The Empty Corner on Liberty Square Got Smaller Plans, and Then a Building

"A restaurant, a coffee shop, a jewelry store, a cross-fit gym, a loft or two, work spaces, and perhaps a frozen custard/yogurt place."

That was the wish list Shane Griffin, a former IT company owner, gave the Liberty Tribune the October before the collapse, when he released renderings for a mixed-use redo of the old Bedinger Building at 1 N. Water Street. KCUR included it in its coverage seven months later, on the morning the building partly collapsed.

Ten years on, part of that list is finally being built at the corner of Water and Kansas. The version under construction now is two stories and nine lofts, with shops on the ground floor. It got this far by dropping the most expensive parts of earlier plans until what was left matched the scale of the Square around it.

The Corner Before the Hole

The Bedinger Building went up around the late 1800s and once housed an Ethan Allen furniture store. KCUR reported that it had been empty for about four years and was being renovated when it partly gave way shortly after 9 a.m. on May 3, 2016. Liberty fire marshal Dustin Paddack said at a morning update that he was not sure what caused it. He also explained why the whole block was a worry: "When you have old buildings like this, they kind of shore up against each other. And when one goes, you have the potential for other ones going."

That turned out to matter. City records say the collapsed building and the buildings next to it at 5–7 N. Water were later deemed dangerous and torn down. The City Council approved demolition of the G.M. Peters Building at 11 N. Water on March 11, 2024. The gap left behind was more than one storefront wide. The development site now covers 1–11 N. Water Street, roughly 0.42 to 0.43 acres at the northeast corner of Water and Kansas.

Three Plans, Each Smaller Than the Last

City documents show the project shrinking at almost every step.

Between the 2024 and 2025 versions, the building lost about half its square footage and a full floor. The approvals that went with it were not easy wins. The Historic District Review Commission voted 5–3 to recommend the first version in August 2024, and the City Council approved it that September. The amended plan got a 4–2 recommendation from the commission in June 2025. On July 28, 2025, the council approved both the certificate of appropriateness and the final development plan, each by a 5–0 vote.

Why the Garage Had to Go

The minutes from that July meeting explain the shrinking. Patrick Reuter of Klover Architects told the council that bids on the original design came in much higher than expected. He said local contractors pointed to the underground parking garage as the cause. Taking the garage out raised a parking problem, so the team cut the building to nine apartments and rearranged the back of the lot to make room for a few private stalls for those units. The final plan lists 15 resident stalls behind the building.

Reuter also said the south side of the building on Kansas Street, which the designers did not want to leave as a large retaining wall, will now hold commercial space. Dumpster access will be from Missouri Street, so trash trucks will not use the alley.

Comments at that public hearing came from people who have their own stake in the block:

• Matthew Iway of Star Development said that because the G.M. Peters Building shares a wall with the neighboring Burnett Building, the team was working with specialty engineers on vibration monitoring and a careful demolition approach.
• A representative of a group that owns six buildings on the Square asked whether base stones from work on the Jesse James Bank Building could be reused in the new building. The architect said reuse had not been evaluated and wasn't part of the plan, though the team wasn't opposed to it.

As a construction person, I read the garage decision as the one that made the project buildable. Digging below grade on a lot that sits between century-old masonry walls is expensive, and as Paddack said in 2016, those walls lean on each other.

Who Pays for What

Two financing tools were approved at the City Council meeting on January 13, 2025, each by an 8–0 vote.

The first is the Water Street Community Improvement District. It allows a sales and use tax of up to 1% on retail purchases inside the roughly 0.42-acre district, added on top of state, county and city sales taxes. According to the ordinance, the money goes toward demolition, design and construction of structured parking, and upkeep of public improvements. The minutes list a projected CID reimbursement of $701,347. That ordinance was passed six months before the underground garage was dropped, so the parking language reflects the earlier design. Day to day, the extra tax applies only to purchases made at businesses inside the new building.

The second is an industrial development bond plan of up to $7,580,000. The bonds are paid only from project revenues and are not a debt of the city. The project's attorney, Ben Bigham of Polsinelli, told the council the city would not back the bonds if the developer defaulted. The plan includes a 25-year tax abatement. Through 2040, the developer pays a fixed $8,629 a year in lieu of taxes, which equals the site's 2023 tax bill. From 2041 through 2050, that payment rises to half of the taxes that would otherwise be due.

The project's cost depends on which document you read. KSHB called it a $7.5 million development. The bond plan estimates about $7,580,000, and the CID section of the same January 2025 minutes lists a total project cost of $5,880,500.

The Square Started Changing Before the Foundation

At least one neighboring business has already expanded because of the project. KSHB reported in August that Cari Brogden, owner of the Copper Canary gift shop, is expanding the store to add a coffee shop because of the project.

"We knew of the housing development and the mixed-use project that's coming. We thought we would go ahead and take that leap of faith, and we are actually expanding." Cari Brogden, Copper Canary, speaking to KSHB

The Copper Canary website now says "NOW SERVING COFFEE." It describes a coffee bar serving The Roasterie, with espresso drinks, cold brew, chai, matcha, Canary Fizz specialty sodas and seasonal drinks. The store also brings dozens of small vendors under one roof, so its stock changes from week to week. So the coffee shop on Griffin's wish list has shown up on the Square, just not in the building he was planning.

Brogden also told KSHB she was looking past her own store: "Having more people who actually live here on the square, more businesses that can actually move in, this will just continue to bring more people." A nearby boutique worker told the station, "It's really nice that the square will finally be complete again."

Nine lofts won't change the Square's foot traffic much. But they will put people living on the corner for the first time in a decade, and a coffee bar a short walk away is the kind of business that does well with neighbors like that.

What the Next Ten Months Look Like

The first public sign of construction came this summer. A City of Liberty notice closed Kansas Street between Water and Missouri to cars on August 11 and 12, 2026, so the contractor could connect the building's private sewer line to the public main under Kansas Street. Pedestrian and ADA access stayed open, and the city said brief, intermittent closures of that block would follow.

KSHB reported on August 10 that crews were putting in underground utilities and that the developers expected to start foundations in late September or early October. Iway, Star Development's project manager, said the work to preserve the area's historic character contributed to missing an earlier March deadline. Crews were also reusing existing underground infrastructure where they could. "It's been 10 years since this has last been touched, and before then, about 100 years since anything has been built in here," he told the station. As of mid-October, no public update has confirmed that foundations were poured.

Completion is targeted for the end of August 2027, about ten months from now. KSHB's August report describes a restaurant patio planned for the corner but does not name a restaurant. The final plan also includes a 20-square-foot illuminated projecting blade sign on the Kansas Street side, which needed a sign variance. Iway, who was in high school when the building came down, told KSHB, "I hope people won't remember the giant hole that was here for about a decade."

The tax and abatement details above summarize public city records. They are general information, not tax or legal advice, so please check anything that applies to you with a qualified professional.

If you own a historic building on or near the Square and are wondering what work this close to old masonry involves, or what a new building next door could mean for your plans, Crystal Homes KC is glad to walk the block with you and talk it through with a builder's eye. Schedule a Free Consultation and bring your questions about the corner.