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Historic Weld Wheel Building Demolished for West Bottoms Redevelopment

The Weld Wheel Building at 933 Mulberry St., has been demolished. Photo via Google Maps.

Posted May 21, 2024

The Weld Wheel Building, located in the West Bottoms was demolished on Sunday as part of a $526.7 million redevelopment project.

The demolition took place just after 7 a.m. on Sunday. The building was outfitted with explosives to cause an implosion in the 114-year-old historic building.

The demolition was successful and clean up for the site began shortly after.

Also known as the Ridenour-Baker Grocery Co. Building, the Weld Wheel Building became recognized for its historic significance by the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

New York-based developer SomeraRoad won unanimous approval for their request to rezone the area from the Kansas City Council in June 2022. SomeraRoad plans on redeveloping the West Bottoms as part of a $526.7 million project. The project would create 1,600 new housing units in addition to office, retail and public park space in the West Bottoms, according to a post from Kansas City’s official X (formally Twitter) account.

The City of Kansas City funded SomeraRoad $2.6 million to assist in demolition costs.

The redevelopment project has been divided into five phases, with the Weld Wheel Building’s demolition kicking off phase one. Phone one will later see the development of apartment units where the former building was in addition to conversions of several other buildings in the area.

These plans are predicted to span approximately over the next decade as phase five is expected to be completed by 2037.