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 Interactive map of Crown Center | |
| Location | 2450Grand Boulevard Kansas City, MO 64108 |
|---|---|
| Owner | Hallmark Cards |
| Operator | Hallmark Cards |
| Capacity | 85-acre (340,000 m2) commercial complex |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1971; 55 years ago (1971) |
| Architect | Edward Larrabee Barnes (master) |
| Tenants | |
| Halls Crown CenterCoterie Theatre | |
Crown Center is a shopping center and neighborhood located nearDowntown Kansas City, Missouri betweenGillham Road andMain Street to the east and west, and between OK/E 22nd St and E 27th St to the north and south. The shopping center is anchored byHalls, a department store which is owned and operated byHallmark Cards. The neighborhood contains numerous residences, retail establishments, entertainment venues, and restaurants including the American Restaurant, the only Forbes Travel Guidefour-star restaurant in Missouri. It is home toHallmark Cards, and the headquarters ofShook, Hardy & Bacon and Lathrop GPM, two of Kansas City's largestlaw firms.
Before theFirst World War, DowntownKansas City was heavily populated and bustling. The area today home to Crown Center was an extension of theUnion Hill historic neighborhood. Gradually, however, the center of population for themetro area moved south, and by theSecond World War the area today comprising Crown Center had become dilapidated. Although Hallmark had maintained itsheadquarters at 26th Street andGrand Boulevard since 1922, the headquarters itself and nearbyUnion Station comprised the only non-slum in the area. Instead there were oldwarehouses, used car lots, and vacant buildings.
In 1966,Donald J. Hall, Sr. becamePresident andCEO of Hallmark Cards, taking over from his father,Joyce Hall. Joyce Hall had long wished to develop the area around the corporate headquarters, and with his new leadership Donald Hall quickly made it known that he wished torenew the area entirely.[1] Hallmark quietly began acquiring all the property surrounding its headquarters, and consulted withurban planning experts about the possibility of creating an experimental "city within a city" on the property.[2] The City of Kansas City formally approved the plans for Crown Center (named after the Hallmark corporate symbol) by the end of 1967. The master design was prepared byEdward Larrabee Barnes.
Ground was broken for the complex in September 1968. Construction of the hotel, designed byHarry Weese in theBrutalist style, began in 1971. It opened in May 1973 as theCrown Center Hotel, managed byWestern International Hotels.[3] Signboard Hill is included in the hotel's design as a waterfall.Norman Fletcher designed the first residences. Henry Cobb of theI.M. Pei firm designed 2600 Grand office andDan Kiley laid out the park in the south area of the complex. Warren Plattner, designer ofWindows on the World, designed the interior space at the American Restaurant when it was operated by Joseph Baum (who also operatedThe Four Seasons and theRainbow Room). In 2016, the restaurant announced plans to close and to become primarily a special event venue.[4] The original concept for the shops was an international bazaar, part of which was a maze-like area known as West Village. Designed by architects François Dallegret and Joseph Baker, West Village proved unsuccessful and was replaced by a more conventional layout.[5][6] Western International Hotels was rebranded as Westin Hotels in 1981, and the hotel was renamed The Westin Crown Center soon after.
In addition to the Westin, the Crown Center complex includes theSheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center, opened July 1, 1980 as the Hyatt Regency Kansas City. The roof had collapsed during construction, and then the hotel suffered thewalkway collapse on July 17, 1981, killing 114 people in the deadliest non‑deliberate structural failure in American history.[7][8] Because of the Barnes' firm's relationship to the developers, he was tapped to redesign the lobby of the hotel.
Today, the shopping and entertainment complex features three levels of shops and restaurants, a set of grand open airfountains, live theaters, anice skating rink and over-street walkways leading throughout the complex and to Kansas City'sUnion Station. The Halls department store was designed byPaul László. The complex includes the 45-storySheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center (which wasMissouri's tallest building when built), aWestin hotel, and two upscale residential apartmentskyscrapers. Kansas City's three largest law firms maintain theirheadquarters in other skyscrapers in the neighborhood. The neighborhood's grounds include parks, fountains, green spaces, and uniquesculptures.
The global headquarters campus forHallmark Cards is located on the eastern side of Crown Center.
A century-oldtradition, theMayor'sChristmas tree atHallmark Cards’ Crown Center is strung with more than 7,200 white lights during the winter holidays and stands 100 feet tall, which is taller than the famousNational Christmas Tree andRockefeller Center Christmas Tree, and theWhite House Christmas Tree.[9] A special guest orcelebrity "flips the switch" each year.[10][11] For example, in 2010ChefCelina Tio (owner and chef of Julian inK.C.,Missouri) onFood Network'sThe Next Iron Chef, joined Kansas City's MayorMark Funkhouser to light the tree. The lightingceremony is held the day afterThanksgiving and the annualCountry Club PlazaLighting Ceremony. After the holidays, the tree is cut intocommemorativeornaments and sold to benefit the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund, which assists city residents in poverty.[9]
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39°04′52″N94°34′53″W / 39.080995°N 94.581442°W /39.080995; -94.581442
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| Hallmark Media | ||
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