It’s not often that we here at the paragraph-stacking factory stop what we’re doing and offer you a special edition.
But today is such a day…
Julius Karash, a former Kansas City Star colleague (and still close friend) saw a recent online story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch telling readers that the Post-Dispatch headquarters building in downtown St. Louis was being put up for sale by the paper’s owner, Lee Enterprises of Davenport, IA.
A longtime business reporter with a keen eye for development stories, Julius recognized that the Post-Dispatch situation, although 250 miles away, held intimations for Kansas City. Here’s his perspective.
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By Julius A. Karash
The recent news that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch downtown headquarters has gone up for sale makes me wonder how long it will be before the Kansas City Star sells its iconic headquarters building at 18th & Grand.
As much as I hate to see it happen, I think a “For Sale” sign will land on this building in the near future. Because of fewer employees due to cutbacks and technological advancements, The Star and other newspapers don’t need nearly as much space as they used to.
This trend is occurring around the country. McClatchy, the Sacramento-based owner of The Star, has sold off newspaper headquarters buildings in Miami and Fort Worth during the past several years. In North Carolina, it was reported in May that a sale was about to close on the McClatchy-owned Charlotte Observer’s building, and the McClatchy-owned Raleigh News & Observer reportedly has been exploring the sale of its downtown headquarters.
Kansas City Star building
Other newspapers that have gone this route in recent years include The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. It makes economic sense for newspapers to sell their grand old edifices, pocket the cash and move into space that better fits their needs in today’s slimmed-down media world.
Those wielding a sharp pencil can make a compelling case for selling The Star’s headquarters. The building that once housed more than 2,000 employees now employs several hundred. The Star could probably create office space for quite a few of those employees in its spacious printing-plant complex across McGee Street and/or move them into leased space.
At one time, The Star and Jimmy and Joe’s “The Pub” — also across McGee — were neighborhood anchors. No more. “The Pub” has been reconstituted as “The Brick,” and the 18th and Grand building is now surrounded by numerous other bars, restaurants, condos and apartments that have flooded the Crossroads, converting the area into a “happening destination” for young people looking for fun, food and a hip place to live.
The KC Downtown Streetcar, which is scheduled to start running between the River Market and Crown Center/Union Station next year, will accelerate this trend.
The super-charged pace of development in the Crossroads and Downtown makes 18th & Grand an attractive property. It’s a beautiful, historic structure, built in 1909-11 and designed by Jarvis Hunt, the famous Chicago architect who also designed Kansas City’s Union Station. The site would be a great location for a business, residences or a combination of the two.
The 18th & Grand building holds a special place in the hearts of most people who have worked there, including me. The building resounds with history and conjures up former inhabitants such as Ernest Hemingway. If you worked at 18th & Grand, you felt like you were part of that history.
I was part of that history for 21 years until I was laid off from The Star in 2008, along with many co-workers. Today, as a freelance public relations person, I subscribe to The Star seven days a week and depend on it as my primary source of local news. My clients want their news to be in The Star, and I pitch their story and column ideas to former colleagues of mine at the paper. When I drop in from time to time at 18th & Grand, it feels like visiting the home folks.
I hope The Star will continue to cover Kansas City for years to come. And when 18th & Grand is sold, I hope the building will be emblazoned with an etched plaque that says “Kansas City Star Square” — regardless of what the grand old structure may be used for next.
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Julius A. Karash is a freelance writer, editor and public relations person based in Kansas City. His work involves topics such as transportation infrastructure, real estate development, entrepreneurship and health care. His 30-plus year newspaper career included stints at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fort Myers News-Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Kansas City Times and Kansas City Star. He co-authored the book TWA: Kansas City’s Hometown Airline. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Hey, what about rehabbing those offices into subsidized apartments for retired reporters and other denizens of the Fourth Estate.
Excellent piece by Mr. Karash. I would, however, add “and Jim Fitzpatrick” after the Hemingway reference.
Oh, my God…
Thank you for your comments, Jayson and Tim. I’d be happy to live at 18th and Grand. And if Fitz moves in, Hemingway will be sure to follow.
I don’t know if you readers can see the words on the cap that Julius was wearing in the photo. They are “Brookfield Downs.” There’s a story (short version) behind that…Years ago, a guy named Skip Sleyster, a friend to me and Julius, was pushing for a horse racing track to be built near the Truman Sports Complex. He wanted it to be named Brookfield Downs, after the late businessman and unsuccessful mayoral candidate Dutton Brookfield.
Skip, who died several years ago, had hundreds of Brookfield Downs caps made, most of which never made it into circulation. At, or after, his funeral, however, his son was passing them out to anyone and everyone who wanted one. Julius, of course, took one and wore it to a recent lunch outing where we were joined by John Altevogt, a frequent commenter on this blog…John took the photo.
