Catholic Charities will have a new downtown home

Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph is moving to a new downtown headquarters at 850 Main St.

The 135-year-old organization on Monday said it had purchased the three-story vacant building for $3.1 million. It plans to move its 125 employees there by the end of this year.

The 45,600-square-foot building more doubles the rental space Catholic Charities currently occupies in two locations — 3100 Main St. and on the sixth floor of the former New York Life building at 20 W. Ninth St, which is home to the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The Main Street building has been vacant since 2008. It was part of the former Aquila Inc. headquarters office complex that included the New York Life building. Before Aquila, the Main Street building was occupied by Merchants Bank.

The Catholic Diocese purchased the Aquila complex in fall 2010.

The organization said consolidating operations in one location will allow for better collaboration between staff and volunteers and offer much-needed space for the expansion of services such as a job skills laboratory.

“We’re going to bring this building back to life as a hub focused on preventing and reducing poverty in Kansas City and our surrounding neighborhoods,” chief executive Deacon Dan Powers said in a statement.

Catholic Charities annually assists more than 150,000 people of all faiths across central and western Missouri. The non-profit social services agency was founded in 1879.

This story was originally published September 15, 2014 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Catholic Charities will have a new downtown home."