After struggle, Polsinelli opens new KC headquarters

Described as having a “million-dollar view” with a “crisply modern” design, Kansas City-based Polsinelli PC this week opened its 10-story Plaza Vista headquarters. On West 48th Place near Country Club Plaza, the 235,000-square-foot office houses some 450 employees, and developer VanTrust Real Estate built an adjacent 16,600-square-foot retail complex and a 132-room, seven-story luxury hotel called Hotel Sorella. Both structures are served by a six-story, 933 space underground parking garage.

Construction took two years, but the vision goes back to 2005 as an $85 million project on the West Edge that exploded, largely from a struggling real estate market and a development firm that went bankrupt in 2009, according to the Kansas City Star.

“It’s been a long time coming but well worth the wait,” Polsinelli Chairman Russ Welsh told the Star, which calls the first attempt “one of the most costly and drawn-out real estate debacles in Kansas City history.”

Only the shell of the hotel building and a 900-car underground garage remained from the original West Edge design.

“The controversy over that initial proposal in the center of the Plaza is truly a distant memory,” Welsh added.

Polsinelli operates offices in 10 states and 17 cities, including Springfield.

Read more from the Kansas City Star.