DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Downtown Growth: The Big Gets Bigger

by Dale Garrison

Downtown Kansas City's unprecedented $3.4 billion growth surge just got more unprecedented. With the addition of several large private projects and a myriad of smaller, the urban core’s growth boom is now estimated closer to $4 billion.

Although a list of major projects still begins with the Sprint Center construction, Bartle Hall expansion and several major office conversions, one of the most popular recent developments involved a grocery store. Developers in September 2005 announced that a Cosentino’s food store would join the mixed-use entertainment district set to open in 2006.

While not as significant an anchor as the nearby H&R Block headquarters, the Cosentino’s grocery store planned at 13th and Main was viewed as an important sign of the entertainment district’s viability. Along with a parking garage, fitness center and a 240-unit condo tower, the grocery will provide a long-awaited service for the growing Downtown residential population now estimated in excess of 9,000 people.

 

Stage Presence

AMC Entertainment announced a development that will return movies to the Empire Theater while restoring the Midland Theatre to present live music.

This venture, estimated at $60 million, will restore the historic Empire Theater at 14th and Main streets into a six-screen movie theater featuring state-of-the-art digital technology. It will be operated by AMC. A restaurant also will be located in the 84-year-old building.

The Midland building will be part of an entertainment and residential complex at 13th and Main. Space now used as offices will be converted into 40 residential condominiums, while the theater will be utilized for live music and other stage entertainment. Both the Midland and Empire projects should be completed in spring 2007, along with the remainder of the entertainment district development.

The theater announcements also included formal designation of the entertainment district as the Power & Light project. The late Stan Durwood, who founded AMC, was a longtime proponent of a revitalized Downtown and tried for more than two decades to promote a similar entertainment district by the same name.

The grocery also involves a strong historic tie to Kansas City. The Cosentino family has been in the grocery business since 1948, and today they operate 22 area stores under several names.

The nearby entertainment district is scheduled for a late 2006 opening. While tenant information remains sketchy, numerous design details have been forthcoming. Preliminary designs indicate these features include wide sidewalks, balcony restaurants, tree-lined streets and a large pedestrian mall—in short a significant departure from some of the high-rise “canyons” elsewhere Downtown.

 

Multiple Anchors

Besides providing potential customers for the nearby entertainment district, the $138 million H&R Block headquarters will provide one of the largest employment influxes into the area, with 1,450 workers expected when it opens in late 2006. With its unusual oval design, the 500,000-square-foot office building also will provide a good visual balance to the Sprint Center.

Scheduled to open in 2007, the $250 million arena is being planned to seat approximately 19,000. Already named as home to the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inside the College Basketball Experience, and the offices of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the annual attendance of more than 150,000 creates another tourist destination likely to enhance the surrounding area.

Like the Block building, the arena’s location and design will dramatically change the south loop. Linked directly to an enlarged Bartle Hall by the widened 14th Street, the arena’s multifaceted glass exterior and drawing power serve as tangible anchors for the area.

At H. Roe Bartle Hall, 2005 saw completion of several improvements and start of a major expansion, the latter to include a new $145.1 million ballroom and related improvements expected to be complete in June 2007.

In 1999, voters approved a hotel tax increase that partly went into an immediate Bartle facelift and planning for the $25 million meeting room upgrade that was completed in January 2005. The expansion design includes features that play on Kansas City’s historical link to water: sculpted wall panels mimic flowing water while overlapping stainless ceiling fixtures will create a watery illusion overhead. Two exterior fountains will feature animated jets shooting 20-foot water designs into the air and dancing sheets of water cascading down a glass wall.

Nearby, the city in 2005 also completed $3.8 million in improvements at Municipal Auditorium, and the City Council in June approved a $2.8 million repair plan for the Municipal Auditorium parking garage. The city also is considering a major expansion at the Music Hall that would deepen the stage to allow for national presentations, which now must pass the local venue because of its smaller size.

 

Encore Performance

The potentially dramatic Metropolitan Performing Arts Center was something of a moving target during 2005, but by the end of the year plans again refocused on the original hilltop location at 16th and Broadway. If all goes well, the project could begin construction in the fall of 2006.

Originally envisioned as a stunning series of glass arches, the development’s largely private fund-raising effort led to exploration of a Lyric Theater location by the center’s board of directors. However, the project has moved forward with commitments of approximately $230 million toward a projected $300 million budget. The Broadway location is seen by many as an important connection between the South Loop and Crossroads Districts, as well as providing the Arts Center with excellent highway access.

