OFFICIAL: Power & Light District

[tat2kc]

this is entirely too weird. I thought the same thing when Borders and B&N were mentioned. Tattered Cover is a dream bookstore!

[dangerboy]

Or if we really want to dream, how about the fantasy of luring Powell's east of the Rockies?

[FangKC]

What makes bookstores like Tattered Cover and Powells so desirable? Are they like the Strand in NYC or the City Lights in San Francisco?

[eliphar17]

Powell's would be sweet. I was in Portland this April with my high school buddies and we stumbled upon it. (None of us had heard of it.) We probably spent a couple of hours in there without having planned to. It is really a place where you can just walk in and lose yourself in the shelves.

[trailerkid]

What does everyone think in relation to the target market of KC Live?

From what Cordish was saying, KC Live will attempt to fill a void by offering nighlife and an entertainment destination not found in the metro. But should KC Live be for families as well as the meat market crowd and the white collar after-work binge drinkers?

I would like to see the area be attractive for as many people in the community as possible, but maybe that isn't possible. If I am going out to party or drink I do not want to be around familes leaving Chuck E. Cheese or rowdy teenagers loitering around after a Hilary Duff movie. At first I thought it would be nice have an attraction that mixed different types of demos, but now it might be more appropriate to exclusively go after younger people out on the town.

[tat2kc]

I don't think its going after the teen crowd, or even really the family crowd. I believe their target audience is folks over 21, but appealing to both those in their 20's and their 40's and up. It will appeal to both tourists and residents of the metro. I can't see a big draw for families to bring their children, but it will need to be "familiy friendly" so that vacationeers can be comfortable bringing their children down there. That's a different attitutude than appealing strictly to the under 21 crowd.

The problem they will have is the same thing Crown Center and the Plaza have: that is parents who drop off their kids and expect the shopping center to take over the duties of a parent.

[KCPowercat]

while in Miami this weekend I was reading about them trying to lure ESPNzone into a new development that they would also put a Miami hall of fame type thing around. ESPNZone passed and said they were happy with the 8 outlets they had now.

Just FYI....not sure if this means anything for an ESPNZone in KC Live just found it interesting.

[KC Kropf]

I believe that the target audience should be "young professionals" and it sounds like Cordish is inline with this. One problem with downtown is its inability to attract corporations to move there because of downtowns inability to draw young professionals to live and work inside the loop. Do you think H&R Block would be coming if there was no KC Live? No way. But with KC Live, H&R Block will be able to recruit a better workforce of "young professionals" among other things.

The KC area is great at educating our young professionals, it's keeping them here that is the problem. We export too many of our professionals to places like Chicago, Atlanta, NY, LA, MN because these cities have an urban lifestyle appeal, and oh yeah, they also have companies in their downtowns close to entertainment districts, mass transit, and a better overall job market.

Who, when they get right out of school, gets excited to take their first job at the Sprint Campus?? I don't know about you, but driving everyday to a structure similar to a college campus (that looks more like a prison), living in an apartment complex or suburb with friends, culture, and excitement further away would not even compare to the alternative. I might just be me, but I would rather wake up to a view of the city, travel a short distance to Sprint Towers (could have been a world recognized structure) enjoy a quick lunch at the local deli down the street, and be able to walk to happy hour on my way home.

Sorry for the tangents, once I start typing my hands don't stop, but that is my view for KC and KC Live and H&R Block is a great start. And to be blunt: I strongly applaud H&R Block and despise Sprint for their choices.

[trailerkid]

Let's not get it totally twisted. Block knows what they are doing aligning with KC Live!. They are not doing it out of charity to the city...it will have giant payoffs if the district flies. When Block recruits from around the country, they can point to their building and use it as a showplace. It is a two-way street.

As for working and living in the 'burbs...the simple fact is there are tons of people who prefer to work/live in the 'burbs. It is pretty much obvious to see looking around any city...NYC and LA included. A job move to Chicago or Atlanta doesn't mean KC is not good enough for nightlife or urban environment, it might just mean there are just a lot of people who want to "take off for the big city." A lot of these people who leave for the "big city" still end up sitting around their suburban dwelling, going to Panera to get a bite to eat, and catching movies at their local AMC megaplex. Just as the Jo Co or East Jack crowd finds no reason to enter the city so do the Chicagolanders.

[KC Kropf]

Block does know what they are doing, they see the trend and have jumped on it. Of course it will have numerous positive effects in their future.

My point about the crowd that wants to "take off for the big city" is the fact that KC does not attract this crowd. It instead takes off for the "bigger better city"

H&R Block wants this market, and I think they will get it.

[KCDevin]

Ok, besides the President Hotel being preserved, they want to keep the Basketball building...
I have a rendering of a small penthouse (glassy) type structure that is supposed to be placed on the basketball building. It will also include greenspace on the roof.
I guy I talked to said that the H&R Block/Cordish development is still in it's beginning phases and can change.
This would be something to keep especially with the arena and entertainment district.

[trailerkid]

I hope Cordish/Block look to intergrating any existing buildings scattered about. They can add more authenticity to the new district, so it has some history and is not one giant piece of glass and brick.

[KCDevin]

Hmm, I hope they edit the design to cover up at least 2 more holes over the interstate... When bartle hall expands again we would have only one gap between the proposed cover up and the expansion...
If they can cover it up from broadway to oak then the whole southern part would be covered.

[macnw]

Article in KC Business Journal reports that Sprint will have a presence in the Cordish development downtown(a retail store?) This is good to hear that Sprint still feels a connection with Kansas City and not just the burbs. Article further states that Sprint will donate money/technology to further causes in the Metro area. Good move. May be a PR ploy, but who cares.

[GuyInLenexa]

Our new (newer) CEO Gary Forsee will make a fervant effort to help the area as a whole. I think it was under him when he was CEO of the Long Distance Division in the 90's that Sprint had a much larger presence in the city. The IMAX and the Friday Night at the Atkins.
I think you can have faith in what he addressed to the KC Area COC today at the OPKCC.
They would be a fool not to put a Sprint Store downtown. Maybe ........
.....a Sprint Arena????????????/ Hmmmmmmmmmmm?????????

[KCPowercat]

H&R block has first naming rights to the arena if built...it's part of the package they signed up for.

[GuyInLenexa]

Well, maybe the little bitty arena across the street here in OPK??
Too bad we missed out on the big one, maybe the downtown baseball stadium then.

gil

[trailerkid]

Ummm...am I the only sane one here who is not excited about a Sprint superstore? Maybe it will be actually be a Sprint Cafe.

Sprint will be permanently AWOL by the time KC Live! is completed.

[dangerboy]

Well, maybe the little bitty arena across the street here in OPK??
Too bad we missed out on the big one, maybe the downtown baseball stadium then.

gil

How about a Sprint Ballpark? Adjacent of course to a new Sprint downtown headquarters building. I'm sure the city would be happy to talk to your company about it....

[KC Kropf]

Sprint had their chance for a downtown pressence and blew it. Sprint could have been H&R Block and came downtown with an entertainment discrict far earlier.

Just because NOW that it is cool to be downtown KC, sprint wants a piece? I don't buy it. Way to go Sprint, whooo hoooo....

At one point the Spint World HQ was the biggest project in the WORLD, they could have made a WORLD pressence in downtown, but opted not to.