KCRag Forum

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The Scarritt Building on the NW corner of 9th and Grand is supposedly going to be developed.

I think Ten Main Center will need a refresh renovation.

The original part of the Muehlebach Hotel.

The Lyric Theater Building. There are discussions about using it for the new downtown YMCA, but nothing has been decided.

The Board of Education Building at 12th and McGee.

I don't know how full Traders on Grand is, but I would think it would be among those that could be redeveloped.

Another big building is the former Montgomery Ward warehouse that is home to Tension Envelopes on E. 19th next to Bruce Watkins.

There's also the Insurance Building on the NW corner of 10th and Oak, that is owned by the Abnos family. On that same note, there is the Firestone Building, which Abnos has never really developed fully.

Another one is the building where Kansas City Costume is. I think they use the upper floors for storage, but I've never been inside the store, so I don't know.

There is also the Belger warehouse building on the NE corner of E. 5th and Grand. That big gray building.

I also wonder about the Belger Cartage buildings between Main and Walnut south of 20th Street and E. 19th Terrace.

The Berlau Paper Building on Truman Road and Walnut.

The former Duff & Repp Warehouse (now U-Haul) at E. 16th and Locust.

The McQueeny Lock Company building on W. Pennway and Pennsylvania.

Then there is the Midwest Hotel, and the Missouri Carriage building on Broadway.

There is also the former IBM Building on the SW corner of W. 14th and Baltimore. I have expected that it will be torn down though for some new project.

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It's not *big* but the vacant orange building at 7th & Grand, last used as a garage had a redevelopment proposal floated at one time.

As an aside, if anyone has old photos of Ten Main Center, I'd be interested to take a look at them. Currently the building really opens to 10th street, but I have a theory that there was an elaborate main entrance on Main at some point (hence the address).

smh wrote:As an aside, if anyone has old photos of Ten Main Center, I'd be interested to take a look at them. Currently the building really opens to 10th street, but I have a theory that there was an elaborate main entrance on Main at some point (hence the address).

I've never seen anything in the Then & Now books or any of the other photos I have seen of the area, but I'll keep an eye out.

mykn wrote:

smh wrote:As an aside, if anyone has old photos of Ten Main Center, I'd be interested to take a look at them. Currently the building really opens to 10th street, but I have a theory that there was an elaborate main entrance on Main at some point (hence the address).

I've never seen anything in the Then & Now books or any of the other photos I have seen of the area, but I'll keep an eye out.

I kind of wonder if it isn't post-Then & Now. I think the building was built in like 1967 or somewhere about then, so any modification would have been probably in the 1970s or 80s. I just don't know. But if you walk into the building now, it makes no sense how it is set up which leads me to the idea that it was different once upon a time. Also a coworker has some vague recollection of this. Anyway, I cause the thread to wander....

I'm almost certain that Then & Now Vol 3 has a picture of the building around the 1970s or 80s and it looked exactly the same.

When I get home tonight I'll double check through. Maybe it was planned and never got built?

FangKC wrote:
I also wonder about the Belger Cartage buildings between Main and Walnut south of 20th Street and E. 19th Terrace.

Those house Belger, their art collection and other art galleries.

Very cool place if you haven't been! Also they have Crane Yard Studios further southeast up near Beacon Hill.

The City National Bank Building at the southeast corner of 18th and Grand. It's owned by the Church of Scientology, so it will probably be the last building downtown to sit empty.

I stopped in here on a First Friday a couple months ago - the doors were open and they had a bunch of renderings set up for viewing. The very friendly fellow inside showed me their plans, which included an elaborate and gorgeous restoration of the lobby and surrounding rooms; IF they are ever able to restore this building to the level shown it will be attractive. Sort of a temple of Scientology. However, funding seems very suspect, and they have owned it for years now with no progress made. Sad...

Both those spaces are awesome. I can't tell how much of the building is occupied by the art though.

TenMain originally had a big entrance in the space between the tower and the garage. There was a huge crystal chandelier hanging in it when the building had the HQ for Eva Gabor wigs.

TenMain appears to have an entrance on Main Street.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.102619, ... M1UTPQ!2e0

That canopy is a late century addition, probably added about the time AMC moved in.

The intended entrance to 10 Main was from the parking garage.

Sad, but true.........

moderne wrote:TenMain originally had a big entrance in the space between the tower and the garage. There was a huge crystal chandelier hanging in it when the building had the HQ for Eva Gabor wigs.

This is what I'm looking for. You're not the first to tell me this. I'd love to see a picture.

loftguy wrote:The intended entrance to 10 Main was from the parking garage.

Sad, but true.........

Typically I'd be inclined towards this, but when you walk from the garage into the building the layout just doesn't make sense. If that were intended to be the front entrance the front desk would surely be oriented that direction. I'm inclined still towards the above, that there used to be an entrance facing Main that was at some point modified to be that largely pointless (and invisible once inside the building) cascade of plants facing Main.

pash wrote:

FangKC wrote:The Board of Education Building at 12th and McGee.

That seems like a good candidate for something. We don't have a thread on it, do we? Who owns it?

The KCSD owns it. Bonus: it's not collateralized.

I recall the school district announcing at some point they were going to sell the Board of Education building.

The B of E block should be packaged with the almost cleared block to the west as a superblock(as McGee through Sprint Center was vacated). Such a parcel in such a prime area cries out for a really big project. Ideal for a massive tower too large for a single block. Parking structure could occupy most of B of E site and serve government area, Sprint Center as well as an office building.