Crossroads hotel plan gets council approval

A plan to convert two vacant buildings into a 124-room hotel styled as a “living room for the Crossroads” received a go-ahead Thursday from the Kansas City Council.

The approval was for a zoning change from manufacturing to urban redevelopment that will allow the plan to proceed.

The proposal by Crossroads Hotel LLC, a venture by the Aparium Hotel Group of Chicago and the investment firm of Agman Partners, is to renovate the Pabst Brewing and Pendergast Distillery buildings in the 2100 block of Central Street.

The hotel project also calls for a restaurant and bar, retail space and meeting rooms on the ground floor, and a rooftop deck and lounge.

Councilman Scott Taylor, who heads the council’s planning and zoning committee, recommended passage, saying it is historically significant to renovate the two buildings and the hotel is expected to become an attraction to visitors and residents.

The developer is pursuing historic tax credits to assist in financing the conversion of the side-by-side buildings, one of which is two stories tall, the other four stories.

City Council approval, which included rezoning 0.7 acres, was contingent on the developer satisfying minimum parking requirements for the hotel and making other required infrastructure repairs and streetscape improvements.

The redevelopment plan asks to convert Central into a one-way, southbound street at the hotel to be able to add street parking on the block.

The developers are aiming for a mid-2017 opening.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Crossroads hotel plan gets council approval."