KCRag Forum

Anything in the report about Johnson County that needs to be reported.

The developers of a proposed 13-story apartment building, at the triangle site of Roanoke, Madison and 47th Street, is asking for two additional stories.

Plan calls for apartment tower near the Country Club Plaza to get taller

Developer Kenneth Block’s company returned Tuesday to Kansas City’s City Plan Commission, seeking approval to add two more floors to a previously approved 13-story apartment tower at 47th Street and Madison Avenue.

Commissioners said yes to a taller, 15-story tower that would provide 288 residential units instead of the 245 approved five months ago. The amended development plan goes to the City Council for final approval.

The original project “didn’t work financially,” said Aaron Mesmer, a Block representative. “The costs were in excess of $300,000 a unit.”

Mesmer said it would be impossible to charge high enough rental rates to get an adequate return on investment unless two floors were added.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 75374.html

FangKC wrote:The developers of a proposed 13-story apartment building, at the triangle site of Roanoke, Madison and 47th Street, is asking for two additional stories.

Plan calls for apartment tower near the Country Club Plaza to get taller

Developer Kenneth Block’s company returned Tuesday to Kansas City’s City Plan Commission, seeking approval to add two more floors to a previously approved 13-story apartment tower at 47th Street and Madison Avenue.

Commissioners said yes to a taller, 15-story tower that would provide 288 residential units instead of the 245 approved five months ago. The amended development plan goes to the City Council for final approval.

The original project “didn’t work financially,” said Aaron Mesmer, a Block representative. “The costs were in excess of $300,000 a unit.”

Mesmer said it would be impossible to charge high enough rental rates to get an adequate return on investment unless two floors were added.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 75374.html

This received council approval last week

Restoration Emporium is opening a location in the old Restoration Hardware spot.

Ha! Is that a Bread & Butter concept?

I think that's Restoration Emperial.

the american apparel has closed, as have most (if not all) of their stores.

Rye is opening a location on the plaza (other location is in Leawood. they also own Bluestem). I believe it is going in where MS Grill used to be?

Very good "get" for the plaza. New owners don't suck?

Yeah there was a blurb about that a while back but I haven't seen any action in the old MS Grill spot. And if it's true that a West Bottoms antique store is moving to old Restoration Hardware spot, an indication new Plaza owners are going after local.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 57954.html

Great, another suburban chain restaurant moving to the Plaza - and it is named after grass?! The Plaza is official dead! There is literally no difference between the Plaza and an I-70 truck stop in central Missouri. Next announcement: Walnut Bowl super store to take over the Apple Store space.

Sarcasm noted but their first restaurant was Bluestem still open off Westport, also the name of a prairie grass. It is odd that they are using the same concept. It's not hard to change concept and in fact most chefs get bored with a place after a few years and change names or branch new locations with new ideas. Might be the banker or investor insisting on same concept if successful.

99.999% of restaurants are in no way unique. They're all rehashes of something else. Worry more about if they cook food to a consistent quality level, keeping their recipes fresh, and less on the name, concept, chain vs not, etc.

if someone is bored it means they're either not challenged or easily distracted. Neither is a good sign for the business.

McDonalds is absolutely brilliant at what it does, managing to make menus that are "peasant food" affordable and consistent across all their entire chain, meets the taste needs of the whole country but be unique to their brand and still be open 60 years later. You can't be easily bored and be that successful.

Chefs tend to be artists that like to experiment with different ideas, not interested in mass production of same thing over many years. My guess is Colby could only get investors if doing something that works. I wonder if he'll even manage it. Not blaming him if 'cashing out' as some might view it, he deserves whatever success he gets.

