The first sign that the BR Companies’s development at 800 Grand is moving forward is becoming clearer thanks to recent traffic control applications.

The traffic control permit application calls for the sidewalks, parking lane, driving lane, and bike lane to close along Grand between 8th and 9th. On 9th Street, the sidewalk will be closed on the north side of the street and parallel parking will be removed with one westbound driving lane remaining from Grand to Walnut. On Walnut, the sidewalk and parallel parking on the east side of the street will be closed from the Scarritt Arcade to the Hampton Inn. On 8th Street, the sidewalk on the south side of the street along with a driving lane and parallel parking on the north side of the street will be closed from the Hampton Inn to Grand. The dates listed for the traffic control permit go or one year from 7/28/2025 until 7/31/2026. This will likely be extended as demolition of the garage rolls over into construction on the new tower and redevelopment of the Scarritt Buildings.

The traffic control permit application including the Scarritt Buildings into the overall 800 Grand development zone is the first confirmation of a rumor of them being part of this overall plan. For the record, the Scarritt Arcade on Walnut has seen chunks of its intricate facade removed due to damage while the Scarritt Building itself has had a bracing system installed to hold up the cornice for a few decades. The traffic control plans are included in the gallery at the end of this post for viewing.

In recent months, Clarkson Construction applied for a Code Modification Request in regards to demolition. They request was ultimately denied, but this was likely involving the planned demolition of the abandoned garage at 800 Grand Boulevard (southwest corner of 8th and Grand). The vacant garage partially wraps the Hampton Inn Hotel and has a side that fronts Walnut Street as well. The garage has seen an apparent car accident in recent months with the southeast corner of the garage having bricks knocked out of it. Elsewhere, the garage is boarded up. The demolition of this vacant parking garage will be the second vacant garage in the Downtown Loop to be torn down. The other is currently undergoing demolition near 13th and Wyandotte after some bricks fell off the facade.

In both instances (demolition code request and traffic control permit application), they’re the first visible sign of life for BR’s mixed-use development, which was revealed last fall.

BR’s plans call for a 25-story tower, designed by Hoefer Welker, to take the place of the vacant parking garage. The tower was planned to feature 318 apartments, 24,000sf of retail space, and a 438 space parking garage. It’s unclear if the design of the tower, breakdown of usages, or anything else has changed since the initial unveiling. A clear plan for what may be done at the Scarritt Building and Arcade has also not been made clear.

A formal development application to the City of Kansas City for both the tower or Scarritt Buildings has yet to be made. Based on my post from last October, the team is following the publicly reported vague timelines of beginning demolition on the garage in 2025. They’ll likely submit their development plans to the City this year, keeping with the timeline.

The gallery below includes renderings of the project from last October in addition to site photos from July 18th 2025.