Katz on Main, constructed in 1934 and home to the first Katz Drug Store location outside the city’s central business district, sat vacant. Lux Living, a real estate development firm, purchased the historic Katz building with plans to revive the former drug store and add a six-story multifamily apartment complex with amenity, office and retail space.
In 2019, Katz on Main made its way onto the most endangered buildings list by Historic Kansas City. Katz has a storied past in the community and acts as a gateway between Mainstreet and Westport, but is in danger of demolition. By taking the building and adjacent site and turning it into a multi-family residence with public spaces, Katz can become a place of revitalization for a neighborhood and community that has seen residents move elsewhere in the last decade.
Due to the historic preservation aspect of the project and its role in the community, listening and understanding neighborhood feedback is a vital part of our design approach and process. Our design embraces the feel of Westport by featuring four stories of red brick, preserving the iconic clock tower, adding pedestrian-friendly spaces for the community to enjoy, and more. We can take advantage of the tight area and irregular-shaped lot by building a new six-story multifamily residence connected to the Katz building. The fresh design of Katz on Main embraces luxury living, celebrates Westport's history and invites the neighborhood.
Katz will help fulfill the Mainstreet Corridor Plan, maintain historical preservation, revitalize the community and connect Westport to downtown Kansas City. The multifamily complex and iconic art-deco clock tower will sit along with the future 3.5-mile southern Kansas City streetcar extension run by the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, enticing prospective students to call Westport home. As a building deemed a "high priority save" by Historic Kansas City, the future is bright for Katz on Main and the community of Westport.