OFFICIAL - KC Star Printing Press

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:05 am

I was surprised, I looked at Liberty Memorial's cam and the Printing Press was actually very visible considering the distance.

KC0KEK · Post by **KC0KEK** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:02 pm

KCDevin wrote:I was surprised, I looked at Liberty Memorial's cam and the Printing Press was actually very visible considering the distance.

I was surprised, too -- not because of the distance but because that cam always seems to have a pretty grimy lens.

Here's another shot:

http://www.kcstar.com/cam/webcam.html

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:37 pm

This building is really looking great and should complement the arena across the freeway from it well. I can't wait to see how they light it up.

Sonfire · Post by **Sonfire** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 5:05 pm

Is that just their printing press, or are their offices there too?

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 5:52 pm

If in 50 years, if The Star needs to build another building and move the presses out, that building would make a great indoor bird aviary/botanical garden.

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:14 pm

Sonfire wrote:Is that just their printing press, or are their offices there too?

I believe all offices will remain in their campus a few blocks down and that this building is primarily a printing press plant.

Post by **dangerboy** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 11:49 pm

Sonfire wrote:Is that just their printing press, or are their offices there too?

This is just for the printing presses. All of the offices will remain at the Grand Blvd. headquarters and the 4-5 buildings around it.

inkman · Post by **inkman** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:33 pm

there will be offices in there. there will also be a good sized dock in the middle of the building that trucks can drive into and unload. or load. i wouldn't buy a loft close to the building because there will be non-stop truck traffic 24/7. a lot of that will be because the paper rolls will have to be trucked in to the building. right now all that paper at the star comes in on that rail spur behind the warehouse on grand and then stored in the warehouse and finally loaded on the conveyor that runs thru the tunnel under grand blvd. that giant hall that you can see now on the northeast corner of the building will hold a giant computerized rack system for paper rolls. full width rolls are 4 pages wide at around 58 inches and weigh about a ton.

all offices will be from the production department. the v.p. of production will be there with the offices of the heads of the pressroom and mailroom and a pressroom office, safety office, training rooms, breakrooms, and showers for the pressmen. there will also be a visitors area/gallery that overlook the presses.

once the new press hall gets going, the old presses in the main building will be removed and the former pressroom will be cleaned up and re-done and they will move the circulation department in there. they are currently located across the street on mcgee. that's at least 2 years away though.

btw, the star will probably do all the remodeling in house. they have machinists, electricians, "engineers" (who handle everything that has air or water running thru it,) carpenters and painters to take care of it.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:59 pm

What is going to happen to the building across the street where the circulation department is now? Is that the same building where the advertising dept is as well? Or, is the circulation department in the smaller building to the east on the SW corner of W. 18th and McGee?

On the building at the SE corner 18th and Grand --where the advertising dept. is located, there is carved stone edifice remaining that indicates that used to be a bank. I think it was called City National Bank.

If the newspaper ever moves out of the old City National Bank building, the ground floor space would make a great restaurant or art gallery space.

inkman · Post by **inkman** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:59 pm

FangKC wrote:What is going to happen to the building across the street where the circulation department is now? Is that the same building where the advertising dept is as well? Or, is the circulation department in the smaller building to the east on the SW corner of W. 18th and McGee?

On the building at the SE corner 18th and Grand --where the advertising dept. is located, there is carved stone edifice remaining that indicates that used to be a bank. I think it was called City National Bank.

If the newspaper ever moves out of the old City National Bank building, the ground floor space would make a great restaurant or art gallery space.

don't know what's going to happen to the bldg circulation is in. that's a couple years off anyway. i wouldn't put much into anything the star sez, until i see it happening. their building is two doors up from the pub/brick on mcgee.

that building on the on the northeast corner of 18th and mcgee is called the topsy bldg by the star. it has different offices on the second and third floors with human resources on the bottom floor.

the bldg on the northwest corner of 18th and grand is the "bank building". it is not owned by the star. they do lease space there, but there are other businesses in that bldg. the most notible is classified advertising which is on the ground floor. they are in a very beautiful lobby/atrium that looks to be the main bank lobby at one time. marble and wood and brass everywhere. there is also a 3rd floor outdoor deck on th 3rd floor in between the towers of the bldg.

btw, did you know that the main star building has 5 floors above ground and 2 floors below ground? there is also a tunnel that is about 10 feet high and about 15 wide that goes from the paper dock in the sub-basement level in the main bldg underneath grand blvd to the sub-basement of the warehouse bldg that is across the street and next to the gas station on 17th and grand.

another btw. the star has a little bldg that is behind the gas station and has it's front door on walnut. it's a nice little brick building called "the print shop" that houses 3 itty-bitty offset presses that the star uses to make in- house stuff and small items for advertisers. it has high ceilings upstairs and sort of a partial second floor that has a door that opens to the alley for unloading paper rolls. it also has a nice sized basement with a high ceiling. with an elevator that goes all 3 levels. it would make an awesome urban house.

