Kevin Collison
Publisher
Flatland contributor Kevin Collison is the founder of CityScene KC, an online source for downtown news and issues.
Stories by Kevin Collison
Boulevardia Moving Up to Crown Center This June
Boulevardia is leaving the Bottoms for Crown Center this June, and organizers believe the shift will make the annual Father’s Day weekend music and beer festival more accessible and convenient. This will be the seventh year for the festival that began in the West Bottoms, and the move to Crown Center originally had been scheduled…
Converting O’Neil Bridge to Linear Park ‘Top Priority’ for City Officials
(Editor’s note, updated March 3: The city announced today it is issuing a request for proposals/qualifications to study the reuse of the existing Buck O’Neil Bridge. The study will be done by the City of Kansas City, Jackson County and Clay County using $300,000 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. “The study will gather public…
Converting Buck O’Neil Bridge to Linear Park ‘Top Priority’ for City Officials
A proposal to convert the old Buck O’Neil Bridge into a linear park with dramatic downtown views is being described as a top priority at City Hall, but key questions remain about its ownership, cost and operation.
Council Approves Incentives for Fidelity HQ Project at Crown Center
By Kevin Collison An incentive deal for the proposed headquarters of Fidelity Security Life Insurance at 27th and Main sailed through the City Council Thursday despite neighborhood criticism and broader policy concerns about its planned garage. The Council voted 11-1 to approve a tax incentive package valued at about $9 million for the $83.4 million…
Converge KC Apartments Revive Key Midtown Corner
By Kevin Collison Converge KC, the $46 million apartment project at Valentine Road and Broadway, has transformed a formerly moribund corner with a tired strip mall and parking lot into a dynamic urban addition to Midtown. The 213-unit project was built above what was once Uptown Shoppes, which had its retail space renovated as part…
Midtown Plaza Project Nears Completion, Second Phase Planned
By Kevin Collison The first phase of the Midtown Plaza apartment project, the renovation of a 1970s office building at 3420 Broadway, is nearing completion with a second phase of the long-delayed development expected to be introduced at City Hall soon. The conversion of the seven-story, former Missouri Gas Energy building into 108 apartments was…
Ability KC Plans Medical Office Building, Retail on Streetcar Route
By Kevin Collison Ability KC wants to build a 3 1/2 story office building and four-level garage at 31st Terrace and Main, the latest big project proposed along the route of the planned streetcar extension from downtown to UMKC. The nonprofit organization, which currently operates the Children’s Center Campus at the southeast corner of 31st…
UMKC Seeks Ideas to Revitalize Historic Epperson House
By Kevin Collison UMKC is seeking ideas to save and revitalize the Epperson House, a vacant, century-old former mansion on its campus that’s been a repeat nominee on Historic KC’s most endangered list. In recent press release, the university stated it was seeking “creative solutions to restore and reopen” the Collegiate Gothic-style mansion. Construction on…
East Crossroads Brewers & Friends Band Together to Promote District
By Kevin Collison Six years after Border Brewing, its first microbrewery, opened, the East Crossroads and its band of merry brewers, distillers and vintners are touting their area as a big regional draw and working together to promote it. “We’ve become a tourist destination,” said Lara Gray, co-owner of Casual Animal. “We see people from…
Council Committee Supports $83.4M Insurance Firm HQ Plan
By Kevin Collison Fidelity Security Life’s proposed 11-story headquarters project at 27th and Main had its incentive request endorsed unanimously Wednesday by a City Council committee over the objections of the nearby Union Hill neighborhood. The $83.4 development would be located on a 2.7-acre site currently owned by Crown Center Redevelopment, and would be the…