Housing solutions provider SAVE Inc. has officially opened Silverleaf, its new location on 31st Street. The entirely handicapped-accessible space will be used primarily for SAVE’s tenant-based rental assistance staff, but it also houses a board room that can be used as a conference center, as well as workshop space for clients to pursue topics such as finance, housekeeping, diet/nutrition and résumé-building.
The mostly brick building with a wood veneer front sits just one block from SAVE’s other administrative building on Harrison Street. All of the organization’s seven residential properties are located nearby. This area of Midtown sits alongside the land affected by the city’s Troost Corridor Plan, which is meant to renew the businesses, institutions and neighborhoods on and near Troost Avenue.
SAVE’s new space, celebrated at a Sept. 24 ribbon-cutting ceremony, is a welcomed expansion. Over the last year and a half, the agency’s supportive housing programs and services have grown tremendously, adding eight new staff members and five new programs and increasing the number of clients served by 58 percent.
Founded in 1986, SAVE is one of Kansas City’s long-recognized AIDS service providers. In 1989, it also began offering services to those with mental illness and substance abuse issues.
According to CEO Blaine Proctor, SAVE has owned the property at 911 E. 31st St., Kansas City, Mo., since 1999. Before that year, a dry cleaner and a bar had both operated at the address; SAVE used it mainly for storage.
When the idea for office expansion came up, the space seemed like a logical choice, as it lay in the center of the organization’s nine-building campus. A year-long capital campaign ensued, and project planners chose to name the new facility Silverleaf after the bar that once welcomed patrons at that spot.
The Silverleaf lobby features a maple tree sculpture. Its leaves bear the names of special donors to the project. Proctor said that the Hall, Kemper and Bloch family foundations were very generous to the renovation.
As SAVE Inc. moves into its 30th year of operation, Silverleaf is set to provide elbow room for staffers and clients and a handsome, productive storefront in its neighborhood. Drive by and have a look.