While returning to the hilltop location, the Board of Directors also returned to their original focus of providing performing space for resident organizations, in part because Music Hall at Municipal Auditorium is now the focus of a renovation plan aimed at drawing larger productions. Backers of the center still expect the city to build two parking garages to serve the project, one underground immediately to the south and the other to the north near Bartle Hall. The city has a $47 million commitment to build the garages.

Resident organizations for the center include the Kansas City Symphony, the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera, all of which have signed 20-year leases with the center. The Kansas City Ballet also is continuing plans to build a school and studio just east of the center. The ballet was ready to break ground in 2004, but the center’s exploration of the Lyric site caused those plans to be placed on hold.

The $370 million IRS Service Center is also under way at Main and Pershing Road. With a scheduled opening of mid-2007, the project involves remodeling of the former Main Post Office and construction of several new buildings. The combined center will be one of the largest employment centers Downtown, with the IRS planning to consolidate 6,000 employees in the 1.1-million-square-foot facility.

Bringing that many people to one area already has created additional impact. In anticipation of this influx of potential customers, several buildings near the IRS center are being converted into residential and retail uses. The postal operations have moved across the street to Union Station.

 

Up the Hill

Several projects line the ridge behind the IRS Center and its neighbor, Crown Center.

Children’s Mercy Hospital is planning several projects, including additional outpatient clinics, an educational building and redevelopment of space formerly occupied by Western Missouri Mental Health Center. Estimated at $120 million in construction, the work will occur in phases through 2010. The current efforts at Children’s Mercy follow construction of a $17 million Pediatric Research Center and $20 million Primary Care Clinics that opened in early 2004.

To the southwest, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City formally broke ground in June 2005 on its 14-story headquarters complex at 29th and Main, next to Penn Valley Park and south of the Liberty Memorial. This $200 million project is expected to be completed in spring 2008 and will house more than 1,000 employees.

This new complex will feature a five-level, 925-space employee garage to the south of the primary office building. A main tower will rise above a two-level structure to house operations, conference and training center. The previous Federal Reserve facility, at 925 Grand Boulevard, will be converted into residences.

 

Outside the Box

Even with its 10-acre campus, the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences is not the largest development, but its significance and even greater potential make it a deserving member of this list. Located between Downtown and the historic Northeast Neighborhood, KCUMB is involved in a series of major projects that increase its impact in both academics and in the community.

KCUMB this year will break ground for a new auditorium that will eventually be part of an 111,000-square-foot complex featuring a library and student activity center. When complete, the Weaver Auditorium will allow the University to host commencement and the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s White Coating ceremony on campus for the first time in KCUMB’s 90-year history. The facility will also be available for community events as part of the University’s ongoing commitment to Kansas City and its urban core.

Another 5,500 square foot Center for Clinical Competence will open in the fall of 2006. These projects follow a research center completed in 2004, including the 45,000-square foot Dybedal Center, which features a core facility and more than 20,000 square feet of basic science laboratories. This center also includes Kansas City’s only adult academic clinical research center and laboratories devoted to cutting-edge proteomics and cancer research.

Closer to the downtown core, the $340 million East Village proposal in late 2005 moved beyond the drawing board. Planned for 12 blocks between Ilus W. Davis Park and Charlotte Street, the large proposal targeted an area long ignored by redevelopment. Initial plans call for approximately 1,300 residences, 80,000 square feet of retail space and a 175,000-square-foot office building.

 

Strategic Connections

Two final projects impact Downtown from outside the immediate area, but the Paseo Bridge and Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport are key supports for the city’s core.

The importance of the Paseo Bridge was underscored in 2005 when the major north-south artery was closed temporarily. Funding for its ultimate expansion or a modern replacement was announced in 2005 with commitment of a $50 million federal bonus to replace the artery. That money would be added to the $195 million the Missouri Department of Transportation already has set aside for the project. Construction could begin as early as 2007.

Exact plans and the ultimate cost of the project remain in flux, although options include simply adding a second, parallel span to construction of a large, “signature” bridge replacing the existing structure. The importance of the Paseo Bridge has grown dramatically as Clay and Platte counties have developed, and as I-35 becomes a major regional, national and even international corridor.

Virtually in the shadow of Downtown, the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport usually receives less attention than Kansas City International Airport, but it is often crucial in meeting the business needs of Downtown and the surrounding area. The older, 1933 facility actually serves as a major corporate jet facility for the region. Major improvements there are quietly rebuilding the airport with a $20 million renovation. Runway improvements were about 50 percent complete by the end of 2005 and hanger improvements were planned for early 2006.

 

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