KCRag Forum

bobbyhawks wrote:Not breakfast as in, it is not a breakfast specific joint, or as in, it doesn't/wouldn't serve breakfast at all? Pizza, BBQ, and Stroud's are what come to mind. I would think "no" on pizza considering whatever that concept is next to Johnny's. Stroud's would be a huge leap for them considering they like older places and waited for years to expand to avoid getting walloped on price. BBQ makes sense if Cordish is willing to bend over on rent for a long period of time.

"Closer to local than national" would indicate that the place perhaps has some other restaurants in the region (like Lawrence, Wichita, Omaha, Columbia, STL, Tulsa), but doesn't have a full presence in say three or more major cities. Stroud's, Okie Joe's, Blanc, and... wait... now I am having an epiphany that is a bit absurd... but what if... no... but what if Justus Drugstore 2.0 is the "regional," more local than national restaurant that will come to the P&L? That's crazy, right? They were looking into a concept near the Kaufman Center for a while. ColumbusPark's "should be happier" would have to be playing down the news a bit considering this would send the board into a Kansas-City-insider-news-frenzy. That doesn't discount that "more local than national" could not also mean an establishment that would be coming to the center of the metro for the first time.

mister816 wrote:I get that local bars and restaurants are great for locals but conventioneers, vacationers and suburbanites have spoken loud and clear. We really need to get over this whole "we're Kansas City and we know better than everyone else" attitude and do what works. Cities like Denver, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, Orlando, Houston, Phoenix, Detroit, Boston ect. have them for a reason and that's because people frequent them and out of towners love them, plain and simple.

beautyfromashes wrote:Because, except for a few of the cities you name, I'd rather have what we have now as it is building organically. If we're copying St. Louis or Phoenix or San Diego; I'm out! Remember when you were in high school and every 'good' band came from Seattle or when all your tech buddies were moving to the Bay Area to hook on with a new startup or how this next generation flocked to Portland? That's what I want, not some Disneyfied retread. Kansas City has too much to sell out so a convention attendee could get what they already have back home.

StrangerThings wrote:Yard house and Flying Saucer both do very well on their own. Yard house sees more family sit down traffic, while Flying Saucer gets the loyal beer fans, but not a ton of families.

I'm not sure if this was ever discussed, but the Midland/Indie were originally planned to be a House of Blues. It didn't work out, and I'm glad because The Midland/AEG who are 50% partners with Cordish brings in a great mix of talent.

The Kill Devil Club was designed as a jazz lounge, complete with baby grand piano. It could never get any traction, even with great live jazz on the weekends. It's changed and now it's more of a house music vibe in there.

Cordish is aware of what people want and what downtown needs. They're not anti-nation chains by any means, but they want to make sure it's a solid mix of national chains, locally operated concepts and internal concepts. My personal #1 wish is for a local BBQ joint to go in the old Famous Daves space. Jack Stack, Joes etc. It's insane there's no A-level BBQ in PNL, but I do know Cordish has been actively seeking out local BBQ operators in hopes to make a deal happen.

StrangerThings wrote:

KCPowercat wrote:

StrangerThings wrote:Yard house and Flying Saucer both do very well on their own. Yard house sees more family sit down traffic, while Flying Saucer gets the loyal beer fans, but not a ton of families.

I'm not sure if this was ever discussed, but the Midland/Indie were originally planned to be a House of Blues. It didn't work out, and I'm glad because The Midland/AEG who are 50% partners with Cordish brings in a great mix of talent.

The Kill Devil Club was designed as a jazz lounge, complete with baby grand piano. It could never get any traction, even with great live jazz on the weekends. It's changed and now it's more of a house music vibe in there.

Cordish is aware of what people want and what downtown needs. They're not anti-nation chains by any means, but they want to make sure it's a solid mix of national chains, locally operated concepts and internal concepts. My personal #1 wish is for a local BBQ joint to go in the old Famous Daves space. Jack Stack, Joes etc. It's insane there's no A-level BBQ in PNL, but I do know Cordish has been actively seeking out local BBQ operators in hopes to make a deal happen.

1) I'm not sure Cordish is that aware of what we want or need downtown....it's nice to say. In what ways do you find they get this knowledge?

2) Plowboys is a pretty good addition for bbq...but yeah something in Famous Dave's would be nice.

Most all of their employees that I've worked with are all local, including their marketing director. Also, several of their employees are downtown residents. I wouldn't be surprised if the main Cordish guy here locally frequented this forum . He has a great pulse on this city and what will/won't work. I know he runs every potential tenant by several local employees as well as his superiors before getting too far into it.

They've proven they're not interested in just taking the easy money by letting a space sit empty for months. People approach them all the time with the finances, but it's not a good fit for the area for one reason or another.

Plow boys is nice, don't get me wrong. I just feel like we need one of the big 3/4 players in town to have a downtown location.

StrangerThings wrote:

KCPowercat wrote:fast food lunch goers and sit down lunch goers are completely two different lunch crowds.

Something like a gap I think would work....

I honestly don't see a clothing only (non-sports) retail story being highly successful just yet. Maybe after three light gets open?

I'm down here every single day around the lunch hour and see many people try to go to a sit down and end up doing chipotle or BK if the sit downs are busy. A powerhouse like McDonalds would do some damage I'm afraid.