KCRag Forum

$35 million just seems like a LOT of money - I would've liked to see this built on one of the many surface lots or East Village, with UMKC taking over the Lyric building, but there appear to have been forces against all of that.

kcjak wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:35 am $35 million just seems like a LOT of money - I would've liked to see this built on one of the many surface lots or East Village, with UMKC taking over the Lyric building, but there appear to have been forces against all of that.

It was a lot of money 20 years ago.

flyingember wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 9:19 am

kcjak wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:35 am $35 million just seems like a LOT of money - I would've liked to see this built on one of the many surface lots or East Village, with UMKC taking over the Lyric building, but there appear to have been forces against all of that.

It was a lot of money 20 years ago.

And how much do you think it would cost to build a new Y on an empty lot - no demo of an historic building and no rebuilding with the same limestone as was used in the original building?

TheLastGentleman wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 9:51 pm

From what I've heard the owner of the business on the SW corner of 11th and Central is paying to have the west wall reconstructed in a "historic" style so that the view from his offices will be "better". Seems unfortunate because it ruins the interplay of the old and new together.

Also, this project is entirely oriented to the parking lot to the east which is a significant disappointment for future development, not to mention that the building facade on 11th will naturally still be thought of as the front despite the orientation of services/entrance to the parking area.

From what I've heard the owner of the business on the SW corner of 11th and Central is paying to have the west wall reconstructed in a "historic" style so that the view from his offices will be "better". Seems unfortunate because it ruins the interplay of the old and new together.

Interesting if true. Was wondering why the update featured the goofy design with limestone facade only on one side (i.e. not wrapping the modern addition, and facing the parking lot). Wish if the limestone facade was going to be used, it would be used on both sides.

I liked the initial design with the open modern glass facade quite a bit better. But still dislike the project in general, despite it being a nice addition to downtown. Has to be one of the stranger reuses of an existing historic building that I've seen in KC.

Note too the greenspace behind the building that isn't really sure what it wants to be. The whole project is a bit of a head scratcher.

I prefer the current design by a long shot. The previous design looked like two completely unrelated buildings glued together, while the current design, while still not seamless, blends the two better by retaining the west wall. I'd argue that keeping that piece goes a long way towards maintaining the collection of classical buildings around that intersection

TheLastGentleman wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 12:44 pm I prefer the current design by a long shot. The previous design looked like two completely unrelated buildings glued together, while the current design, while still not seamless, blends the two better by retaining the west wall. I'd argue that keeping that piece goes a long way towards maintaining the collection of classical buildings around that intersection

But the west wall isn't retained is it? Isn't it tear down and build back?

According to the Collison article "dramatic two-story windows will be inserted along Central Street to bring in natural light and provide a contemporary look to the exterior". That and the existence in both the current building and the renderings of small first story windows and a door toward the front of the Central wall make me think it will be retained and modified.

missingkc wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 3:30 pm According to the Collison article "dramatic two-story windows will be inserted along Central Street to bring in natural light and provide a contemporary look to the exterior". That and the existence in both the current building and the renderings of small first story windows and a door toward the front of the Central wall make me think it will be retained and modified.

I have reason to believe it is an entirely new precast wall.

Could be.

smh wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 3:17 pmBut the west wall isn't retained is it? Isn't it tear down and build back?

I think you're correct. On the drawings, it notes where the old building ends and the new begins. I'd always assumed it was just referring to the parts behind the wall, but it appears to include the wall as well.




What's weird, though, is that these notes point out that the entire parapet will be replicated, but makes no mention of the west wall getting replaced, so I have absolutely no idea what's going on.

All along I have thought this site choice had more to do with DST Real Estate, enlisting the Downtown Council to back it, to get this piece of real estate off their ledgers to please the newer, activist DST board members. It was always going to be a difficult building to reuse. A complete demolition of the building with a replacement building would be difficult to achieve without raising the hackles of the community.

It always made more sense to me that the Lyric would have been better repurposed as part of a downtown UMKC arts campus with a new annex built on the east parking lot. I believe that plan included moving KCUR public radio station and others (K-ROO). The Lyric already had broadcast studios in it from the KMBC days. There is already a performance stage and auditorium there.

But even that downtown plan is dead now.

New Downtown Y Called Boost to Growing, Diverse Community

https://cityscenekc.com/new-downtown-y- ... community/

Demolition on the building has begun.

Current progress:

You can now see where the stage was (with the curtains still hanging). They also thankfully added a mister today since it was insanely dusty yesterday.

yeah the dust has been pretty bad.

Heard a lot of fretting over losing this building with the recent action. Everybody is happy to hear it won't be a loss.