Yet, a major overhaul of downtown Kansas City is taking place right now. Major projects are being built and planned that, together, will transform the urban core into the exciting place we all wish it was.
In Dec. 2003, the Mayor Kay Barnes' office held a joint conference with representatives of the Cordish Company of Baltimore, and Mark Ernst, president and chief executive of H&R Block.
Cordish, a major development corporation that specializes in entertainment-centered projects, agreed to revitalize seven blighted downtown blocks into a new entertainment district. The so-called "Kansas City Live!" district will feature such national chains as the Hard Rock Café, ESPN Zone and Borders Books.
Ernst announced that K.C.'s own H&R Block would be moving into the entertainment district as the anchor tenant. The Fortune 500 firm will break ground on a new 18-story skyscraper in mid-summer.
H&R Block and the "Kansas City Live!" district will be locateds across the street from the mayor's proposed new arena at 14th and Grand St.
In an April 8 article in The Kansas City Star, officials at Sprint stated that they have been in talks with the mayor's office about acquiring naming rights to the arena. If Sprint agrees to the deal, it would pump a much-needed cash infusion into the project.
My colleague Alex Saper completes in this issue a three-part series on the arena. Saper has done a great job; yet, certain things must be said. The arena will not require a new freeway interchange. It's in the existing downtown freeway loop, a loop that handles thousands of cars a day.
Right now, a UMB Bank branch and some surface parking lots are the only occupants of the site. R. Crosby Kemper III, president of the company, has said in numerous Star articles that the bank would be willing to move that branch in favor of the arena.
The article is from UMKC and it's 5 months old.
http://www.unews.com/news/2004/04/12/Fo ... 7844.shtml