News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Art in the Loop Returns to Downtown
By Kim Mueller Be prepared to play in the city this summer when art comes alive in the park, library, streetcar and studios as part of the 2018 Art in the Loop project. “We look forward to this year being the biggest and boldest yet,” said Donna Mandelbaum, KC Steetcar Authority communications director. Art in…
Restored Savoy Grill is Centerpiece of New 21c Museum Hotel
By Kevin Collison First off, breathe easy Kansas City history buffs. The inner sanctum of the Savoy Grill, that 1903 time-capsule of dark oak woodwork, terrazzo floor, Old West murals and Harry Truman’s “Booth No. 4,” returns when the $47.5 million renovation of the Savoy Hotel is completed this summer. Yes, the adjoining dining room—a…
NourishKC Celebrates Serving Millionth Meal to the Homeless
By Kevin Collison Eight years after opening in new space at Eighth and The Paseo, NourishKC celebrated serving its millionth meal to the homeless people of downtown. Mayor Sly James recognized their charitable work at an event this week, but also used the occasion to call out the broader issue of homelessness and growing economic…
Historic West Bottoms on Stage This Week
By Kim Mueller Put on your hiking shoes, and rediscover the West Bottoms as city leaders celebrate its past and envision its future in several walking, biking, boating and busing tours beginning Thursday. Kansas City Historic Preservation Officer and Editor Brad Wolfe will lead a tour of the West Bottoms Tuesday, May 1, including several…
Sky’s the Limit at Two Light When it Comes to Amenities—and Rents.
By Kim Mueller Two Light, the new Cordish luxury apartment tower, is scheduled to open May 4 with half its 296 units already leased. A public grand opening of the 24-floor tower at 1444 Grand is expected the end of May, said spokeswoman Jen DeMeyer. The new tower, the second of four planned high-rises in the…
J. Rieger Pursuing Ambitious ‘Electric Park’ Project in East Bottoms
By Kevin Collison The co-founder of Jacob Rieger & Co. distillery is pursuing a visionary concept to renovate the historic Heim Brewery Building in the East Bottoms as a catalyst to re-energize the old Electric Park area. The $11.3 million redevelopment proposal being pursued by Andy Rieger tentatively calls for the brick building at 507…
‘We Know That There Are Some Choices That Are Better’
In advance of Earth Day, we hear from Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.” Kolbert warns in her book that unless we change habits soon, the Earth and climate will reach an irreversible point, creating conditions unsuitable for organic life on Earth and starting the sixth extinction. Although grim this tale…
Developer Plans to Convert Former Auto Row Building on McGee Into Offices
By Kevin Collison A developer is planning to convert one of the East Crossroads buildings along McGee Street that comprise the historic auto row district into an office building. Andrew Brain of Brain Group development plans invest up to $12 million to covert the 100 year-old building at 1824-32 McGee into office space. “We have…
Kansas’ Important Place in Black History
Today, Kansas is known as a deeply conservative state, but a historian reminded a Kansas City audience that the state actually has a long history of racial progressivism dating back even before its statehood. “There is no other state beyond Kansas whose history is so intertwined with the idea of African-American freedom, African-American liberation,” said…
Historic Site Gets Some Comic Relief
As attendance at religious services declines nationwide, houses of worship are getting repurposed, including an old brick church just east of 199th and Metcalf in southern Johnson County, on four-block-long Park Street. Calvin Coolidge is loving it back to life. No, not that Coolidge. Rather, his distant cousin, the Kansas City singer and comic. When…