By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
June 17, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — If you’ve driven along Lexington Avenue recently, you might have noticed more construction than in previous months.

That’s because work on the Chua Quan Am Buddhist Temple at Lexington and Park Avenues is back on track after years of being dormant. After the first phase of construction was completed back in 2011 — a home that will connect to the temple for the Buddhist monks to stay in — the open pit next to the house remained unfilled until just recently.

Adam Jones, project manager for the construction, said the delay was caused because Kansas City’s Historic Preservation Commission pulled their Landmarks permits in 2013. This past February, the commission renewed the project permits, which has allowed Jones and the church to begin work on the temple.

“We got into a rough spot with the Landmarks commission,” Jones said. “Then the neighbors became upset because they [the church] started work but were stopped and left this hole in their neighborhood. This is a rebuilding process for them, not just construction wise for relationship wise, as well, to show the neighbors they’re good folks.”

Jones said he started working with the commission last July to get everything corrected to continue construction. Now, with everything back on track, they’ve been able to focus on the temple.

“We just finished the foundation,” Jones said. “We poured 148 yards of concrete. This is a substantial temple that’s being built.”

Next, he said they’ll finish concrete work and hope to have the temple closed in to begin work on the inside by winter. Before then, Jones and members of the church plan to visit Vietnam to purchase original Vietnamese artifacts for the temple. The goal is to make the temple as authentic as possible. If everything goes according to plan, Jones said the church hopes to have full use of the temple by early 2016.

“There was heat at first but people have calmed down and have moved forward with us,” Jones said. “There are good neighbors in Pendleton Heights. It’s a very cool area and we’re lucky to be in the Northeast where there’s a lot of cultural diversity in the area.”