Ward Parkway Mall just sighed up

[voltopt]

i typically don't care too much for retail talk, but isn't bed bath & beyond considered a "reputable" retailer?
i know, i know, they still have that ackward knife store at the entrance by target.

[Cyclops]

They just completed a major redo of the parking lot on the east side of the center. They put in huge new retaining walls that helped level out the parking lot, new sidewalks and landscaping and a much better access off southbound Ward Parkway. There is also a new Old Navy store that's gone in (next to Dicks) in the last couple of months. I drive by there every day on my commute from Westport to "Oklahoma" (Bahua humor there) and I'm glad they keep trying. I'll support them.

[Highlander]

There were many people walking the indoor corridor when I was last there a couple years ago. Regardless they can't lease that indoor space to any reputable retailers, but they're doing well with the exterior big box stuff.

I was there last week and it seemed pretty healthy to me.  Just an aside, I have been told Dillards laid down the gauntlet to the shopping center owners to change the configuration of the mall or else they would leave.  Apparently, they were experiencing a tremendous amount of shoplifting due to the proximity and accessibility to large amounts of youths attracted by the theater complex.  They were essentially disconnected from the mall by the reconfiguration to create a buffer between them and the movie theater.  Seems like that would have been an expensive fix to a problem that probably affected more than just Dillards (the solution certainly did also)  but the anchor tenant does hold a lot of sway. 

[bahua]

I'd venture a guess that Target probably sees the most commerce there, these days.

[pstokely]

did they not renew the lease on the arcade that was there up until a few years ago or did it go belly up?

[Ignohippo]

I worked at the center when all of the rennovations were being done in 1999 up until shortly after Penney's closed. I can tell you first hand that the mall didn't "fail" – it was killed by completely inept management. When the mall was rennovated, they just expected the tenants to come running. They did nothing to try to market the mall or get new tenants in. "Build it and they will come" didn't work in this case. We would get tons of people into the mall but there weren't enough shops to keep them. Bannister and Metcalf were failing and it should;ve been easy for them to get tenants like Victoria's Secret or Old Navy.

I know that when Penney's left a bunch of the stores went to management for a rent decrease and were denied. We just decided not to renew our lease (as did most of the other tenants).

Terrible planning putting the food court right under the theaters. They created absolutely no traffic flow through the mall.

What happened to the Fridays? They always seemed to be busy.

Man, that place used to have the coolest toy store on the lower level and a great Woolworth's above it. It was a really fun place to go back in the day!

[kcmokid]

Does anybody know what they are building on the east side of the mall in the old T.G.I. Friday's location that has been vacant for years?  It has been fenced off for construction a few weeks but I can't see a sign of what is to come.  Possibly a new restaurant on the way??

[KCMax]

What is with everyone crying for "upscale" stores?  If Ward Parkway or Zona Rosa had the same store as Leawood Town Center, I would ignore them like I do Leawood Town Center.

I'm guessing you're not the target audience.

Is Ward Parkway struggling? Everytime I go there it seems pretty healthy. I don't think they need to change what they're doing.

[phuqueue]

I'm guessing you're not the target audience.

Is Ward Parkway struggling? Everytime I go there it seems pretty healthy. I don't think they need to change what they're doing.

I don't know, I'm not over there very often, but every time I do go it seems like there are fewer and fewer stores.  I used to go to Suncoast and Software Etc there all the time, came back a few years ago to find those stores vacant, came back again just a few weeks ago to find that entire section of the mall has been walled off and is no longer even accessible.  You used to go in that entrance next to Fridays and straight ahead was that big food court and to the left were a bunch of stores and the lower level movie theatres.  Now you go in there and all you have is a corridor leading to an elevator.  I guess some of that space is still being utilized by stores that are only accessible from the outside, but it seems like there is a ton of empty space in that mall now compared to five or ten years ago.  When I was there a few weeks ago, it was to catch a movie at AMC there and granted, it was a matinee, but the theatre was virtually deserted.  I have no idea whether Ward Parkway is struggling, but my personal perception based on the handful of times I've been there in the last several years is that it's in decline.

