Renovation under way on Corrigan Station tower in Crossroads District
Copaken Brooks and 3D Development have started redevelopment construction on the historic Corrigan Building in Kansas City’s Crossroads District, a commercial project they’ve renamed Corrigan Station.
City development officials say the estimated $42 million project represents the first speculative office development in the Crossroads since the new streetcar line was announced.
The vacant 10-story building at 1828 Walnut St. is being developed under a sale-leaseback arrangement with PortKC. It will be renovated along with construction of a city-subsidized four-deck parking garage across Walnut.
A key Corrigan Station feature will be a rooftop special events facility with skyline views in all direction. Meanwhile, demolition of old mechanical systems has been completed.
Occupancy of the 110,000-square-foot tower is planned for December 2016 after installation of new mechanical systems, elevators and floor-to-ceiling windows. The building is expected to meet green, or LEED, energy standards and house about 650 office employees.
Co-developer Jon Copaken said a third part of the Corrigan Station plan — a three-story building that will extend west from the Corrigan tower — “will be tenant-driven, and construction is not imminent.” The 40,000-square-foot addition will front one of the Main Street stops on the streetcar line, which is scheduled to go live this spring.
Because of an agreement to have the Corrigan garage available for public use on nights and weekends, the city is assisting with lease payments as part of the deal, said Aaron Schlagel, a Copaken Brooks vice president.
Property tax breaks on the 20-year Corrigan deal have an estimated present-day value of about $3.4 million, according to Port KC President Michael Collins. He said taxing jurisdictions will continue to get the current property tax base of about $110,000 to $120,000 a year.
The plan calls for retail use, particularly a restaurant and coffee shop, on the tower’s ground floor. Retail also is planned for the garage’s street level. The entire project calls for 132,000 square feet of office space, 12,000 square feet of retail space and a 247-space garage.
Unlike many former downtown office buildings that are not attracting new commercial users, Schlagel said on a tour of the structure that the 96-year-old Corrigan tower benefits from 11,000-square-foot open floor plates with column widths “that are almost identical to what would be built today.” Also different from many older towers is that its elevators are to one side, not an impediment in the center of the building.
The building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was developed by daughters of Thomas Corrigan, a building contractor and developer, and designed by Keene & Simpson Architects, the firm that also designed the Jackson County Courthouse. Over the years, it variously housed the Nelly Don dress manufacturing company, a post office, an election board and a law firm’s storage facilities.
Members of the project team include: Blackbird Design Studio; PMA Engineering; Straub Construction; Lankford Fendler + Associates; SK Design Group; Pixel Foundry; Development Initiatives; Rosin Preservation; March & Associates; Lewis Rice, and Lathrop & Gage.
This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Renovation under way on Corrigan Station tower in Crossroads District."