Olathe/OP grab the Wizards and build them a Stadium

[GRID]

Do hispanics really care about the Wizards?  I think they care about Mexico's "football" team, but I think hispanic market for the Wizards is about the same as any other race and its way overrated on this forum.

The Wizards market demographic is a mirror image of the 159th and US 69 site of the stadium.  Suburban white families with money.

[KCMax]

Retail around stadium will not ask for tax aid

Expected retail development around the proposed Wizards stadium and youth soccer complex will not involve government help, Kent Price, a partner in Price Bros. Real Estate, Overland Park, said Friday.

"We're not asking for any financial help from the city," Price said. "This project can stand alone."...

In addition to questioning whether the proposed complex would attract retail business without government assistance, anti-tax activist Wayne Flaherty, Overland Park, also questioned plans for the 24-field, youth soccer complex. He said the fields would not cost the full $75 million being requested, with a lot of money being spent on service buildings, including concession stands. Tax opponent Tom Miller, Leawood, said Monday that the complex would include an $8 million building.


Park Director Michael Meadors said the big building would represent phase one of the park master plan to construct four community centers at key Johnson County sites. The center comes under the heading of "training and community facilities" in the bond issue that goes to voters Nov. 7.


Meadors said the facility's size and amenities depend on how much money is left after the top reason for the ballot issue - to build youth soccer fields - is complete. For now, the idea is to build a 40,000-square-foot center with two gyms to serve the public, and with offices from which park staff can run programs, he said....

The Wizards stadium plan remains undecided. The plan would cost tens of millions to implement, but no actual price tag has been presented to the public.

Wizards owners seek a sales tax and revenue bond from Overland Park to defray their construction costs. City officials are working on the STAR bond plan and will seek public opinions at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, at City Hall.

[KCMax]

Plan’s benefits touted, but price is a concern

The Overland Park site also poses challenges.

Soil borings done in 1986 show that nowhere on the tract is there more than 12 feet of soil covering underlying limestone, and in some cases there is exposed rock. That could significantly increase development costs.

Surveys from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service also show that soils in the area are less than ideal for dwellings, roads and streets, but could be bolstered with reinforced foundations, better drainage, and sand and gravel.

The site would also require a nearly $58 million interchange at U.S. 69 and 159th Street, as well as major road improvements at the 167th Street and U.S. 69 interchange, said Nachbar, the city manager.

Kansas transportation officials have blessed the 159th Street interchange but said they will not commit funds to pay for it.

U.S. 69 and 159th Street are already stressed just to meet current traffic levels, neighbors and city officials say, and would need work.

The Overland Park site would also need significant grading and drainage and contains some wetlands areas, said Doug Price of Price Brothers, the firm that owns the land.

The land cost at the youth soccer site is estimated at $17 million. Site work, drainage, fields, lighting and irrigation is estimated to cost $30.4 million more.

Longtime resident Norm Ledgin is skeptical.

“There’s a good chance this is going to be built. There’s a good chance millions of dollars will be spent,â€

[chrizow]

what does a $58M interchange look like?    is that standard?

[kard]

what does a $58M interchange look like?    is that standard?

It is a little ironic...or maybe just sad...that the project costs 70-something million and a single highway interchange for it--a supporting detail--costs nearly as much.

[DaveKCMO]

can't they just tear down metcalf south?

[kard]

can't they just tear down metcalf south?

This is about four-times the size of Metcalf South.

Today's article in the Star mentions the plan for Olathe, which would have demo'ed the Great Mall for it but it was too small, too.

[knucklehead]

I am skeptical about how much incremental sales tax revenue the retail for the project will produce for Johnson county or Overland Park. Most of the sales at the new retail will just canablize sales at other tax paying johnson county businesses.

The project would bring in some new business -- i.e. out of county people visiting the project, but given its location, I can't see that many Jackson, Platte or Clay county people going out there for anything but an actual Wizards game.

[kcdcchef]

This is about four-times the size of Metcalf South.

Today's article in the Star mentions the plan for Olathe, which would have demo'ed the Great Mall for it but it was too small, too.

wow, demo'ing the great mall after all of what, 15 years or so? amazing how long cutting edge suburban retail lasts, it really is.

[KCMax]

Team’s financial details fuzzy

Overland Park has proposed building a new stadium for the Wizards using tax money. But at this point, the Wizards owners are mum on whether they will open their financial records to the public....