…As for the race-track proposal, it went nowhere.
What, you think people don’t remember Columnist Skip Sleyster? “A Moment of Your Time”? Come on. Guy always had a deal on 500 feet of plywood or some such.
Washington Post has also sold its building, moving into a generic office building down the street. No history there or anything. Keep up the great work, Jim and Julius.
TJ
I hope I didn’t do Skip an injustice, Tom…Like I said, I was trying to give the short version of the story, and, believe it or not, we have readers who don’t and didn’t work at The Star and probably haven’t heard of Skip.
You mentioned “A Moment of Your Time,” which was his bought-and-paid-for advertising column on Page 3 of every Sunday paper. That was expensive turf, but Skip — belying his greasy Brookfield Downs cap, disheveled appearance and leathered face and hands — had made a lot of money buying and developing property in the Blue Valley area of Kansas City.
I remember as he aged he’d come in and say, “Ol’ Arthur’s got me,” gently cupping his arthritis-ridden hands. Two sons preceded him in death; he had a good and not-always-easy life, and he battled to the end, at age of 85, in 2009.
Thanks for writing, Tom…We still miss you!
Thanks, Tom Jackman! The Pub may be the Brick now, but Fitz and I will pick up your tab the next time you meet us there. And we’ll raise a few toasts in honor of Skip Sleyster.
Other newspaper buildings that have sold include the headquarters of the Indy Star and Des Moines Register, I believe.
If it would allow us to hire a reporter or two, I’d be happy to move out of the old building into something smaller in the Crossroads.
Mike, I’m sure there a lot of places in the neighborhood that would love to have you and the other Star folks move in. One possibility that comes to mind is the old Corrigan Building at 18th and Walnut, now known as Corrigan Station.
Interesting story. When you come up McGee St. from the south as I usually do, you tend to miss the artistic characteristics of the building. The building does indeed have aesthetic appeal. I think it is the tower that does it for me. At times I have read some of Jim’s stories here about the Star and it’s evolution into present times and thought, from one angle, I see a Monastery, where everyone is working with a passion for what they love and they believe in. From another angle, I see Ft. Leavenworth. Maybe not the worst place to be if your in the ranks, but not a good place if your a prisoner.
The concept of turning it into living space is interesting and I think it would be an easy and beneficial sell. I have worked at 29th and Gillham for a little over 10 years and have watched the development of what is turning into a pretty busy area, which is basically anchored around an old gas station (now a coffee shop), and a three story Cadillac Dealership (now loft/condos). Here is a photo of the old car dealership…
And now…
If you haven’t driven through the Union Hill area in the last two years, you wouldn’t recognize it today. I just hope they haven’t extended the tax abatement. At some point, Kansas City is going to have to sell itself without dangling tax immunity on the hook. There is a lot to be gained here in the future when the tax abatement’s and TIF’s expire. When you add the earnings tax that comes along with all the new residents…well, Jim might get his new airport in about 5-10 years.
I eat lunch at The Brick about once a week. It’s a hipster bar with live music at night, but when I have my lunch (from 2-3 PM) with my good friend and co-worker, Michael, it is pretty quiet with a few patrons scattered about doing the same. The food isn’t bad if you like bar & grill food with a bit of flair and variety. The staff are quite nice and accommodating. I wasn’t aware that it once was a popular hangout for Star employees. I would be interested what it looked like when it was The Pub if you have any photos.
Thanks for posting this. It was a bit of a history lesson for me.
Jason
PS I was kinda sad to hear that Darryl Levings had left The Star. Always enjoyed his wry sense of humor. I especially liked his farewell…
http://www.kansascity.com/living/article16406273.html
PPS Oh, almost forgot…what’s with the tower at the Star building? Is that like a boiler room or something?
Thank you for all the great feedback, Jason! The Pub was a great old newspaper bar. One of its most distinctive features was a posted list of Kansas City Star employees who were in arrears on their bar tab. Fitzpatrick was not on that list the last time I checked.
The tower is a federally approved jail cell, with toilet, sink and cot, where reporters who have more than three “corrections” a year are incarcerated one day for each correction exceeding three.
Wow, I never knew…
Great article, Julius…I’d consider an apartment/loft at The Star building if it came to that and was actually affordable…nice large windows…high ceilings…I’d take the paneled editorial room on the newsroom floor…it has a bathroom…only heaven knows how many naps I took in there on slow nights…*wink*…
I think you could lead the way here, Steve! Maybe they could turn the Nelson Room cafeteria into a community kitchen and put a fitness center down where the presses used to run.