KCRag Forum

Are people still saying the Plaza has taken a hit? I think the new buyer just needed a little time to line up their own players. New Rye restaurant, Shake Shack, Nordstroms, larger Capital Grill, new Baldwin flagship store, Hogshead, etc. I like where they're going! If they are in a race for best developer in the urban core, they are starting to pull away from Cordish.

I heard a rumor that True Food kitchen is also coming. This would be a great addition also.

Shake Shack is coming to Kansas City

https://www.pitch.com/food-drink/blog/2 ... ansas-city

Also Custards to. Smith has reported it.

Bring a CVS to the plaza !

Their upscale CVS/Apocethary concept would be a great fit.

I wonder how much life is left in the Winsteads

brewcrew1000 wrote:I heard a rumor that True Food kitchen is also coming. This would be a great addition also.

Any idea where? Maybe we can break that one open too.

No clue but my guess would be the Houston's spot

True Food reached out to me on facebook and they have plans for a 2019 opening but they never said the location, i am really assuming its a Plaza location but no clue where

Has an announcement ever been made about the 2nd floor space in the old Halls building? It was supposedly built out with a restaurant in mind.

chaglang wrote:Their upscale CVS/Apocethary concept would be a great fit.

Do you know any more about the CVS Apothecary concept? I googled and saw that they had acquired one but I'm curious as the picture I saw looked pretty... clinical. I like the idea of focusing on specialized treatment. It would be good for UMKC to get involved in something like that since they have Pharmacy and Medical programs and need to raise funds somehow.

I mentioned Aaron's Apothecary in another thread. I like that it looks less clinical, but still serves the needs of a typical pharmacy, and sells gifts and goods that fit in with other upscale retailers.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/aarons-apothec ... apothecary

Have seen a few tasteful urban village CVS designs on E Coast that would fit well on Plaza. Needs to happen whether in Plaza proper or if tennis center is transitioned into a transit center.

Ah, yeah, I've seen some that are physically attractive. I'm interested in whether their product lines or customer experience are any different under an "apothecary" brand (or if the brand will just focus on specialized treatments). Anecdotally, myself and other young women I know are willing to spend more on high end skincare, fragrance, and makeup than many other things (e.g., high-end clothing, which may go out of style quickly). I would venture to guess that beauty/skincare is one of the most profitable things about CVS. An apothecary with some unique product lines and/or a licensed esthetician that could do skin consults, or a place where you could mix your own fragrance, or something unique like that would be fantastic.

I'm not sure KC is generally open minded to urban diversity enough to have a major transit center near the plaza. I mean, I know people that live in the urban core of the city would be fine with it, but the average person from the suburbs will not like the general element that will come with a transit center. I really think people would overreact to something like that and avoid the plaza area. I'm really not saying that with an elitist east coast attitude, but I'm trying to be honest. As soon as more than 20% of race at any local mall is not white, that mall is "going downhill". I still hear that today from friends and relatives there. Transit centers tend to be a hang out for beggars and what not and a lot of low income people pass through them. Do you really think that would work near the plaza?

GRID wrote:I'm not sure KC is generally open minded to urban diversity enough to have a major transit center near the plaza. I mean, I know people that live in the urban core of the city would be fine with it, but the average person from the suburbs will not like the general element that will come with a transit center. I really think people would overreact to something like that and avoid the plaza area. I'm really not saying that with an elitist east coast attitude, but I'm trying to be honest. As soon as more than 20% of race at any local mall is not white, that mall is "going downhill". I still hear that today from friends and relatives there. Transit centers tend to be a hang out for beggars and what not and a lot of low income people pass through them. Do you really think that would work near the plaza?

I've kind of thought the same thing during this discussion. And lets be a frank, a transit center on the tennis courts is simply not going to happen - at least not any time in the foreseeable future, it's not even in the cards in any way shape or form at this moment. The owners of the plaza want to keep it as an exclusive shopping center as possible (meaning the retailers/not the customers) and the tennis courts are far more consistent with that vision than a transit center. Even in the big European cities, the transit centers tend to be in seedy places that are located well away from the trendy and exclusive shopping zones.

^Agreed, unfortunately. I think if you want some higher use for that public land, you'd have to look at something like Chicago's Cultural Center or a museum. Perhaps with an enhanced transit station, but not a full blown transit center.

Highlander wrote:

GRID wrote:I'm not sure KC is generally open minded to urban diversity enough to have a major transit center near the plaza. I mean, I know people that live in the urban core of the city would be fine with it, but the average person from the suburbs will not like the general element that will come with a transit center. I really think people would overreact to something like that and avoid the plaza area. I'm really not saying that with an elitist east coast attitude, but I'm trying to be honest. As soon as more than 20% of race at any local mall is not white, that mall is "going downhill". I still hear that today from friends and relatives there. Transit centers tend to be a hang out for beggars and what not and a lot of low income people pass through them. Do you really think that would work near the plaza?

I've kind of thought the same thing during this discussion. And lets be a frank, a transit center on the tennis courts is simply not going to happen - at least not any time in the foreseeable future, it's not even in the cards in any way shape or form at this moment. The owners of the plaza want to keep it as an exclusive shopping center as possible (meaning the retailers/not the customers) and the tennis courts are far more consistent with that vision than a transit center. Even in the big European cities, the transit centers tend to be in seedy places that are located well away from the trendy and exclusive shopping zones.

Yea, I just think you have to be a pretty big city to pull off a full service transit center and overcome the negatives. One would never work near the plaza. It would do more harm than good. Just put in one of the nicer streetcar stops on Main and hopefully keep max on broadway etc.

Given the streetcar is free to ride there will likely eventually be thousands a day using the Plaza stop, certainly weekends. And the streetcar itself is a free attraction that will be popular between downtown/Plaza with hotel visitors alone.

Agree a full blown transit center where many buses layover isn't appropriate, but some form of TOD replacing tennis center would certainly be better serving the thousands using the stop than the at best 100 a day using the tennis center (less during winter). It will become a primo spot. As it is now, streetcar users will be facing uninviting fenced in tennis courts. If the Plaza doesn't target a drugstore/market, this is the most ideal spot to have one - some residents especially want it. Even better would be Plaza library moving there above TOD services, maybe low-midrise residential on top as well.

The streetcar expansion is several years away anyway. As proponents of TOD build up and downtown pedestrian scale integration improves along streetcar, more who live along expansion will 'get it'. Some from larger cities who move to Plaza are annoyed it has no neighborhood amenities within walking distance (it used to when Nichols owned it). This would solve that issue and would have better integration with streetcar users than the isolated fenced in tennis courts that relatively few use.