Kc skyscraper drought about to max depression era droughttt.

[KCPowercat]

The market report I'm looking at doesn't show that much office construction anywhere. 30k in eastern Jack and 250k in South Joco...that it.

[GRID]

Oh come on. You are just being argumentative. You know as well as I do that there have been millions of sq ft of office space built in metro KC (outside the urban core) in the past ten years and in that same time period, very little has been added downtown. Downtown probably has had a net loss. I don't think that needs to be proven.

And there are some major new suburban office projects coming to OP like Gallerie, Brookridge, Bluehawk etc and Lenexa is building up out west. Not to mention Cerner's campus and Lee's Summit is probably going to be building some projects soon too and I"m sure KCK will continue to use STAR bonds to build up office space way out west. All while Downtown KC barely even has any proposals outside the existing ones that have been on the drawing boards for 20 plus years.

Why not be just a little pissed that by far and large, KC's business community continues to ignore downtown?

I'm just being realistic.

[KC_JAYHAWK]

Where would everyone park if they built more office downtown? &

[KCPowercat]

Oh come on. You are just being argumentative. You know as well as I do that there have been millions of sq ft of office space built in metro KC (outside the urban core) in the past ten years and in that same time period, very little has been added downtown. Downtown probably has had a net loss. I don't think that needs to be proven.

And there are some major new suburban office projects coming to OP like Gallerie, Brookridge, Bluehawk etc and Lenexa is building up out west. Not to mention Cerner's campus and Lee's Summit is probably going to be building some projects soon too and I"m sure KCK will continue to use STAR bonds to build up office space way out west. All while Downtown KC barely even has any proposals outside the existing ones that have been on the drawing boards for 20 plus years.

Why not be just a little pissed that by far and large, KC's business community continues to ignore downtown?

I'm just being realistic.

Huh? I was just responding to your comment "when you see so many new office buildings going up in metro KC outside of downtown"

I thought you were meaning right now, not in the past...of course I know there has been a lot of past building in the burbs...the comment sounded like the present tense.

What good does getting pissed do? Better efforts is finding out why and what can be done to bring them in? Obviously it's not just incentives.

[KC_JAYHAWK]

How is St. Louis getting a 10-12 story office building as part of Ballpark Village when the AT&T tower is basically empty? Copaken needs to shit or get out of the development business. Doesn't help that the Kemper family does nothing for downtown either except hold onto empty parking lots.

[KCPowercat]

How is St. Louis getting a 10-12 story office building as part of Ballpark Village when the AT&T tower is basically empty? Copaken needs to shit or get out of the development business. Doesn't help that the Kemper family does nothing for downtown either except hold onto empty parking lots.

Kemper's are land banking Kauffman 2.0....that's my only semi-educated theory.

[Riverite]

Kauffman 2.0 what would that be?

[KCPowercat]

Kauffman stadium MLB stadium.

[missingkc]

Given the turn this thread has taken, this article fits. It's a comparison of the economies of the 100 largest U.S. cities. And it has maps.

According to this, some of KC's neighbors aren't doing as well as I thought: Minneapolis, Omaha, OKC.

Make sure to download and take a look at the dashboards.

http://brook.gs/2EWTJ4G

[Highlander]

Given the turn this thread has taken, this article fits. It's a comparison of the economies of the 100 largest U.S. cities. And it has maps.

According to this, some of KC's neighbors aren't doing as well as I thought: Minneapolis, Omaha, OKC.

Make sure to download and take a look at the dashboards.

http://brook.gs/2EWTJ4G

Excellent maps. So are we to include that growth in numbers is not commensurate with growth in prosperity? Although KC ranks about the same in each many cities that see great growth (e.g.) cities in the SE and particularly Florida don't see an upturn in prosperity. While bigger established cities do well in prosperity but not so much growth. KC is about the same in both although the downturn in prosperity since 2015 is a bit alarming. Why is there a downturn?

[JBmidtown]

You know Kansas City’s cultural peak was probably the 1920s-30s and I don’t think pro biz services/STEM employers had anything to do with it.

Right now the urban core is still the cultural and entertainment center of the metro. There’s still growth in that and I think that will sustain the upward trend in population.

But yeah, a major employer moving to downtown would really get it firing on all pistons. How do we entice a large corporate employer to move downtown? Would it even be possible without incentives? Maybe we can blackmail a CEO or something. We need a Pendergast and Ready-Mixed Concrete Company back in action damnit.

[normalthings]

It’s going to be hard to lure big companies when there is no avalible or soon to be available or really any substantial “in the pipeline” office space.

But it’s also hard to build any office space without companies already being interested in it.(spec is hard)

We need spec. Office Space in more mixed use projects.

[TheLastGentleman]

Maybe we can blackmail a CEO or something. We need a Pendergast and Ready-Mixed Concrete Company back in action damnit.

You know how to get things done around here!

[GRID]

It’s going to be hard to lure big companies when there is no avalible or soon to be available or really any substantial “in the pipeline” office space.

But it’s also hard to build any office space without companies already being interested in it.(spec is hard)

We need spec. Office Space in more mixed use projects.

This. But KC lacks developers that would put up urban spec space. KC has not had any such developers since the Morgan empire in the 1980's. Had it not been for them, the Commerce Tower would probably still be the largest structure in the skyline.

KC biggest companies are not interested in downtown. There will never be a 50 story Sprint or Cerner tower, so building spec and heaving some ready to move in modern office space is really the only option and KC's developers are just too conservative. Waiting for the vacancy rate to drop to 5% will take generations. It is what it is I guess.

[KC_JAYHAWK]

KCP&L wanted a new tower after the City helped fund the HnR Block tower. The City balked, so KCP&L moved into 1KCP.

[normalthings]

When is their lease up

[KC_JAYHAWK]

When is their lease up

I believe it is a 20 yr lease, so probably around 2030.

[Highlander]

What is really surprising is that the GSA shut down at the Bannister complex and subsequent move downtown did not even generate the demand for more space. If I recall properly, the workforce was pretty easily absorbed into existing space. That move along with the removal of office space for condo's has generated very little demand. There's just been too many departures - ATT, Transamerica (or whatever the insurance company was that moved to Iowa), and of course Stanley Durwood's company that moved to Leawood. Very few large private companies have moved downtown in the last 25 years.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Not sure how large you consider H&R Block but that would be the only large firm I can think of that has moved to downtown in the last 25 years. But that move was only from the fringe of the Plaza so for the city as a whole it wasn't that beneficial. Plus wasn't there plans for a second tower for the company that is on hold for now?
The Bannister complex was just about empty when its closure was announced so not that many employees were involved. Of course there was hope a few years ago of a new federal building but unless there is a new federal infrastructure program that comes into existence that hope will be long term given the current attempt to reduce federal employment.
This is probably contrarian but downtown KC's best hope is to try to latch on to a growing small or medium sized company or two or three or more and hope one or two of them continue to grow into a large company.

[brewcrew1000]

^

Again, I hope people don't think I'm being a downer. I think people in KC should be excited about all the development that's happening, but at the same time, I hope they realize that every city in the country is doing at least as much as KC is doing as far as residential, but I'm not sure there is another example of a city that has struggled as much as KC when it comes to downtown corporate investment. Maybe St Louis I guess, but then they have Clayton which has seen a lot more action than Downtown KC/Plaza.

What about San Jose, with all the Tech that has boomed in that region, San Jose should have a skyline that rivals hong kong