ALMOST UNNOTICED, THE CROWN CENTER DISTRICT HAS BECOME ONE OF DOWNTOWN'S MAJOR GROWTH AREAS.

 

Although the beautiful Crown Center development and nearby commercial corridor on Grand Boulevard are difficult to miss, the mammoth IRS Center on Pershing and Federal Reserve Bank overlooking Main Street are somewhat taken for granted since their openings only a few years ago—despite the employment of nearly 7,000 people. Nearby Hospital Hill currently has some of the largest Downtown projects under way, while adjacent areas such as Union Hill remain among the urban core’s most impressive residential neighborhoods.

As a result, the area is somewhat hard to define—and that happy dilemma is likely to continue with projects such as the recently launched Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, which will house the Kansas City Ballet.

Located in the 1914-vintage Union Station Power House, the $31 million ballet renovation will nearly complete the Pershing Street corridor that includes Union Station, Liberty Memorial and the IRS Center. An unusual combination for most districts, the marriage of ballet and taxes hardly earns a second look in an area that contains one of Downtown’s largest collections of new residential development and one of the region’s largest clusters of medical institutions.

Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2011, the center will house the ballet company and its school while serving other nonprofit performing arts organizations. It will include seven studios and 180 parking spaces adjacent to the building.

On nearby Hospital Hill, Children’s Mercy Hospital’s 73-room patient tower is one of the most notable projects in all of downtown. The $68-million project at 23rd and Holmes is part of a $800 million program throughout the Children’s Mercy system. A $40 million Emergency Department expansion was recently completed.

The work at Children’s Mercy follows projects at other Hospital Hill institutions: the Truman Medical Center, Western Missouri Mental Health and the schools of medicine, pharmacy, nursing and dentistry for the University of Missouri-Kansas City.