Downtown Outlook Brightest in Decades

It has been a good last two years for Downtown Kansas City. And on Friday, November 19, nearly thirty of downtown and the urban core’s most prominent leaders, including KC’s Mayor Kay Barnes, convened for a serious discussion on the question of how Downtown might make the next few years equally as good if not better.

This assembly was part of Ingram’s Magazine’s ongoing effort to highlight economic development issues in Kansas City’s greater metropolitan area. Speaking of downtown development, Ingram’s hosted the event at its new Crossroads district headquarters, across the tracks from Union Station.

Although there was honest and sometimes contentious talk about a range of provocative issues including the very definition of downtown, the mood was dramatically brighter than it was three years ago when Ingram’s convened for its first Downtown assembly. Indeed, the future of greater Downtown Kansas City has not looked this promising in half a century.

Front row

Allison Bergman
Lathrop & Gage

Lonnie Breaux
Children’s Mercy Hospital

Karen Pletz
Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences 

Mayor Kay Barnes
City of Kansas City, MO (Chair)

Mark Bryant
Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus 

David Frantze
Stinson Morrison Hecker

Stephen Block
Block & Company

Brad Nicholson
Nicholson Real Estate

Second row

Joe Sweeney
Ingram’s Magazine

Jack Holland
Oppenheimer & Company

Jim Calcara
360 Architecture

Jim Stacy
MC Lioness Realty Group

Pat McCown
McCownGordon Construction

Joyce Murray
Zimmer Real Estate Services

Gib Kerr
Tower Properties

Steve McDowell
BNIM Architects

Jack Cashill
Ingram’s Magazine

Todd Achelpohl
HNTB Corp.

Back row

Dan Murphy
Shughart Thomson & Kilroy

Jon Copaken
Copaken White & Blitt

George Wolf
Shook Hardy & Bacon

Chris Sally
Development Initiatives 

Peter deSilva
UMB Bank Corp.

Greg Nook
J.E. Dunn Construction 

Dale Garrison
Ingram’s Magazine