Kansas City Life Insurance has recently requested demolition permits for four buildings in the Valentine neighborhood. These are in addition to the 23 buildings they tore down and are in the two blocks south of where the previous demolitions occurred.
On Feb. 28, the Historic Preservation Commission will hold a hearing on new demolition permits Kansas City Life Insurance has applied for. The company has requested permission to demolish four properties in the Valentine neighborhood between 35th Street and Valentine Road from Summit to Southwest Trafficway.
This includes: 3525-27 Jefferson, 3617 Summit, 3623 Summit, and 3629 Summit. These four demolitions are in addition to the 23 demolitions Kansas City Life notified the neighborhood they planned late last year. Those demolitions were all between 35th Street and Valentine Road and have mostly been completed.
This will be one of the first hearings under the city’s new demolition delay ordinance. According to the city, demolition delay allows for consideration of whether structures proposed for demolition “have historical, architectural, cultural or urban design value to the city.” It requires any structure more than 50 years old to be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission to determine whether they meet the criteria to be listed on the Kansas City Register or the National Register of Historic Places.
If the Preservation Commission decides the buildings are eligible for historical designation, they can require a 45-day period for alternatives to demolition to be considered. Save Valentine is preparing a local historic district nomination to include the area from 35th to Valentine between Summit and Pennsylvania.