KCRag Forum

FangKC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 8:24 pm Rector Mansion at 12th and Euclid gets $75,000 grant for stabilization and preservation.

https://fox4kc.com/news/75000-grant-hop ... y-mansion/

moderne wrote: ↑Wed Nov 17, 2021 11:25 am It is quite beautiful, even if I dislike the guys politics.

FangKC wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:54 pm City boards up historic Sauer Castle in KCK

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A judge issued a warrant Dec. 10, days ago, allowing for the “boarding and securing” of the property due to violations of city ordinances.

A spokesperson for the Unified Government said “this action was taken after multiple request to secure the property went unanswered by the owner.”

Lopp owes $15,402 in taxes for the lot the castle sits on, $14,260 for the lot next to it, and $21,950 in special assessments and citations. He’s on his fourth payment plan to the Unified Government.
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https://www.kctv5.com/news/local_news/c ... a21b6.html

For decades, Carl Lopp said he would never let go of Sauer Castle, the dilapidated historic home that his great-, great-grandfather Anton Sauer built high on a hill above Armourdale and the West Bottoms. He wanted to keep it in the family. Now, he’s put the Kansas City, Kansas, landmark up for sale at an extraordinary price: $10 million. But skeptics wonder just how serious he is about unloading the brick house with the two-story gothic tower rising above the second floor.
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“There is clearly some other motive here that no one understands, because no one with any level of sanity would believe a vacant structure that is unfit for habitation is worth anywhere near that amount of money,” said Diane Euston, who describes herself as a historian and Sauer Castle defender who is one of Lopp’s fiercest critics.
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“It’s just wood,” Lopp said and went on to explain why he has for years refused to part with the property, despite pleas that he let someone else take a shot at the restoration. “I do this because, you know, it’s my family heritage,” he said as he stood on the front lawn on a sunny afternoon in October. “I could be anywhere but I’m here because I love this property. I have over 200 living relatives who I also want to share this with.” So what’s changed since then?

The real estate listing gives no clue. And so far, neither has Carl Lopp.

moderne wrote: ↑Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:50 am New updated version out of "Kansas City: A Place in Time." Historical architecture book originally published in 1977.

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Gaia (sustainable development consulting firm) has worked on various historic buildings where the embodied carbon associated with demolition and rebuilding verses preserving the existing structure was taken into consideration. Gaia was able to provide data that supported the client’s decision to keep the building. Historic preservation is also carbon preservation.
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Instead of demolishing a historical building from 1928, Rising Realty Partners and the team saved it by revitalizing and transforming it. This process led to massive reductions in embodied carbon compared to a ground-up building, and Gaia was able to provide the metrics regarding embodied carbon.

Currently, construction is often easier and cheaper to tear down a building and start from scratch because older buildings can require a significant upgrade to the envelope, seismic, fire and life safety and MEP systems to meet code. However, this practice doesn’t account for the embodied carbon of the existing materials and the carbon footprint of the new construction materials. By reusing the majority of The Trust Building, this project was able to drastically decrease its embodied carbon.

The structure and enclosure of The Trust Building are mainly concrete and reinforced steel, two of the highest embodied carbon footprint materials. Concrete and steel are the most carbon-intensive materials by weight and form on average 70-80% of this project’s structure and enclosure. Over 95% of the building was reused in the renovation.
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