A Family Office Converts a 1919 Landmark
The Meiners family bought the Mutual Building at 405 E. 13th Street in April 2024, when the building ran as offices beside the courthouse. Startland News reported that tenants filled about a quarter of the space, that a series of coworking operators had come and gone, and that deferred maintenance had accumulated on the electrical, plumbing and elevator systems.
The family already owned a Best Western Plus Hotel & Suites in Lee's Summit, Missouri. The conversion opened as Aiden Kansas City Downtown with 84 rooms across six floors.
The Asset and a Century of Names
Clio lists the building at 1301 Oak Street, the same 13th-and-Oak corner as 405 E. 13th Street, as a seven-storey Sullivanesque structure completed in 1919. Clio records that Charles L. Merry of the Merry Optical Company built it, that J. C. Sunderland designed it, and that the interior was first remodelled in 1938. Startland News records three names for the address: the Mutual Building, the Griffith Building and the Kessler Building.
Startland News reports the restoration as a nominee for Historic Kansas City's 2025-2026 Historic Preservation Awards in the Best Adaptive Reuse category, with a ceremony scheduled for 12 November at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
The Team and the Capital Stack
Exact Architects handled the redevelopment. "That's what we do, historic conversions," said Bob Mayer, senior partner at Exact. "We provided the predevelopment work, the historic overview, financial and economic incentives, the interior design." Level Builders in Parkville, Missouri, was the contractor. The group took a loan from Country Club Bank, now FNBO, First National Bank of Omaha. Exact also sought PACE funding, which lets a private owner borrow the full upfront cost of energy efficiency, renewable energy and other upgrades.
The hotel qualified for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority's START programme, short for Sustaining Transportation And Reinvesting Together. The programme asks a redevelopment to offer access in housing, education, jobs and healthcare. Aiden provided more than 80 new jobs in the downtown transportation corridor at annual salaries of USD 55,000 or more. Michael Riley, who runs economic development for KCATA, described the guest side: "They have the opportunity to navigate with buses, the streetcar, bikes."
How the Rooms Are Sold
BWH Hotels sells the property through bestwestern.com on property code 26200. The release states approximately 70 million members across the group's loyalty network. BWH's own Australian site describes "a network of 70 million members to its loyalty programs: Best Western Rewards and WorldHotels Rewards", so the figure is a rounded network total, and the release does not split it by programme.
Startland News reported quoted rates from USD 119 to USD 600. The room mix runs to king and two-queen configurations with windows on the downtown skyline.
Two Dated Windows for a Booking
BWH's release of 20 August 2026 listed Aiden by Best Western Kansas City Downtown as a June 2026 opening. The announcement of the opening ran on 10 September 2026 through Hospitality Net, KCTV5 and Startland News. LODGING followed on 11 September, and Hotel Online carried the operator's release on 16 September. KCTV5 dates the grand opening to 8 September 2026, and Startland News records a soft opening in the summer of 2026 during the FIFA World Cup.
The USD 119 floor and the USD 600 top sit in one rate band on one property. The mix covers single and double occupancy in king and two-queen rooms.
The Platform and the Supply Read
Aiden is the boutique brand of BWH Hotels, the group that also runs WorldHotels, Best Western Hotels & Resorts and SureStay Hotels. A BWH release of 20 August 2026 states the Aiden portfolio reached 58 hotels worldwide with more than 20 in development, and names Velbert in Germany, Surawong Bangkok and Sacramento Downtown among the 2026 openings, with Denver and Tempe for the autumn and Pullman for summer 2027.
Nathan Hermiston, senior vice president of sales and services at Visit KC, gave the destination read to Startland News on 10 September 2026. The Central Business District "isn't necessarily yearning for additional hotel rooms", he said, and "enhancing the visitor experience throughout the market is always welcome".