Downtown Living
One of Downtown’s Last Big, Empty Historic Buildings Slated for Apartments
By Kevin Collison One of downtown’s last prominent, dormant historic buildings, the 23-story Mark Twain Tower, is slated to be redeveloped as a 202-unit apartment project following approval of incentives Wednesday. The soaring structure at the northwest corner of 11th and Baltimore, which opened in 1923 as the Kansas City Athletic Club, is expected to…
New Downtown Y Called Boost to Growing, Diverse Community
By Kevin Collison For perhaps the first time ever, downtown will be home to a high school swim team, one of many community-building opportunities cited last week at the kickoff event for the new YMCA at the Lyric Theater. The beginning of a civic endeavor that began in 2011 when YMCA executive David Byrd, fresh…
New YMCA Coming Downtown After 37-Year Absence, Work Starts Friday
By Kevin Collison A new downtown YMCA, a huge civic endeavor in the making for seven years, is scheduled to kickoff construction Friday in the former Lyric Theater building with completion expected in spring 2021. The $35 million Y will incorporate the front facade and lobby of the historic theater at 1029 Central and build…
The Grand Adds Sixties Modern Cool to Downtown Living
By Kevin Collison The Grand, one of downtown’s biggest historic preservation projects ever, opens this week following a $65 million renovation that’s transformed a 1962 office tower into a stylish “Sixties Modern” living environment. The 201 apartments in the former Traders National Bank Building at 1125 Grand are 20 percent pre-leased and interest has been…
Mulberry Lofts Opens in Historic Garment District Building
By Kevin Collison Mulberry Lofts, the latest downtown historic renovation project at 905 Broadway, has come to fruition with half of its 25 apartments already leased two weeks after the first residents began moving in. Developer Andrew Bolton, a New Yorker who relocated to Kansas City while pursuing the $8 million project, has blended the…