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“This is going to be a great living room for the community. It will really position Bartle Hall to compete in the marketplace, which is what was intended in the first place.” Todd Achelpohl of HNTB Architecture Inc. The official price tag for the new and still unnamed ballroom at Bartle Hall inched upward Tuesday to $150.3 million — $150,328,810 to be exact. The figure was $149.7 million last fall, with much of the latest adjustment in so-called soft costs, which include design expenses. “There may be some money left in the kitty” once the final bills are paid, said Tom Beckenbaugh, project manager with McCownGordon Konrath, which is overseeing the city-owned project. The budget update came at what officials said would be the final meeting of City Hall’s construction oversight committee. The ballroom is to open April 28 with an invitation-only, black-tie event featuring jazz singer Nancy Wilson. Oscar McGaskey Jr., director of the Kansas City Convention and Entertainment Centers, said the budget for the gala was estimated at $200,000. More than 40 tables have been sold for the event — some priced at $5,000 for 10 people. “I feel very confident the corporate community will step up and pay for this event so we don’t have to use taxpayer money,” said McGaskey. Better news, he said later in an interview, is that an estimated 50 percent of the ballroom’s usable dates in 2007 already are booked by convention groups using Bartle Hall and others in search of an elegant venue for balls and community events. “This is going to be a great living room for the community,” said lead architect Todd Achelpohl of HNTB Architecture Inc. “It will really position Bartle Hall to compete in the marketplace, which is what was intended in the first place.” Officials say the 46,450-square-foot ballroom will rank among the 10 largest convention center ballrooms in the nation. City Council member Chuck Eddy, who is chairman of the oversight committee, and other committee members on Tuesday toured the project site. Dozens of workers were busy with wall finishes, carpeting and other decorative and mostly final touches. Outside is still a muddy work in progress, but Eddy said landscaping and exterior finish work delayed by winter were expected to meet the opening-day deadline. Assistant City Attorney Rich Noll said work had begun on a bidding process later this year that is expected to sell the ballroom’s naming rights. Noll said there were no estimates yet on how much those rights might be worth to a corporate or civic sponsor. He said he expected consultants to be hired soon to oversee the process. To help keep the project on budget, the committee last year agreed to eliminate several features, including exterior fountains and a driveway off 16th Street to the building’s southside main entrance. Eddy, who lost a bid for mayor last month and leaves the council in May, said restoring the fountains, estimated at $2 million, should be the priority for any new financing that is obtained. The council last year voted 10-2 to pay $1 million for ballroom public art featuring giant sculpted pots on a striped plaza outside the main entrance. That is the spot where Achelpohl had placed one of the fountains. Councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper, also an oversight committee member leaving the council this spring, pleaded in vain at the time for adherence to the ballroom’s Missouri River heritage theme. Gazing Tuesday at the plaza area being prepared for installation of the sculpted artwork, Cooper again lamented the loss the fountains. “Maybe we could lay one on its side and have water running out of it,” she said of the big pots. Inside, the ballroom’s watery theme is still evident. The ballroom will be enclosed on three sides by massive, deeply sculpted wall panels that evoke waves. Unusual photo-imprinted carpeting and stainless ceiling light fixtures will mimic water surfaces. City officials for almost a decade have planned the addition, above Interstate 670, to counter criticism of Bartle Hall’s ballroom size and amenities. The Kansas City Municipal Assistance Corp., the city’s long-term financing agency, issued $135 million in bonding authority for the project. The bonds are backed in large part by a 1 percent city hotel-motel tax increase and a 0.25 percent restaurant tax increase that was approved by voters in November 2002. The rest of the construction costs come from a variety of sources, including $7.5 million from the Missouri Department of Transportation, $2.5 million from the city Public Works Department, and $1.7 million in savings from a refinancing of 1991 Bartle Hall bonds. Dock architect chosen Kansas City-based Crawford Architects has been selected to design improvements to Bartle Hall’s north dock along 12th Street. The estimated $5 million project aims to improve dock efficiency and increase the city’s flexibility to schedule events at the downtown convention center. The changes also are expected to dress up the public appearance of the dock area, said Crawford’s Stacey Jones, who will lead the project. Construction is expected to begin this fall. “We’re not just going to make the dock wider and bigger, but with landscaping we’re also going to make it more appealing to the eye,” said Oscar McGaskey Jr., director of the Kansas City Convention and Entertainment Centers. Crawford Architects is a architecture, planning and interior design practice with a second office in Sydney, Australia. Because of the time differences, Crawford promises faster project timelines by working two shifts around the clock. For more information, go online to www. crawfordarch.com
Reproduced with permission of The Kansas City Star © Copyright 2006 The Kansas City Star. All rights reserved. Format differs from original publication. Not an endorsement.
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