800 Grand and Scarritt Building Redevelopment Update

A little over a year after the initial unveiling by the BR Companies, the 800 Grand project is moving forward after a successful past few months.

The project, which includes the redevelopment of the historic Scarritt Building and Arcade along with a new, 24-story apartment tower at 8th and Grand, won unanimous approval from the Kansas City City Council for a TIF package worth around $109 Million on December 11th. This comes a few months after PortKC endorsed their own incentive package for the project, but that has yet to return before the PortKC Board for final approval.

Now, the BR Companies will go before the Historic Preservation Commission this Friday, December 19th, for proposed interior alterations to the Scarritt Building and Scarritt Arcade. It’s the project’s first formal stop before a City committee that reviews proposed developments. The project will eventually go before the City Planning Commission and City Council, but a formal development application has yet to be made.

The proposed interior alterations will be minimal to the historic lobby and arcade components of the Scarritt. Plans show a few walls being removed to create a larger lobby space and a few new walls being created to assist with back of house operations and a new bar on the first floor of the Scarritt Arcade. Other new walls will be constructed for restrooms.

*This slide from the historic preservation commission document shows the interior of the Arcade and the planned alterations (everything in beige).*

Most alterations will maintain the doorways’s marble and associated transoms, but the storefront glass will be removed to form larger spaces. In the case of the lobby, a small portion of one of the outer walls will be removed in order to connect it to the future tower at 800 Grand. In general, the alterations aim to preserve the rich details found on the ceilings, railings, floors, and doorways.

The tower component of the project saw it’s design changed to be slightly shorter and clad entirely in glass. The building no longer “steps” down towards Walnut and the parking garage is better concealed.

Overall, BR’s plans call for:

A 24-story tower at 800 Grand Boulevard with 319 apartments, 28,000sf of commercial/retail space, 574 parking spaces and a 1600-seat performance venue operated by Universal Music (UMusic).
The redevelopments of the Scarritt Building and Arcade into a 169-room “UMusic” branded hotel, 10,500sf of meeting space and 16,000sf of commercial/retail/restaurant space
Enhancements to public infrastructure, including new sidewalks and repaved roads.

Project costs are estimated around $484 Million. Hoefer Welker is the architect with Populous assisting. If all goes according to plan, the UMusic Hotel should open in 2028 with the residential tower and performance venue in 2029. The site is currently surrounded in a large fence and traffic control measures are in place on 8th, Grand, 9th and Walnut and will likely remain through the duration of construction.

The gallery below features a picture of the Scarritt Building as of December 14th 2025, additional images of the new design, and interior images showing proposed alterations (in beige).