Updated 6:11 p.m.:
The Kansas City City Council has postponed the vote on the Power and Light building so city officials can conduct another hearing on the proposal's financial implications.
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The Kansas City City Council votes Thursday afternoon on declaring the historic Power and Light Building and several blocks surrounding it a blighted area.
The declaration follows the recommendation of the city's development authority and sets the stage for tax increment financing and other assistance to convert the iconic 87-year-old tower into an apartment building with 275 or more units.
“The economic life of the building as an office building is probably over," says Downtown Council Vice President Sean O'Byrne. "The next best thing that that building could be is residential, and that will put it back on the tax rolls for an economic life for the next hundred years."
North Point Development says if all goes well, the Power and Light Building could be reborn with about 400 residents by 2017.