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 9:42 pm

So you will be able to see the papers being printed from outside the building? I can't wait to tour the place.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:32 am

I'm kind of surprised actually that The Star didn't try to buy up the two blocks between 18th and 20th, and Grand and Walnut (where Bob Jones Shoes buildings are currently). That way the new printing plant would still have had access to the rail spur to deliver their paper.

I imagine that the only purpose for that rail spur was to deliver paper. There isn't anyone else using it, is there? I imagine it will be ripped up at some point.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:04 am

inkman wrote:the bldg on the northwest corner of 18th and grand is the "bank building".... they are in a very beautiful lobby/atrium that looks to be the main bank lobby at one time. marble and wood and brass everywhere. there is also a 3rd floor outdoor deck on th 3rd floor in between the towers of the bldg..

I've always thought that bank building was very attractive. I like it a great deal.

inkman wrote:btw, did you know that the main star building has 5 floors above ground and 2 floors below ground? there is also a tunnel that is about 10 feet high and about 15 wide that goes from the paper dock in the sub-basement level in the main bldg underneath grand blvd to the sub-basement of the warehouse bldg that is across the street and next to the gas station on 17th and grand.

I'm not at all surprised to hear that. I used to work at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. It had three floors underground: basement; sub-basement; and sub-sub-basement. Tunnels ran under the streets from the sub-basement level to other buildings on two sides. There were five subterranean tunnels in all. The hospital took up two square blocks with the East River on one side.

I worked briefly at the old St. Lukes Hospital in Washington Heights in NYC as a temp. Now that place was gothic. It had these basements and sub-basements made of mortared stone with pipes hanging everywhere. The basements' hallways often weren't even straight, and one often came to an intersection with more than four offshoots going in various directions.

The mail room was in the basement. When you walk through these subterranean catacombs, you would look off into open doorways leading into darkened rooms with steam boilers and see flames burning under them. Other rooms were dark and had blinking lights (switchboxes I guess), and in other places it would be damp and steam might be coming out of portals. It was very dimly-lit as well. Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital had NOTHING on this place. I used to think every time I went down to the mail room that I should leave bread crumb trails to find my way back out. LOL.

I'm sure there are other tunnels going under the streets downtown. I know that there is a tunnel that runs from the President Hotel into the basement of the Empire Theater. When the Empire was a vaudeville theater, the actors used that tunnel to get to the theater. There was also a tunnel that ran from the old Willis Wood Theater (where the Mark Twain tower is now) on the NW corner of 11th and Baltimore across the street to the old Baltimore Hotel (where City Center Square is now). Theater-goers used to use the tunnel during the intermission at plays and concerts to go over and have drinks in the bar at the Baltimore.

KCDowntown · Post by **KCDowntown** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:43 pm

Driving home I saw the Star plant with the lights on inside it full blast. First, it was really bright, second, it looked pretty impressive, and third, it definitely added to the skyline being lit up like it was.

KCDowntown

KC0KEK · Post by **KC0KEK** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:58 pm

FangKC wrote:I'm sure there are other tunnels going under the streets downtown. I know that there is a tunnel that runs from the President Hotel into the basement of the Empire Theater. When the Empire was a vaudeville theater, the actors used that tunnel to get to the theater. There was also a tunnel that ran from the old Willis Wood Theater (where the Mark Twain tower is now) on the NW corner of 11th and Baltimore across the street to the old Baltimore Hotel (where City Center Square is now). Theater-goers used to use the tunnel during the intermission at plays and concerts to go over and have drinks in the bar at the Baltimore.

That tunnel stuff is fascinating as hell. I'm sure that there are dozens downtown that we don't know about. If there are, I'd love to do a Web site on them like this: http://www.ameritech.net/users/chicagot ... nnel1.html.

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:15 am

KCDowntown wrote:Driving home I saw the Star plant with the lights on inside it full blast. First, it was really bright, second, it looked pretty impressive, and third, it definitely added to the skyline being lit up like it was.

KCDowntown

ComandanteCero · Post by **ComandanteCero** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:37 am

it would be cool if they let you get up there when it snows and sled down the length of the building

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 7:49 am

Totally Nude Temptations

Tosspot · Post by **Tosspot** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:11 pm

My dad found out that the Star Printing Press building has had to replace $100,000 worth of glass on their building, as the place seems to be a magnet to vandals; surely one of the downsides of "challenging" architecture.

Post by **dangerboy** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:57 pm

Tosspot wrote:My dad found out that the Star Printing Press building has had to replace $100,000 worth of glass on their building, as the place seems to be a magnet to vandals; surely one of the downsides of "challenging" architecture.

And one of the challenges of a construction site. Vandalism should decrease once the place is up and running 24 hours a day. It will also help when the construcition barricades come down and the site is part of the neighborhood again.