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Kansas City's Union Station hires Burns & McDonnell for $7.5 million renovation of public spaces

Kansas City's Union Station hires Burns & McDonnell for $7.5 million renovation of public spaces

Kansas City‘s main rail station will get a $7.5 million expansion and streetscape improvement, local officials announced this week, including a new bridge designed to improve circulation between the terminal’s “front and back yards.”

Union Station was built in 1901, but its last major renovation was in 1997, when a major renovation closed the Beaux Arts building—which is on the National Register of Historic Places—for two years. Now KC-based Burns & McDonnell, picked by the Union Station board after a “rigorous” review process, will guide the redesign, renovation, and reconstruction of the local landmark’s outside areas.

A $2.25 million tax credit from the Missouri Development Finance Board kicked off fundraising for the project, which topped off only after a recent gift from the Bloch Family Foundation. The Hall Family Foundation covered more than half of the total project cost with a gift of more than $4 million.

The new landscape features include a bridge for cars and pedestrians connecting Union Station’s various outdoor spaces to its parking garage. New spaces include an outdoor events plaza to the west of the adjoining Science City for interactive exhibits and community-based events.

Officials hope to complete the project by 2017.

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