Downtown YMCA planners look at more options, including the Lyric Theatre
Kevin Collison
Kansas City Star
May 2, 2014
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/02...t-options.html
The historic Lyric Theatre, silent since the symphony and opera left in 2011, could resound with the bounce of basketballs and other healthy racket under a plan being explored for a proposed downtown YMCA.
Supporters of the Downtown Y Community Center plan had been focused on a site at 10th Street and Grand Boulevard for the past year but are pausing now to explore two other options that would eliminate the need for an estimated $9 million, 500-space parking garage.
“We’ve been doing very well with fund raising,” said Peter DeSilva, the business executive leading the Y fundraising. “The one challenge has been raising money for a garage. There’s not a lot of philanthropists who want their name on a garage.”
DeSilva, president and chief operating officer of UMB Financial Corp., said the Y has been approached by the owner of the Lyric at 11th and Central streets on a renovation plan for that historic property.
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