River Market West II Wins Tax Incentive Approval, $23.6 Million Apartment Project
By Kevin Collison The apartment boom in the downtown River Market district got a little louder Thursday with the approval of tax incentives for a 116-unit development at Fifth and Wyandotte streets. The developer of River Market West II was granted a 15-year property tax abatement by the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority. The $23.6 million…
Kansas City’s Big Picnic & Other Weekend Possibilities
This is the time of year when you gather the whole city for a picnic. Kansas City’s Big Picnic is Sunday on the lawn of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak St.). The event will celebrate the Department of Parks and Recreation’s 125th anniversary and runs from 4 to 8 p.m. Enjoy live music, art…
Historic Pickwick Plaza Gets Its Landmark Clock Back Just in Time for Grand Opening
By Kevin Collison The historic Pickwick Plaza in downtown Kansas City is back on the clock–literally–after a $65 million redevelopment project. On Wednesday, workers were reinstalling the eight-foot diameter clock mounted seven stories above McGee Street, one of the final touches before the grand opening Friday of the 260-unit apartment development. “That clock is symbolic…
The Caregiver’s Perspective on Alzheimer’s In Our Community
When Elaine and Jose Belardo discovered he had Alzheimer’s disease, their lives seemed to stand still. “Once you get the diagnosis, it’s destabilizing, you lose vision because everything is so dizzying,” Elaine said, “Once I got a new vision, I could orient myself for what could be done.” In that instant, Elaine became not only…
The Joy of Cooking With Beer
Beer has long been overshadowed by wine as a cooking ingredient. Traditional French cooking techniques incorporate wine into sauces, braised meats, and other preparations. Now beer is getting its due turn not just as a drink to pair with food, but also as a key ingredient to prepare dishes. These examples from chefs might inspire…
Bird’s Botanicals Adds Bite to Its Downtown City Market Orchid Lineup, Carnivorous Plants
By Kevin Collison David Bird has been a colorful fixture at the City Market in downtown Kansas City for 15 years, delighting shoppers on Saturday mornings with beautiful orchids grown in his operation in a limestone cave. But despite their myriad shapes and colors, people gradually began to lose interest in his orchids and sales…
Bridging the Great Digital Divide
“To build up a library is to create a life.” — Carlos María Dominguez, writer and journalist Explore this four-part video series, Libraries Out Loud, on Wednesdays in July on flatlandkc.local. Then tune-in to hear the four heads of the library system discuss the series during a special Kansas City Week in Review at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4, on KCPT….
ARTerra Apartment Project Underway in Downtown Freight House District; Development First Proposed 10 Years Ago
By Kevin Collison The 12-story ARTerra apartment project in the heart of the Freight House District is officially underway, 10 years after it was first proposed. The 126-unit luxury project is being developed at 2100 Wyandotte St. by a partnership between Copaken Brooks of Kansas City and Altus Properties of St. Louis. It represents the…
Artificial Sweeteners Don’t Help People Lose Weight, Review Finds
It’s easy to think that artificial sweeteners are a health win. But a review of research finds that there’s no evidence they help people lose weight, and they may be associated with other problems.
Tap List | Sam Calagione, Dunkel, & The Brewkery
Sam Calagione, the charismatic founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware, visited Bier Station (120 E. Gregory Blvd.) last week. He was in town to celebrate the distribution of his brewery’s beers in Kansas City and to raise funds for the son of Skylar Wallace at a special event hosted by Bier Station….
Downtown Council Office Summit Offers Overview of Potential Projects
By Kevin Collison Call it a SimCity for grownups. Last week’s Downtown Council office summit not only provided expert opinion on where the downtown Kansas City office market may be heading over the next few years, but laid out potential office development sites ranging from the Berkley Riverfront to Washington Square. To summarize, the consensus…
Summer Meal Programs Work, But …
The quest to address childhood hunger in the Kansas City region unites concerned citizens of all types around one of the most admired programs in our area: BackSnacks Run by Harvesters — The Community Food Network, the program sends 19,000 needy children home from school with backpacks filled with weekend meals. As the largest program…
Italy’s Coffee Culture Brims With Rituals And Mysterious Rules
Coffee — it’s something many can’t start the day without. In Italy, it is a cultural mainstay, and the country is perhaps the beverage’s spiritual home. After all, Italy gave us the lingo — espresso, cappuccino, latte — and its coffee culture is filled with rituals and mysterious rules. Caffé Greco is Rome’s oldest café….
We Struggle, Too
There’s a perception that the grass is greener in the Blue Valley School District. That may be. After all, the academic scores are consistently high, the facilities are immaculate, and incomes are significantly above average. But when students return for the fall semester they’ll find a major new investment has been made in treating mental…
State Task Force Proposes Major Cuts and Restrictions to Historic Tax Credit Program
By Kevin Collison A task force established by Gov. Greitens to examine state tax credit policy has returned with recommendations that preservationists say would substantially cut the historic tax credit program and make it much more difficult to utilize The task force is recommending the historic tax credit program be lumped together with the brownfield…