Northeast News

August 19, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Independence Avenue Community Improvement District (CID) staff gathered at the site of the former Royale Inn on the morning of Friday, August 19 to salvage the rose bushes that have been a staple of the property for years.

The City of Kansas City, Missouri completed the $1.8 million purchase of the blighted property on Friday, July 29 and signed the deed for the property on Monday, August 1. The city is planning for the parcel to be a big part of the Paseo Gateway project, which proposes significant modifications to Paseo Boulevard (I-35 ramps to 9th Street) that would create a link between downtown Kansas City and the Historic Northeast.

Knowing that the property was slated for a relatively swift demolition, Independence Avenue CID and Northeast Chamber of Commerce President Bobbi Baker-Hughes stepped in and requested permission for the CID to remove the rose bushes with line the property’s eastern border along The Paseo. The city approved her plan to move the rose bushes to a couple of locations around the Northeast, in order to help beautify the area.

“We’re going to take them to a couple of different places. One of them is at Independence Avenue and Hardesty, at that Global Peace Plaza right at the corner,” said Baker-Hughes. “I’ve also asked that we put a couple of them into the Cliff Drive area. Now that it is on the National Register, it should be drawing more people to the beauty that’s been created over the past several years.”

Baker-Hughes expressed appreciation towards the city for allowing the CID to save the rose bushes at Royale Inn.

“I was concerned that when the building came tumbling down, so would these heritage roses that have been here forever,” she said. “So I contacted the city and requested that we be able to move them to another public entity. The city was open, and gave us a letter of authorization. I think they understood that we wanted to save the beauty.”