KCRag Forum

Darlene, just wear sneakers and carry a whistle, gun and your heels in your purse. Or take an uber from Olathe.

Darlene wrote:I like the Plaza pretty good but I do want to see more parking lots. A lot of ladies are not okay with parking in the garages at night.

Which stores do you want to be shut down?

Shut down? I hope none of them.

Darlene wrote:Shut down? I hope none of them.

I think he's referring to the fact that you're asking for more parking lots, but the only way parking lots can be added is if we destroy existing buildings.

Alright, confession time. Who’s sock is Darlene?

I guess some of them houses up the hill can be torn down. A lot of them are old looking and frankly I think dangerous looking. It would be a little walk but I think people need to walk more anyways.

Darlene wrote:It would be a little walk but I think people need to walk more anyways.

TheLastGentleman wrote:

Darlene wrote:It would be a little walk but I think people need to walk more anyways.

Thank you.

Moving Plaza improvement conversation from other Plaza thread here...

kcmiz wrote:Plaza needs greater density to save it, both residential and commercial. Up-zoning of the entire Main corridor to encourage TOD must happen for streetcar Phase II to really be successful.

The NIMBY mentality of "Saving the Plaza bowl" non-sense needs to end.

:-

Agree it's time to end maintaining 'the bowl'. Highwoods tried to turn Plaza towards an office park by proposing to tear down some of the retail/residential buildings, which didn't go over very well. One tactic that might work is to propose adding just a few residential floors to existing Plaza buildings that can handle it. If I were the developer/owner, would release to media a preliminary plan to add a couple floors at first to get public reaction and then if no major backlash, release full plan for a few more floors. If too much backlash, maybe revise plan back to a couple floors. Though if public perception grows that the Plaza is 'going downhill', maybe ideas for re-inventing Plaza will gain momentum - which is why I'm planting such ideas in other thread. And well more than half of raggers think it needs to be more than just a shopping center.

But new Plaza owners are mostly mall operators so most they may do is recognize the surrounding neighborhood at best (as Nichols did), which does have more density than most of KC with all the mid/hirises - streetcar foot traffic will help. If they are not successful with Plaza (and it may struggle just as a mall in the online era), maybe they'll sell to a true mixed use owner/operator.

Highwoods still owns an office tower and the residential building they proposed tearing down.

The new owners only own the shopping + small office space. They just got Nordstrom to move to the shopping district, I don't think they'll have problems sticking around even without serving the neighborhood.

Nordstrom will be new for Plaza but not new to metro and isn't really a top tier desirable store anymore, hence they are closing stores and transitioning to services. Some other shopping districts with Nordtrom still in downward trend.

The successful trend has been mixed use, not isolated districts dedicated to primarily one core function. The results of the poll above appear to agree.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/05/investi ... index.html

With the Plaza becoming more stale as each year goes by, I'll be submitting this thread again to the newish Plaza owners. They responded last time I sent this to them, acknowledging the ideas. Re-vote if you'd like above and post more ideas below, factoring current state of retail troubles in the age of online shopping.

What are some 'services oriented' businesses that you've seen nationally that could work on Plaza?

At this point, what are thoughts on turning Nichols Rd into a pedestrian only street per examples in first post?

earthling wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:20 am With the Plaza becoming more stale as each year goes by, I'll be submitting this thread again to the newish Plaza owners. They responded last time I sent this to them, acknowledging the ideas. Re-vote if you'd like above and post more ideas below, factoring current state of retail troubles in the age of online shopping.

What are some 'services oriented' businesses that you've seen nationally that could work on Plaza?

At this point, what are thoughts on turning Nichols Rd into a pedestrian only street per examples in first post?

A higher end barber shop like Buffalo Mane. A drug store live CVS. An Urban Target.

More residential density!

I say demolish as many garage structures as possible and replace with actual development.

A specific thing I would do if I was in control is get rid of the plaza bowl zoning and allow high rises in the core of the plaza.

This is probably controversial, but I'd make all new construction in the middle of the plaza faux Spanish to the same degree as the existing faux Spanish parts. My logic being that much of the plaza's existing faux Spanish architecture is actually from relatively late, such as the Seville Tower replica, which is from the 60s. The plaza was always supposed to be escapist, and leaning into that escapism could allow it to differentiate itself from the rest of the urban core.

I just wish they would develop that damned embankment on the north side of 46th Terrace.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0434561 ... 6656?hl=en

As someone who lives nearby and frequently walks to the plaza, more neighborhood services would be nice. I like the high end barber shop suggestion. I also love the Deibel’s cigar lounge, maybe more high end and unique social settings like that? Also agreed with more residential.

I would like to see them add one-two floors of residential above any new or remodeled building on the plaza. That way it doesn’t screw up the scale, but it should go a long way to making it more of a neighborhood

Is it time for the bowl to go away? 10 floor max? 25 floor max? The 'Save the Plaza' crowd and some in neighborhood would probably fight that one. When the Boomers move on to next realm, might be better time.

On tearing down garages mentioned, most are pretty well hidden as it is (better than new downtown garages). May as well build on top, 6-8 floors might work w/out much of a fight.

The scale of the Plaza retail district Spanish-ish buildings is very carefully designed. It is like Disney's Main St. The theme of mostly 2 floor buildings with towers as landmarks is what gives the district the scale and charm that attracts people. There is plenty of residential density (and getting denser) outside of these few blocks to support the district. Adding floors to the old buildings would overwhelm them and make the scaled down from reality towers obscure and awkward.

^Disagree that a few taller buildings would get in the way of the charm but many would probably agree with you. What about 6 floors on the existing garages? That's more inline with Euro neighborhoods. Part of making the Plaza mixed use is mixing in some residential.