KCRag Forum

Yes, thats the lot I was asking about. The design Safdie had for the ballet was very cool as I remember, resembled the PAC.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics ... 70464.html

Some very reassuring comments from Parson regarding the conservatory. Hopefully it won't take an extensive effort to get Kauffman to repledge her donation. And pehaps UMKC could offer naming rights in return for additional donations ... maybe something along the lines of The Confide App Recital Hall at the UMKC Consavatory for the Arts.

Yes, thats the lot I was asking about. The design Safdie had for the ballet was very cool as I remember, resembled the PAC.

Yep, would have been very cool if that building, and/or the third hall at Kauffman Center, had come to fruition.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/cr ... 87264.html

Altercation in BAP. Ignoring whether the police action was justified or not, one statement in the article caught my eye:

"Other than the officers and suspects, the plaza was empty, Sinno said."

From the pictures, it must have been during daylight hours. One of the most underutilized urban spaces in KC considering where it is.

RFP for new UMKC Conservatory

https://missouri.app.box.com/s/zs0bba8e ... 5kx3gf7tib

Collison's take: https://cityscenekc.com/umkc-seeks-cons ... -survives/

I was very much under the impression that a downtown campus was part of the impetus for the streetcar running to UMKC. BAP certainly is not my pick of sites but, it beats the hell out of 63rd street.

KCTOGA wrote:I was very much under the impression that a downtown campus was part of the impetus for the streetcar running to UMKC. BAP certainly is not my pick of sites but, it beats the hell out of 63rd street.

Not the impetus, but certainly a benefit. With ~300 students on site it would certainly generate some rides, but certainly not a make-or-break for daily ridership.

The original Downtown UMKC Conservatory proposal, which would have been located on land immediately south of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, collapsed in January.

That’s when Julia Irene Kauffman withdrew her $20 million pledge, the foundation of its private funding. She was responding to a veto last summer by Gov. Eric Greitens of what was to have been $48 million in matching state assistance.

That block southeast of 17th and Broadway across from the Kauffman Center is no longer available for the project, according to sources.

Does anyone know why the 17th and Broadway site is no longer available? Is there another plan for the site?

FangKC wrote:

The original Downtown UMKC Conservatory proposal, which would have been located on land immediately south of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, collapsed in January.

That’s when Julia Irene Kauffman withdrew her $20 million pledge, the foundation of its private funding. She was responding to a veto last summer by Gov. Eric Greitens of what was to have been $48 million in matching state assistance.

That block southeast of 17th and Broadway across from the Kauffman Center is no longer available for the project, according to sources.

Does anyone know why the 17th and Broadway site is no longer available? Is there another plan for the site?

It is a good thing they tore down the pesky buildings on the site before any real plans were in place.

On Kevin Coliisons site someone asked the question why 17 & Broadway was not available. He said it was not clear but, he would report on it as soon as he finds out.

I thought they wanted to develop it for a hotel now

kboish wrote:I thought they wanted to develop it for a hotel now

That was the vacant parcel east of the Kauffman Center. The 17/Broadway site has only been targeted for the Conservatory until Greitens screwed us.

I could find no owner on the parcel viewer, but I assume that Shirley Helzberg owns it, right?

FangKC wrote:I could find no owner on the parcel viewer, but I assume that Shirley Helzberg owns it, right?

17th/Broadway ownership is unclear. Downtown Council created a nonprofit to acquire the property and prepare for development. They won't divulge who the rest of the partners are.

Kauffman Center definitely owns the parcel to the east, and it's inside their CID boundary (1% sales tax).

Block 4 Properties, a nonprofit affiliate of the Downtown Council, was set up to acquire
property at 17th & Broadway for the future home of the UMKC Conservatory of Music
and Dance. In addition to acquiring the land, the Downtown Council acts as the property
manager and assists in fundraising for the new arts campus.

http://www.downtownkc.org/wp-content/up ... ations.pdf

I found this, which makes it more puzzling to me why the property would no longer be available for the Conservatory.

It would be a good guess that Helzberg was one of the partners, but it would just be a guess. She pretty much owns 17th Street.

KCTOGA wrote:I was very much under the impression that a downtown campus was part of the impetus for the streetcar running to UMKC. BAP certainly is not my pick of sites but, it beats the hell out of 63rd street.

It probably still isn't the UMKC master plan now but decades ago they were drawing up plans to expand the uMKC campus south to 63rd St. Given this requests mentions 63rd St maybe that master plan is still in the mix.

Westport High School would be a terrible location. I thought the whole idea was to get the Conservatory downtown near the epicenter of the Arts community? And Westport High has the lowest visibility of any location [other than 63rd.].

The Denny's location would have excellent visibility, great highway access and close to apartments/housing.
It's across the street from Kauffman and would sit high on the hill.
That location would also require a smaller and more dense footprint = good.

ATA/18th Street would be optimal.
It would have 71 visibility and access and help tie the Crossroads with the Vine.
I've mentioned before about 18th Street being coined "Street of the Arts."
It is close to the Crossroads, if it happened you could even rename that immediate area between Crossroads and Vine as "the Artist Quarter." However, there are no apartments or housing close by now and what did come online may be late.
If that location is announced you can bet a few new apartment complexes would be announced shortly after.
I think this is the best location overall for the school, Crossroads and 18th nVine.