KC plans to purchase and demolish Royale Inn to improve gateway to downtown

For decades, the intersection of Independence Avenue and the Paseo — a major gateway into downtown Kansas City — featured two motels that were eyesores and magnets for crime.

The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences purchased and demolished one of those properties, the Capri, last year.

And on Thursday, the Kansas City Council approved $2.7 million to purchase and demolish the other property, the Royale Inn, at 600 Paseo.

Supporters heralded the move as a way to completely redo that major intersection and create a much more inviting entrance into downtown and historic Northeast neighborhoods.

“The Royale has been a thorn in the side of the Northeast,” Michael Bushnell, publisher of Northeast News, told the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee before Thursday’s full council vote.

Jessica Ray, president of the nearby Pendleton Heights Neighborhood Association, said she had been told years ago that the two motels were coming down, which was needed because they were hubs for crime and problems.

In 2011, a woman’s body was found in a stairwell of the Royale; she had been beaten and strangled. Records show the motel has continued to be a source of numerous disturbance calls to police over the past three years. It is now vacant of guests.

“This is an amazing opportunity to actually do something,” Ray told the committee, adding that the intersection is a major city connection to downtown as well as to the Northland.

Councilman Scott Wagner, a former Northeast neighborhood leader who now lives in the Northland, said residents have been trying since 2003 to improve both the safety and economic development potential of the Independence/Paseo intersection and the area around it, and this is a big step forward.

The city has an option to negotiate a final purchase of the Royale Inn for $1.8 million from Devram LLC, and the closing should come later this year. The negotiation and purchase avoid a lengthy and possibly even more costly condemnation process.

The council authorized up to $900,000 in additional funds for asbestos removal, other environmental remediation and demolition. The money would come from a bond sale this year, paid back with capital improvements sales tax money.

The motel’s removal is just one part of much bigger plans to transform the Independence Avenue corridor both west and east of the Paseo.

The public is invited to provide feedback Wednesday on five alternatives for reconfiguring the Paseo from the Interstate 35 ramps to Ninth Street. The meeting is from 5 to 7 p.m. at the KCUMB campus, Butterworth Alumni Center, 1750 Independence Ave.

Beyond that, the city has won a $30 million federal choice neighborhoods grant to demolish the outdated Chouteau Courts housing project west of the Paseo and to improve housing, social and educational opportunities for the area from I-35 to Chestnut Trafficway and from Cliff Drive to Ninth Street.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 4:03 PM with the headline "KC plans to purchase and demolish Royale Inn to improve gateway to downtown."