Institutional / Public Spaces

A Kansas City tradition since 1899, the American Royal is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to be the nation's leader for food and agriculture education, events, and engagement. The American

Royal provides opportunities for nearly half a million youth and adults from around the world to engage in high-quality events and experiences, including nationally competitive livestock shows, the world's largest barbecue competition, regional and national equine shows, youth

and professional rodeos, and elementary and secondary education outreach. Support from partners, members, and volunteers help the American Royal achieve its vision of a world where food and agriculture are

celebrated, and all generations are committed to its future.

In 2026, the American Royal will be relocating to its new campus, which is currently under construction in Kansas City, Kansas. Lacy & Company serves as the American Royal's Owner's Representative for the construction project and is also assisting with the AR's procurement of

Furniture Fixtures & Equipment.

Based on our success in assisting the Library with renovations to its Bluford Branch, the Kansas City Public Library once again chose Lacy & Company to serve as its Owner's Representative for the Northeast Branch  renovation.

Located in the historic Northeast neighborhood, this project involves complete gutting of the existing library down to the structure, with all new interiors built to meet modern library standards. The building is also being expanded to serve the growing need for conference room / community room program space. All new furniture, shelving, and technology will be installed as a part of the project.

The Northeast Branch includes program space for  children, teens, adults, conference / community rooms, post office services, printing / copying, and the RISE program (Refugee and Immigrant Services &  Empowerment).

The Kansas City Zoo's elephant exhibit was originally constructed in 1994. Although it was a primary attraction at the zoo, over the years, the exhibit has become overgrown and hard to navigate for visitors.  The seven African Elephants on exhibit rarely utilized the water feature due to its steepness. In order to improve viewing areas, create full handicapped accessibility, and enhance the elephants' habitat, the zoo undertook a full renovation of this exhibit in 2019. Lacy & Company was honored to be selected as the Owner's Representative for this project, having assisted with other zoo projects in the past. 

The elephant exhibit features a new restroom building, two new tram stops, several new shade structures /  viewing areas, and a state of the art pool with a waterfall for the elephants to enjoy. A food cart and shaded  dining area is included within the main viewing area.  The exhibit contains African themed building design and rockwork, and is the start of the visitor's transition into the Africa area of the zoo.

Lacy & Company was engaged by the zoo to oversee improvements to several exhibits / buildings at the zoo.  The new Tropics Event Pavilion is a catering facility with restrooms adjacent to the semi-permanent event tent at the zoo, and serves as the main facility for outdoor events. The new themed camel feeding deck was added to the exhisting camel exhibit, allowing visitors to feed the camels through didgeridoo shaped tunnels. Also in the Australia zone of the zoo, a new building was  constructed for the Tree Kangaroo exhibit with outdoor and indoor climate controlled climbing areas.  

Along with these public improvements, Lacy & Company assisted in managing the structural underpinning and other improvements to two back of house support  buildings serving cheetahs, baboons, warthogs, and African dogs.

Originally built in 1988, this Library Branch is named in honor of Lucile H. Bluford, the publisher and editor of the Kansas City Call. With Lacy & Company's assistance as the Library's Owner's Representative, the building received a complete interior overhaul, with up to date technology, display space, and dedicated spaces for teens, children, adults, community meetings.

In 2006 the Kansas City Public Library began developing plans to construct an auditorium and public meeting facility on the lower level of its Plaza Branch. Lacy_ & Company was asked to provide Owner's Representative services during the construction phase which was completed in April 2008.  

The conference center is known as the Truman Forum at the Kansas City Public Library due to its close ties with the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in  Independence. This 12,000 square foot facility has several public meeting rooms, an auditorium that seats 250 and capacity up to 450 with additional moveable seating.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Campus  Enhancement Project began in 1999 with an RFQ / RFP process to identify and retain a Program Manager. Lacy & Company was selected from among four national and local companies submitting proposals.  

The program included these major scopes of work: 

Expansion

• 165,000 square foot Bloch Building 450 car underground parking garage

• Reflecting pool

• New central mechanical plant

Renovations

• New security command center

• Building envelope improvements

• New sculpture hall

• Kirkwood Hall renovation

• Ford Learning Center

The Bloch Building was notable for its unique design and construction. The most challenging was the channel glass exterior skin system suspended from a cantilevered truss and roof system of each lens structure. It was completed and opened to the public in June 2007, eight years after planning began.

Linda Hall Library, located in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, is the largest privately funded library of science, engineering and technology in the world open to the public. In 2005 the Trustees retained Lacy & Company to manage its renovation and expansion which included the following improvements:  

• 30,000 sq. ft. expansion to house library stacks with over 16 miles of compact shelving capacity 

• Lighting and remodeling renovations to the existing 190,000 sq. ft. library 

• Cosmology multi-media display with on-line real time connection to the Hubble telescope

• Mechanical plant renovations to upgrade existing capacity tied to a new geothermal water to water ground source heat pump system

• Additional parking and circulation improvements

• Enlarged exhibition space on main floor for special collections and glassed-in rare book room