OFFICIAL - Hotel President construction

[KCPowercat]

Anyone notice the sidewalks around the Prez? Especially on the south. I assume this is the general design for the entire P&L District? Pavers with huge planting beds where trees and shrubs can actually put down some roots.

I was walking around Baltimore thinking about that same thing.  I think the Cordish district itself will still look a little different.  Baltimore looks good though, on the pieces that have been redone.  Remember, there will be construction starting soon on the other side of Baltimore as well with the new P&L building condos....and the parking garage on the east side still needs to be constructed for the President.  So probably not seeing final product yet.

[UMKCroo]

After the great Roos victory tonight I milled over to the President and to my surprise it is open and ready for guests.  We walked all through the hotel including the grand 12th floor ballroom, drum room, lobby and restaurant.  This project for some reason is quite remarkable in my opinion.  Maybe because it is one of the first major develpoments to open but also because of the speed with which the project was completed.  It seems that so rarely is a project announced started and completed within a reasonable timeframe i.e. PAC, various entertainment districts, ballparks etc.  It actually seems like yesterday that I was staring at that filthy building covered in pigeon shit and boarded up windows.  Kudos to Jury!  Beautiful hotel

[scooterj]

Was the Drum Room open for business?

[FangKC]

Ron Jury appeared on Channel 41's Kansas City Live morning program today (Tues. Jan. 10) discussing the grand reopening of the Hilton President tomorrow (Wed. Jan. 11).  He said work continues on the Drum Room, so it's not open yet. He also said that many elements of the original decor had to be recreated from photographs to be historically accurate.  He indicated the original hotel corridors on upper floors had to be kept original, so that even though only 20 rooms per floor exist now, the original doors to the 40 old rooms were maintained. He said the hotel hopes to have live music on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Jury stated that people are already calling to book ballrooms for weddings and other events.

[UMKCroo]

Actually the Drum Room was open.  However, the opening was very "soft."  All of the furniture was not in, so some of the tables were banquet rentals and it appeared that the consierge was the bartender.  We really wanted to have a drink but the past three weeks have been a bender of sorts for me and I promised myself I wouldnt have a drink yesterday, it was tough not too though haha.  I guess the computer system was just completed yesterday so they decided to have a soft opening.  We thought about staying the night purely for the novelty because they had a special rate of $99 but it was almost 11.  I beieve that rate is going to continue through the week then go up a little.  The 13th floor is all "penthouses" or suites with living rooms parlors and seperate sleeping quarters which run $369 a night.  And, yes the bartender did mention that there will be live music on thrusday friday and saturday. 

[DaveKCMO]

i called the hotel today and they said the drum room is open nightly until midnight. going for a drink there tomorrow night.

[kcdcchef]

Actually the Drum Room was open.  However, the opening was very "soft."  All of the furniture was not in, so some of the tables were banquet rentals and it appeared that the consierge was the bartender.  We really wanted to have a drink but the past three weeks have been a bender of sorts for me and I promised myself I wouldnt have a drink yesterday, it was tough not too though haha.  I guess the computer system was just completed yesterday so they decided to have a soft opening.  We thought about staying the night purely for the novelty because they had a special rate of $99 but it was almost 11.  I beieve that rate is going to continue through the week then go up a little.  The 13th floor is all "penthouses" or suites with living rooms parlors and seperate sleeping quarters which run $369 a night.  And, yes the bartender did mention that there will be live music on thrusday friday and saturday. 

when we got our tour of the hotel a couple of weeks ago, you could see the drum room was pretty much finished, the drum shaped bar, which, has been made smaller, much, MUCH smaller then it was, but they intend to make the room look the same as it did back when, and from what we saw, according to pictures, except for the bar no longer being this huge half circle like it was, it looked the same. there was no furniture when we were in, however, the rest of the room was done.

anyone gets a chance, check out that 12th floor ballroom, it is the shit.

[CrossroadsKid]

Gootsku and I just went to the Drum Room.  Very nice staff and very informative.  The head of special events gave us a tour of The Drum Room and the 12th floor banquet room.  VERY IMPRESSIVE!!  They plan on having live jazz in the drum room and a full service kitchen, though those are still being worked on.  Basically, the only thing open in the Drum Room was the bar.  Ron Jury and his buddies were there when we got there but we didn't realize it until they had left and we asked the bartender who they were.
On a related note, the head of special events was one of the original guys behind The Drink.  He had been in Las Vegas for a few years and came back to help start that but he said he got out after about 3 weeks.  Very nice guy.

[kcdcchef]

http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/lnk/ ... v/play.asx


decent clip from kcstar.com about the grand opening today. real nice piece.

[KansasCityCraka]

Do they allow people to take pictures? Why hasn't anyone posted some yet.

[ComandanteCero]

there was a pretty in depth report on NPR (during the local portion of the news hour) about the President and how it was saved from demolition.  Very upbeat and positive.

[KC Kropf]

Place is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!  Checked it out today..... Talked to Jury for a min. or two about the coffee shop going in... and Drum Room hours and what not.......  I can not wait to take a girl and/or group of friends to the Drum Room!  Did not have my camera, was out getting a hair cut and just walked on in...

