A century-old landmark in downtown Kansas City could be flattened and swapped for a 20-story data center tower, and the fight over that trade-off is coming to a head at City Hall.
A Miami-based developer has filed plans to demolish the Western Newspaper Union Building at 934 Central St., a National Register of Historic Places property, and replace it with a mostly mechanical high-rise that would serve as a data center with a small street-level shop. The proposal, submitted earlier this summer, has already drawn sharp opposition from preservation advocates who argue that tearing down a historic anchor undercuts downtown’s revival. A public hearing before the City Plan Commission is set for Aug. 5.
Revitalization Unlimited, a Miami investment fund tied to historic rehab projects, submitted plans last month for a roughly 384-foot, 20-story tower at 934 Central that would total about 140,000 square feet and devote most floors to data-center infrastructure, according to The Kansas City Star. Developer renderings show a slender brick-clad tower above a ground floor with approximately 4,400 square feet of retail space. The application states that the existing Western Newspaper Union Building would be demolished and replaced by the new structure.
Historic Kansas City is urging the city to reject the plan, arguing that the Western Newspaper Union Building, constructed in 1900 and expanded in 1906, once supplied ready-print pages to thousands of weekly newspapers nationwide and remains an “important reminder” of Kansas City’s communications history, the group says on its website. The organization contends that knocking down a National Register landmark for a data center would run against the grain of downtown’s recent revitalization strategy, according to Historic Kansas City.
Revitalization Unlimited CEO Steve Austin told reporters the company is still in a due-diligence phase following a zoning change approved in January and that it is too early to say whether the project will ultimately be financed. He also said the facility “is expected to use Bloom Energy fuel cell technology” and that the building’s operational noise would be “comparable to standard equipment used in other high-rise buildings,” KCTV5 reported.
Project materials and neighborhood presentations describe a tower that would generate much of its own power through on-site fuel cells with diesel backup generators and rely on a closed-loop cooling system to manage heat and water use. The developer argues those features would ease strain on the local power grid and water supply. Critics counter that the systems still raise environmental and utility-capacity questions that merit close review, according to reporting by The KC Pulse.
Historic Building at Risk
The Western Newspaper Union Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and was rehabilitated with historic tax-credit financing less than a decade ago, according to Historic Kansas City. Preservation advocates say Kansas City’s downtown comeback has leaned heavily on adaptive reuse of older buildings like this one, and they warn that demolishing a recently restored landmark could undercut that playbook just as it appears to be working.
Public Review and Meetings
City filings and local coverage show the proposal entered Kansas City’s development-review pipeline this summer, with staff review and committee discussions already underway. A City Plan Commission hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5, and additional review meetings took place in June and July, according to KCTV5. Neighbors and advocacy groups have been organizing informational sessions ahead of the hearing to prepare public testimony.
Not the First Downtown Data Center
The proposed Quality Hill tower would not be the first data center in downtown Kansas City. Patmos previously converted The Kansas City Star’s former “green glass” printing-press building in the Crossroads into a tech campus and data center, a retrofit that attracted major clean-energy financing and prompted scrutiny over utility demand and neighborhood impacts, according to reporting by KCUR.
Legal and Regulatory Notes
In January the City Council amended Kansas City’s zoning code to create a “Data Centers” land-use category, a change that altered the review path for projects of this kind and helps explain why developers are now filing early due-diligence packages, according to city meeting records. The city’s demolition-review framework also establishes a period during which the Historic Preservation Commission can review and delay demolition, frequently described in local reporting as a roughly 45-day window, giving preservation advocates time to pursue alternatives and additional historic protections, according to City Council records and The Beacon.
The proposal now continues through the city’s review process and will be the subject of public testimony at the Aug. 5 Plan Commission hearing. Preservation groups and neighborhood organizers say they will push for reuse of the historic structure, while the developer maintains that the tower would bolster local digital infrastructure and generate potential tax revenue as Kansas City weighs how to balance growth with preservation, according to reporting by KCUR.
