Demolition of one of the oldest buildings along KC’s Main Street is imminent
The building with its bowed windows and a Queen Ann tower had already been around for nine years before its owner placed a classified ad in a July 1897 issue of The Kansas City Times.
“2 SUITES. 5 ROOMS Each, BRICK, 31ST and Main. Inquire in the drug store or A.R. Jeserich.”
Then, again, with more flourish, he tried with a September 1897 ad in The Star: “2 5-ROOM FLATS FOR RENT; NEWLY Papered and painted, also first class location for feed store, barber shop, bakery, laundry, plumber, etc: all at 31st and Main st.: key at grocery or drug store; inquire at 1023 E. 19th st. A. R Jeserich.”
Close to the car line, a subsequent ad would say, which it is once again, now with a new streetcar stop at its corner.
Except 137 years after the Jeserich building went up — built in 1888, and now, in its final days, the oldest building along KC’s downtown Main Street corridor — it has been declared unsafe and is set to come down, with demolition scheduled to begin as early as Thursday morning, weather permitting. If it rains, said Chuck Cacioppo, Jr., president of Industrial Salvage & Wrecking Co., his crews will postpone until the weather clears.
‘Brick by brick’
The job, he says, is “very difficult, very difficult,” especially now that the Jeserich building and the three buildings alongside it — all of which will be demolished — sit only feet from the corner streetcar stop, active since the Main Street extension opened on Oct. 24.
“This is something that has to be done with kid gloves. We’ve got to physically take it down brick-by-brick,” Cacioppo said. “It’s not going to be quick. I want it to be safe.”
The job, he said, is likely to take at least a month. Other than the Jeserich building, demolition is also to include the historic limestone Ward building to the north, built in 1905, and whose walls, Cacioppo said, are buckling.
Historic buildings too dangerous to be saved
For at least three years, the fate of the Jeserich, Ward and other buildings on the 31st and Main corner have been the topic of speculation and tension, with neighbors and historic preservationists, including the group Historic Kansas City, wanting to save the historic structures.
The buildings’ previous owner, an LLC connected to the PriceMgmt Co., had sought to demolish it in 2022. Prior to that, in 2016, PriceMgmt faced public backlash when in February it tore down three historic Green Gables apartments, built in 1927 by architect Nelle Peters, after the buildings, west of the Country Club Plaza, had fallen into disrepair. The apartments, which were denied historic status by the city, were deemed too far gone to save.
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But in 2022, urged on by preservationists and neighbors, the Kansas City Council took the highly unusual step of going against the owners’ wishes, and voted to offer the buildings limited protections by placing them on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places.
In September 2024, however, a new owner, Thirty-First and Main Properties, LLC, took possession. A principal partner in the company, Thomas Feyerabend, Jr., is a current owner of the neighboring Union Hill Animal Hospital, 3025 Main St., feet away from the historic corner.
Feyerabend said the company’s prime intention is to expand the animal hospital into a new and larger space, as part of a larger development.
In both written statements and interviews, Feyerabend has said that the company looked into the cost and feasibility of restoring the buildings, perhaps using the facades, in league with fresh development.
“Developer interest for restoration was not found,” the company wrote in a September press statement, “and the engineer assessments were disturbing, including meeting 19 of the 20 conditions for a dangerous building in the City’s code.”
On Aug. 27, the city added the buildings to its “dangerous buildings” list, a classification that generally requires a building to be demolished or repaired within 30 days.
“We thought they would be down two months ago,” Feyerabend told The Star this week. “We certainly wanted them down prior to the start-up of the streetcar.”
The city, however, only just issued a demolition permit on Tuesday.
The future plan for the historic corner
Once the buildings are down, Feyerabend said, the plan is to issue an RFP, request for proposal, for developers to submit ideas regarding what kind of development they may envision on the 1.25-acre site.
Whatever proposals are submitted, Feyerabend said, will need to include a new animal hospital of between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet to replace the current hospital, with its small, 2,000-square-foot footprint.
Feyerabend said he wants whatever development they choose to reflect both the past and future.
“So the architecture has to bring forward the architecture that was there,” Feyerabend said, “carry forward the architecture and look and feel of the neighborhood.”
He continued, “So we’re saying, ‘Look, bring us a 3-D rendering, a flyover, a fly through of what the site would look like.’ And then the key elements: your commitment to satisfy the Main Street overlay, to satisfy, you know, all the zoning, and all the guidance that the city has for redevelopment. And we’ve said, ‘Bring it, include all of that.’
“And let’s see how creative these developers can be, and imaginative. We’re looking for a great project. I think another way I’ve articulated it is, ‘Why not set the standard for the rest of the development all along Main Street?’ Yeah, why not do that? If we can, let’s try.”
Workers were at the site Wednesday, preparing the buildings. Cacioppa said initial demolition is likely to begin on the Ward building, beginning with its northern wall.
“It’s a dangerous building,” he said.
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 3:26 PM.
