ECPZone.com |

Jan. 16--The Pickwick, one of downtown's largest chunks of historic real estate needing revival, will become a 289-unit, upscale apartment complex if an Overland Park developer is successful.

Tom Smith of Gold Crown Properties has a contract to buy the former Pickwick Hotel, the key to redeveloping the nearly 80-year-old complex, and also is negotiating to purchase the office tower, garage and former bus terminal that make up the remainder of the huge property that fronts McGee Street between Ninth and 10th streets.

"Our plan is to acquire both pieces and rehab the upper floors into apartments and the lower floor for commercial use," Smith said. "We're working on a game plan to do that in an extremely difficult, almost impossible, credit market."

The art deco property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would make it eligible for state and federal historic tax credits. Smith said he would likely seek a property tax abatement from the city to make his more than $30 million redevelopment plan financially viable.

The Pickwick complex was built in 1930 and was described at the time as one of the largest developments downtown. It included a bus terminal -- considered then the nation's largest -- served by several bus lines, with one operated by the Pickwick company. The company opened similar hotel and bus terminal complexes in other major American cities.