Grand Opera House, 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Issues concerning Downtown as described by the Downtown Council. River to 31st Street, I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins.
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Gretz
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Grand Opera House, 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by Gretz »

article in bizjournal http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansa ... =lfn.  These buildings are the vacant parking garage and the vacant hotel just south of the north loop on Main.  Those buildings are an eyesore.  I'm all for it as long as something replaces them.  The preliminary TIF request on the properties would lead one to believe that they may have plans.  Let's hope so.
Last edited by staubio on Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by staubio »

I always had this tiny hope that these would temporarily become a kitschy living space until something better came along.  I hope they have plans and I would assume they did as there is at least the presence of revenue-generating parking on this property.  If it becomes a surface lot, I'm going to a very unhappy man.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by kard »

This is interesting.  That creates a very large area of surface lots next to each other.

I feel something brewing...
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by lock+load »

...I wouldn't bet on more than surface lots brewing.  This is Tower/Commerce.  They have plenty of land in this area that they have done nothing with.  Notice that part of the original TIF plan for this area was a rehabilitation of the remaining portion of the motel.  That didn't happen.

What is the third property to be razed?
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by DaveKCMO »

Kard wrote: I feel something brewing...
yeah... more parking!
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by staubio »

lock+load wrote: ...I wouldn't bet on more than surface lots brewing.  This is Tower/Commerce.  They have plenty of land in this area that they have done nothing with.  Notice that part of the original TIF plan for this area was a rehabilitation of the remaining portion of the motel.  That didn't happen.

What is the third property to be razed?
Sure, but why not just live them sit for now if they just want parking?  They already have parking.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by lock+load »

The garage appears to be beyond repair, but the motel does not.  It will take a long time before the north loops fills in, as it stands now.  Clearing more land is not the answer.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by GRID »

Tower properties should be called surface lot properties.  Why are they so lethargic down there???
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by TfromKC »

The way I read it, TIF is "supposed" to be used for improvement of the property/land. I would think/hope the city council would not grant TIF if the intention is to leave as surface parking lots. That is not an "improvement" by anyone's definition. I have never heard of surface lots getting TIF, but who knows.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by zonk »

i hoope this doesn't include the old opera house at the sw corner of 7th & Walnut....DTC recently relocated there CID operations from this location to the River Market....
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by LenexatoKCMO »

I cant imagine that there is much economic demand for more parking in that part of the loop so why would you go to the expense of razing the buildings if you didn't have something more lucrative in mind.  Maybe I am off base by not being around during the day - are there really a lot of DT workers looking for parking up that way during the day?
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

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I think this is great. I was tired of looking at that old motel building. A vacant lot would look better to me. And who knows, maybe they have plans for something more.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by Tosspot »

I'd be expecting Tower Properties to also come forth with plans to demolish the Executive Plaza Office Building- the "flashcube building" - across the street from this vacant hotel. Supposedly that hoopty building was only designed with a 20 year lifespan anyway. There's a thread in KC Rumors about it.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by lock+load »

knucklehead wrote: A vacant lot would look better to me.
:shock:
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by knucklehead »

I worked accross the street in Commerce Tower in 1978 and 1979 and walked passed that place every day. The vacant motel is a sore point with me. I dislike it for what it stands for, chronic neglect and a disregard for your neighborhood. Yes, a vacant lot would look better to me that that long neglected eye sore.

At least it would be something different from the past 25 years it has stood there vacent. There is nothing to save about a 1960's style motel building.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by kard »

knucklehead wrote: At least it would be something different from the past 25 years it has stood there vacent. There is nothing to save about a 1960's style motel building.
I agree.  If there's nothing that can be done to it then get rid of the ugly thing.  "Slightly less ugly" is better then the hotel.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by KCPowercat »

Tear those 2 pieces of crap down....no doubt I'd be happier with a surface lot than those two bastions of neglect.

I'm also sick of the DCID sitting in that opera building and not fixing it up....that is the ultimate irony.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by FangKC »

It is sort of ironic since that hotel was built as part of an urban redevelopment project in the 1960s.  It was built around the same time as 811 Main, which the City is helping to pay to renovate since Commerce Bank has fallen on hard times, and can't afford to do it alone.  :shock:

The Grand Opera House is the oldest theater building remaining in Kansas City. It opened in 1891. It's 9 years older than the Folly, which opened in 1900, and the Lyceum Theater at 104 W. 9th (now the Stillwell Bldg.), which opened in 1901.

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The Grand Opera House was built by Abraham Judah, who operated the Dime Museum, a live show featuring oddities and freaks starting at the old Ninth St. Theater (aka first Orpheum) at W. 9th and May; the Cyclorama on Walnut at 7th; and the first Midland Theater at the same location, a panorama theater that featured the "Battle of Gettysburg". The Dime Museum's greatest show featured the "Wild Man of Borneo." 

The Grand Opera was built on the site of the former Cyclorama and first Midland Theater, and was across the street from the old Midland Hotel.

It is one of the buildings I'd truly like to see saved, since so many of the Victorian-era buildings (pre-1900) have already been lost.  I hope there is a way to cut out sections and remove the concrete decks of the parking garage and re-use the facade.  This building should be considered a ruin from antiquity and saved for its architectural qualities. 

One could probably remove the roof and lift out the concrete decks after cutting them apart, or take down the back wall and brace the other three walls and build a new core structure. I certainly don't expect to see it restored as a theater, but it would make an interesting entrance facade for a larger building on Main. It would be a nice mix of old and new.  The place has survived for 115 years, so we might as well try and save it.

It certainly deserves to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by tat2kc »

I believe I read somewhere that the Opera is in extremely poor condition. The only thing holding the building together is the parking structure. I'm not sure is able to be saved.
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Re: 710 and 711 Main to be razed.

Post by moderne »

  The motel has not been vacant for 25 years.  It was open as recently as 1990.  It is a blight on main with its boarded up windows giving a complete slum appearance.  A rare case where a surface lot will be an improvement.  Its odd that a property that would seem to have such a demand(a downtown motor hotel) would have been allowed to slide into such oblivion.  Look at the Comfort Inn that is always packed to see the demand for such a place to stay.
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