The Scarritt Building and Arcade is a historic office complex in downtown Kansas City, comprising an eleven-story tower at 818 Grand Boulevard, at the corner of Ninth and Grand, and an adjoining four-story arcade entered at 819 Walnut Street.123 Built by the Scarritt Estate Company and completed in 1907 to designs by the Kansas City firm Root & Siemens, it is widely described as the city’s finest surviving example of the Chicago-school commercial skyscraper associated with Louis Sullivan, and as Kansas City’s second skyscraper after the R. A. Long Building.2345 It was entered in the National Register of Historic Places on 9 March 1971 (reference no. 71000468).67 After decades of declining occupancy and a succession of failed redevelopment plans, the complex was mostly vacant through the 2020s and is now the historic centerpiece of a large proposed mixed-use project at 800 Grand.89

History

The Scarritt Estate Company

The Scarritt Estate Company was established in 1903 by the children of Reverend Nathan Scarritt, a teacher and Methodist preacher who came to western Missouri in 1848 and became one of Kansas City’s prominent early figures.23 The company built the Scarritt Building and Arcade in 1906–07 at a cost of about $750,000, providing speculative office space in what was becoming the city’s financial district.23 (Some accounts render the minister’s name “Nathaniel.”5)

The Scarritt name attaches to several unrelated Kansas City places, including Scarritt Point and the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood in the Historic Northeast, both named for the same family but a wholly separate subject from this downtown building.5

Twentieth-century tenancy and decline

The building housed the offices of the Kansas City Gas Company for many years.35 Northeast News reports an extensive restoration during the mid-1980s totaling more than $14 million.3

By the 2010s the complex was struggling. A 2013 proposal to convert the building into artist-oriented apartments — reported by the Kansas City Business Journal at $21.7 million — did not proceed, and by 2015 the buildings were at roughly 35 percent occupancy when another owner acquired them with a plan for mostly affordable apartments.2 That plan also faltered.

Twenty-first-century redevelopment attempts

In 2019 the Florida-based Augustine Development Group acquired the property and, with Kansas City’s Sunflower Development Group, announced a roughly $50 million conversion of the tower into a 193-room Wyndham Grand hotel with about 20,000 square feet of co-working space, two restaurants and a rooftop lounge, targeting a construction start in mid-to-late 2020.4

The plan was revised in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A subsequent scheme, reported at $47.5 million, called for 126 apartments — 51 studios, 42 one-bedrooms and 33 two-bedrooms — plus about 25,600 square feet of ground-floor commercial space intended to include a grocery store, supported by roughly $12.5 million in state and federal historic tax credits and a 25-year property tax abatement.210

That plan collapsed as well. In mid-October 2023 the tower and Arcade were put up for auction by Matthews Real Estate Investment Services with a $4 million opening bid, at which point they were among the last large unrenovated historic buildings in downtown Kansas City, mostly vacant for years and repeatedly broken into by thieves stripping copper and other metals from the unheated structures.108

In 2025 the Port KC board advanced a resolution for a mixed-use development at 800/818 Grand by 800 Grand KCMO LLC, financed with up to $480 million in taxable revenue bonds: a 25-story residential tower, 319 residential units, 28,000 square feet of ground-level retail, a 1,400-seat music and entertainment venue, and adaptive reuse of the Scarritt Building as a 167-room UMusic-branded hotel, with Scarritt renovation work hoped to begin in 2026 across a two-phase, roughly five-year build.9 As of this page’s date the redevelopment is a plan, not a completed conversion; the building has not been converted to apartments.

Architecture

Root & Siemens designed the complex in 1906 in the Chicago-school idiom championed by Louis Sullivan.311 The eleven-story tower reads in the classic base–shaft–cornice tripartite composition that emphasizes verticality: the first two floors form a base faced in grey terra cotta; above, an H-shaped shaft clad in light brick is set off from the base; and heavy terra cotta ornament concentrates in the surrounds above the second-story windows and in the crowning cornice.2 The H plan produced a light well between the tower’s two arms, admitting daylight to interior offices — a standard Chicago-school response to the pre-air-conditioning office floor.5

The four-story Scarritt Arcade adjoins on the west, fronting Walnut Street, with an ornate terra cotta first floor and a skylight over its interior; sources describe double light wells illuminating its four levels.24 The tower originally had three entrances — on Grand Avenue, on Ninth Street, and on Walnut through the Arcade.3

Root & Siemens’s other Kansas City work included the George Peck Dry Goods Company building, the Westport Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Country Club Christian Church.3 Walter C. Root’s biographical details, including his relationship to the Chicago architect John Wellborn Root, are not established on this page.

