News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Kansas City Jazz Swings Across Downtown
By Kim Mueller Lonnie McFadden stood smiling beside the piano inspecting his trumpet before beginning his regular gig at The Phoenix where he entertains the Friday night crowd by playing his horn, tap dancing on the bar or singing a variety of songs. “What you have here is a music venue,” McFadden said before beginning…
Proposed River Market Office Project Drops Plan for Separate Garage
By Kevin Collison The developer of a proposed River Market office project at Third and Grand has scrapped the idea of a separate garage and is now paying the KCATA for the option to develop the site. Briarcliff Development is pursuing the 200,000 square-foot office project on the 1.8-acre parking lot owned by the Kansas…
New Downtown Bus Shelters to Offer More Amenities, Relieve Congestion
(Updated Aug. 24 with work schedule: Work is expected to begin Monday, Aug. 27 at 12th and Grand, and on Monday, Sept. 10 at Petticoat and Main. Construction at both locations is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year. Downtown bus stops will be temporarily relocated during construction: -Eastbound 12th at Grand…
Latest River Market Apartment Project Filling Fast
By Kevin Collison Only six months after its opening, the River Market’s latest apartment development, 531 Grand, is already 72 percent leased with its studio units completely gone. The 185-unit development is the first to be built in downtown by Omaha-based Cornerstone Associates. CEO Larry Mazzotta is so pleased, his firm is considering doing another…
Secrets Of A Maya Supermom: What Parenting Books Don’t Tell You
Parenting doesn’t have to be so stressful. Just ask a Maya mom.
Downtown UMKC Arts Campus Idea Revived, Barney Allis Plaza in the Mix
By Kevin Collison The possibility of a UMKC arts campus in downtown Kansas City is being floated again and this time Barney Allis Plaza is the apparent preferred candidate. University of Missouri-Kansas City officials announced Thursday they will seek proposals, described as a “request for interest (RFI),” for a new arts facility that would house…
Career Education in Fourth Grade?
Holland 1916 is a North Kansas City, Missouri, manufacturing company with a history that dates back to the earliest years of the 20th century. But it has not shied away from a new approach to recruiting employees and preparing the workforce of tomorrow. The company regularly hosts fourth-graders at its Burlington Street headquarters to illustrate…
Downtown Central Library Hosts National Poet Laureate
Tracy K. Smith, the poet laureate of the United States, will discuss her life and poetry, and read from her works at the Downtown Central Library Friday evening. “I feel like a poem draws us, draws me, into a quieter space, a decibel level that sits below the register of the media that we live…
Tech N9ne Gets Down with Boulevard on New Brew
Take Boulevard Wheat, improvise with some pineapple and coconut flavors and throw down some Tech N9ne and you’ve got a new collaboration from two of Kansas City’s favorite sons. Downtown-based Boulevard Brewing and Strange Music announced this week the new “Bou Lou” collaboration will debut at this summer’s Boulevardia festival in the Stockyards District of…
Embassy Suites Anticipates Mid-2020 Opening in Old Federal Reserve
By Kevin Collison The long-awaited redevelopment of the historic Federal Reserve Bank building into a 321-room Embassy Suites hotel is back on track and is expected to start interior remediation soon, according to its Colorado-based developer. “It’s been a long, difficult process that’s now come to a head and we’re ready to go,” said Jeff…