Grand Opera House, 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

[moderne]

Only the View stands in the way.

[KCPowercat]

That building was lost way before the demo permit was issued....it was lost the day whoever approved them to put a parking garage inside of it.  Sad to see it go but there really was no saving it for a sane amount of money.

let's just hope commerce eventually has a plan for the north loop....or buys enough banks they need another tower or something?

[voltopt]

They will certainly have a wealth of land for surface parking.

[Gretz]

Would someone mind setting me straight on UMB vs. Commerce, i.e. which family is associated with which (Kempers are one of them, right?), whether or not the north loop lots are all commerce or some of each and any other tid-bits of info about the banks?  UMB I hear about sometimes in biz news it seems like; is it much larger than Commerce?  Or is Commerce just privately owned whereas UMB is publically traded?  Just never been clear on the histories/relative importance of our two regional banks.  Are there other sizeable local banks that I don't really hear about?

[moderne]

Two different branches of the Kemper family are associated with each.  Only distantly related to the Chicago Kemper Insurance.  The north loop lots are controlled by the real estate branch of Commerce called Tower Properties.  There used to be a third large local bank called First National which was hq'd where the library now is.

[loftguy]

That building was lost way before the demo permit was issued....it was lost the day whoever approved them to put a parking garage inside of it.  Sad to see it go but there really was no saving it for a sane amount of money.

Tower Properties has owned the opera house for only a few years.  It was converted into a parking facility in the 1920's.

[DaveKCMO]

looks like they've actually started. i guess they're prepping from the inside?

[Highlander]

Tower Properties has owned the opera house for only a few years.  It was converted into a parking facility in the 1920's.

If they need parking, why wouldn't they keep the structure rather than spend the money to tear it down to create less parking on a surface lot?

[scooterj]

If they need parking, why wouldn't they keep the structure rather than spend the money to tear it down to create less parking on a surface lot?

I wondered that when they tore down the garage a block west last year to build a surface lot.

[LenexatoKCMO]

If they need parking, why wouldn't they keep the structure rather than spend the money to tear it down to create less parking on a surface lot?

I don't think it is in very sound structural shape for a parking garage anymore.  It was converted back in the 20's and I don't think they ever really did much to maintain or update it since.  My brother used to park there and came out one day to find a roughly one foot cubic chunk of concrete on the trunk of his car - for which they of course denied any responsibility.  My guess is that it would probably be significantly cheaper to build a new modern prefab garage from scratch than it would be to improve that thing back to reasonable standards.  Not that there is any need for that kind of parking volume in that location in the first place.  

[moderne]

Maybe this will make it official:  the north loop now contains more surface parking then the south loop ever did. 

[voltopt]

9th and Wyandotte SW corner (parking lot north of John's Big Deck)

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... 77&CISOBOX

Looking east on 9th from wyandotte, towards Central (this is all parking now)

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... X=1&REC=11

6th & wyandotte (now 6th street and the Valero gas station)

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... OX=1&REC=4

NW corner of 9th and wyandotte (this is all parking now)

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... OX=1&REC=6

Board of Trade building at 8th & wyandotte (the street on the west side of the Board of Trade building is central - everything south of that is parking now)

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... OX=1&REC=8

wyandotte street looking north from 8th (this is all parking)

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... X=1&REC=17

east side of 600 block of wyandotte. this is all parking now.

http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_view ... X=1&REC=13

[GRID]

Maybe this will make it official:  the north loop now contains more surface parking then the south loop ever did. 

Thanks to "Tower" Properties.

[GRID]

east loop is catching up, especially after they tear down the bus station.  There is a ton of land east of Oak.

[kcdcchef]

looks like they've actually started. i guess they're prepping from the inside?

breaks my heart. totally, rips my heart out.

[GRID]

One thing about the north side of downtown and the continued destruction of building stock north of 9th, is the way the city just ends and that photo really shows that.  I mean, you can probably see FNB tower in Omaha if you look real hard at that photo .

