Film Row building threatened with demolition

Issues concerning Downtown as described by the Downtown Council. River to 31st Street, I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins.
flyingember
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by flyingember »

Demosthenes wrote:
flyingember wrote:Bank of America is actually reducing the number of ATMs in their network on purpose. Don't expect movement on that.
Why on earth? And even if that's so, I would think this would be one location where an ATM is necessary.
They've already closed 1000 in 5 years.

They're also reducing drive up windows

http://consumerist.com/2015/01/09/bank- ... ng-habits/

With their smartphone services this is a bank that's doubtless looking at every location in the network.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by Demosthenes »

flyingember wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:
flyingember wrote:Bank of America is actually reducing the number of ATMs in their network on purpose. Don't expect movement on that.
Why on earth? And even if that's so, I would think this would be one location where an ATM is necessary.
They've already closed 1000 in 5 years.

They're also reducing drive up windows

http://consumerist.com/2015/01/09/bank- ... ng-habits/

With their smartphone services this is a bank that's doubtless looking at every location in the network.
According to that article it seems like they are just getting rid of the teller windows. It said they would just be offering the atm's instead. So hopefully they will still be offering plenty of atm's, as they are kind of crucial if you bank with them.

Hopefully they get rid of all the teller windows at the Westport Bank of America. That has to be the biggest waste of space I have ever seen in my life. An entire block of teller windows.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by longviewmo »

That's probably an old Boatmen's bank. Exact same configuration/waste of space as the one in Raytown.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by FangKC »

Demosthenes wrote:
flyingember wrote:Bank of America is actually reducing the number of ATMs in their network on purpose. Don't expect movement on that.
Why on earth? And even if that's so, I would think this would be one location where an ATM is necessary.
The other reason a lot of banks are reducing drive-up tellers, and ATMs, is because so many retail stores (grocery stores, drug stores, and other retail outlets provide "cash back" options when you purchase something. My bank doesn't even have a branch in my neighborhood. When I get cash, it's at the grocery store or drug store. I can't remember the last time I drove to an ATM to get cash.

Still, I think Bank of America would install an ATM at their downtown branch because it's so close to the Power & Light District, and I can see a lot of people using it to get cash for events, drinking, and tipping. There are also a lot of conventioneers, and visitors, who might use a BOA ATM because it's a national bank. The number of visitors to downtown is at a crazy high since P&L and Sprint Center were built.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by flyingember »

If I were choosing where I would put one much closer to at P&L, Bartle Hall, and Union Station or Crown Center or in general along the streetcar corridor.

put them where the people are, not on the side of a building blocks away from everything. I would actually put one across the street at the hotel before at One KC Place.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by shinatoo »

pash wrote:Shirley's garage is proudly sporting a banner recognizing it as a finalist for a Cornerstone Award from the Economic Development Corporation.

Indeed, the Webster Garage is listed as a finalist in the "commercial office" category. The award honors investments that contribute to the "growth and stability" of Kansas City's economy.
The selection committee, made up of EDC Board members, selects winning projects based not only on investment and new jobs, but on the project’s overall affect on issues like education, quality of life, and the project’s impact on the community and surrounding neighborhoods.
The garage's sunken retail/office space remains vacant.
Well hell, what do you expect, their websites background is an highway interchange in a greenfield.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by DaveKCMO »

the MGM building makes this year's most-endangered list: http://www.historickansascity.org/wp-co ... -List1.pdf
The MGM distribution building was designed by architect Robert Gornall and built in 1930.

Hollywood has a strong connection to Kansas City; when the movie industry needed more centralized distribution points to ship their features nationwide, Hollywood chose Kansas City as one of its largest and Film Row was born. The industrial enclave occupied nearly twenty buildings in a four square block area of the Crossroads District near downtown. Film Row included major studio tenants such as MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and United Artists. It also housed peripheral suppliers to the industry, notably the Manley Popcorn Company. Today, Kansas City has one of the most intact Film Row districts in the nation, but lacks historic recognition and a formal protection strategy.

