OFFICIAL - 21c Museum Hotel KC (former Savoy Hotel)

Issues concerning Downtown as described by the Downtown Council. River to 31st Street, I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins.
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geeman68
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by geeman68 »

Thank goodness Funkie decided to sign off on the project.  I hope they are able to get everything in place so it can progress on time. 
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by Midtownkid »

Any idea what will happen to the stained glass?  I was surprised to read that is was installed so recently, it looks very nice.  Having clear windows will be better overall, hope they keep them around and maybe hang them up inside somewhere.  Anyone have an old pic of this place, pre-stained glass?  No more complaining about zero new projects.  We have one!  haha
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grovester
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by grovester »

bummer http://www.kcconfidential.com/?p=9777#more-9777

"...A $25 million redevelopment plan to close and rennovate for the historic Savoy Grill and hotel downtown is no more..."
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by PumpkinStalker »

Very disappointing although not at all surprising.  I had a bad feeling this deal wouldn't happen. 
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by rxlexi »

sooo...what happens to the Savoy at this point?  is it just doomed to sit so completely underutilized for another decade?  Although this supposed renovation was relatively minor news, it was always a pretty big deal in my mind, as this historic structure deserves to be enjoyed by another generation of Kansas Citians and visitors.
are we spinning free?
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by dangerboy »

I'm still not sure that I understand what, if anything, is wrong with it.  It's great someone wanted to fix it up, but is it really blighted enough to warrant a subsidized renovation?
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by lock+load »

Parts of the hotel look like they haven't been used since 1948.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by PumpkinStalker »

dangerboy wrote: I'm still not sure that I understand what, if anything, is wrong with it.  It's great someone wanted to fix it up, but is it really blighted enough to warrant a subsidized renovation?
Uh, yeah.  Go back to page 2 of the thread.  The few pictures I took of the rotten parts are indicative of more than 75% of that building.  Don't be fooled by the 11 rooms that were painstakingly renonovated by one single handyman.  It needs tuckpointing and brick stabilizing, floor tearout and rebuilding, plaster tear out and rebuild, in almost all hallways.  It feels like you're walking through a film noir movie from the 30s, and any minute you will be chased by a gunman until a voluptuos lady opens a door and pulls you into her room for safety.  It's in serious disrepair.  It was all locked up when I tried to get in a few months ago to get better pictures with a real camera instead of my cell.  It's in real bad shape.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by staubio »

Go into the bar and have a drink. The bartender will set you up to have a look around and check out a room or two. The rooms I saw were nice but looked like it was 1980 classy, so it was comically dated.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by PumpkinStalker »

staubio wrote: Go into the bar and have a drink. The bartender will set you up to have a look around and check out a room or two. The rooms I saw were nice but looked like it was 1980 classy, so it was comically dated.
Indeed, they will just give you a key and tell you what room to go to. You're on your own for your tour. Keep climbing stairs and check out the rest of the room that are padlocked shut. Literally padlocked.

I also forgot to mention it will probably require asbestos abatement. It didn't look like the pipe insulation in the hallways was stable.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by FangKC »

Sad news. The City had revoked the TIF plan for the Savoy Hotel. I don't know what happened to that renovation plan, other than it never happened. Too bad.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/p ... l?ana=e_ph
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by KCMax »

That's a shame. It really is a great building that could be a great destination hotel under the right management.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by rxlexi »

This is probably better placed in the KC Scene section, but I want to make note of the special place that is the bar at the Savoy Grill. I had a great time there last Friday evening and it is yet another grand KC drinking experience (I have been fond of the Pierponts and Majestic bars for some time).

Sipping a rye whiskey and chatting with the friendly bartender about the history of this beautiful building and the resident ghosts made for a fantastic pre-dinner experience. The place just drips with history; the leather covered bar feels so solid, the stained glass, glowing sconces and dark wood setting the atmosphere just so.

Embarrassingly, I've never eaten here, but plan to soon. After my rye and gf's couple of vodka gimlets, we adjourned across the vast sea of north loop parking lots to Farmhouse for dinner. Nonetheless, it's well worth a visit to the bar for a couple of relaxing drinks in a truly classic KC setting; I'd love to see this bar better patronized if just for the atmosphere alone.

Oh, and dear lord let's please get the Savoy redevelopment plan back on track! This building deserves to be so much more vibrant than it is currently. Though in a perverse way the utter lack of modernity, the cracks in the ceiling etc, do add to its vaguely noir-ish appeal.

Go have a whiskey at the Savoy!
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by DaveKCMO »

needs a change in ownership, right?
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by FangKC »

Yeah, I think it does. The owner has only made small improvements, and the plan to expand the hotel has never happened. I think the expansion is the only way to also fund the restoration of the old hotel structure in the long-term, unless of course a boutique hotel operator would be willing to undertake a restoration.

I also wonder why the developer of the new boutique hotel on Grand, the Ambassador Kansas City, in the old Gate City National Bank building, didn't try and buy the Savoy to renovate into a boutique hotel. Perhaps it was the proximity to Sprint Center and P&L.

The other thing to consider is whether the Savoy should even continue to operate as a hotel, since there is probably little chance the City would give incentives for another downtown hotel renovation--especially one that wouldn't add a lot of new hotel rooms. It might be better to renovate the hotel building into new apartment units, and perhaps connect the development to a new apartment building and underground garage to the east on the SW corner of W. 9th and Wyandotte.

If the City could ever get the Tower Properties parking gulag broken up, the Savoy could be the anchor to rebuilding the North Loop in a pattern similar to Quality Hill and the East Village--like the Coates House was the anchor for the Quality Hill redevelopment.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by ColumbusParkian »

I've never once considered that people actually STAY at the Savoy....so very far off my radar.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by brewcrew1000 »

Do people acually stay there? I never see it pop up for hotels.com listings or things like that. Wonder how people would even know about the hotel
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by KCMax »

I stayed there on my wedding night. The rooms are pretty bare-bones. But the brunch the nest morning was fantastic.
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rxlexi
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by rxlexi »

If I'm not mistaken, the Savoy operates more like a small bed and breakfast than a full-scale hotel at this point.

They have a handful of rooms to rent that do include a large breakfast spread in the restaurant (only for guests, no walk-ins, so I was told by the bartender).

It would actually be a really interesting experience I would think...but yes the Savoy desperately needs a change of ownership and an infusion of capital.
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Re: Savoy Hotel to undergo $25 mil gut/resto

Post by earthling »

Proposal for $47M upgrade, luxury 120 room hotel. But apparently only if it gets the incentives they want...

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/06/43 ... posed.html
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