P+L Tenant Rumors

[KCPowercat]

From today's Biz. Journal on newstands now.

First off Cordish is saying no tenant announcements until district is getting ready to open. Of course we'll hear things from other sources before then. Cordish also saying most of district already has "done more than sign letter of intent".

Rumored: (Cordish not commenting on any of it)

- Lucky Strike Bowling Alley (hip bowling concept)
- Something from RDG Chicago (who runs Red star taverns which opened up north)
- Howl at the Moon
- "not all national chains, some local/regionals"
- Gates has been contacts, Ollie doesn't know how he wants to be involved yet but he does want to be involved
- Whole Foods Market
- ESPNzone's director of marketing is quoted as saying that the restaurant has no expansion plans.
- Fox Sports Grille CEO says he knows of no plans to be apart of the district.


Pick up the journal, great info in there every week.


ESPNZone comments are not positive.....of course talking to the directory 18 months before opening, he's not going to tip his hand if he doesn't want to.

Hope we hear more leaks, I can't wait very long for more rumors/announcements.

[Beltonhawk]

Sad to hear about ESPN Zone...but like you said, things are a long way off....

[KCTigerFan]

A Whole Foods would be a huge addition! I hope they live up to their commitment to strike a balance between local and chain. That being said it would be great if they could land a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant. www.leye.com. They have some great places like Vong's Thai Kitchen in Chicago. They have enough diversity in their restaurants you can almost forget you are eating at a place owned by a large company.

It is also interesting to note the difference in style between RED Development and Cordish. Cordish is going to start building and then announce tenants. RED has announced sporadic additions to the Legends over the last 18 months with no ground being broken yet.

[staubio]

The comments from ESPNzone and Fox Sports sound like standard issue responses in cases like these. "No plans to expand" means, from a PR sense, that they don't have any announcements to make. I'd say the chances for one of them as tenants are the same as they always were. They just aren't giving us any hints.

[Downtowner]

I'm not sad about ESPNzone...I was in the one in Chicago with friends and we all thought it was bad. It's dark and drab along with being over-priced. It's the Hard Rock Cafe of sports. Plus, someone local could do a sports bar...not hard to do. In fact, Kietzmann said on his show one day they'd like to do an 810 sports bar across from the arena. How cool would that be? Live remotes across the street for big sporting events.

Also, a Whole Foods would be awesome! Never again would I have to go to Marsh's Unfriendly Market in Westport.

[KCPowercat]

I wouldn't mind a local sports bar but not an 810 cafe. I'm still pulling for an ESPNzone.

[dangerboy]

Maybe 810 will regret moving out to the edge of the region when they could have built a street-side studio next to the arena. Ditto for Channel 9 leaving downtown.

[GRID]

Don't worry guys, we will get what we want, some companies just like to talk more than others.

[chrizow]

of all the tenant rumors i have heard, i am the most amped about Whole Foods. downtown obviously needs a grocery store, and that is by far the best grocery store in america (assuming it will be a decent-sized one).

[ignatius]

Whole Foods would be a huge boost to downtown. ESPNZone is just another Hard Rock mindless sensory experience. I like the idea of a local radio station sports bar.

[trailerkid]

I will join in and say that Whole Foods coming downtown is pretty huge. Right now, Whole Foods is the darling of Wall Street and there is a reason why-- the stores are good. Who wouldn't want to live downtown when you can walk to an urban Whole Foods?

I'll also second the "no stores planned" thing means absolutely nothing. Different companies have different policies on announcing stores and some won't formally announce the opening of the store until the signage is practically being put up.

[WoodDraw]

ESPN Zone brings people downtown though and would be a huge catch for the area. It may not fit into some of of your plans for untrendy, no-chain stuff only but it attracts sports fans and transplant fans who want to go watch their team. An 810 bar would be alright but it wouldn't be an ESPN Zone.

[QueSi2Opie]

I don't want anything local unless it's an exciting and original concept. Cordish isn't goin' to make money off of a Gate's BBQ when there's one in Leawood, Midtown, Eastside, Brush Creek Corridor, etc. As far as an 810 Cafe, I'd rather have a Fox Sports Grille. An 810 Cafe means nothin' to a tourist from St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, or Denver. This district isn't just for urbanites who want basics...it won't make money that way...it's here for urbanites, suburbanites, tourists, conventioners, and so on.

I WANT ESPNZONE & HARD ROCK CAFE!!!

[KCN]

Yeah I'd like to see a mix of chain and local. Tourists are attracted to chains and that will be a touristy area so why not do the chains right? ESPN zone is pretty popular.

[ComandanteCero]

From a tourist's point of view the key is to find a balance between what is familiar and new. Tourists don't want to see all the same chain stores they can see in every other big city, they want to be reassured but at the same time challenged. I would argue having some local stores in there would be good because it exposes tourists to these "Kansas City" things, especially along the lines of BBq or Jazz (or any of the other stuff that is sold as the KC image) (OPEN AN ARTHUR BRYANTS DOWN THERE, hehe). Then again it depends on who the tourists are. If we are attracting Missouri and Kansas small town people who already feel like they are going to a big city in going to KC then maybe it's best to just do big chain stores. However if we are expecting to get people from around the country then it's best for a good mix as mentioned before.
Anywho.

[KC_Fan]

We like WholeFoods so much that we drive from downtown to 93rd and Metcalf every week. Hate to echo the entire board on this one, but here goes : this would be GREAT!

they are a very responsible neighbor, I think they could do some cool things with local artists and chefs from various downtown restaurants. Featuring their artwork and cooking classes on certain dishes, much like the guys from Lidia's do on Saturdays in the city market.

[advocrat]

I was able to meet with some of the Cordish officials yesterday, the hotel/condo tower is expected to finished by fall 08, and will consist of about 28 stories of condos above a 10 story hotel, prices will begin in the mid $300,000's. Future towers will be build depending upon the sales of the first tower. They also stated that the plaza directly south of the H&R Bloch building which they are dubbing as little Italy as all restaurants will be Italian in nature with the exception of Chipolte is 100% leased. The club district is 100% leased as well, he did not share any new tenets. Regarding the retail he stated that it is about 80% leased including a 25,00sf department store comparable to a Fred Seigil. Things are looking good and they are ahead of schedule, and everything should be completed and open in October to coincide with the opening of the Sprint Arena. Sprint will also have a flagship new concept store in the district taking up about 10,000sf if memory serve me correct it will also have a model home inside with different Sprint technology inside.

What's a Fred Seigil. I google it and didn't get a relevant hit?

[DaveKCMO]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Segal

misspelling. so that's 25 thousand square feet? i'm no retail whore, so what would be comparable in size? is the new standard on the plaza that size? if so, that's an obvious local choice. those kids are making TONS of money there and at TCP.

[advocrat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Segal

misspelling. so that's 25 thousand square feet? i'm no retail whore, so what would be comparable in size? is the new standard on the plaza that size? if so, that's an obvious local choice. those kids are making TONS of money there and at TCP.

25,000 square feet is roughly the same area as or maybe a little bigger than a Price Chopper/HyVee.

[voltopt]

25,000 sf would be somewhere in between a Michael's and a Linen's and Things.