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
Cerner Plans to Sell KCK Campus, Move Employees to South Kansas City
Cerner Corp. plans to sell its “continuous campus” in western Wyandotte County and relocate the remaining employees to its South Kansas City Bannister campus.
Building at 17th and Washington Slated to Become Foodie Destination
By Kevin Collison The former Screenland property at 17th and Washington is about to become a foodie oasis, its parking lot replaced with a landscaped courtyard and stage, and the surrounding level hosting a restaurant, bar and market. Denver developer Ken Wolf, who recently purchased several buildings in downtown and the West Bottoms, wants to…
Five Twenty East Opens, First Project in Big Armour Crossing Development
By Kevin Collison Mac Properties has completed Five Twenty East, the first of five apartment buildings planned as the $78 million Armour Crossing redevelopment. The seven-story building at 520 E. Armour is nestled among similar scale, former apartment-hotels built in the 1920s and 1930s along Armour from Main to Troost, and was designed to fit…
Developers Reviving 150-Year-Old Buildings Near 18th & Vine District
(Updated July 21, 2021: A press release this week announced construction has begun on the project. This article originally appeared in CityScene in August 2018) By Kevin Collison Right now, two of the city’s oldest buildings near the 18th and Vine Jazz District look the part, limestone ruins straight out of Medieval Europe. But Jason…
Art in the Loop Adds Live Music to Streetcar Stops This Summer
This summer’s Art in the Loop Performance Art & Music series continues Thursday (July 22) with a show by Corey Clark at the KC Streetcar Library Stop Northbound near Commerce Tower. The free concert is part of a series of live performances that are accompanying the Eighth Annual Art in the Loop project, which once…
Seiden’s Furs Envisioned as Artist Studios–If Price is Right
By Kevin Collison Artist Peregrine Honig envisions a new future for the crumbling, historic building that once housed Seiden’s Furs at 10th and Broadway, but she needs the owner to sell it for a reasonable price first. Honig, one of the city’s better known and nationally-exhibited artists, first fell for the brick building completed around…
Group Reviving Former Unity Temple Stage for Shows with Social Bent
By Kevin Collison A nonprofit group wants to raise the curtain on the long-forgotten dinner theater space at Unity Temple on the Plaza and offer it as an affordable venue for socially-conscious theatrical productions. The premier of the new musical Broke Open will be the initial fundraiser for the planned Unity Performing Arts Center. The…
City Council Deals in $40M Casino KC Redevelopment
By Kevin Collison A groundbreaking is expected soon on a $40 million redevelopment of the former Isle of Capri casino, now Casino KC, that includes a major facelift of the old ‘riverboat’ and a 40,000 square-foot retail addition. The City Council unanimously approved the rezoning required for the 30-acre riverfront project, which ultimately is expected…
Katz Lives Again, Revised Incentive Plan Includes $600K Cash Subsidy
(Updated July 15: The City Council voted 9-4 to approve the revised Katz redevelopment plan. “We are thrilled to be able to develop the site and excited to preserve the building,” developer Vic Alston, owner of Lux Living, said in response to the Council action. “There are a lot of great things happening in KC…
Katz Project Lives Again, Proposed Deal Includes $600,000 Subsidy
The Katz apartment redevelopment plan rejected by the City Council three weeks ago was revived Wednesday based on a compromise that includes adding $600,000 to replace a reduced property tax incentive.