Downtown KCK

[flyingember]

1 of 14 in six years. Proving the naysayers wrong.

[mean]

That post aged like fine wine.

[moderne]

A park and water feature where the legendary sunken gardens were?

[SilentSpades24]

The Unified Government is currently working on two National Register of Historic Places listings in and around Downtown KCK.

The first is a National Register (State and Local soon after) listing to make Downtown KCK a historic district. This would include the commercial / institutional uses in Downtown KCK.

The second is a multi-church listing, which would list multiple churches in and around Downtown KCK as a historic district.

Also, there is another development project coming in the pipeline soon....

[moderne]

Hope one of those listings is the old bank building on the SW corner of 6th and Minnesota. Under that 1970 curtain wall is still the original brick and terra cotta facade of a handsome building. It is vacant since UMB moved out, and now fire destroyed the next door building. When it was an independent bank it was one of the top ten in KC in assets. But since the city tore down the Huron building, I don't expect salvation.

[Cratedigger]

Hope one of those listings is the old bank building on the SW corner of 6th and Minnesota. Under that 1970 curtain wall is still the original brick and terra cotta facade of a handsome building. It is vacant since UMB moved out, and now fire destroyed the next door building. When it was an independent bank it was one of the top ten in KC in assets. But since the city tore down the Huron building, I don't expect salvation.

https://pendergastkc.org/collection/880 ... k-building




Today:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/N+6th ... 94.6240636

[moderne]

Thank you digger. I literally have not seen that in fifty years. When I was 13 I was allowed to get on the bus by myself and go to my dentist in this building. Would make a great apartment conversion.

[SilentSpades24]

The district will span from 6th Street to 9th Street, Nebraska Avenue, down to Barnett roughly. It will include this building. Apparently the owner is interested in restoring the building. Also it is a friggen crime the Huron Building got torn down.

In other news, a project was filed for a 6 story mixed-use building on the NW Corner of 6th and Ann.

[Chris Stritzel]

The district will span from 6th Street to 9th Street, Nebraska Avenue, down to Barnett roughly. It will include this building. Apparently the owner is interested in restoring the building. Also it is a friggen crime the Huron Building got torn down.

In other news, a project was filed for a 6 story mixed-use building on the NW Corner of 6th and Ann.

How do you access that development application? Pretty significant to have a new building there and at 505 Central.

[SilentSpades24]

https://mauwi.wycokck.org/CitizenAccess ... bIndex%7C4

Here is KCK's Citizen Access Portal.

[FangKC]

Creating a historic district helps make federal and state historic tax credits available for renovating older existing buildings.

[FangKC]

The district will span from 6th Street to 9th Street, Nebraska Avenue, down to Barnett roughly. It will include this building. Apparently the owner is interested in restoring the building. Also it is a friggen crime the Huron Building got torn down.
...

https://kchistory.org/image/huron-build ... ffset%5D=0

[Eon Blue]

The district will span from 6th Street to 9th Street, Nebraska Avenue, down to Barnett roughly. It will include this building. Apparently the owner is interested in restoring the building. Also it is a friggen crime the Huron Building got torn down.
...

https://kchistory.org/image/huron-build ... ffset%5D=0

My goodness, it survived into the 90's and was still demolished?
https://kchistory.org/image/huron-build ... ffset%5D=0

[FangKC]

It appears that everything that could go wrong with an older building did go wrong.

Rereading old newspaper articles, I learned the Huron Building was demolished in 1999 after years of lack of maintenance and neglect by former owners, and attempts by developers to renovate it. The problem was it went too long without basic maintenance and the past owners suffered bankruptcy and back taxes. The developers that did express interest weren't those with capital to do it, access to other funding, or the ability to negotiate through all the steps of those things. A couple of them sounded shady from the get-go.



Metal cornices and bricks fell from the building and damaged an adjoining structure to the south creating a vacancy in that structure as well. There were several fires set by homeless people, and one of the last injured four firefighters. The Unified Government ended up in possession of the building but didn't have the funds to repair the Huron or the patience to find an experienced developer.



Two other buildings were demolished at the same time as the Huron. The former Security Savings Bank on the SW corner of 7th and Minnesota and a former optical business to the south of the Huron. Another building, a former restaurant facing Minnesota Avenue, was damaged by the implosion of the Huron and had to be demolished.



