Turn the North Loop into a bigger living/working district?

[ShowMeKC]

For it to be at the exact point, you'd take away one of the towers.

[aknowledgeableperson]

A thing that could work in KC's favor is to start to become the ethanol center of the United States. It would bring a ton of money not only for food, but also fuel. Looking at places like the Middle East, and other oil centers that are booming, could we get a lot of wealth from the alternative fuel industry?

If you were talking wheat maybe KC could be a center.  Not with corn.  Iowa would be the most likely choice for corn.

Besides, the corn ethanol market is reaching its max for the time being.  Because of distribution problems its growth is limited.  That is why some of the marketers are tying to get E-10 changed to E-15.

Also, corn may not be the best source for ethanol.  Brazil uses switchgrass which makes for easier and cheaper conversion but the US is limiting it's imports for now.

[K.C.Highrise]

Brazil uses sugarcane. But again good try.

[aknowledgeableperson]

true, I did forget about the sugarcane.  Many feel that for the USA switchgrass will be better than corn for many reasons.

[ShowMeKC]

However AKP, KC could still become a center for where the corn from Iowa is sent to. Kind of like how we weren't a center for raising cattle, but for the slaughterhouses and stockyards.

[aknowledgeableperson]

They are building the processing plants close to where the corn is grown (saves on shipping costs).  From the plant it goes into the pipeline.  So it will not have to see KC unless it is pumped into a car in KC.

And guess where the slaughterhouses are now.  And where the stockyards in KC are.

[phxcat]

Instead of ethanol, we need to be taking a broad view of alternatives in general.  We need the companies who will develop and control the alternatives to be based here.  Part of that is ethanol - we need to do the research, K-State needs to be in the forefront, as well as Stowers.  We need to develop wind energy and take advantage of it- if most of KCPL's energy came from wind, how easy would it be to lure business with the promise of cheap energy?  That will be our TIF right there!  We need to develop transit alternatives also, with the rail we have here.  If the companies who are in the forefront of laternative energy research are located here, the rest will take care of itself.

[phxcat]

As for the North Loop. I love Devin's vision- and we can't wait for the stadium.  There will always be a place to put it, and by that time the frontier of downtown may have reached far enough into the East Crossroads to truly create a ballpark village with 18th and Vine.

[ShowMeKC]

I've still been working on my models and ideas for a huge North Loop project, and here is where i've gotten with it so far:

Again, Residential is Green, Offices are Blue, Mixed Use is Yellow, and Hotel is Purple.

I also colored in the envisioned projects (but not proposed).

[aknowledgeableperson]

And where is the demand for all of this?  Hopefully it would not be built all at once.

[ShowMeKC]

As i've said before, most of my ideas are for the coming decades, and not for the next decade. It'd be built in phases with demand.

[RiverMarketDweller]

As i've said before, most of my ideas are for the coming decades, and not for the next decade. It'd be built in phases with demand.

Has Kansas City ever had a master plan for development or is it always just potluck what developers want?

[ShowMeKC]

Crown Center has a master plan, the Plaza has somewhat of a master plan, the Power and Light District has a master plan, Kansas City Place had a master plan.

Even if none of our projects or anything had master plans, why couldn't that change?

[kcmetro]

ShowMe, use photoshop to create the KC skyline as it might look in 2050. I'd like to see that.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Has Kansas City ever had a master plan for development or is it always just potluck what developers want?

Small areas have master plans, that can change, but overall all that the city has is its FOCUS plan which is just a guideline on how the city should be used/developed.

[RiverMarketDweller]

Crown Center has a master plan, the Plaza has somewhat of a master plan, the Power and Light District has a master plan, Kansas City Place had a master plan.

Even if none of our projects or anything had master plans, why couldn't that change?

But what about a plan covering from the River to Waldo including silly things like light rail stops?

[RiverMarketDweller]

Small areas have master plans, that can change, but overall all that the city has is its FOCUS plan which is just a guideline on how the city should be used/developed.

I would be interested inseeing that, do you have a link to the FOCUS plan?

[ShowMeKC]

kcmetro, i don't own photoshop, costs just way too much money. But here is how i'd see it in 30-40 years:

[aknowledgeableperson]

I would be interested inseeing that, do you have a link to the FOCUS plan?

Try this.

http://www.kcmo.org/planning.nsf/focus/ ... endocument

[Appraiser]

What about the Sasski Plan (I'm sure that spelling is wrong).