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia, “Scarritt Building and Arcade” (location at Ninth and Grand and 819 Walnut Street; built 1906; Root & Siemens; Chicago school; NRHP listing 9 March 1971, reference no. 71000468) ↩

  2. Clio, “Scarritt Building and Arcade,” entry 157238 (Scarritt Estate Company established 1903 by six children of Nathan Scarritt; 1907 construction at $750,000; second skyscraper; eleven stories; grey terra cotta base, H-shaped light-brick shaft, terra cotta ornament at second-story windows and cornice; four-story arcade with ornate terra cotta and skylight; 2013 artist-apartment plan, 35 percent occupancy in 2015, 2019 Florida developer, pandemic-era revision; NRHP 1971) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. “Scarritt Building’s opulence personified,” Northeast News, 7 August 2012 (Scarritt Estate Company formed 1903 by the children of Nathan Scarritt, who came to western Missouri in 1848 as teacher and preacher; $750,000 cost; Kansas City’s second skyscraper after the R. A. Long Building, with the National Bank of Commerce third; three entrances on Grand, Ninth and Walnut through the four-story arcade; Root & Siemens and their other commissions; Kansas City Gas Company offices; mid-1980s restoration exceeding $14 million) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  4. “Historic Scarritt Building and Arcade Slated as $50M Luxury Hotel,” Flatland (Kansas City PBS) (1907 completion; Root & Siemens; finest Kansas City example of the Chicago School style championed by Louis Sullivan; ornate terra cotta; eleven-story tower and four-level arcade; Augustine Development Group with Sunflower Development Group; 193-room Wyndham Grand; 20,000 square feet of co-working space; two restaurants and rooftop lounge; about $50 million; historic tax credits sought) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. “Kansas City’s second skyscraper was built more than a century ago. How does it look now?”, The Kansas City Star (syndicated copy) (Scarritt Building completed 1907 at Ninth and Grand; eleven stories; Chicago School; two towers separated by a light well to bring sunlight to the offices; delicate terracotta trim; four-story Scarritt Arcade on Walnut; named for Nathaniel [Nathan] Scarritt, one of the city’s first Methodist ministers, also namesake of Scarritt Point and the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood; Kansas City Gas Company headquarters; deterioration and failed revival plans) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. National Park Service, NPGallery / National Register Information System record for the Scarritt Building and Arcade, NRIS 71000468 (listed 9 March 1971; architect Root & Siemens; style “Chicago”; period of significance 1900–1924; significant years 1906 and 1907). Note: the NRIS address field reads “Corner of 19th and Grand Streets,” which is inconsistent with every other source and with the building’s location at Ninth and Grand. ↩

  7. Missouri State Parks / Missouri Department of Natural Resources, National Register of Historic Places nomination form, “Scarritt Building and Arcade,” Kansas City, Jackson County (scanned PDF; prepared by Sheila M. Hannah; listing 9 March 1971). The scan is image-only and was not transcribed for this page; no claim here rests on its text. ↩

  8. “Historic Scarritt Up for Auction, Renovation Plan Collapses,” Flatland (Kansas City PBS) (mid-October 2023 auction by Matthews Real Estate Investment Services; $4 million opening bid; Augustine Development Group ownership since 2019; 2019 hotel concept and December 2020 apartment revision; among the last large unrenovated historic downtown buildings; NRHP 1971; $11.5 million in historic tax credits and a 25-year Port KC abatement available to a successor) ↩ ↩2

  9. KSHB 41 Kansas City, “Port KC pushes forward $480M mixed-use development at 800 Grand in downtown Kansas City, Missouri” (up to $480 million in taxable revenue bonds; developer 800 Grand KCMO LLC; 25-story residential tower; 167-room UMusic-branded hotel in the Scarritt Building; 319 residential units; 28,000 square feet of ground-level retail; 1,400-seat music venue; Scarritt renovation hoped to begin in 2026; two phases over about five years; 1907 building listed on the National Register in 1971) ↩ ↩2

  10. “Historic Scarritt Apartment Renovation Plan Advances,” Flatland (Kansas City PBS) ($47.5 million plan; 126 apartments — 51 studios, 42 one-bedrooms, 33 two-bedrooms, with quoted rents; 25,600 square feet of ground-floor retail including a planned grocery; $12.5 million in state and federal historic tax credits; 25-year abatement; prior vacancy, break-ins and metal theft in the unheated buildings) ↩ ↩2

  11. Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, “Scarritt Building & Arcade, Ninth Street & Grand Avenue, & 819 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Jackson County, MO,” HABS MO-263 — photograph captions include “Root and Siemens, Architect, 1906. Terra cotta details.” Direct automated fetch of loc.gov returned HTTP 403; the URL resolves in a browser and the caption text was surfaced through search indexing. ↩

See also

Categories
  • Concept
  • Building
  • Commercial
  • Downtown Kc

On the record — ks.city/wiki/buildings/scarritt-building-and-arcade · last revised 2026-08-13