"I hope people won't remember the giant hole that was here for about a decade," Matthew Iway, project manager at Star Development, told KSHB 41 in August. Iway was in high school when the building at the northeast corner of Kansas and Water streets collapsed in May 2016. Now his company is managing the $7.5 million project going up in its place.
This holiday season is the first time in ten years that the corner is an active work site and not an empty lot. Look at who opened, expanded or came back to the Square in 2026, and most of them made the decision with that corner in mind. A second construction project on the City Hall side of downtown has cut into the parking holiday shoppers depend on. Both projects shape what a Saturday on the Square looks like between Small Business Saturday on November 28 and the Hometown Holidays market on December 5.
What's going into "the pit"
People nearby have called the vacant corner "the pit," KMBC reported. The project replacing it, Water Street Lofts, took two years and a series of split votes to win approval in the historic district, and two neighboring buildings were demolished along the way.
The plans call for about 24,000 square feet across two stories, with ground-floor retail and nine lofts above. Star Development also plans a restaurant patio on the corner itself. No tenants have been named yet.
The schedule has already slipped once. Iway told KSHB that preserving the area's historic character was part of why the project missed an earlier March deadline, and that crews have been reusing existing underground infrastructure where they can. "It's been 10 years since this has last been touched, and before then, about 100 years since anything has been built in here," he said. In August, crews were still working on underground utilities, and the developers expected foundation work to start in late September or early October. Completion is targeted for the end of August 2027.
That puts this holiday season in the early, structural phase of the build, with the finished storefronts still most of a year away.
The businesses that didn't wait for the ribbon cutting
The clearest sign that the corner matters is what neighboring owners did before anything is finished.
The Copper Canary, 1 E. Kansas St. Owner Cari Brogden told KSHB that she was expanding the gift shop to add a coffee shop, and that the development factored into that decision. "We knew of the housing development and the mixed-use project that's coming. We thought we would go ahead and take that leap of faith, and we are actually expanding," she said. The shop's website now says "now serving coffee" and describes its coffee bar. Brogden's bet comes down to people living on the Square. "Having more people who actually live here on the square, more businesses that can actually move in, this will just continue to bring more people," she told KSHB. Nine lofts is not many households, but every one of them will be a short walk from her counter.
Nickel & Suede, 19 N. Water St. This return goes back to the night the building came down. About ten years ago, the lightweight Italian leather jewelry company was working out of a basement near the Square and getting ready to expand into a building down the street. That was the building that collapsed in May 2016. In August, CEO Kilee Nickels was renovating a historic storefront at 19 N. Water, which KMBC described as a return to Liberty Square. "It feels very serendipitous," she told KMBC. "We're right in the middle of where we came from, and then there's this new growth happening on the other side of us." Check the shop's own channels for its opening date before you plan a stop around it.
So the business whose plans the collapse upended in 2016 is coming back right next to the site, and a gift shop around the corner added coffee because of the same project. Both moves were made on the expectation of new storefronts and new residents that won't arrive until 2027.
The other site, on the City Hall side
The Square's other construction project has nothing to do with the lot, but it explains why parking feels tighter this season.
After voters approved a public safety sales tax, the city began building a new police headquarters next to City Hall. KSHB reported in March that the project removed 50 parking spaces and that Missouri Street will be permanently closed south of Kansas Street. The city estimated about 18 months of construction, and the City of Liberty puts completion in summer 2027. Both downtown projects are scheduled to finish in 2027, so this is the one holiday season when both are under construction.
The timing hit one of the Square's newest restaurants hardest. Alyssa Yuhouse and her parents opened The Comfort Kitchen in January 2026. KSHB talked with her about seven weeks later, as construction got underway. "Any obstacle could potentially be a pretty big setback for us," she said. Historic Downtown Liberty Inc. describes the lunch spot's from-scratch menu as changing every week, with dishes like meatball subs and chicken and dumplings, plus build-your-own sandwiches and catering. For anyone ordering a holiday office lunch, the catering side is worth knowing about.
Public Works Director Sherri McIntyre was direct about it when she spoke with KSHB: "There will be parking challenges for the area because we're already short on parking in many cases here." She said the city has plans for a parking garage downtown. That garage is still a future project and won't help this year.
Parking for the holiday Saturdays
For the holiday market, Historic Downtown Liberty Inc. points visitors to two public lots off the Square, one at Kansas and Gallatin streets and one at Kansas and Missouri streets, and notes that handicapped parking around the Square is limited. The Kansas and Missouri lot is the one the police project affects. City records from February said construction would take about half of it. The plan the City Council approved in December 2025 keeps 88 regular stalls and four ADA stalls in the affected parking area.
Here is how that works out on a busy Saturday:
- Short stops: Two-hour spaces ring the Square and line the side streets, per HDLI's parking page.
- Longer visits: HDLI directs anyone staying longer to the public lots off the Square. The city's construction records cover the Kansas and Missouri lot, not Kansas and Gallatin.
- City Hall errands: The city's notice sends City Hall visitors to the Kansas Street entrance, and the utility-payment drop box has moved to the northeast corner of Kansas and Missouri.
Erin Erdman, farmers market manager with Historic Downtown Liberty, told KSHB in March that construction would be confusing at first, and that visitors might end up "stumbling across a business that you didn't know existed on our side streets down here." Parking a block or two out puts you on those side streets.
The holiday calendar, in order
Historic Downtown Liberty Inc. has three dates on the calendar over eight days:
- Small Business Saturday, Saturday, Nov. 28. All day across Historic Downtown Liberty. HDLI's event listing gives its office at 11 N. Gallatin St. as the address.
- Girls Night Out, Holiday Edition, Thursday, Dec. 3, 4 to 8 p.m. An evening shopping event downtown, also listed at 11 N. Gallatin St.
- Pop-Up Holiday Farmers' Market, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2 to 5 p.m. Presented by Liberty Hospital on the Square at 1 Courthouse Square, and held during the City of Liberty's Hometown Holidays celebration. Vendor spots are fully booked. Leashed dogs are welcome downtown and in some shops, so check each shop's policy at the door. Part of the market page still reads "Saturday, December 6," which matches last year's calendar. December 5 is the Saturday in 2026, but confirm with HDLI before you go.
All three dates fall while both construction projects are underway. If you're coming from elsewhere in the Northland, our Clay County community page covers the towns around Liberty, and our look at downtown Excelsior Springs' weekend hours covers another Clay County square with its own schedule.
By the 2027 holidays, if both schedules hold, the corner at Kansas and Water should have ground-floor retail, nine lofts and a restaurant patio, and the parking taken by the police headquarters is supposed to come back.
Water Street Lofts is the biggest change to Liberty Square in a decade. If you own on or near the Square and want to know where your property stands while Water Street Lofts goes up, Gateway Real Estate & Auction can walk you through it. Get Your Instant Home Valuation to start.
