News & Issues
Cities Dream Of Landing Amazon’s New HQ And They’re Going To Great Lengths To Show It
Officials in Tucson, Ariz., uprooted a 21-foot-tall saguaro cactus and tried to have it delivered to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. Birmingham constructed giant Amazon boxes and placed them around the Alabama city. In Missouri, Kansas City’s mayor bought a thousand items online from Amazon and posted reviews of each one. All of these cities are clearly…
Sprint Center Celebrates 10 Years as Downtown Anchor, Result of Bold Mayoral Push with Lessons for KCI Campaign
By Kevin Collison It was a huge gamble when it was first proposed, but 10 years later, the Sprint Center has yielded an equally huge payoff for downtown, drawing 11 million visitors and generating an estimated half-billion dollars in economic benefits to the city. Last week, Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group, the operator of the…
Tenth and Main Transit Center Closing, Opening Opportunities in Heart of Downtown
By Kevin Collison The congested bus transit center at Tenth and Main is scheduled to be closed within two years, opening up space for a potential pocket park in the heart of downtown. The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority plans to relocate the 1/2-acre transit center, currently a hub for 15 bus routes, to a…
City Picks Renowned Chicago-based Artists to Redevelop Historic School Building in 18th & Vine Jazz District
By Kevin Collison The historic Attucks School building in the 18th & Vine Jazz District won’t be reused as a school afterall. Instead, the city has chosen a proposal by two internationally-renowned artists based in Chicago to convert the old building at 1815 Woodland Ave. into a hub for arts and culture. The Zhou Brothers,…
Construction Underway on $39 Million Mosaic Arena Redevelopment, Grand Opening Expected Next August
By Kevin Collison It takes some deep digging to get through the ancient livestock manure, river silt and other poor soil where the former Kemper Arena was located to build the foundation for its new future. Ninety feet to be exact. That’s how far down the four massive columns required to support the new second…