Church Of Scientology // 39th and Main

[daGOAT]

The two story Beaux Arts beauty at the NE corner of 39th and Main is being sold along with the old retail building next door at the NW corner of 39th and Walnut and the parking lot immediately north.

[dukuboy1]

yep it is basically a block from that corner of 39th & Main, east down to Walnut, includes the parking lots behind the building as well. Got a feeling that corner will get hotter and hotter as street cars moves South. Nice that 2 new apartment buildings already done just to the North.

[DaveKCMO]

Biz Journal article: https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... d-use.html

The two-story, 13,700-square-foot Hyde Park Building opened in 1916 and was renovated in 1989. It has sat vacant since the Church of Scientology's 2019 move to the historic City National Bank Building at 1801 Grand Blvd., which it acquired more than a decade earlier, in 2007.

The one-story, 8,000-square-foot Walnut Street Shops was built in 1929 and is split into six spaces for short-term retail tenants.

The properties respectively sport Beaux-Arts and Art Deco architectural styles. Both are included on the National Register of Historic Places in the broader South Side Historic District.

The Church of Scientology has owned the Midtown sites since 2001 and listed them for sale at least once before, through Cushman & Wakefield's Kansas City office, a 2019 brochure shows.

[Noahfleshman]

I worked at the nightclub there on 39th and Main for seven years, the guy Elan who owns the Netherland Building along with a million other properties in this city, he’s didn’t say a number although he said they’re asking way too much for this corner.

I actually lived in the netherland the year it opened, and don’t get me started on how much of a joke that was, it was more so convenience on my part since I worked directly across the street.

I do know this, the netherland is not intended to be apartments forever, the units are built along with the entire building to eventually be converted into a boutique hotel again, i know this because I heard it from Elan himself and everyone who worked in the building. It makes since once the streetcar opens.

In my opinion it will be a Lego building 5 & 1 with “affordable” housing within 5 years, and that CVS across the street will be a small footprint Target.

I also believe New Jack City (The Alcazar) will eventually be sold yet again, and turned into what the netherland is now. The northwest corner of 39th and Main will forever look like the movie “UP” once the city progresses a little more.

[moderne]

I don't understand the meaning of that last sentence?

[iamrealz]

Lots of newer apartments? Like this:

https://media.wired.com/photos/5933b5ce ... frame1.jpg

[moderne]

Hope not. That northwest corner is a fine deco terra cotta building. The NW and NE corners should be preserved as the original streetcar transit development that serves the same purpose a century after they were erected. I think the nadir of this intersection was about 1980 when there was an adult book store in the Scientology building and the Werby building on the SE corner was torn down to eventually be replaced by the brick bunker now there. What ever happened to the plans to remodel that facade to be more open and inviting? The 2 disposable buildings on the SW fron Main to Baltimore could handle a Katz sized development.

[daGOAT]

The NE corner should be preserved nmw. However with nimbyism combined with generally low rents and a hatred for incentives I don't see the parcel reaching it's full potential. I.E. an adaptive reuse for existing buildings on northern corners, including workforce housing on upper floors, and new construction facing Walnut. The NW corner is a candidate for similar adaptive reusage. The only structure that clearly should go on that corner is the CVS, which could handle a Netherlands sized building rather easily. Lots of potential to say the least!