Jackson County buys former Argus Building at 1300 Washington

[FangKC]

Jackson County buys former DST office building as step toward $255M in courthouse improvements

Two weeks after rejecting a proposal to acquire a former DST Systems Inc. office building, the Jackson County Legislature has reversed course and approved a $9 million deal for the three-story, 82,664-square-foot Argus Building.

The county plans to relocate its administrative offices out of the downtown courthouse — about one mile away at 415 E. 12th St. — which will create the flex space that's needed to begin some of the $255 million in improvements needed to "address significant deficiencies at the courthouse."
...
Completed in 1997, the Argus Building at 1300 Washington St. is owned by DST's acquirer SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC). The original asking price for the building, which was listed for sale in March 2021, was $10.35 million.
...
The Class A building includes 212 underground parking spaces and 29 spaces at an adjacent half-acre lot, which is included with the property.
...

https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity ... 2022-04-05

Location:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/1300 ... -94.590618

[KCPowercat]

Strange not to keep this in the government district

[FangKC]

Where is there space in the government district that is available for the County to buy or rent?

It could be a temporary situation. Once work is done to repair the Jackson County Courthouse downtown, there will be some reshuffling of office space there, and the County will sell the Argus Building.

[shinatoo]

Then city hall can move in so we can start renovating that building.

[FangKC]

Kevin Collison reports the renovation of the courthouse will take 15-20 years.

...
The relocation to Quality Hill will allow the county to begin what’s expected to be a 15- to 20-year process renovating the historic 15-story Courthouse building, which has fallen into disrepair and still has three empty levels formerly occupied by the county jail
...

https://cityscenekc.com/jackson-county- ... kP3xkia2n0

[normalthings]

Kevin Collison reports the renovation of the courthouse will take 15-20 years.

...
The relocation to Quality Hill will allow the county to begin what’s expected to be a 15- to 20-year process renovating the historic 15-story Courthouse building, which has fallen into disrepair and still has three empty levels formerly occupied by the county jail
...

https://cityscenekc.com/jackson-county- ... kP3xkia2n0

Just build a new one then and incent a redevelopment of the old

[im2kull]

Kevin Collison reports the renovation of the courthouse will take 15-20 years.

A little bit of the West Coast right here in KC. Love it!

[Karambit25]

Kevin Collison reports the renovation of the courthouse will take 15-20 years.

Just build a new one then and incent a redevelopment of the old

Are you kidding? 15-20 years of renovations is a Democrat Dream! They'll get millions in kickbacks while this thing drags out. It will be "The Big Dig KC Style!"

[GRID]

It took over 15 years to renovate the Richard Bolling Federal Building, but that's a much larger building.

[DaveKCMO]

Doesn't a building take longer to renovate when it's even partially occupied? I mean, come on with the tin foil...

[GRID]

Doesn't a building take longer to renovate when it's even partially occupied? I mean, come on with the tin foil...

Yeah. It's not really crazy to take that long. It only takes so long because the have to do it sections to keep most of the building up during renovations. I'm glad to see they are renovating it.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

Kevin Collison reports the renovation of the courthouse will take 15-20 years.

...
The relocation to Quality Hill will allow the county to begin what’s expected to be a 15- to 20-year process renovating the historic 15-story Courthouse building, which has fallen into disrepair and still has three empty levels formerly occupied by the county jail
...

https://cityscenekc.com/jackson-county- ... kP3xkia2n0

Just build a new one then and incent a redevelopment of the old

/s right?

[chaglang]

Probably not. After all, this is the board that was convinced the BOE parcel was too valuable to sit vacant.

[normalthings]

Kevin Collison reports the renovation of the courthouse will take 15-20 years.



https://cityscenekc.com/jackson-county- ... kP3xkia2n0

Just build a new one then and incent a redevelopment of the old

/s right?

No. You can build a new county tower better suited to modern uses and convert the old to apartments/condos with incentives.

[GRID]

Just build a new one then and incent a redevelopment of the old

/s right?

No. You can build a new county tower better suited to modern uses and convert the old to apartments/condos with incentives.

I didn't think that would be a very good candidate for conversion to residential, but I guess they did convert the fed courthouse. City Hall probably due for a similar remodel.

[TheLastGentleman]

I’m not sure why you’re so anxious to hemorrhage historic public assets.

[FangKC]

There is nothing wrong with renovating what already exists.

I can pretty much guarantee we would never get as beautiful a building as what we have in the Jackson County Courthouse and City Hall if we built new buildings. They would be cheap imitations. The public spaces would probably end up looking like Town Pavilion's lobby. We all know this.







I just don't get the automatic assumption that new buildings would be improvements, or better suited to modern uses. Buildings can and should be renovated. We should assume this when we build them, especially when a building is designed for a very specific use.

Just the thermal massing on those buildings alone probably keep them well insulated from outside temperatures. Any replacement building would probably be all-glass, and even with the most high-tech glass technology never equal the same thermal qualities those buildings have now. After a few years of occupancy, the City and County governments would report that heating and cooling costs per square foot are much higher than they were in the old buildings.

Architects would argue that the new high-tech glass technology would be better. However, it would be crickets years later when the technology is found to not have delivered what was promised.

New York City Hall was built in 1811 and it's still used. It's 126 years older than our City Hall, and 123 years older than the Jackson County Courthouse.

Remember when the Flashcube Building on Main had to have all its' glass windows replaced? It was less than 45-years-old when that happened. Complete replacement of every window. The Jackson County Courthouse was 40--years-older when that seemingly more modern building had to have a gut renovation.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/stop-bu ... kyscrapers

https://www.rdh.com/blog/the-inevitable ... with-igus/

[KCPowercat]

I’m not sure why you’re so anxious to hemorrhage historic public assets.

It's very strange

[GRID]

^ And they would not last half as long as the Jackson County and City Hall buildings have already lasted. They are beautiful buildings vs the new bland crap.

[im2kull]

There is nothing wrong with renovating what already exists.

I can pretty much guarantee we would never get as beautiful a building as what we have in the Jackson County Courthouse and City Hall if we built new buildings. They would be cheap imitations. The public spaces would probably end up looking like Town Pavilion's lobby. We all know this.







I just don't get the automatic assumption that new buildings would be improvements, or better suited to modern uses. Buildings can and should be renovated. We should assume this when we build them, especially when a building is designed for a very specific use.

Just the thermal massing on those buildings alone probably keep them well insulated from outside temperatures. Any replacement building would probably be all-glass, and even with the most high-tech glass technology never equal the same thermal qualities those buildings have now. After a few years of occupancy, the City and County governments would report that heating and cooling costs per square foot are much higher than they were in the old buildings.

Architects would argue that the new high-tech glass technology would be better. However, it would be crickets years later when the technology is found to not have delivered what was promised.

New York City Hall was built in 1811 and it's still used. It's 126 years older than our City Hall, and 123 years older than the Jackson County Courthouse.

Remember when the Flashcube Building on Main had to have all its' glass windows replaced? It was less than 45-years-old when that happened. Complete replacement of every window. The Jackson County Courthouse was 40--years-older when that seemingly more modern building had to have a gut renovation.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/stop-bu ... kyscrapers

https://www.rdh.com/blog/the-inevitable ... with-igus/

I agree. The "New is better" fallacy is absurd. New is trash just as much old, when new was trash. New doesn't mean anything. Just unnecessary risk and often unneeded investment.

Also, that Town Pavilion staircase removal is still just insane to see. I can't believe someone thought that was a good idea, AND did it.