But also odd that if Plaza owner wants to attract JoCo, why put in same restaurant concept they have out there when opportunity to have a chef-driven place with new unique concept.

i dont think Rye on the plaza is an effort to entice JoCo residents to go to the Plaza. (1) JoCo presence on the plaza is already quite strong and probably isn't hurt or helped by Rye. (2) the plaza is a super-regional destination so it's probably more about attracting or keeping the MO/KS/IA/NE/AR/OK/TX/MN type travelers interested - not to mention probably a non-trivial number of urbanite food enthusiasts on the MO side of the metro who may not be prone to going to the leawood location of Rye, or at least not as often as they might with a plaza location.

as far as "why Rye and not a new concept, isn't this sort of boring for Colby?" - only he and Megan can answer that, but I for one think that Rye on the plaza makes a lot of sense. To me, Rye seems to nicely straddle the "foodie" and "normal people" worlds - a place that food tourists can love as well as take their non-foodie parents or guests because the flavors are familiar. also, to speculate about whether the Garrelts would or should be "bored" at not launching a new concept, it seems clear to me that the concept of Rye comes from a very deep, heartfelt place for them, as carrying the torch for "midwestern" cuisine. the concept seems so personal that i doubt it's boring to them - rather it's another platform to evangelize their "native" cuisine, which may be sufficiently stimulating than generating a new concept from whole cloth.

and, yeah, Rye is proven and appeals to a broad demo - seems natural for the Plaza.

^Good points. Would be interesting to hear if it's what Colby/Megan wanted or if what investor(s) wanted. They could be an exception but it's pretty common for James Beard caliber chefs to branch into different places/concepts every several years, not open up same concepts (unless maybe if has their name on it).

Probably a smart move to copy an existing concept if you're going to expand as fast as they are. I have to give some praise to them for coming back to Midtown and taking a chance on the new Plaza, especially since I/we gave Colby such grief for opening the first Rye where he did.

Of course, I've seen a lot of restaurants run to the burbs, have huge success and then die out quickly (Blanc Burger comes to mind). Perhaps, the first location is starting to lose some customers and the 2nd Rye is really a relocation.

Also interesting that the Joe's people are partnering in the new Rye. They don't partner with any other restaurants?

Rye seems to be a very good addition to the Plaza. A culinary step in the right direction. First local concept since Gramm and Dunn?

longviewmo wrote:Also interesting that the Joe's people are partnering in the new Rye. They don't partner with any other restaurants?

They are also partners in the original Rye.

i dont think Rye on the plaza is an effort to entice JoCo residents to go to the Plaza. (1) JoCo presence on the plaza is already quite strong and probably isn't hurt or helped by Rye. (2) the plaza is a super-regional destination so it's probably more about attracting or keeping the MO/KS/IA/NE/AR/OK/TX/MN type travelers interested - not to mention probably a non-trivial number of urbanite food enthusiasts on the MO side of the metro who may not be prone to going to the leawood location of Rye, or at least not as often as they might with a plaza location.

as far as "why Rye and not a new concept, isn't this sort of boring for Colby?" - only he and Megan can answer that, but I for one think that Rye on the plaza makes a lot of sense. To me, Rye seems to nicely straddle the "foodie" and "normal people" worlds - a place that food tourists can love as well as take their non-foodie parents or guests because the flavors are familiar. also, to speculate about whether the Garrelts would or should be "bored" at not launching a new concept, it seems clear to me that the concept of Rye comes from a very deep, heartfelt place for them, as carrying the torch for "midwestern" cuisine. the concept seems so personal that i doubt it's boring to them - rather it's another platform to evangelize their "native" cuisine, which may be sufficiently stimulating than generating a new concept from whole cloth.

and, yeah, Rye is proven and appeals to a broad demo - seems natural for the Plaza.

Great post, agreed entirely.

I think Rye is an excellent "get" for the plaza, and as noted represents a local business that is selling regional culture/cuisine. Very cool. That location has been a little difficult, hoping Rye will increase foot traffic/activity on the eastern edge of Plaza.

And I still wish PF Changs would open the rooftop up again like in the Fountain Cafe days! Awesome patio being wasted right now.