By summer 2023, Kansas City will be home to the country’s first destination landmark bridge.
Flying Truss, LLC is leading the unusual public, private, philanthropic, corporate partnership to reclaim the Rock Island Bridge - a 700-foot, three-truss railroad bridge - and repurpose it into an entertainment venue and public trail from the West Bottoms to existing levee trails along the west side of the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw.
“This bridge is longer than the St. Louis Arch is tall,” said Michael Zeller, president of Flying Truss, at last week’s DBIA-MAR Kansas City chapter meeting.
Zeller was joined by project team members Michael Laddin, CFO of Flying Truss; Sam Loring, project architect - senior associate, Gould Evans; Daniel Gibson, VP of estimating, L.G. Barcus and Sons, Inc.; Matthew Farber, principal, Thornton Tomasetti; Dan Kumm, VP-innovation and business development, BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc.; and Richard Wetzel, CEO/partner, Centric.
Two trusses of the bridge were built in 1905, and the third was added during World War I. The rail line to the bridge was abandoned in 1972, and the City of Kansas City, Missouri acquired the bridge in the early 1980s as part of the Kemper Arena parking expansion.
Four years ago, Flying Truss leased the bridge from Kansas City, Missouri with the intention of simply putting an event space on the bridge, Zeller said.
Subsequently, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas (the UG) approached Flying Truss about forming a partnership regarding the bridge, which is located entirely in Kansas City, Kansas, 50 feet from the state line. The UG already had started building levee top trails to address a lack of healthy infrastructure.
“They realized it would make a lot more sense for them and it would be more interesting for the trail users and it would save them some money if they crossed the bridge here and then carried on the levee top-up north to the Riverfront Heritage Trail that goes east-west and connects Berkeley Riverfront Park to downtown Kansas City, Kansas. . . . So this will be a public crossing and a trailhead as well,” said Zeller.
The UG is acquiring the bridge from Kansas City, Missouri for $1.00, and Flying Truss will lease the bridge from the UG for 66 years.
In addition to adding a new public path, Flying Truss is widening the bridge, cantilevering out approximately 15 feet on the north and south of the central truss and adding a new steel and concrete deck to accommodate restaurants, bars and event spaces spanning two decks.
Local restaurants, Slap’s BBQ and Buffalo State Pizza Company, have signed on as tenants.
“The western truss we’re calling the community zone which is going to be dedicated to the community partners, non-profits and Kansas City, Kansas,” said Loring.
When the repurposed bridge opens, it will operate nine months out of the year, closing during the winter months.
Loring said the space will not be air-conditioned, but it will have operable louvers to allow for passive cooling in the summertime. There also will be a drop-down curtain for inclement weather.
Flying Truss has requested a 1000-person occupancy, and Zeller said he thinks they will get pretty close to that.
To promote the project and get people to come down to the Kaw, Flying Truss hosted several events it called “Kaw Socials.”
The State of Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri are all playing a role in the project, and a lot of prominent Kansas Citians are investing on the private side, said Zeller.
“This stuff that we’re doing and this project is kind of a rebranding effort. It’s the trigger for Kansas riverfront development. You’ve got to start by bringing people to it and giving them an experience that puts the river in a different place in their mind,” Zeller said.
Besides drawing people from all over the metro, the bridge is a short walk from Hy-Vee Arena and close to The Yards and The Yards II, mixed-use luxury apartments developed by Flaherty & Collins Properties.
“We think we’re going to be their morning coffee shop, their local pub,” Zeller said.
“Beyond the bridge, this is a place where we can develop the community, have places where families and kids and all of us can really enjoy ourselves and make it special,” said Kumm.
Barcus is doing the first phase of construction, removing the old rails and tracks and building the new pad. Gibson anticipates starting in July and completing phase one in December. Centric will undertake the phase two construction, building the structure, which Wetzel said would take approximately six months to complete.
“This becomes an icon for Kansas City,” Wetzel said.
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Featured rendering credit: Gould Evans.