[aknowledgeableperson]

Would someone mind setting me straight on UMB vs. Commerce, i.e. which family is associated with which (Kempers are one of them, right?), whether or not the north loop lots are all commerce or some of each and any other tid-bits of info about the banks?  UMB I hear about sometimes in biz news it seems like; is it much larger than Commerce?  Or is Commerce just privately owned whereas UMB is publically traded?  Just never been clear on the histories/relative importance of our two regional banks.  Are there other sizeable local banks that I don't really hear about?

Two different branches of the Kemper family are associated with each.  Only distantly related to the Chicago Kemper Insurance.  The north loop lots are controlled by the real estate branch of Commerce called Tower Properties.  There used to be a third large local bank called First National which was hq'd where the library now is.

From Wiki:

Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr. (1892–1972) transformed City Center Bank into UMB Financial Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri, during his tenure from 1919 to 1967.

He contributed substantially to philanthropies in the Kansas City area and Kemper Arena is named for him.

Rufus Crosby Kemper was born in Valley Falls, Kansas.

His father William T. Kemper bought City Center Bank (which was founded in 1913) during World War I.

The senior Kemper first appointed Crosby's younger brother James M. Kemper (James Madison Kemper) president of the bank in 1919. James resigned a month later and went on to become president of rival Commerce Bancshares. Crosby became president of the bank, a position he held until 1950 when his son R. Crosby Kemper Jr. took over (who in turn was succeeded by his son Crosby III). Crosby Sr. stayed on as director until 1967.

The rivalry between the brothers and their descendants defines much of Missouri financial and philanthropic history

Also:

William Thornton Kemper, Sr. (November 3, 1866 – January 19, 1938), aka William T. Kemper, is the patriarch of the Missouri Kemper family who developed both Commerce Bancshares and United Missouri Bank to become major a banking family in the Midwest. He also founded the Kemper Grain Company and the Kemper Loan and Investment Company. He was treasurer of the Kansas City Commercial Club, a club made of local businessmen to promote Kansas City's growth.

Kemper was born in Gallatin, Missouri. He swept floors in St. Joseph, Missouri at the shoe store of his father. One of his accounts was with the Valley Falls, Kansas firm that his future father-in-law Rufus Henry Crosby owned. He married Charlotte Crosby in 1890 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1893 where he became president of Commerce Bank in 1903.[1]

In 1913 he sold Commerce Bank shares at a price of $220 a share and bought controlling interest in City Center Bank (which was to become UMB Bank). Kemper was to buy back the original Commerce Bank at $86/share.[1]

His son James M. Kemper became president of Commerce Bank, while R. Crosby Kemper became president of City Center.

Kemper’s good fortune was not confined to banking. After being appointed receiver for the bankrupt assets of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, Kemper was awarded 15,000 shares for his duties. Oil was discovered along the railroad's right-of-way. Kemper would make the biggest portion of his fortune by selling these assets to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and converting his shares into Santa Fe stock.[1][2]

Kemper's history was intertwined with Harry S. Truman. Truman's father, John Anderson Truman, traded grain commodities futures alongside Kemper until John Truman lost his fortune. John took Harry, then a teenager, to the local Democratic functions in Kansas City where Kemper was also in attendance. Kemper arranged for Truman to be a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City. As a young man Harry would go to work in the National Bank of Commerce, 1903-1905, where Kemper was a director. In 1934 during first Truman's first run for the United States Senate, Kemper bought the assets of the failed Continental National Bank which included the mortgage on Truman's failed haberdashery and in turn allowed Truman to retire it for $1,000 (while at the same time coincidentally contributing $1,000 to Truman's campaign).[3][4]

[shinatoo]

Maybe they will plant a garden.

[KCMax]

One thing about the north side of downtown and the continued destruction of building stock north of 9th, is the way the city just ends and that photo really shows that.  I mean, you can probably see FNB tower in Omaha if you look real hard at that photo .

 

[swampranger]

Crews ripping down the south wall now.