OFFICIAL: Zona Rosa (tenants & phase II)

[KC Kropf]

OK I just don't get Zona Rosa at all. I have been numerous times and really like the stores and the 'look and feel' but I totaly agree with chrizow that it is just a more urban Town Center. It is supposed to be 'new urbanism' but it is not a 24/7 place. So what it looks like an old city and has streetside parking and it appears to have 2 and 3 story buildings. Unless there is some plan to include condos or apts. on top of the development, I just don't get it. It is just like any mall (indoor or outdoor) that you drive to, park, shop, walk back to your car and drive home. No one walks from home or comes down an elevator to enjoy the shops, resturants, plaza, and fountains. I guess that is why Downtown will always be downtown, and why I feel P&L Live will be an awsome place to Live, Work, Play, Walk, and Shop 24x7!!

To me Zona Rosa is just a mall I would rather go than Town Center.

[GRID]

That's becasue it's not a true "new urbanism" project for some of the reasons you mentioned. But is has a lot of new urbanism traits and ideas.

It's missing residents, transit, connectivity to surrounding areas, nightlife etc.

But it blows town center out of the water and is a nice alternative to KC's typical suburban shopping.

[trailerkid]

That's becasue it's not a true "new urbanism" project for some of the reasons you mentioned. But is has a lot of new urbanism traits and ideas.

It's missing residents, transit, connectivity to surrounding areas, nightlife etc.

But it blows town center out of the water and is a nice alternative to KC's typical suburban shopping.

In all fairness...it is new urbanism. It is a somewhat dense, mixed use, project. Although it is primarily retail, there is also office space, residential space and a hotel in the works. Most of the peer projects to Zona Rosa are strictly outdoor malls. Just because it's plastic-looking doesn't discount what it is.

[KCN]

I like ZR but it's nothing more than a suburban shopping destination that you drive to, do your shopping and leave.

Now with more and more bars and residences opening up, it will at least become more of a place where you can park and spend many hours shopping, eating, relaxing outside, see a movie and have a few drinks. Kinda like the plaza I suppose. They had carolers walking around it during Christmas which added a nice atmosphere I thought.

I don't think these things are meant to be anything more than urban concepts applied to suburban shopping districts so the suburbanites can get a taste of the same conveniences. If you wanted actual urbanity and everything that comes with it then you move to the city, not Zona Rosa.

[nota]

become more of a place where you can park and spend many hours shopping, eating, relaxing outside, see a movie and have a few drinks.

Are there really that many people who would do that? I don't know many if any.

[KCN]

Spend several hours shopping? You haven't met my friends.

The good thing is at a place like ZR guys like me who are stuck waiting on them can go get some ice cream or a beer.

[zlohban]

I never enjoy going to an enclosed mall and I hate Town Center the way it faces a big parking lot and takes forever to walk around.

I do enjoy the Plaza and ZR, my wife can shop and I can watch people, see the cool cars drive through, laugh at the way teenagers dress and interact with each other, go to B&N, etc.......I never feel trapped.

I applaud all efforts that get people to enjoy being out and about. (and more then a block away from their car)

[nota]

AMEN! I think that I have literaly parked on one side of Town Center, went into a store, got in my car to drive to the other side and go to another

Gee, I'm one of those dreaded 'burb dwellers and I would never do that.

Walking IS good for you. Unless you are carrying something really big or really heavy.

[KC Kropf]

Gee, I'm one of those dreaded 'burb dwellers and I would never do that.

Walking IS good for you. Unless you are carrying something really big or really heavy.

Or if it is raining ICE! and *COLD*

[QueSi2Opie]

I might spend hours at Zona Rosa after they add an O'Dowds and Granfalloon near Tomfooleries. Same drinkin' establishments as the Plaza, but a change of scenery.

[KCK]

To give a place like Zona Rosa a more town center feel and be less like a mall, they should add a post office, and a library.

[zlohban]

I use the B&N Library, nice chairs too!

[dangerboy]

There IS residential coming up. The lofts in the 3-4 story building above the Sprint Store will begin leasing sometime in the next month or so. Townhouses are planned for a phase future on the northwest corner of the property, near N. Congress Ave. The two-story buildings have office space available for lease above many of the retail stores.

