Tag: Butch Rigby

Laugh-O-Gram building near 31st and Troost early Saturday morning; Photo courtesy of Butch Rigby; CityScene KC

Driver crashes renovation progress at Walt Disney’s former KC studio; effort to save historic building draws on

By Tommy Felts / August 4, 2021

Editor’s note: The following story originally published by CityScene KC, an online news source focused on Greater Downtown Kansas City. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly CityScene KC email review. The driver of a black Dodge Charger crashed the renovation party underway at the historic Laugh-O-gram…

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Plexpod in Laugh-O-gram interior rendering, gouldevansPlexpod in Laugh-O-gram interior rendering, gouldevans

Book the office where Walt met Mickey? Plexpod helping make Disney dream a reality

By Tommy Felts / December 19, 2020

Kansas City is getting its first glimpse inside the reimagined space where Walt Disney first encountered the inspiration for Mickey Mouse. Thank You Walt Disney, Inc. — in partnership with DigiSTORY KC and Plexpod — unveiled GouldEvans-designed renderings of its 10,000-square-foot Laugh-O-gram Studios rehab project Thursday night. “We will begin working on some facade improvements hopefully…

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Walt Disney, 1922, Laugh-O-gram Studios in Kansas City

Historians, Mickey enthusiasts open the vault on plans for Walt Disney’s former KC studio

By Tommy Felts / December 4, 2020

A dream for local historians, restoration efforts at the Troost office building once occupied by Walt Disney are finally coming true, champions of the project teased Thursday. Within the walls of the formerly crumbling brick structure at 31st and Troost: neglected stories of Disney’s inspiration and impact — along with plans to reanimate the space with…

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Butch Rigby, Thank you Walt Disney

First house of mouse: Reanimating Walt Disney’s KC film studio closer to reality than ever before

By Tommy Felts / May 2, 2020

A decades-long project to honor Walt Disney and empower imaginative thinking along Kansas City’s east side could finally be on track for completion, said Butch Rigby.  “The idea for that building is the kid from over on 31st and Troost looks up and understands the Walt Disneys of the world came from that very corner,”…

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Startup stakeholders: Opportunity zones could prompt culture shift on redevelopment

By Tommy Felts / March 9, 2018

Startup community stakeholders think opportunity zones in some of Kansas City’s poorest areas could work, but only with collaboration between the government and private sector. A number of low-income communities in Kansas City are eligible for designation as opportunity zones — areas in which investors may defer paying capital gains taxes over a certain period…

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