| 909 Walnut | |
|---|---|
| 909 Walnut Kansas City MO.jpg | |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Residential apartments |
| Location | 909 Walnut, Kansas City, Missouri |
| Coordinates | |
| Construction started | 1930 |
| Completed | 1931 |
| Cost | US$2,850,000 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 471 feet (144 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 32 |
| Design and construction | |
| Owner | Simbol Commercial Inc |
| Main contractor | Swenson Construction Company |
| Architect | Hoit, Price & Barnes |
| Developer | Fidelity National Bank & Trust |
909 Walnut (formerly Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building, Federal Office Building and 911 Walnut) is a twin-spire, 32-story, 471-foot (144 m) converted structure in Kansas City that is Missouri's tallest apartment building and 10th tallest habitable building in Missouri. It is also the tallest residential building in the Midwest outside of Chicago.
In 1997 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
The building was built in 1930-31 as the Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building (referred to locally as the Fidelity Building) at an estimated cost of $2,850,000 including bank fixtures.[2] The site had been a two-story post office and federal building until 1904 when Fidelity took over the site for its headquarters. The two-story building was razed in 1930. The new building mimicked the original federal twin spire structure, in an Art Deco-Gothic Revival architectural motif..
The building's architect Hoit, Price & Barnes also built landmark Art Deco buildings nearby in the Kansas City Power and Light Building and Municipal Auditorium (Kansas City).
The bank was liquidated in 1933 during the Great Depression.
On June 14, 1946 under Harry S. Truman, the building was acquired by the United States Federal Government which acquired it at a report price of $3,300,000. It was renamed the Federal Office Building.[2]
In 1954 the headquarters of the newly formed Severe Local Storms Warning Service for the Weather Bureau moved to the building from Washington, D.C.. A Radome for a weather radar was placed between the towers on a steel skeleton rising above the towers creating a landmark that lasted until 1995 when it was removed when the service relocated to Norman, Oklahoma where it became the Storm Prediction Center.[3][4]
Another distinctive landmark was the "town clock" in the north tower which had first started keeping time in the original 1885 post office and was then placed in the tower. A bell cast in 1882 by the McShane Bell Company of Baltimore, Maryland chimed. The clock face has since been removed and replaced by large windows for the highest residential living unit within 5 states. The bell was sold by the former owner in 2000 and whisked away by helicopter in ignominous fashion.[2]
When the government abandoned the building in 1995 it was bought by Northland Management & Investment of Kansas City for $500,000 and remained vacant until being bought in 2000 when Simbol Commercial Inc. of Dallas bought the building for $2,000,000. Following the 911 attacks, the building was renamed from 911 Walnut to 909 Walnut.[5] Simbol was said to have spent $64 million to convert this building and the 929 Walnut Building into 159 apartments, 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of commercial office space and to construct a 323 car public garage. The rooftop of the garage also includes a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) award-winning rooftop garden.[6]
The fourth floor is now the corporate headquarters of Handmark, a mobile phone software company.
The Second and Third Floors are occupied by Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE:EPR)
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