OFFICIAL - East9 (former Pickwick Plaza)

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OFFICIAL - East9 (former Pickwick Plaza)

Post by FangKC »

It appears the Pickwick Plaza and Garage is being sold and is being marketed as a hotel or moderately-priced apartments.

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansa ... ory11.html

Friday, December 14, 2007

Pickwick Plaza hits market, could be hotel or housing

Kansas City Business Journal
Jim Davis
Pickwick Plaza, a Harry S. Truman refuge and spawning ground for Top 40 radio before converting into government-subsidized housing in the 1970s, is being offered for sale by the bank that foreclosed on the high-rise apartment complex in Downtown.
...
Last edited by FangKC on Fri Dec 14, 2007 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by scooterj »

One of my friends just moved out of that building, I wonder if this was why?
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by LenexatoKCMO »

So much potential - hope it finds  good buyer. 
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by moderne »

Hope some historic tax credits and TIF would be available, otherwise I cannot imagine anyone paying 4.4 million to rehab a dump that would probably cost less to tear down and start over.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

It's on the historic register, so it would be eligible for historic tax credits.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by DaveKCMO »

wouldn't it be possible to construct a multi-level garage behind the clock facade?
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel

Post by dangerboy »

I think there are already at least a couple of levels of parking.  Part of the building was also the Union Bus Terminal back in the day.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

I just want to see the office space renovated in the garage portion that already exists.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by DaveKCMO »

yeah, if i remember this place correctly there are two "buildings"... the one on the north has been gutted for parking. that would better suited to something more useful and parking could be added to the middle part (which just just an empty surface lot now).
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

It appears there is room to add some garage decks in the open portion of the block where the buses used to park. But the additional access ramps might take up too much space from what could be parking spaces. I don't know if somehow the new parking portion could be accessed from the old garage so that its' ramps could be used instead. This might conserve parking spaces.  Engineers might be able to design the new garage addition in such a way so that entrances to it might be created by knocking out walls in the old garage to create  portals to the new garage decks.

Image

One problem with adding parking decks in the undeveloped portion of the center block is that the some building apartments might lose windows on the north side of the hotel structure.  This might affect the desirability of those apartments, or as hotel rooms.

I don't know what kind of structural condition the old Pickwick Garage is in. It appears that the Pickwick complex is a series of three separate buildings: the hotel, the former office portion, and the garage.  See rendering.

Perhaps the old garage could be demolished and a new garage built in its' place that is larger and better connected to any garage portion over the undeveloped surface lot spaces. This would preserve the old hotel and office portions as well as create additional spaces over the surface lot at the SW corner of 9th and Oak, which was the site of the former Palace Cafe and Gladstone Hotel.

If I were the developer, I would purchase the former Insurance Building from the owner of Abdiana Properties, which has been slowly rehabbing that building.  I would combine the Insurance Building with the Pickwick properties to create a larger complex with shared garage. The Insurance Building doesn't appear to presently have any dedicated parking. It is slated to be residential, so it makes sense to combine that property with the Pickwick development and share a garage. Perhaps the two buildings could be connected over the alley.

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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

Looking south on McGee from 9th at the Pickwick Hotel in 1930, around the time of completion.

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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

Looking east at construction of the Pickwick in 1930.

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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

Looking east at the finished building in 1955. Notice how density the neighborhood is.

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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

Looking north at construction of the Pickwick. The Gladstone Hotel can be seen in the upper right of the photo.  The Victoria and Frederick hotels can be seen in the top portion of the photo across the street from the garage portion and the Gladstone Hotel. The Federal Courthouse is in the upper right (building now demolished and replaced with current, vacant Federal Courthouse).

Image

Image
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by DaveKCMO »

i took some pics on my lunch break and will post them later tonight. a federal officer followed me around the entire time since it's across from the federal reserve bank.

fang: when did we lose the gladstone?
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

I don't know for sure. The roof of the Gladstone still appears in the 1955 photo, so I'd guess it was demolished sometime between 1955 and 1965. I'll have to examine more aerial photos I guess to see if I can figure it out.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Market

Post by FangKC »

The Palace Cafe in the former Gladstone Hotel on the SW corner at 9th and Oak.  The Hotel Victoria and its' sign can be seen on the far right.

http://www.kclibrary.org/lhimgs/kcpl/re ... 06_reg.jpg
Last edited by FangKC on Sun Jan 18, 2015 3:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Market

Post by FangKC »

A postcard of the Pickwick Hotel shows the Gladstone Hotel (red building at upper left).  It's hard to make out, but you can see the Gladstone Hotel sign on the roof colored in white letters.

http://www.kclibrary.org/lhimgs/kcpl/re ... 95_reg.jpg
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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

In case you ever wondered what was on the surface parking lot bounded by 8th, 9th, McGee and Oak. Looking northeast from the R.A. Long Building (UMB now) shows the Hotel Victoria in the center and the back of the Gladstone Hotel (gray building) on the center right. One can barely make out the white-lettering on the Victoria roof sign.

This image was made before the Pickwick Hotel was constructed. There were houses and small buildings on the Pickwick site then. One can see a portion of the federal building on the left.  The Hotel Victoria was demolished by fire.

In guess the image was made sometime after 1900.

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Re: Pickwick Plaza (10th and McGee) Put Up For Sale; Marketed As Possible Hotel?

Post by FangKC »

The Pickwick in 1989.

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