The boarded-up Walgreens at 63rd Street and Troost Avenue has sat empty since September 2024, but that's about to change. A permit filed in late May under the name “Wash House Laundry on 63rd” was finalized on August 11, clearing the way for a roughly $5 million laundromat to open in the space by November or December.
The project traces back to developer Edward Reese, who owns the Wash House Laundry chain with existing locations in Lee's Summit, Gladstone and Independence, according to The Kansas City Star. Reese told the paper he acquired the 1100 E. 63rd St. building in August 2025 as part of a package deal that also included a second former Walgreens location. City records show the property is owned by QKI E. 63rd Street LLC, which lists an address at 410 SW State Route 7 in Bonner Springs — the same address tied to another existing Wash House Laundry location.
Reese described the coming laundromat as huge, saying it will give customers plenty of room to spread out. Per the same account, the new facility will include 70 to 80 washing machines and ample parking, a scale that sets it apart from smaller neighborhood laundromats. “The city needs” the new laundromat, Reese said, framing the project as filling a practical gap left behind after the pharmacy's exit.
Rezoning Delays Pushed Back the Timeline
Getting to this point took longer than a typical retail buildout. Permits took time to get approved because of the rezoning process, the Star reported.
The 63rd and Troost building isn't the only former Walgreens in Reese's portfolio getting a second life. The second property from that same package deal sits at 46th and Troost, in a building also owned by QKI E. 63rd Street LLC, and it's being rehabbed into a City Electric Supply store — an electrical wholesale distributor the Star described as a tool supply store. That company operates more than 600 branches across the country, according to Modern Distribution Management.
A Nationwide Pharmacy Retreat Lands on Troost
The closures fit into a much larger corporate pullback. Walgreens announced plans in 2024 to close a significant portion of its roughly 8,600 U.S. stores, per the Star's reporting, with CEO Tim Wentworth saying at the time that the current pharmacy model is not sustainable. Walgreens attributed the closures partly to inflation, and separately, CBS News reported the company planned to shutter about 1,200 locations over three years, including 500 in fiscal year 2025 alone. Walgreens still operates approximately 90 stores across the Kansas City metro, and the Star noted the closest remaining location to 63rd and Troost is now in Waldo, at 7500 Wornall Road.
The vacancy didn't happen in isolation. The other former Walgreens Reese acquired, at 4630 Troost Ave., had moved out around April 2024, according to The Beacon. Just a block away, the CVS Pharmacy at 4531 Troost Ave. closed in April 2023, adding to the loss of nearby pharmacies.
What the Losses Mean for the Corridor
The stacked closures carry weight beyond retail vacancy. An Associated Press analysis from June, reported by the Beacon in September 2024, found that majority Black and Latino urban neighborhoods nationwide have the fewest pharmacies per capita, deepening local healthcare gaps whenever chain drugstores shut their doors. The findings offer broader context for the impact of pharmacy closures.
The corridor's redevelopment is unfolding alongside the pharmacy closures described above.
Locally, curiosity about the vacant building had been building for a while — Kansas City subreddit users had been asking what was happening at the northeast corner of 63rd and Troost even before the permit finalization made headlines. The redevelopment also arrives amid other signs of commercial activity nearby: District Biskuits reopened on East 63rd Street in June 2026, part of a broader pattern of small-business reinvestment along the corridor even as larger chain retailers continue to retreat.
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