Repurposing

What's New?

Marlborough School Site, 1300 E. 75^th Street

KCPS hosted a virtual meeting on December 8, 2020 to learn about new reuse plan concepts for the Marlborough School Site. Meeting notes and a copy of the PPT can be found HERE. Community feedback will be collected to help inform the future reuse of the site. Share Your Feedback by December 31: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DTMY3V6

Former Wendell Phillips/KCNA School Site, 2433 Vine Street

1/11/21 UPDATE: The City of Kansas City, MO proposed to utilize the former KCNA/Wendell Phillips school building for a temporary homeless shelter with the assistance of KCPS, which unanimously approved temporary use of the site. However, due to unforeseen building code requirements triggered by a change in use of the building from education to temporary shelter, the planning permit requirements increased the costs and the time required to ready the building such that the project was not viable.

City staff is finalizing an alternate site that can be used as a temporary shelter to ensure that Kansas Citians experiencing homelessness have a safe, warm place to stay this winter. The City expects to have this site up and running in mid-January. For additional information, please contact Hope Faith Ministries, which will be operating the shelter, at (816) 471-4673.

KCPS and Wendell Phillips Neighborhood Association hosted a meeting on November 16, 2020 to gather neighborhood feedback on the City of Kansas City’s temporary reuse proposal for the former Wendell Phillips/KCNA site. A summary of the proposal can be found HERE. Feedback collected via survey in November/December by KCPS showed strong support from members of the neighborhood for the City’s proposal. 

About Repurposing

The Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS), through its Repurposing Initiative, is taking an innovative and comprehensive approach to promoting the reuse/ redevelopment of 30 of its closed school sites. The Repurposing Initiative, which began as a yearlong community engagement and planning process to develop community-driven reuse strategies, has transitioned from planning into action. Guided by the community feedback and technical reuse assessments outlined in the reuse strategies, the KCPS is in the process of soliciting proposals and promoting opportunities to reposition these school sites so that they once again serve as valuable assets for the Kansas City community.

If you are interested in getting involved or would like to be informed of upcoming meetings, please contact us at repurposing@kcpublicschools.org.

Interested in acquiring a closed school site?

KCPS is currently accepting proposals/offers for several closed school sites (see below) through Block Real Estate Services. All proposals/offers will be evaluated based on project feasibility, qualifications/track record, and consistency with community goals. Click here for proposal/offer requirements.

If you are interested in one of the district's Repurposing sites, please contact Aaron Mesmer (amesmer@blockllc.com) or Adam Barnard (abarnard@blockllc.com) at Block Real Estate Services at (816) 756-1400 or contact the Repurposing office at repurposing@kcpublicschools.org or (816) 418-7725.