After a delay of more than two years, a $70-million public-private project that will house a branch of the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library is scheduled to begin construction this fall, now that the law firm of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin has committed to lease space in the 11-story building.
The groundbreaking for the Plaza Colonnade, originally scheduled for 2000, had been postponed until the developer could secure a lead tenant for the nine-story office complex that will sit above the two-story, 50,000-square-foot library branch. The new Plaza branch will replace a 30,000-square-foot facility and will include a children’s center, a 350-seat auditorium, and meeting rooms, the Kansas City Star reported June 7.
“This is great news for the library,” said KCPL Executive Director Dan Bradbury. “We are looking forward to our new and expanded home and realizing our plan of turning our existing branch and main children’s center into a premier facility serving our branch customers and housing children’s services for many years to come.”
Scheduled for completion in 2004, the project is believed to be the first mixed-use public-private capital partnership involving a library, according to Bradbury. KCPL and the city’s business-based Downtown Council are discussing plans for a $46-million renovation of the empty First National Bank building into a new central library.
Posted June 17, 2002.