Independence buildings

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:45 pm

Other than water towers, broadcast/cellular towers, and the temple, what are the tallest buildings/structures in Independence?

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:53 pm

They have 4 or 5 residential buildings that are 5-8 stories, a few office buildings and hotels that are up to 7 stories and that super tall concrete factory off 291 they just built. I think the Blue Ridge Tower is in KCMO if only by a few feet, but itâ€™s like ten stories. Devin might know this stuff.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 4:54 pm

I don't know much about Independence.
I have wanted to find out about that concrete factory. But I haven't had any luck.

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 9:18 pm

Where is that concrete factory located? Or do you mean the one that's actually in Sugar Creek?

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 5:46 pm

Okay, this is funny in a geek sort of way.

The reason I originally posed this question is because on the afternoon of December 31 I was up at my office in the P&L building working alone. It was an unusually clear day. On a glance out the window a glint of light caught my eye, reflecting off something on the horizon I had never noticed before.

I'm one who never got tired of the view so I kept a pair of binoculars in my desk. I whipped them out and took a look. What I saw shocked me. It was a very tall building with striking setbacks and a massive base that spread way out at the bottom, It was enourmous, too huge to have been constructed without someone mentioning this behemoth here. So I was surprised to find nothing online about it. The profile didn't match the shape of any building I was familiar with so I knew it had to be something new.

Ever the geek, I printed out a mosaic of sattelite photos covering the area between downtown and Woods Chapel Road -- the furthest point that can be seen from my floor. I estimated the angle between my mystery object and known landmarks, such as the Adams Mark, the Blue Ridge Bank & Trust next to the Blue Ridge Mall, etc. I also noticed that a large bluish-green water storage tank lay directly between my and this unknown structure.

I then drew a line on the map starting from my vantage point and following my estimated angle out to Woods Chapel. Sure enough, this line crossed directly through large water storage tank. But nothing beyond it matched the shape I was seeing through the binoculars. So, I posed my initial question here.

* * * * * *

I soon forgot all about it. But today I was running errands in that area and rememebered my mystery building. I had some time to spare so I decided to hunt it down. I was shocked when I made it all the way to Woods Chapel and had not seen anything out there that matched what I saw through the binoculars that day.

Frustrated, I turned around at Woods Chapel and started hading back downtown via I-70. As I crested the hill, I saw it. And I laughed aloud. There before me, off in the near distance, was my big bluish-green water storage tank. Way off behind it on the horizon I could barely make out the downtown skyline. Tracing a line with my eyes between downtown and that watre tower, I saw that the line would then pass through three buildings in succession:

The Independence Center
The Independence Marriott
The new Blue Ridge Bank building on Little Blue Parkway
[/list:u]
Superimposing those three buildings in front of each other and flattening the image (at that distance, seen from downtown, depth percetion is impossible), and then making it all bright white from reflecting sunlight, the three buildings became the huge superstructure I had seen that day. The illusion was heightened because the water tank blocked most of the view of the Independence Center's telltale shape.

So there you have it, I was chasing a mirage building created by 2-dimensional vision, bright sunlight, and three buildings lined up perfectly in a row.

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:31 pm

LyRiCaL GanGsTa · Post by **LyRiCaL GanGsTa** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:23 pm

Wait... Is it possible you saw the RLDS Temple? It is about 18 stories tall and would have been right in your line of site. I can see that structure from I-435 and it is very unusual looking.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:32 pm

not 18 floors buddy

More like...
91.4m (300ft)
The absolute tallest thing in Independence is the KSMO Tower at 1168ft

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:20 pm

Nope, the Temple is very distinctive. It was one of the landmarks I used to pinpoint the direction.

SonicBoi · Post by **SonicBoi** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:17 pm

The CofC temple looks like this:

Linky: http://sonicboiphotography.com/modules/ ... 00005.html

LyRiCaL GanGsTa · Post by **LyRiCaL GanGsTa** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 11:12 pm

Devin, I said 18 stories, not floors. 18 commercial stories would be about 300 ft, right?

Thanks for the photo Sonic, and I checked out your website, nice work.

SonicBoi · Post by **SonicBoi** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 7:38 pm

Thanks! I need to do a serious update and put some film based stuff on it. What is there is all ancient, before photo school.