OFFICIAL: Power & Light District

[aknowledgeableperson]

And it could mean $1,000 less to be spent on other nights during the week since they may feel why go out again.  And then those servers are out their tips for those sales that were lost to the game.

Hopefully those bars and restaurants do over $1M a year in sales.  $41K would be 4.1% of sales if overall sales totaled $1M.  So sales over the $1M amount would just decrease that percentage of sales.

[Tosspot]

Signage and lights.....

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[KCKev]

Happy to see you back posting pictures! I've been missing your take on our city.

More please!

[geeman68]

I love that....pretty!

[pstokely]

Why isn't the Jimmy Johns nearby open late? The one in Columbia (MO) is

[shaffe]

Why isn't the Jimmy Johns nearby open late? The one in Columbia (MO) is

They close at 7 regularly, but will stay open late on event nights.  Did they close at 7 last night?

[scooterj]

They close at 7 regularly, but will stay open late on event nights.  Did they close at 7 last night?

I walked by it around 8:00 and it was open.

[KCMax]

Not surprising considering the economy, but city taxes from P&L are well short of projections:

http://www.kmbc.com/money/18978278/detail.html

The city expected $14 million in taxes from the downtown entertainment district's first year. The city got only $2 million.

The projection was off by 84 percent.

Mahoney reported that there are several reasons for the low revenues. One is that there is still a lot of space not leased to tenants, and that the district opened at the start of a recession.

Also, we may love Portland, Oregon, but Portland actually wants to emulate us!!!

Portland wants its own Power and Light District

“We have lots of property that’s underdeveloped by our arena,” Isaac said, “and the concept we would like to pursue is the Portland version of what Cordish has done in Kansas City…”

[KCMax]

Recent college grad to open coffeehouse in Power & Light District

Broshous has transformed from coffeehouse worker to coffeehouse owner with the Savvy Coffee & Wine Bar, scheduled to open in the Kansas City Power & Light District in early May.

The corner location at 1201 Main St. will offer coffee, espresso and pastries all day along, with cheese plates and light appetizers after 4 p.m.

Also says Fran's will open early summer as will Kobe Japanese Steak & Seafood.

[Highlander]

Recent college grad to open coffeehouse in Power & Light District

Broshous has transformed from coffeehouse worker to coffeehouse owner with the Savvy Coffee & Wine Bar, scheduled to open in the Kansas City Power & Light District in early May.

The corner location at 1201 Main St. will offer coffee, espresso and pastries all day along, with cheese plates and light appetizers after 4 p.m.

Also says Fran's will open early summer as will Kobe Japanese Steak & Seafood.

Are these the announcements that KCTigerfan was speaking of?  Hope not because I heard about Kobe's a while back.  I think only the coffee house is news to me.  I kind of wonder at what point does the P&L District reach saturation in terms of entertainment venues -or- will the growing mass of restaurants/bars attract a larger crowd downtown. 

[KCTigerFan]

No, this was announced last week. 

Are these the announcements that KCTigerfan was speaking of?  Hope not because I heard about Kobe's a while back.  I think only the coffee house is news to me.  I kind of wonder at what point does the P&L District reach saturation in terms of entertainment venues -or- will the growing mass of restaurants/bars attract a larger crowd downtown. 

[ignatius]

Was down in P&L area Sat and Sun.  P&L was buzzing of course for the tourney but on Sunday, it was fairly slow.  Though hardly dead, was not enough to sustain the district.  Plaza was much busier.  I've also seen P&L completely dead on most Mon/Tue/Wed even if nice weather while Plaza would have a steady stream of people on the streets.

It leads me to almost conclude (what is obvious to many) that for P&L to succeed, there will need to be near daily events (Sprint Center, Bartle, Midland, PAC, KC Live, etc) in order for it to succeed.  P&L in itself doesn't seem to be a draw, at least enough to sustain itself.  I don't think AMC movie theatre will draw metro people unless they have premieres before released to other theaters.  The retail won't be a draw unless having very unique stores desired by the whole metro.  Population would probably have to triple within walking distance in order for P&L to succeed w/out daily events.

Near daily events should probably be the primary focus to draw people downtown, not P&L itself.  P&L is a great addition for side things to do for events but is in itself not a draw.

BTW, I do most of my shopping at downtown Consentinos now even though I live on the Plaza but otherwise tend to only go for a few area events. I certainly don't go for the restaurants. BTW2, I noticed Consentinos charged double price for water and pop bottles for the NCAA tourney.

[dangerboy]

Was down in P&L area Sat and Sun.  P&L was buzzing of course for the tourney but on Sunday, it was fairly slow.  Though hardly dead, was not enough to sustain the district.  Plaza was much busier.  I've also seen P&L completely dead on most Mon/Tue/Wed even if nice weather while Plaza would have a steady stream of people on the streets.

This is because the Plaza a hundred-some retail stores.  The density of retail leads to a lot people on the streets as they move from store to store, and is why the Plaza looks busier on a normal day even if there is no special event.

Since the P&L is almost exclusively bars and restaurants, it has more people sitting for longer periods in a single location and fewer people moving between places.  Adding more retail would definitely help the P&L with more bodies moving on the sidewalks on days when there is no big event.

