Former Kansas City Star press building to become $100M AI-Powered tech ampus

Patmos Hosting Inc. is advancing to the next phase of redevelopment at the iconic former Kansas City Star printing press building, located at 1601 McGee Street in downtown Kansas City, Mo., marking a major milestone in the site’s transformation into a futuristic technology hub. The mammoth, 421,112 SF, four-story structure — once a bustling newspaper production facility — is now being reinvented as the Patmos AI Campus, a state-of-the-art data center and multi-use technology destination.

The centerpiece of this redevelopment is a $100 million Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) loan arranged by PACE Loan Group through the Show Me PACE program, the largest C-PACE financing secured in Missouri to date. This long-term, private-sector financing will fund energy-efficient infrastructure upgrades — including advanced cooling systems, electrical support, HVAC, plumbing, and other equipment — that are critical to supporting the facility’s powerful computing loads.

Patmos has continued construction since late 2024, quickly building out initial capacity and attracting multiple long-term tenants that have already signed leases for space in the facility. Once fully upgraded in early 2026, the campus will offer 35 megawatts of power tailored for high-density GPU, HPC, and AI infrastructure companies and serve as a flexible hub for modern computing workloads.

Beyond its core role as a data center, the vision for the Star building extends to community-oriented and business-friendly spaces. Patmos plans to convert nearly 150,000 SF of the building into multi-tenant technology offices, co-working space, and event venues, helping foster collaboration, innovation, and downtown activity. There are even plans for features such as suites, a potential Kansas City Police Department outpost, and large open spaces facing Truman Road to engage the surrounding neighborhood.

The redevelopment reflects an adaptive reuse approach, bringing new life to a landmark that had sat largely empty since The Star moved operations out in 2022. By repurposing the structure instead of building anew, the project aims to accelerate deployment timelines, reduce environmental impact, and anchor significant economic growth in the Crossroads district.

Key partners in this transformation include PACE Loan Group and the Show Me PACE program for financing, with Patmos managing the build-out in collaboration with construction and engineering teams (specific vendors and general contractors have not been publicly detailed). As Kansas City continues to grow as a tech and AI hub, the Patmos AI Campus stands out as a landmark example of urban revitalization and next-generation infrastructure investment. 

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Header image: The former Kansas City Star printing building at 16th and McGee in Kansas City, Mo. Image | Patmos/LoopNet

Fear is no deterrent to seizing new opportunities for this CREW

Jennifer Hart, president and owner of Hartline Construction, LLC, and Suzie Aron, president of Aron Real Estate, joined moderator Asia Campbell, business development manager at Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC), last week for a virtual discussion about showing up at work and in life, part of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) and CREW KC “Fearless Series.”

Hart worked as an architect for several years until she was furloughed during the ‘08-’09 recession. She went to work in construction because contractors’ work had not dried up. 

In 2011, Hart founded Hartline Construction. According to Hart, education, perseverance and networking made her fearless in allowing her to move on from her job loss and not give up. 

“I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told by a male, maybe someone above me, that I can’t do it. So right then that told me why not me?  I can.  You’ve got to turn what you might be able to do into action and make it happen,” Hart said.

When Hart opened her company she did not want any special favors because she was female and had always succeeded at her job before. Consequently, she resisted getting WBE and SLBE certified by the City of Kansas City, Mo.

Her company since has been awarded SLBE (Small Local Business Enterprise), WBE (Women Business Enterprise) and DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) certifications. She admits that the certifications hove opened a lot of doors for her, for Hartline and for her team, including a contract to work on the Kansas City International Airport construction project.

“So don’t be afraid to go ahead and utilize that tool - because we, as females, as much as we don’t want to admit it, sometimes we’re underestimated and we want to show them how powerful we can be,” said Hart.

Hart encouraged the audience members to network.

“I cannot tell you how much has come my direction by networking out in the community and giving back to the community because they call me and say ‘hey, I heard about this project you might want to take a look at,’” Hart said.

Aron, who started out as a community volunteer, said the key to being fearless is figuring out who you are.

“I’m an extroverted person, and I also think outside the box. One way is to look as to what’s out there and where the opportunity is. For somebody like me, it’s looking around and deciding what kind of community do I want?” said Aron.

Several years ago, Aron, who had worked as a real estate broker for many years, took interest in the Crossroads District, then a neighborhood of empty buildings. She saw opportunity to build a community. 

“All of our buildings were abandoned. Eighty percent of our neighborhood was blighted, and because of that, there were opportunities in terms of cheap rents, for putting in sweat equity, for how you might consider doing something that you wouldn’t have been able to do if it was a terrific, only healthy bunch of options out there,” said Aron.

Seizing on the opportunity, Aron was instrumental in developing the Crossroads arts, business and entertainment district.             

Aron said the pandemic has created opportunities to make changes to our community, and she encouraged the audience, while everyone is on pause, to consider what kind of community they want going forward.

“I really think we have an extraordinary opportunity to build and come back and save and create the kind of community we want because we’ve all seen that we’re starting to look at things that we took for granted and say do we want to do things the same way. And, I would encourage us not to,” Aron said.