Schedule a hard hat tour now

Date: January 25, 2008

Author: Kauffman Center

Update August 2009:  Public Hard Hat Tours are no longer being offered due to site restrictions.  If you are interested in a donor Hard Hat Tour, please contact Marianne Mantel at (816) 994-7215.

After a year of steady construction, the Kauffman Center site is ready to receive visitors.  You won’t be taking a seat for a performance quite yet, but you can peek into the proscenium theater’s orchestra pit.   Witness our progress first-hand and get a close-up look at this immense new facility. 

Here’s how you can get in on the ground floor—literally—of one of Kansas City’s largest construction projects.

Hard Hat Tours are available for groups starting in April.  Kauffman Center staff and construction team members will meet you at 16th and Broadway and provide a fascinating guided tour lasting about an hour.  The ideal group size for a Hard Hat Tour is 10-12 people and advance reservations are required. 

You’ll walk on a path approved by our safety officer and visit construction components that will soon be hidden by the building itself.  Your questions are welcomed.  Current sights include:

• The four-foot wide, 50-foot tall “anchor” wall that separates the two performance halls from the garage.  This wall has used only a portion of the 10,000 cubic yards of concrete that have been poured to date.)
• Installation for the 3,000 pound steel embeds that will anchor the cables needed to support the glass walls of the lobby. 
• The proscenium theater orchestra pit and elevated decks that will soon hold the center’s floors.
• The mechanical rooms that support operations for the entire center.

Members of your group must be comfortable standing and walking for an hour on uneven ground. They must be able to handle some construction stairs and changes in elevation.  Because any construction site can be uneven and dirty (sometimes even muddy), lace-up, flat-soled shoes are a must.  Due to restrictions in our insurance policies, children under 18 are not permitted on Hard Hat Tours.