In particular, the MGM building is threatened by owner neglect. The building has a lack of routine maintenance and has had numerous citations from the city, despite numerous attempts by neighborhood residents and developers to purchase the building to renovate.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by DaveKCMO »

the MGM building is back on the most endangered list...

http://www.historickansascity.org/wp-co ... -FINAL.pdf
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by FangKC »

The MGM building situation is so frustrating. Certainly the building could be renovated and serve a new purpose--like offices for a small firm. It could also be converted into university office space, or even an arts practice space for the UMKC arts campus.

The owner is not maintaining the building, and continues to refuse to sell. The only thing I can think is that the owner thinks they will get a bigger payday the longer they hold on to the property--as property values increase and demand for space goes up.

On another note, I'm glad to see that the Land Bank has put a facade easement on the Acme Cleansing building as a condition of its' sale.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

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Fang, do you have an address for the Acme Cleansing building?
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by flyingember »

loftguy wrote:Fang, do you have an address for the Acme Cleansing building?
http://midtownkcpost.com/from-dangerous ... -building/

3200 Gillham Road
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by DaveKCMO »

FangKC wrote:The MGM building situation is so frustrating. Certainly the building could be renovated and serve a new purpose--most like offices for a small firm. It could also be converted into university office space, or even a arts practice space for the UMKC arts campus.

The owner is not maintaining the building, and continues to refuse to sell. The only thing I can think is that the owner thinks they will get a bigger payday the longer they hold on to the property--as property values increase and demand for space goes up.

On another note, I'm glad to see that the Land Bank has put a facade easement on the Acme Cleansing building as a condition of its' sale.
if shirley helzberg couldn't acquire it, it's probably a lost cause. the guy has been hauled into municipal court more than once.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by DaveKCMO »

full expose on the MGM building, with quote from yours truly: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 20322.html
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by JBmidtown »

there's nothing more quintessentially Kansas City than a stubborn rube and his warehouse of vacuums taking a giant dump on decaying history.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by FangKC »

I wonder if the approach to take with this man is to work out a deal where another similarly-sized warehouse is bought and traded to him that has a better setup for storing his inventory and perhaps is more convenient to his stores? One with off-street parking and a loading dock. The deal could also include the cost of moving his inventory to the new space. Perhaps a warehouse that has the same amount of space and lower property taxes.

Another approach might be to include the building in the UMKC Conservatory campus project, and take the land by eminent domain under the provision that it will be used for public education (purpose that benefits the public). Doesn't eminent domain have a provision for taking parcels under public use provisions?

The City could use eminent domain to acquire the property, then place it on the National Register of Historic Places to make historic tax credits available to renovate it. A private party could then do the renovation to meet some need for UMKC (office space, recording studio, classrooms). I'm assuming tax credits are only available to a private developer. Could UMKC redevelop using historic tax credits, or do they need another party to do it and then turn the building over to them? Once renovated, the developer could sell or donate it to UMKC for education purposes.

There would have to be a provision in the land transfer to UMKC that states they cannot tear the building down sometime in the future to build a larger building--since it's on the National Register, or part of a historic district. Perhaps the City could retain ownership of the land, and UMKC would have a 100-year lease and be responsible for maintaining the building in exchange for the gift of the building? The private developer (Helzberg) would then get the tax write-off for donating the finished building.

It's already adjacent to the proposed UMKC Conservatory parcels, so it probably wouldn't be that hard to make the case for using the strategy.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by chingon »

JBmidtown wrote:there's nothing more quintessentially Kansas City than a stubborn rube and his warehouse of vacuums taking a giant dump on decaying history.
Nothing "Kansas City" about it, particularly. This scenario plays out all over the world every day. I'm pretty pro-development, and I like to see history preserved, but, damn, the dude does own the fucking thing. And it's just a thing.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by grovester »

They're all just things.
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Re: Film Row building threatened with demolition

Post by longviewmo »

DaveKCMO wrote:full expose on the MGM building, with quote from yours truly: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 20322.html
So why haven't you talked to the guy?
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