On-going downtown development projects

[flyingember]

We have space for 90,000 people just in Bartle Hall and the Sprint Center. There's small event spaces across downtown, both formal and informal, that can hold 2000-3000 more people. KC Live is 3500 people and tourism is easily another 5000 people.

That's space for 100,000 people and we'll soon have 5400 hotel rooms downtown.

We haven't begun to scratch the surface on downtown hotels.

I wouldn't be surprised if downtown doesn't gain 10,000 rooms over the next decade.

[KCPowercat]

We have space for 90,000 people just in Bartle Hall and the Sprint Center. There's small event spaces across downtown, both formal and informal, that can hold 2000-3000 more people. KC Live is 3500 people and tourism is easily another 5000 people.

That's space for 100,000 people and we'll soon have 5400 hotel rooms downtown.

We haven't begun to scratch the surface on downtown hotels.

I wouldn't be surprised if downtown doesn't gain 10,000 rooms over the next decade.

No freaking way that is happening. 7-10k total rooms is a sweet spot to be for a convention center our size.

[flyingember]

No freaking way that is happening. 7-10k total rooms is a sweet spot to be for a convention center our size.

Our convention center holds 70,000 people.
What's the basis for saying 10% room coverage is proper?

[aknowledgeableperson]

I am trying to get a handle on the Convention Center having the ability of holding 70,000 people at one time. Where is the source for that?

[mean]

kcconvention.com puts the capacity of the entire main exhibition space at 28,000 (banquet) or 38,000 (theater). If you add up all the maximum capacities for every facility associated with the convention center though, it's like 153,820!

[pash]

.

[flyingember]

kcconvention.com puts the capacity of the entire main exhibition space at 28,000 (banquet) or 38,000 (theater). If you add up all the maximum capacities for every facility associated with the convention center though, it's like 153,820!

Don't add them all up. That site includes various combinations in their numbers. You have to carefully exclude most of the choices given. Also pay attention to room numbers. They make things a bit confusing.
I picked the maximum areas already added up like A,B,C,D,E and used that number, not A,B,C and D,E separately even if they added up more.

The entire city has approx 100,000 major convention capacity. All but 10-15,000 is downtown

The visit KC site gives a bunch of the other spaces. There's a lot of small spaces like I'm hotels I didn't include in my numbers since they don't have it. Like the Crown Plaza event space isn't in their list and it can hold around 200 people.
I'm not sure if the KCI convention center or OP international trade center is on it either, I didn't check again

My guess is with all the small spaces scattered across the city it's closer to 125,000 people worth of event, meeting and convention space.

[KCPowercat]

No freaking way that is happening. 7-10k total rooms is a sweet spot to be for a convention center our size.

Our convention center holds 70,000 people.
What's the basis for saying 10% room coverage is proper?

Economics of keeping hotels running 365 days a year is the basis that makes it proper.

[aknowledgeableperson]

"kcconvention.com puts the capacity of the entire main exhibition space at 28,000 (banquet) or 38,000 (theater). "

That might be the capacity but it doesn't have the tables and chairs to handle that, especially if you add the numbers for the other spaces.
Why? Because if it did have that inventory it would be gathering dust 99.9999999% of the time and have the need for additional space to store it.

[flyingember]

I would guess that they can't hit those numbers without it being an event that doesn't need a lot of table space.

The All Star Game event was 90% provided exhibits or standing space. I remember that they had an extreme lack of tables up to the point people sat on the ground to eat.
For the home show, vendors bring all of that themselves. They set up a stage and some chairs and that's about it.

The meeting center is where they probably have enough chairs on hand. The biggest banquet space say 1250 capacity. The tables look to reduce the space by almost 600 people

[aknowledgeableperson]

The convention center does have the tables and chairs to house a normal event, meaning around 20,000 or so chairs and 1,000 or so banquet tables (10/table I believe) and whatever amount that is on hand has handled all conventions and shows in the past. But a one time event with 38,000 chairs in the main hall with additional chairs needed in other places would be extremely hard to equip.
Not familiar with the All Star event but sometimes numbers are higher than expected and/or the eating area set aside was not large enough for the numbers.

[mean]

kcconvention.com puts the capacity of the entire main exhibition space at 28,000 (banquet) or 38,000 (theater). If you add up all the maximum capacities for every facility associated with the convention center though, it's like 153,820!

Don't add them all up.

I was being sarcastic.

[earthling]

Construction employment over last 10 years (for KC metro)...

Picking back up with a decent pace with all the project going on but still not quite back to 2006 peak...
http://data.bls.gov/servlet/SurveyOutpu ... ol=XGtable

[KCtoBrooklyn]

I know the data is not complete for this year, but it is interesting to see that there appears to be a small uptick at the end of this year, when the numbers plummet at that time in other years:



I would think that the biggest difference in construction employment numbers now as opposed to 2006 is due to single family home construction. While those numbers are trending upwards pretty sharply, I think they are still way below the peak years when there was too much new home construction going on. I would be curious to see the construction employment number excluding single family and wouldn't be surprised if that number meets or exceeds the peak years.

[DaveKCMO]

i would terrified of the consequences if single-family home construction rose to pre-recession levels.

[pash]

.

[DaveKCMO]

Does anybody know what's going up behind the Burns & Mac fences on the lot st the southwest corner of Tenth & Wyandotte? A new, bigger garage, I suppose?

Edit: Oh, yes, this is the new Lyric/DST garage, right?

correct. a new and bigger garage.

[KCPowercat]

Does anybody know what's going up behind the Burns & Mac fences on the lot st the southwest corner of Tenth & Wyandotte? A new, bigger garage, I suppose?

Edit: Oh, yes, this is the new Lyric/DST garage, right?

correct. a new and bigger garage.

10' of greenspace for CA!

[earthling]

KCBJ downtown housing project list..

[JBmidtown]

It seems that makes it very likely Downtown will add 10,000+ residents by 2020. If that development boom connects to the Plaza and urban core in general, how substantial would the increase be for KC? I know it's below national averages in urban core increases but it still has to have a significant impact on the local market/economy.