Pendergast and Pabst Buildings

Crossroads Hotel

The Crossroads Hotel adapted two vacant, historic commercial buildings in the heart of Kansas City’s art district to create a boutique hotel showcasing the buildings’ industrial character. Both buildings are in the Crossroads Historic Freight District National Register historic district and had been vacant since the 1990s.

Completed in 1911, the Pendergast Building and the Pabst Building immediately to the south both served warehouse and distribution functions for the Pabst Brewery. Local lore speculates that Pendergast continued distributing liquor throughout Prohibition under the guise of the rubber supply company that occupied the building in the 1920s. After 1950 both buildings had varied occupants including a furniture store, a junk dealer, a hardware wholesaler, and a school supply company until they were vacated in the 1990s.

Combining the two historically-associated buildings to create a single hotel required two separate historic tax credit applications and creative solutions for the industrial spaces. The completed hotel with restaurant and bar housed in historic buildings is a welcome and compatible addition to the historic district.