Olathe Great Center

[Tosspot]

It seems like something that would be popular.  As detailed in the book Applebee's America, megachurches and chain stores/restaurants serve as proxies for the town square in exurban America.  I think a combination of the two could have potential.  Perhaps it could also have some retail, such as Mardel, Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A and Curves.  

I would never visit such a place, but I think many people would.  

I had not heard of this book, so I looked it up.

Anyway, digressing and not aimed at anyone in particular here besides maybe "thou-OPness" and his "Teneats," but I'm just going to cut the crap now and say that this is all one aspect of American "culture" that should be allowed to die. And we need to stop pussyfooting around it. McGod in a failed shopping mall filled with the waddling and the blubberous with their protruding bellies sated on their sodium-laden, Sysco truck delivered Applebee's schlock. If this truly is what our nation has become all about, then I welcome with warm embrace the next rogue comet or stray meteor shower doomed to destroy us and start the cycle anew.

[trailerkid]

It think the Great Mall has a brighter future than Oak Park does though looking 10 years down the road.

Stay off the crack.

Oak Park is one of CBL's top properties and they'll probably be working to enhance it.

There's no reason Great Mall couldn't be viable. I seriously doubt letting Block & Co manage will change much. Glimcher has better contacts in retail than Block & Co. Block will probably bring in office tenants and tanning salons.

[GRID]

Stay off the crack.

Oak Park is one of CBL's top properties and they'll probably be working to enhance it.

There's no reason Great Mall couldn't be viable. I seriously doubt letting Block & Co manage will change much. Glimcher has better contacts in retail than Block & Co. Block will probably bring in office tenants and tanning salons.

I don't know about the future of Oak Park Mall, I just see it having major issues competing in the next ten years as more and more retail opens outside of 435.

But you are right about Block and Co, They wont' be the ones that turn around the Great Mall...

[Melling]

I had not heard of this book, so I looked it up.

Anyway, digressing and not aimed at anyone in particular here besides maybe "thou-OPness" and his "Teneats," but I'm just going to cut the crap now and say that this is all one aspect of American "culture" that should be allowed to die. And we need to stop pussyfooting around it. McGod in a failed shopping mall filled with the waddling and the blubberous with their protruding bellies sated on their sodium-laden, Sysco truck delivered Applebee's schlock. If this truly is what our nation has become all about, then I welcome with warm embrace the next rogue comet or stray meteor shower doomed to destroy us and start the cycle anew.

I had to read the book for a graduate course in political campaigns.  Anyone who reads the New York Times, listens to NPR, watches the BBC, etc., would not find it to contain any revelations.  It essentially makes the familiar argument that the suburbs, and especially the exurbs, lack community.  The authors then explain that many people seek community within the confines of chain restaurants and megachurches.  At some point, I had hoped the authors would address the disappearance of the commons.  But it's a book for political consultants, so changing the status quo is not on the agenda.  I would say it's even less hopeful than David Brooks' work on suburban/exurban life. 

Returning to the present topic, how about a mall that realizes Victor Gruen's original intentions?  He thought that malls would be mixed-use communities. 

[valcour]

Actually there is a church in the mall. It is just not a megachurch - it's a start up church.  Which means the rent can't be very high for that mall apace.

If they clean up the decor; sign at least one major vendor; and add some events that make sense, there is no reason why that mall couldn't turn around.  Particularly with the Lone Elm interchange coming soon, that area will have two major exits off the interstate. 

I used to go there about once a week in the winter time (it was a nice 1/2 mile walk out of the cold), but stores I used to go to are about all gone.

[valcour]

There was a good article in the KC Business Journal on this sale - sorry I didn't think to get a link and the article has disappeared.  The mall cost over $120 million to build and the investment group bought it for around $20 million.  That's a nice markdown, and the investment group believes they can sell rental space for 30% less than elsewhere in the local market.

[trailerkid]

There was a good article in the KC Business Journal on this sale - sorry I didn't think to get a link and the article has disappeared.  The mall cost over $120 million to build and the investment group bought it for around $20 million. 

I could hardly believe that number. It's certainly a buyer's market right now for dead malls.

I have no doubt that people in Olathe actually wanting a nice place to shop will be let down by Block and the new ownership. They're looking at it like a cash cow probably for things like tanning salons and army/navy recruiters. I wouldn't be suprised if a telecommunications customer service business moves into an anchor or two. 

[mgsports]

http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/785 Dress Barn and so on are closing to.

[kanasalumn]

I could hardly believe that number. It's certainly a buyer's market right now for dead malls.

I have no doubt that people in Olathe actually wanting a nice place to shop will be let down by Block and the new ownership. They're looking at it like a cash cow probably for things like tanning salons and army/navy recruiters. I wouldn't be suprised if a telecommunications customer service business moves into an anchor or two. 

That what happened to the old Outlet mall in Downtown Lawrence before it became a hotel

[PapasInTheHouse]

Trader Joe's!

[trailerkid]

Trader Joe's!

yeah f'n right. They have pick of anywhere in the metro and they choose a dead mall with purple carpet.

[Tosspot]

Little anecdote I thought I'd share - the first and only time I ever went to the "Great Mall," the place already looked deserted, and this was back in the late nineties, not all that long after the big hoo-plah of it's opening. I was there in the evening sometime, possibly a weekday evening, but even so it was an obvious failure.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Little anecdote I thought I'd share - the first and only time I ever went to the "Great Mall," the place already looked deserted, and this was back in the late nineties, not all that long after the big hoo-plah of it's opening. I was there in the evening sometime, possibly a weekday evening, but even so it was an obvious failure.

Yeah, I don't think the original developer would even deny that it was NEVER what they intended it to be from day one.  They didn't get the right tennnants, had to settle for second rate stuff, too many vacancies, etc.  I don't think anyone was very impressed when it opened.  It does help to reinforce the urgency that Cordish needs to start coming forward with some retail lease successes so we aren't talking about the "failed DT shopping experiment" ten years from now.