What a way to go…
Driving down 18th Street last night after The Darkness show at new concert venue The Truman I found myself gliding past the grounds of my former employer, the Kansas City Star.
At which point you might say I became blinded by the light.
Because smack in front of the newspaper’s stately courtyard and front entry stood a massive, tacky, homemade three dimensional real estate sign. Brightly lighted for all to see, no less.
And blocking the charming fountain, American flag and the building entry.
Did I mention that it was tacky?”
Really tacky.
It gets worse…
“After more than a century of stories, a new story is being written,” the multi faceted sign reads.
Followed by a giant commercial real estate ad for the available space now that like 90 percent of the staff has been walked the plank.
“3,000 – 65,000 SF Office Space
5,000 SF Rooftop patio
Data Center
30,000 SF Marketplace
AND MORE”
“That sign is ginormous,” gasped a local attorney. “It’s terrible and it’s right in front of the flagpole. It’s like this monstrosity that blocks the entire courtyard.”
As for the building’s real estate slogan, “What’s the new story?” the attorney quipped. “That they have an enormous amount of vacant space?”
Speaking of local lawyers…
“It’s called an obituary, that’s the new story that’s being written,” quips KCC contributor Dwight Sutherland. “It’s disheartening. It’s the equivalent of putting a going out of business sale in your front window.”
It’s also one of the risks one takes when you fire sale off your home in the middle of a dramatic 10-plus year business downturn.
Then again, if you were to buy an iconic local edifice like the Kansas City Star main building or say, the Nelson Atkins Museum and wanted to rent it out to recoup your investment, what would you do?
You’d probably try and come up with a way to let folks know the space was up for grabs. No sense beating around the bush.
Seeing as how for well over a century the opposite was the case.
Still…
