost of $120 million….
Kansas Supreme Court Affirms Constitutionality of Congressional Redistricting Map
The Kansas Supreme Court issued a ruling Wednesday declaring the congressional redistricting map approved by the Republican-led Legislature to be in compliance with the Kansas Constitution.
Developer Tackles Historic Building for $120M Affordable Housing Project
Developer Jonathan Arnold wants to convert the historic National Cloak and Suit Co. building at 5401 Independence Ave. into 352 apartments at an estimated cost of $120 million.
Climate Change Highlights Value of 19th Century Plan for ‘A City Within a Park’
Civic, government and nonprofit leaders are evoking 19th century planner George Kessler’s “city within a park” concept to help address the effects of climate change in Kansas City.
Lux Living Riverfront Project in ‘Limbo’ After Port KC Board Balks at Vote
By Kevin Collison A $56 million riverfront apartment proposal that would have been the first to meet the city’s affordable housing goal is now in “limbo” after the Port KC board failed to vote on it Monday. The plan by Lux Living of St. Louis for a 250-unit apartment development was seeking a 25 year…