KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Fire Department officials on Wednesday said they still don't know what caused a fire Saturday at a vacant shopping center at 103rd Street and Wornall Road, which once housed the former Coach’s Bar and Grill.
Floodwaters in the summer of 2017 forced out all the businesses in the shopping center. Since then, many of them have relocated.
The following year, the city purchased the 3.25 acres of land for flood control.
At the time, the city decided it would be more cost effective to spend about $2 million to buy out the empty buildings, rather than modify the nearby creek.
"When water cannot soak into the ground, then you have a situation where if it runs off of this surface, then it will go into another area," said Diana Johnson, a project manager with the Kansas City, Missouri Water Department.
The department now plans to demolish all of the buildings to make way for what will be essentially a giant lawn.
"What the green space will do…rainwater will fall and it will soak into the ground, and you won't have the issue of that type of flooding that's happened here before," Johnson said.
The demolition is expected to happen in the next three to six months.
According to a spokeswoman for KC Water, the agency also has turned these properties into green spaces to help with flooding:
- 9028 Eastern Ave.
- 9030 Eastern Ave.
- 9039 Old Santa Fe Road
- 4049 E. 70th Terrace
- 6956 N. Liberty St.
- 6950 N. Liberty St.
- 6960 N. Liberty St.
These locations are waiting to be demolished for green spaces:
- 10208 Washington St.
- 10212 Washington St.
- 400-600 W. 103rd St.