[ComandanteCero]

yeh,  like dangerboy says, the Plaza has shopping as a day time attraction.  Thinking of other urban areas that really stay active 24/7, they tend to cater to large amounts of office workers, residents, day-time visitors, and night-time visitors.  The day time visitors might come for the shopping, museums, etc., while the night time visitors might come for theaters, concerts, bars, clubs, etc.  Office workers and day time-visitors keep things lively during the day while residents and night time-visitors keep things lively during the night.  Once built out the district will have the night-time visitors part down pat, and it seems to serve office workers fine, it will be decent for residents (of course, we need a lot more residents in the area, but that's kind of out of their control for now), but the biggest weakness i see is in the day-time visitors.

There either needs to be awesome shopping, or added cultural attractions in the immediate area to make it more popular during weekdays.

[rxlexi]

  well said Comandante.  I know this couldn't be a more difficult environment in which to draw retail power tenants to an unproven district, but Cordish really needs to throw their weight around and land a couple of new-to-the-metro jaw dropper retail tenants, at some point, to add a big, built-in daytime draw. 

  Who knows, this may never happen, and P&L will likely continue to do pretty well based on its amazing event/weekend draw, but if I was Cordish I'd be hunting for big retail fish, and pushing the city as hard as possible to land an NHL/NBA tenant at SC and build more residential in the area, including approval of a pay-as-you-go TIF hotel/condo/lux rental tower to be built in the near future (next 1-3 years).  P&L thus far has created a powerful and popular nightlife and events draw, but without some special retail and/or more nearby hotels/offices and residential, it is still a one-dimensional place to many in the metro. 

[KCPowercat]

Was down in P&L area Sat and Sun.  P&L was buzzing of course for the tourney but on Sunday, it was fairly slow.  Though hardly dead, was not enough to sustain the district.  Plaza was much busier.  I've also seen P&L completely dead on most Mon/Tue/Wed even if nice weather while Plaza would have a steady stream of people on the streets.

It leads me to almost conclude (what is obvious to many) that for P&L to succeed, there will need to be near daily events (Sprint Center, Bartle, Midland, PAC, KC Live, etc) in order for it to succeed.  P&L in itself doesn't seem to be a draw, at least enough to sustain itself.  I don't think AMC movie theatre will draw metro people unless they have premieres before released to other theaters.  The retail won't be a draw unless having very unique stores desired by the whole metro.  Population would probably have to triple within walking distance in order for P&L to succeed w/out daily events.

Near daily events should probably be the primary focus to draw people downtown, not P&L itself.  P&L is a great addition for side things to do for events but is in itself not a draw.

BTW, I do most of my shopping at downtown Consentinos now even though I live on the Plaza but otherwise tend to only go for a few area events. I certainly don't go for the restaurants. BTW2, I noticed Consentinos charged double price for water and pop bottles for the NCAA tourney.

wow debbie downer.

[trailerkid]

wow debbie downer.

nothing to do with being a downer...there is a good reason cordish went in on funkhouser and our miserable leadership many months ago. the city gave up trying to help downtown a long time ago.

no hotel, no new condos, no arena tenant...P+L will never meet expectations when not given the chance to succeed. I get that the tiny downtown population is happy about P+L but they're not going to keep everything open as it was designed for tourists.

[KCPowercat]

nothing to do with being a downer...there is a good reason cordish went in on funkhouser and our miserable leadership many months ago. the city gave up trying to help downtown a long time ago.

no hotel, no new condos, no arena tenant...P+L will never meet expectations when not given the chance to succeed. I get that the tiny downtown population is happy about P+L but they're not going to keep everything open as it was designed for tourists.

well it was a joke but you bring up some good points...the city (and it's taxpayers) has helped out plenty downtown actually...time for Cordish to fly on it's own.

No hotel, no condos....directly tied to the economy...no tenant, directly tied to no teams moving.

This is typical KC (and I guess regional) attitude...the district has been open one year right into the worst economy in generations...and comments are already out there trying to bury it...wow.  Nice work, I didn't even think KC could jump to conclusions that quickly.

[trailerkid]

well it was a joke but you bring up some good points...the city (and it's taxpayers) has helped out plenty downtown actually...time for Cordish to fly on it's own.

No hotel, no condos....directly tied to the economy...no tenant, directly tied to no teams moving.

This is typical KC (and I guess regional) attitude...the district has been open one year right into the worst economy in generations...and comments are already out there trying to bury it...wow.   Nice work, I didn't even think KC could jump to conclusions that quickly.

The housing + hotel (MIXED USE) was part of the original plan. How will Cordish "fly on its own" with major parts of the plane missing? TIF the hotel + turn the residential into apartments. They are VACANT LOTS right now. A good amount of business for the district is supposed to come from sporting events at the Sprint Center (the core market for the KC Live block) as well as expanded convention activity downtown. Neither is happening. Adding 1200 rooms for a HQ hotel could really take downtown places and help secure a positive fate for P+L. It is just at a tipping point right now and you have to be blind not to notice...

It's so transparent whenever people play the "oh you want it to fail" or "negativity" card against anyone with honest concerns about the way the city is handling the P+L. P+L was an awesome step forward, but we risk destroying what has been created by ignoring the fact that it won't thrive without continued efforts to attract more tourists and residents downtown. The area is mostly geared against neighborhood uses so it's imperative the city look at every way possible to attract more visitors downtown (cvb, sprint center, whatever). Call me what you want...but a couple old hotels and a Fleetwood Mac concert are not enough to sustain the district. Not by a long shot.

[KCPowercat]

The debate has raged on concerning the district needing the arena, so not getting back into it....but numbers have been posted showing there are much larger consumer bases out there than arena customers. 

I do live in the neighborhood and use the district, at least every other day.

The city has sufficient risk in the district currently. Sure I want the new condo towers, hq hotel, etc. But I also see that's not really feasible right now.