KCRag Forum

Does anyone know if the Royal Equipment Co. building will be demolished as part of the IRS redevelopment project? It's right across the street (to the south) from the Dakota Lofts.

I hope not, but I can't see how it would fit into the plan, unless it is outside of the development area. That is a cool building and the area under the road on the north side of that building is a cool place to explore.

Kiss it goodbye!!! Everything west of the post office is to be demolished. (except Annie's)

oh also, we wouldn't want a highrise at the IRS Complex, it would block alot of the view of Penn Valley Park...

Devin, I said 8-9 stories, not a high-rise.... That would match the current height of the Post Office Building and would fit into the urban landscape while not blocking anything. I'm glad they are building this too and it will clean up the area. This will be a very visible project while driving south on I-35 out of dowtown toward the I-35 - SW Trfwy split and it would have been nice to see a FAT 8-9 story tower next to the old post office building.

If anyone hasn't noticed, they are already breaking ground over that huge area.

Dropped of my tax mail at the Post Office today. I drove around through the streets and noticed all of the land that is fenced off for this project. It's an amazing amount of land...acres & acres.. It doesn't look that big from the highway heading south on I-35 to the Trafficway but it is really huge once you start driving around. This is an incredible tract of land, infrastructure/roads are already in place, streets in great condition and the land backs up to penn valley park, basically making it look like they (IRS) will be all alone down there. Plenty of room to build a concrete plant ( ala Sprint campus) if they wanted to, not that they need to do that but the point is, they really don't have any immediate neighbors. This tract of land is HUGE.

I already posted it in another thread, but here it is:

I redrew it from a rendering of the PVP project in the Star.
The building in the upper right is the post office.

Went to Pierponts last night and parked in the back of the station...they've got about 4/5's of the parking back there blocked off for construction of the post office facility in that long building to the west of the station.....looked like they already had a lot of it cleaned out.

All of the windows in the freighthouse building (that is being converted into the postal facility) were removed about 6 weeks ago.

Are the heights of the 3 long buildings only 2 stories? Surely there must be renderings for this project if it's already breaking ground? How can they use 15 acres of prime land across the street from Crown Center/Union Station and build those huge, monolithic suburban-style 2 story structures? That is suburban sprawl in it's highest (LOWEST) form. Those buildings are the size of football fields each, why just 2 stories? No wonder they haven't released any renderings, this thing is a flatland! Does anyone else realize what I'm talking about? They are going to build 3 football field sized 2 story buildings in some of the most high-profile and prime land in all of downtown KC. I know it will bring a ton of jobs to the area but that tract of land is HUGE and some other incredible project could have went there. Someone tell me I'm wrong or please explain this better cuz I'm getting sick thinking about this sprawly project after learning it's only 2 stories tall and will cover 6 sq city blocks.

its the feds, heck, the Federal Reserve is only going 13 floors...
The IRS is probably more cautious about this, more people would actually be willing to do something. Plus, you can't block the view of Penn Valley Park.

Devin it's hard having patience with you. I have to keep telling myself how old you are. I'm glad you're interested at all. We have already discussed height, if you read the thread you will see that. 2 stories or 4 or 10 stories won't block any views of PVP, drop that. I'm talking about 15 acres of prime space being gobbled by three 2 story warehouses that look like crap. The height isn't necessarily the issue but at 2 stories these buildings are monolithic wastes of space.

i have a feeling they will look more "federal" than warehousy or "industrial" in look. (if that is what your talking about)
I hope it has a wall design similar to the Pentagon, or I hope the walls will look like the post office's. Who knows...

Leaders will join ceremony for IRS center

Government leaders will gather on Wednesday to lay the foundation for the $370 million Internal Revenue Service center in Kansas City.

Joining Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes and Missouri Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., will be IRS Commissioner Mark Everson and Stephen Perry, administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration.

The IRS is consolidating seven Kansas City-area locations. The 1.14 million-square-foot project will include renovation of the main post office, containing about 476,000 square feet at 315 W. Pershing Road, and construction of buildings containing about 664,000 square feet. Structured parking will be built for about 4,900 vehicles.

The post office will move to renovated space in Union Station's now-empty Adams Express building.

The IRS service center, expected to open in 2007, is expected to employ 4,000 full-time workers and 2,000 seasonal employees.


© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansa ... st=b_ln_hl

there is a tower crane ready to be put up on the south side of the site.

Does anyone else think it interesting that no one has seen a rendering of this project?

Personally, I kind of have a bad feeling about the way this is going to look. I have this feeling that since a lot of the space will only be used seasonally, that not a lot will go into the aesthetics of this project.

Anyhow, I hope that I'm wrong.

KCDowntown

I hope I'm wrong about three ugly 2 story buildings that run 2 blocks.

I'm glad the workers are coming. Why isn't Crown Center moving on building a new residential tower? Why are the big dealers sitting on their hands here? Kemper, Hall, etc... where are you? I know the majority of the workers will be low pay but surely there will still be hundreds of long-term management/executives there that may consider living within a block or 2.

I have seen a rendering. I think it will be an ok (overall) project that will do a lot for Crown Center and the entire urban core, but the three buildings will look slightly odd (like they belong on 435 & Front or 435 and Lackman. The rest of the project and the fascade of the new buldings should help a little though.

CDFM2 lists the IRS center as one of their new projects.

A 20 story crane is now assembled high over the construction site. Maybe another one will load soon.