Discuss items in the urban core outside of Downtown as described above. Everything in the core including the east side (18th & Vine area), Northeast, Plaza, Westport, Brookside, Valentine, Waldo, 39th street, & the entire midtown area.
aknowledgeableperson wrote:Wolferman's was getting out of the retail grocery store business to concentrate on the bakery items I believe in the early 70's. It is very likely Meiners moved into that spot for some time but I don't think the time spent there was very long.
Highwoods wasn't interested in neighborhood amenities and filled Meiner's space with a restaurant. They simply wouldn't acknowledge that a neighborhood existed around it.
OK. Did Meiner's go in where the Muehlbach West spot or the Wolferman's spot? The newspaper article said something about there use to be two grocery stores on The Plaza so I guess it was Muehlbach West and Wolferman's for many years.
I guess when we pull up threads from 2003, KCRAG is becoming a historical archive on it's own. Great to have all this personal perspective from 15 years ago.
You know as we transition the Plaza from Kansas City's premier retail destination into something more akin to Metcalf South/Waldo, a couple things we should really keep in mind. The boarded up old Halls building could be a really great temporary storage facility, but we also shouldn't "close the doors" on a haunted house or drone racing circuit either. Sure, that might ruffle a few feathers from our friends in the West Bottoms, but I wouldn't mind seeing another Edge of Hell type of establishment make its way to the Plaza. Obviously we need a sweet drugstore, but there's a lot to dream about now that half of the tenant space is boarded up and vacant. Pretty exciting times.
I couldn't find vacancy stats for Plaza. Doesn't seem particularly high/bad to me, will take a closer look next time I peruse every street. Turnover is natural and when exchanging hands between owners, any deal in progress tends to be put on hold or not pursued until new owner assesses and develops a strategy, which takes time. The Halls conversion was on hold during Plaza sale to new owner, not surprising it will take longer to fill it. By summer if the new owner isn't making deals then there might be issues.
But overall, the Plaza has become just a typical mall for years. I'm not optimistic the new owner can raise the bar and score unique retail to metro but would hope they at least recognize there is a neighborhood surrounding it. If rents go down, the sliver lining is that local biz may be able to afford to locate on Plaza, especially unique/foodie restaurants instead of homogenized chains serving basically pre-packaged meals with flavor crystals (Changs, Cheesecake Factory, etc). There's a hint of that happening with Rye opening next to Changs, owned by James Beard Chef of Bluestem.
Found Plaza vacancy for end of 2016. CBRE claims it was only 0.9%, which is extremely low/good. Is higher now with recent closings (most not Plaza's fault) but hardly a concern. Also good to see downtown retail vacancy is low, second best in metro behind Plaza.
Limited is shutting down as a company and telsa got mushed by the state of Missouri....I'm all for calling out the plaza when they lose something good but damn dude.....
beautyfromashes wrote:I think the Plaza will start to get better by subtraction. When the national chains start to whither and die, locals will fill the vacuum.
many local stores may not be able to afford the rent? national chains outnumber local stores at most malls, and it's not a good time to be a mall retailer, many malls are finding non-retailers to fill their spaces, and the plaza is basically mananaged like a mall now
beautyfromashes wrote:I think the Plaza will start to get better by subtraction. When the national chains start to whither and die, locals will fill the vacuum.
many local stores may not be able to afford the rent? national chains outnumber local stores at most malls, and it's not a good time to be a mall retailer, many malls are finding non-retailers to fill their spaces, and the plaza is basically mananaged like a mall now
The Plaza has basically devolved into a poor man's version of Town Center at 119th and Nall with some nice Christmas lights. It's essentially the only difference at this stage.
MidtownCat wrote:
The Plaza has basically devolved into a poor man's version of Town Center at 119th and Nall with some nice Christmas lights. It's essentially the only difference at this stage.
This is just wrong, Town Center does not have tennis courts or a run off creek.
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