DowntownKC.net

While this isn’t really geographically related to downtown, it is something that will affect lots of people in Kansas City. A fire broke out in the Waldo area at 75th & Washington this morning. Unfortunately six firefighters were injured in the blaze, but thankfully are expected to make a full recovery. Kennedy’s, Café Apanaire, Frankly Basic, and the Gown Gallery appear to have been completely destroyed. No word on the cause of the fire.

I have a friend female friends that I’ve put on suicide watch since they’ll be without their beloved Frankly Basic clothing store. One friend almost started crying when she heard the news. Good luck to the owners on hopefully rebuilding such notable establishments for the KC community. They will be missed in the meantime.

Luckily, I believe one of my favorite bars in the area The 75th St. Brewery was untouched.

I don’t believe it is official yet so I’ll be brief on details, but I did hear today that a video production/digital animation studio is close to finalizing a deal to buy the building at 600 Central st. in the northern part of the downtown loop. The first 3 floors of the building are currently occupied by Oggi Furniture, and the top level is a ~5,000 sq. foot condo where the owner currently lives.

Good or bad for downtown? That’s a tough one. It’s always great to have retail stores in your urban core, especially ones that draw people in from outside of downtown. But, I don’t think Oggi was much of a draw and was always pretty dead every time I’ve been in there. Replacing it with a successful and rapidly growing digital animation studio such as the one being discussed is a great tenant to have, especially when they are moving from the Kansas suburbs to downtown. If their current studio in Fairway is any indication of their interior design plans for their new digs, this is going to be one of the coolest buildings in the loop and will be great for drawing in out of town clientele to the downtown area.

More to come.