Apr

22

Saucers coming back down to earth

April 22, 2005 | 4 Comments

The past week hasn’t been good for the city’s future skyline. The Downtown arena team is having trouble delivering the cutting edge flying saucer design used in their pitch arena contract. Mayor Barnes is eager to complete the arena on time and on budget, so the Sextel Center may end up being much more conventional.

Meanwhile, fundraising problems and general ineptness are prompting backers of the iconic performing arts center to consider abandoning the dramatic hillside location for the Lyric Theater’s parking lot. Perhaps it’s time for heiress Julia Irene Kauffman and her boyfriend to hire a real project manager?

Categories: Arts/Entertainment, Downtown, Sports


Comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Hippster on April 22, 2005 12:43 pm

    It’s a good thing the we ran Gehry and those out-of-town fancypants architects out of town in order to give the job to the “local” team.

    I’m more upset about the PAC project, the models of which looked truly inspiring. Why doesn’t the PAC ask for the extra money when the Chiefs/Royals ask for $400 million this Fall? My informal polling indicated that most people were more willing to give a modest amount to a new PAC than give a fortune to the Chiefs and Royals.

  2. BlogKC on April 22, 2005 5:06 pm

    The really sad part is that Julia stopped asking for money. There are still a lot of blue bloods that haven’t even been asked to donate. For example, I believe the Hall Foundation is one of them that was planning on making a donation was never asked to do so. Then she just stopped the fundraising completely.

    KC usually steps up to the plate and makes things like this happen, but not if the people doing the fundraising are incompetent.

  3. the will on April 22, 2005 7:07 pm

    actually the premier arena and staudium architect firms in the entire world are BOTH in KC and are part of that team. Geary doesnt build arena, and althoguh I love his work, i’m COMPLETELY satisfied that the firms who have been designing virtually EVERY stadium and arena in the world over the past couple decades will finally get to put a stamp on their hometown. Giving it to Geary woudlve spit in the face of the local talent.

  4. Hippstar on April 23, 2005 2:27 pm

    Regarding Gehry, I just thought it was a little silly to hear so many people in the local media (okay, I mostly just listen to sports radio all day) demand that the local consortium get the contract, as if Gehry had never done anything impressive. I thought the provincialism was a bit much, especially since most of the local sports architect firms have branches here and are headquartered in other cities.

    To KC’s point, I have subscriptions to the Symphony and the Opera, and I was never asked to donate money. I’m not a blueblood, and most of the Symphony crowd aren’t either, but I think it’s odd that we weren’t all hit up for donations to the thing. Last week I searched the internet for a way to donate to the project, and I couldn’t find anything.

    I agree that the fundraising thing is pretty weird. I just hope we don’t end up half-assing the Sprint Center and the new PAC.

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