KCRag Forum

beautyfromashes wrote:

flyingember wrote: It's the kind of thing that people who don't stop downtown can point to as an example.

Example of what?

new development...

versus the Commerce Tower which is a much bigger project but is going to be 95% interior work.
You get more bang from a tower conversion but it's not something people will notice from the interstate.

That would be building a new tower in front of it.

dumpsters on 9th street. interior demo underway.

Just a note for this thread about an important historical anniversary related to Commerce Tower. 50 years ago on February 4, 1965, as the completion of Commerce Tower neared, the most deadly accident in KCP&L history occurred there. Five KCP&L employees {Wood, Hadley, Coulter, Ross, and Gish} died in an underground utility vault by the explosion of an incorrectly installed (inverted) Westinghouse transformer.

herrfrank wrote:Just a note for this thread about an important historical anniversary related to Commerce Tower. 50 years ago on February 4, 1965, as the completion of Commerce Tower neared, the most deadly accident in KCP&L history occurred there. Five KCP&L employees {Wood, Hadley, Coulter, Ross, and Gish} died in an underground utility vault by the explosion of an incorrectly installed (inverted) Westinghouse transformer.

They could promote basement ghost tours as a selling point

fascinating! this has been the one spot where streetcar-related utility work has been a constant. KCPL started in october 2013.

Wasn't sure where to put this, but it still amazes me that this CVS is the only drugstore, and I believe the only one in all of downtown. How long before we see Walgreens or CVS expand in the downtown area?

CVS is in a court fight to keep lease on its downtown pharmacy

Michael Knight, a partner in Commerce Tower Group, said the CVS property “is in horrible condition and they are in default of their lease. Their lease is terminated and that’s it. They seem to think it’s still 1995 and aren’t plugged into what’s happening downtown. They’ve got plumbing dating to 1941. They’ve got asbestos. That can’t be abated with people in it.”

Knight said he wants to build CVS a new space, fix the sidewalks, put in new lighting, take the shrink wrap off the windows and make it look inviting like Cosentino’s Market Downtown.

“We need to fix the space and improve it, and we need a willing partner to do it,” Knight said. “There will be a pharmacy in that space going forward, whether it’s CVS or somebody else. It’s too important to the neighborhood.”

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 51340.html

remember fighting to keep these guys a few years ago...fun to see them now want to be here.

Walgreens closed 200 stores recently so might be tough to attract them unless someone offers free/cheap rent.

.

Walgreens was trying to get in around south crossroads at one time. They were also rumored to be nosing around P&L a few years back.

Yeah, thought there was a horrific plan to put a drugstore where the Midwest Hotel is. Don't need one that bad.

Without building new, there aren't really any available retail spaces inside the Loop where a drugstore could locate. Since one depends on pedestrian traffic within a few square blocks, it needs to be very centrally-located near big employers and residential housing. The current CVS store downtown is kind of small, so a larger space is needed anyway--to carry a large variety of merchandise that a growing population needs. The best available site would be 10th and Grand, but there are no plans to develop that parking lot.

10th and Main is really the ideal spot for a drugstore, because it's the epicenter of the downtown loop, and in walking distance to most buildings. If the 10th and Main Transit Center parcel is sold, that would make an ideal spot to build a new drugstore.

Does anyone know how much square footage is in the current CVS store?

If only someone were proposing a hotel at 20th and Main desperately in need of a better ground floor use than car cave.

FangKC wrote:Without building new, there aren't really any available retail spaces inside the Loop where a drugstore could locate. Since one depends on pedestrian traffic within a few square blocks, it needs to be very centrally-located near big employers and residential housing. The current CVS store downtown is kind of small, so a larger space is needed anyway--to carry a large variety of merchandise that a growing population needs. The best available site would be 10th and Grand, but there are no plans to develop that parking lot.

10th and Main is really the ideal spot for a drugstore, because it's the epicenter of the downtown loop, and in walking distance to most buildings. If the 10th and Main Transit Center parcel is sold, that would make an ideal spot to build a new drugstore.

Does anyone know how much square footage is in the current CVS store?

Not sure about the square footage, but when it was Osco it had two levels, with a grocery section (including limited produce) in the basement level. The escalators were removed and the basement sealed up, but maybe that could be fixed up and re-opened as part of the building renovation to give it the space it really needs?

I've always thought it would be nice if they could take over the parking garage above them into a 2nd story. I'm sure there's too many reasons why that's not feasible though.

There have been dumpsters outside this building for months, is this part of the asbestos removal/demo? Or is it part of a smaller interior renovation? It feels like this project has been stalled a bit. (Also, I love how every rendering now includes a token streetcar)

Found these interior renderings on Hoefer Wysocki Architecture website:
http://hoeferwysocki.com/our-work/#

The lights on the upper floors have been just about all turned off at night for the past several months; last night I noticed that many more lights than usual were turned on and there were people on the upper floors carrying items around.

Does the rendering show them lowering the first floor or is it them stretching the truth?

The entrance is 1/3-1/2 a floor above the bottom level. They show the patio at street level.

flyingember wrote:Does the rendering show them lowering the first floor or is it them stretching the truth?

The entrance is 1/3-1/2 a floor above the bottom level. They show the patio at street level.

The rendering looks correct to me. The south side of the building is basically at street level while the north side is 4 or 5 feet above street level.

Looks like their plan for redesigning the entrance involves shopping for furniture at Ikea.