[GRID]

Drum room open this weekend?

[KC Kropf]

Jury told me that it will be open.... but that they are still working on finishing a couple things... When i was in there they were still training the staff, but serving drinks... the whole "extra" room that is part of the drum room is still being finished as well... He said there would not be live music this weekend....

The other thing he told me that kind of scares me is that they plan to stay open late (like 2:00 AM) but that they are going to play it by ear.. meaning if there are people there, they will stay open.... I just find it easier to KNOW that they will be open.... I would hate to be the person excited and bringing brings down from the suburbs and the place is shut down for the night...

This is kind of what they did at Trumans at Clubhouse Lofts.... the slowly cut the hours and slowly less and less people started showing up and they closed earlier and ealier until no one would go because you never knew if it would be open...

I have no doubt that The Drum Room will draw people though... w/ people staying in the Hotel and huge press, and people who remember it...  WAY different than a hidden bar inside a residence tower isolated by closed streets and construction... 

[dangerboy]

Here's the KCUR feature piece, showed up in their podcast this morning. 

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kcur/ ... _ID=864456

I sure hope this place gets enough business from word of mouth, press coverage, and from hotel guests.  Right now it's an island in the middle of construction zone.  KCUR is saying that reservations for the ballrooms and meeting spaces are brisk.

[Long]

Jury told me that it will be open.... but that they are still working on finishing a couple things... When i was in there they were still training the staff, but serving drinks... the whole "extra" room that is part of the drum room is still being finished as well... He said there would not be live music this weekend....

The other thing he told me that kind of scares me is that they plan to stay open late (like 2:00 AM) but that they are going to play it by ear.. meaning if there are people there, they will stay open.... I just find it easier to KNOW that they will be open.... I would hate to be the person excited and bringing brings down from the suburbs and the place is shut down for the night...

This is kind of what they did at Trumans at Clubhouse Lofts.... the slowly cut the hours and slowly less and less people started showing up and they closed earlier and ealier until no one would go because you never knew if it would be open...

I have no doubt that The Drum Room will draw people though... w/ people staying in the Hotel and huge press, and people who remember it...  WAY different than a hidden bar inside a residence tower isolated by closed streets and construction... 

Yeah, that doesn't sound good . . .

Hopefully, if they do "play it by ear," they still won't make hasty decisions.  Observe the attendance over the period of 6 months or a year, then adjust the hours once every 6 months or a year, don't just decide to close up early every time the crowd looks a little thin. 

I agree being in the hotel will help . . . it's a lot more likely to attract impulse-buyers, people going back to their hotel in the evening, or even sitting up in their room later at night, that decide to stop in for a drink, especially if the other alternative is to leave the hotel and walk around "hoping you'll find something."

[trailerkid]

Jury told me that it will be open.... but that they are still working on finishing a couple things... When i was in there they were still training the staff, but serving drinks... the whole "extra" room that is part of the drum room is still being finished as well... He said there would not be live music this weekend....

The other thing he told me that kind of scares me is that they plan to stay open late (like 2:00 AM) but that they are going to play it by ear.. meaning if there are people there, they will stay open.... I just find it easier to KNOW that they will be open.... I would hate to be the person excited and bringing brings down from the suburbs and the place is shut down for the night...

This is kind of what they did at Trumans at Clubhouse Lofts.... the slowly cut the hours and slowly less and less people started showing up and they closed earlier and ealier until no one would go because you never knew if it would be open...

I have no doubt that The Drum Room will draw people though... w/ people staying in the Hotel and huge press, and people who remember it...  WAY different than a hidden bar inside a residence tower isolated by closed streets and construction... 

It's not like it's that expensive to to have a bartender (who mostly works on tips) and keep the lights on. Someone opening late night ventures downtown needs to realize that they're in it for the long haul and not just a few months.  You're probably not going to make much money at first. Besides, a hotel bar is something that should be open late as a service for hotel patrons if nothing else.

[bahua]

The Drum Room will be subject to the stupid law that says a certain percentage of profit must be from food sales, won't it? How long do you think the city will let them operate as just a bar? I hope indefinitely, but I also hope Futurama comes back.

[LenexatoKCMO]

It's not like it's that expensive to to have a bartender (who mostly works on tips) and keep the lights on. Someone opening late night ventures downtown needs to realize that they're in it for the long haul and not just a few months.  You're probably not going to make much money at first. Besides, a hotel bar is something that should be open late as a service for hotel patrons if nothing else.

Thats exactly it - it is very difficult to keep a skilled bar staff happy if you make them stick around when the bar and hotel are dead and all they can make is their $3.25 minimum wage.  Having worked a hotel bar in KC I can tell you this is not at all uncommon for hotel bars - you set the closing time early and if the business justifies it, you let people stay late.   You have to understand that for a hotel bar there will be plenty of nights where the occupancy is low or the rooms are filled with a Baptist Ministers convention and the bar will be dead as a door nail.  Hotel bars are very hot/cold.  The drum room may fare a little better since it has a streetfront entrance and signage but until the P&L and some of the condos open I can't imagine there will be much street traffic business anyhow.  

[bahua]

I agree that the Drum Room will need to be in a place of higher activity before they consider staying open very late.