[aknowledgeableperson]

They do not release how the center is doing financially but the stores on the west side seem to do quite well.  Have been there a few times recently and parking in the west lot was tight.  The east side was somewhat different but on weekends those stores appear to be doing well also.

The movie theaters have been hurting most of the time primarily because most of the theaters are the old style and many, including myself, prefer the nearby Town Center Plaza.

[lock+load]

The movie theaters have been hurting most of the time primarily because most of the theaters are the old style and many, including myself, prefer the nearby Town Center Plaza.

We went to a movie here last Friday, and it was pretty empty.  It was great.  I don't know how anyone could stand to go to a movie with all the little kids running around at Town Center.

[kcmokid]

Does anybody know what they are building on the east side of the mall in the old T.G.I. Friday's location that has been vacant for years?  It has been fenced off for construction a few weeks but I can't see a sign of what is to come.  Possibly a new restaurant on the way??

Well to answer my own question if anybody's interested.... I noticed a sign up there today.  It's going to be a Staples.

[DaveKCMO]

Well to answer my own question if anybody's interested.... I noticed a sign up there today.  It's going to be a Staples.

that was easy. 

[NDTeve]

We went to a movie here last Friday, and it was pretty empty.  It was great.  I don't know how anyone could stand to go to a movie with all the little kids running around at Town Center.

No gang violence at Town Center.

[chrizow]

seems like i've heard about more carjackings, robberies, home invasions, and random other shit going down in SoJoCo in the past year than anywhere near ward parkway mall (except for the random gunman incident of course, which could have happened anywhere).  do you know that there is a problem with "gang violence" at WP?  and if so, maybe we could talk about how WP is constantly improving itself despite this "rampant" gang violence?

[PumpkinStalker]

No gang violence at Town Center.

seems like i've heard about more carjackings, robberies, home invasions, and random other shit going down in SoJoCo in the past year than anywhere near ward parkway mall (except for the random gunman incident of course, which could have happened anywhere).  do you know that there is a problem with "gang violence" at WP?  and if so, maybe we could talk about how WP is constantly improving itself despite this "rampant" gang violence?

And if you'd like proof, I have been printing every article on news websites about every bank robbery, attempted rape, burglary, etc for 2 months in JoCo since I moved downtown KC.  JoCo sure seems like a dangerous place these days.  Gettin pretty seedy.

Wasn't a Leawood man robbed in his garage the other day?  Yup.
Wasn't there a few bank robberies on Metcalf in the last month?  Yup.

In fact, not to start a pissing match, so here's a disclaimer.  My point as well as Chrizow's I'm sure, is to point out that crime happens everywhere.  There is no safe place, but baiting for a response such as mine and Chrizows isn't cool, Zeus.

http://www.kctv5.com/search/form.html?q ... n&video=on

http://www.kctv5.com/search/form.html?q ... n&video=on

http://www.kctv5.com/news/14704346/detail.html

http://www.kctv5.com/news/14538726/detail.html

And my personal favorite:
http://www.kctv5.com/news/14546777/detail.html

My point is made.  Crime is everywhere, can we move on?

[KC0KEK]

Try Columbia, Mo., where crime has gone through the roof over the past few months.

Regarding Staples, are they taking over the whole bottom of that wing? The old TGIF alone isn't enough room.

[trailerkid]

No gang violence at Town Center.

Stop spreading rumors based mainly on racism. I went to a late movie the other weekend at Ward Parkway...there was a small group of black kids hanging out. You need to get out more...

Regarding Staples, are they taking over the whole bottom of that wing? The old TGIF alone isn't enough room.

Yes. The entire bottom level has been reconfigured for big box tenants. There may be additional space down there even with Staples.

[voltopt]

Ward Parkway is about as crime infested as the mall in Manhattan, KS.  Which is to say, not at all. 

[dangerboy]

Ward Parkway is about as crime infested as the mall in Manhattan, KS.  Which is to say, not at all. 

I agree. I go to this mall often and have never had a problem.  All I can figure is that it has a lot of black customers and some people automatically feel like there is more crime when there are more minorities around.  The teens hanging out at the movie theater there are not any better or worse than teens at other movie theaters.