When Loews Corp. set the opening date for the 800-room Loews Kansas City Convention Center Hotel, the company already had started lining up conventions to use its facilities as well as guests for events at the connected Kansas City Convention Center.
The hotel's Managing Director Brian Johnson told the Kansas City Business Journal in a Feb. 26 interview that there would not only be a ribbon cutting on April 2 but also about 450 guests arriving that day. That's because the hotel's business model depends on attracting large conventions to the Kansas City area.
As of now, it's not clear if the New York-based company's plan has changed as Kansas City has enforced stricter limits on gatherings in light of growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
A state of emergency declaration initially issued Thursday by Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas now limits any event with 10 or more people, closed bars and restaurants, and effectively stopped any larger business or personal events.
The coronavirus restrictions have hit Kansas City's restaurants, retail and tourism sectors hardest so far. One of the most high-profile and earliest closings was the men's and women's Big 12 basketball tournaments, which were scheduled to take place in Downtown and bring hundreds of tourists to hotels, bars and restaurants.
Representatives for Loews did not respond to requests for comments and would not say whether it still planned to open its doors on April 2, the day Lucas' state of emergency declaration is set to expire.
The mayor's office told the Business Journal on Tuesday that it will re-evaluate whether to extend the order past the original 21 days as the city approaches the end of the initial order, but it is too soon to predict if it will need to be extended.
The final parts of the Loews Kansas City Hotel are being finished in anticipation of the hotel's April 2 opening.
The $367 million project is located at the southeast intersection of Truman Road and Wyandotte Street, adjacent to the Kansas City Convention Center. It includes two restaurants, an indoor lap pool, a spa and 60,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
In February, the hotel held hiring events to fill the roughly 350 positions at the property, it's unclear what will happen to those workers now should the hotel not open on time.
| Rank | Prior Rank | Project name / Prior rank (*unranked previously) |
|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | KCI Terminal Project |
2 | 4 | Children's Mercy Research Tower |
2 | 2 | Garmin Expansion |