By Kathy Feist
Cars slowed down. Drivers gawked. Others stopped to take photos.
On Wednesday, the former Paul Robeson Middle School at 8201 Holmes Road was disappearing. The 151,800 square-foot building, once a Jewish Community Center built in 1957 was being demolished per City orders.
“It’s a mixed blessing,” said property owner Sean Pickett who purchased the building in 2018 with the intent to renovate it. “Unfortunately we are not going to be able to repurpose it; but we are still going to move forward with the project.”
The project that Pickett agreed to in 2018 with the surrounding community and Kansas City Public Schools, its previous owner, was to create a neighborhood recreation center, including a swimming pool, theater, soccer field, gymnasium and other amenities. By then the building had been vacant for 12 years. And while Pickett’s ideas carried excitement and potential partners in the beginning, it fizzled out quickly due to the forthcoming pandemic.
The building continued to remain vacant, attracting vandals and vagrants. Broken glass, graffiti, damaged property combined with overgrown foliage contributed to its blighted appearance in an otherwise aged, but tidy neighborhood along Holmes Road.
Last summer there was renewed excitement with the announcement of a potential investor and a partnership with KC Rugby Football Club.
In early September Pickett prepared the track for an expanded rugby field. But it wasn’t enough. Mayor Quinton Lucas decried the property as blighted on social media. On September 18, the mayor passed an ordinance initiating receivership of the building to protect the safety of City residents. The receivership allowed Pickett to remain as owner but required him to demolish the building.
“I already had a demo contract as early as April 2024,” said Pickett. He planned to demolish the unsalvageable portion of the building, but preserve the theater, pool and gym in the building that was still structurally sound.
But time ticked away and patience ran thin.
In August, Diane Hershberger, Executive Director of the nearby Marlborough Community Coalition, issued a statement that also reflected those from the Tower Homes Neighborhood Association. “For the past seven years, the school structure and grounds have become increasingly blighted under Mr. Pickett’s ownership,” she stated. “Many neighbors are now concerned if the development plan proposed by Mr. Pickett can ever be achieved. They are interested in seeing the blighted conditions taken care of as soon as possible.”
How does Hershberger feel now?
“Happy,” she said. “A lot of people are happy. It was absolutely a blight.”
Emily Foster with the Waldo Tower Neighborhood Association express relief. “Finally we get some movement around these blighted buildings! Our neighborhoods have been waiting for this for so long,” she said. “We must continue to be diligent that it serves both Waldo Tower and Marlborough neighborhoods and the community in a way that is benefit for us all.”
The demolition is expected to take three months or more to be completely cleared away.
Pickett says he has been working with the City. “I appreciate their patience during this process so that everything has gone smoothly.”
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