Had the building survived another decade, there might have been a developer with enough experience and capital access to have saved it.

Federal tax credits were available since 1977, but Kansas didn't create the state tax credits until 2001. Federal tax credits alone might not have been enough to make the rehabilitation pencil out. I didn't see that any of the developers were able to secure those federal credits even though the KCK Landmark and state historic preservation commissions were supportive of saving the Huron. I don't think Kansas had a high enough amount of low-income housing credits (LIHTC) at the time that could also have been combined to create low-income apartments. The current amounts of all the aforementioned tax incentive programs probably would have been enough to save the Huron especially if the Unified Government had granted property tax abatements as well.

As with many lost older buildings, it appears that there is no effective method of intervention early enough to stop the deterioration of such a structure before it gets so bad that it becomes harder and harder to get it renovated and back in active use.

[SilentSpades24]

It appears that everything that could go wrong with an older building did go wrong.

Rereading old newspaper articles, I learned the Huron Building was demolished in 1999 after years of lack of maintenance and neglect by former owners, and attempts by developers to renovate it. The problem was it went too long without basic maintenance and the past owners suffered bankruptcy and back taxes. The developers that did express interest weren't those with capital to do it, access to other funding, or the ability to negotiate through all the steps of those things. A couple of them sounded shady from the get-go.



Metal cornices and bricks fell from the building and damaged an adjoining structure to the south creating a vacancy in that structure as well. There were several fires set by homeless people, and one of the last injured four firefighters. The Unified Government ended up in possession of the building but didn't have the funds to repair the Huron or the patience to find an experienced developer.



Two other buildings were demolished at the same time as the Huron. The former Security Savings Bank on the SW corner of 7th and Minnesota and a former optical business to the south of the Huron. Another building, a former restaurant facing Minnesota Avenue, was damaged by the implosion of the Huron and had to be demolished.



Had the building survived another decade, there might have been a developer with enough experience and capital access to have saved it.

Federal tax credits were available since 1977, but Kansas didn't create the state tax credits until 2001. Federal tax credits alone might not have been enough to make the rehabilitation pencil out. I didn't see that any of the developers were able to secure those federal credits even though the KCK Landmark and state historic preservation commissions were supportive of saving the Huron. I don't think Kansas had a high enough amount of low-income housing credits (LIHTC) at the time that could also have been combined to create low-income apartments. The current amounts of all the aforementioned tax incentive programs probably would have been enough to save the Huron especially if the Unified Government had granted property tax abatements as well.

As with many lost older buildings, it appears that there is no effective method of intervention early enough to stop the deterioration of such a structure before it gets so bad that it becomes harder and harder to get it renovated and back in active use.

That old photo of Downtown KCK really hurts to see. Such a beautiful Downtown, wasted and demolished.

Here's to hoping the Historic Preservation efforts pay off and finally provide a boost to Downtown KCK.

[Cratedigger]

As always, thank you Fang for the history.

Wish I could have seen this in person

[Chris Stritzel]

Really unfortunate that the building was lost and replaced with what seems like a bus loop. This picture shows buildings that still stand. Lots of gaps around there that will maybe one day be filled in with new buildings. Downtown KCK is so sad as it is compared to its counterpart a few minutes away.

[FangKC]

I just read an article from 1991 where it was being considered by the county as an overflow facility for minimum security inmates when the county jail was overflowing.

The article also states that despite pieces of cornice and bricks falling, the building itself was structurally sound. These were neglected maintenance issues left too long.

It's too bad the Wyandotte Tribe couldn't have had their casino open when this building was still standing. The Unified Government and State might have been able to work out a deal with the tribe to use casino revenue to renovate the building and then the tribe could have used it for office space, a casino-adjacent hotel, or simply just sold the building for a profit after it was repurposed. They might have been able to more easily afford the renovation cost since Native American casinos and their corporations don't pay taxes on their income.

[moderne]

The tribe would have had to change the name of the building. They consider the word "Huron" an insult, like the word "squaw". Huron was the name the French gave the tribe.

[Eon Blue]

As always, thank you Fang for the history.

Wish I could have seen this in person

Big +1 from me. I really enjoyed reading it.