The Kansas City Star will move into new offices at Crown Center complex near downtown
The Kansas City Star will move into an office tower in the city’s Crown Center complex this summer.
The Star on Tuesday announced it had signed a lease with Crown Center Redevelopment Corp, a real estate subsidiary of Hallmark Cards that manages the 85-acre hotel, office and entertainment complex surrounding the company’s headquarters.
The newspaper will occupy a portion of 2405 Grand Boulevard, a 245,000-square-foot building that spans 14 floors. Through The Link, the tower is connected to Union Station, the shops at Crown Center, as well as nearby hotels and offices.
The Star anticipates moving into its new space in June or July. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
“We’re pleased to establish new headquarters in a terrific, central location in the city,” said Star President and Editor Mike Fannin. “Our journalists will continue to work from — and cover — communities across the metro area, as they have done so well throughout two long years of the pandemic. We look forward to working together again in-person, and this will be a great new place to call home.”
Star employees have been working remotely since the spring 2020 onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Late last year, The Star moved out of its iconic glass building at 1601 McGee Street after it shifted printing operations to a third party.
The Star’s copper and glass building opened in 2006 at a cost of $200 million. It featured four state-of-the-art printing presses and spanned two city blocks. It’s a landmark structure visible from Interstate 670.
The Star previously sold the building to Ambassador Hospitality, LLC and entered into a lease-back agreement. That firm is now marketing the building for sale to a future buyer to occupy, lease or redevelop.
In 2018, Star employees consolidated into the McGee Street building from the historic headquarters at nearby 1729 Grand Blvd., The Star’s home for more than 100 years. Developer Vince Bryant has been working for several years to redevelop that structure into a mixed-use project called Grand Place.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 5:31 PM.