While not 24/7, there is life after the stores close. Tomfooleries is open until 2am during the week and 3am on the weekends. O'Dowd's will be opening soon. The Majestic Theater and it's Funny Bone franchise will also be adding some more night life.

No place is going to have every single element of New Urbanism, but I say that Zona Rosa has many... Residential, retail, and office uses in a pedestrian-oriented setting. Narrow streets, few surface parking lots. But there are a few problems: no public transit connections, few pedestrian connections from the outside, etc. But even those can be remedied over time.

[nota]

yes, I know-I know-I was the one who bitched loudest about ZR

Here is something I have noticed since last fall-the parking meters don't work. I park sometimes and get out my coin and lo and behold, the coinbox is gone or there is a "failed" flag up in the meter and it won't take money.

They can't blame cold weather because it was quite beautiful and warm in the fall.

Yesterday, they had a big crane taking down the Christmas decorations and the tree behind Bravo! While the crane itself took up a lot of room, and it's outriggers even more, it didn't seem to bother the traffic flow.

They are going to have to get a lot busier to support that place IMHO.

Mimi's and Abuelo's seem packed all the time though.

[ShowME]

That's to bad. I've eat at Bravo many times. There food is decent for chain Italian and the surroundings are very nice. Hopefully with the new retail opening west of it and the new theatre opening traffic will improve.

[KCK]

Lets not forget the way retail works. January is the slowest month of the year for retail establishments following the heavy christmas traffic. Don't worry nota, I am sure Zona Rosa is just feeling the regular effects of the retail world.

[nota]

Lets not forget the way retail works. January is the slowest month of the year for retail establishments following the heavy christmas traffic. Don't worry nota, I am sure Zona Rosa is just feeling the regular effects of the retail world.

DMW-I worked in retail management all my adult life. ZR was quite slow to my eye during December as well.

The hustle and bustle just was not there.

[trailerkid]

Lets not forget the way retail works. January is the slowest month of the year for retail establishments following the heavy christmas traffic. Don't worry nota, I am sure Zona Rosa is just feeling the regular effects of the retail world.

DMW-I worked in retail management all my adult life. ZR was quite slow to my eye during December as well.

The hustle and bustle just was not there.

Because of the configuration of Zona Rosa...one doesn't need to walk throughout the entire center to find the shops or services they need. Zona Rosa will probably never have the bustle of Oak Park Mall, but will be more in line with places like Downtown Lawrence or Town Center Plaza. You can access your store directly instead of wandering around a large shopping center.

They're putting in Gap and those theatres...they will surely boost foot traffic even more.

[chrizow]

yeah i think ZR is a lot like TCP.

it's a mall without the mall "bustle" because people can park near their store of choice and just walk in and out.

BUT, this seems like a bad idea. the Plaza has bustle because it has created an environment where people actually LIKE to walk from place to place. in fact, lots of people just go to the Plaza to walk around and not even go to stores necessarily.

but TCP and ZR are MALLS first and foremost, albeit malls with slightly altered formats. stores in malls locate in malls because they benefit from the bustle and symbiotic nature of the other mall stores - thus, malls often try to lease stores in a VERY calculated fashion to maximize symbiosis.

it seems to me like ZR and TCP are losing out on that symbiosis. even at the height of Xmas shopping, TCP was crowded but not really "bustling." a lot of people even park, duck into a store, go back out to the car, and drive 100 yards down the sidewalk to the next store. lame.

[KCK]

Lets not forget the way retail works. January is the slowest month of the year for retail establishments following the heavy christmas traffic. Don't worry nota, I am sure Zona Rosa is just feeling the regular effects of the retail world.

DMW-I worked in retail management all my adult life. ZR was quite slow to my eye during December as well.

The hustle and bustle just was not there.

I have worked in retail for the last 6 years, and right now at my store, we are super slow, and the store is cutting as many jobs and costs as possible. We have done this every year since I started. I have seen sales figures for the past few years and the slowest month is always January. Sales in December usually are stronger than the first 3 months of the year combined.

I was out at Zona Rosa in November on a weekend and I must say that the place was crowded, and it was hard to get around in there, and there were very few parking spaces.

Another reason you might be seeing a lot less people is the fact that the weather has been extremely cold lately.