Since its inception in 1996, Major League Soccer has closely guarded its financial records, but it is thought to have lost nearly $250 million in the first decade.

Wizards and Major League Soccer officials have said a soccer-specific stadium is needed if the team is to survive financially.

That’s why the team hopes a new Wizards stadium can be built as the centerpiece of a soccer complex proposed at 159th Street and U.S. 69. The city of Overland Park has started the groundwork for securing a state tax incentive to help finance the stadium, which would cost between $50 million and $67 million, according to a 2005 feasibility study.

Such an investment of public money makes Overland Park City Council member Terry Goodman want to know more about the long-term viability of professional soccer.

“Speaking only for myself, I’m going to be interested in learning some numbers,â€

[GRID]

I was for this project till I read the article in the Star today.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 588450.htm

First off, it's sounding more and more like this project is going to fail anyway.  They want the wizards to open their books...if those "books" show the team is profitable, they will say the wizards should pay for it, if the team looses money, they will not want to take a risk on a team that may leave town or fold.

I was like, come on OP, just build the damn thing, it would be great for OP, JoCo and most of all "KC", the entire metropolitan area.

But when I read the last sentence article from some op snob.

"Three weeks ago, Ilya and Michel Frumkin of Overland Park signed a contract to build a $500,000 home in the same subdivision."

“These aren’t cheap homes out like where the Chiefs and the Royals play,â€

[KCMax]

I understand your frustration, but its likely that Northlanders would be just as big NIMBYs as JoCoers.

[kard]

I understand your frustration, but its likely that Northlanders would be just as big NIMBYs as JoCoers.

You really think so?

[phxcat]

You really think so?

Yes

[phxcat]

I was for this project till I read the article in the Star today.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 588450.htm

First off, it's sounding more and more like this project is going to fail anyway.  They want the wizards to open their books...if those "books" show the team is profitable, they will say the wizards should pay for it, if the team looses money, they will not want to take a risk on a team that may leave town or fold.

I was like, come on OP, just build the damn thing, it would be great for OP, JoCo and most of all "KC", the entire metropolitan area.

But when I read the last sentence article from some op snob.

"Three weeks ago, Ilya and Michel Frumkin of Overland Park signed a contract to build a $500,000 home in the same subdivision."

“These aren’t cheap homes out like where the Chiefs and the Royals play,” he said. “We’re talking about people who have put out some pretty big coin.”

You know what mr op?, it's relative, "those people" by the stadiums have just as must vested as you do, they just don't make $150,000 a year (or have $100,000 in revolving debt), yet they are the ones the pay for the stadiums that are primarily used by Johnson Countians who are too good to live near the stadiums or help pay for them.

It just never ends does it?

Screw this project I hope to hell it dies now and Cerner helps build this in the northland someplace.

Those people just hav no clue what they are talking about.  The houses out by the TSC are not cheap because of the TSC, they are cheap because they are cheap.  Out here, house values near the Cardinals stadium are only expected to increase all the more because of the stadium.

[Cyclops]

[quote="GRID"]
"Three weeks ago, Ilya and Michel Frumkin of Overland Park signed a contract to build a $500,000 home in the same subdivision."

“These aren’t cheap homes out like where the Chiefs and the Royals play,â€

[Tosspot]

There are opinionated dipshits in every neighborhood in the metro.

[Cyclops]

[KCMax]

You really think so?

I don't think anyone in the suburbs wants a soccer stadium/complex in their backyard.

A lot of people I talk to in JoCo want this - except those that live in the southern part near 159th and 69 Highway. Its tough to get a feel on whether or not this will pass - particularly since there isn't a stadium plan yet.

[GRID]

I think this is a great project, I really do, but god dammit, these kinds of comments get old, they really do.  And no, they don't come out of the Northland or Lee's Summit at anywhere near the frequency that they do from JoCo.  I am a born and raised KCMO kid, if I felt like I was constantly being looked down on by Norhtlanders, I would have major issues with that area of town too, but it just doesn't happen, as a matter of fact, most northlanders I know have issues with JoCo too.  There is a reason for that.

Why would I (or anybody else) want to drive out to god's country for a soccer game and be judged by my MO plates or the older car I drive?  Why do you think so many Missourians "judge" JoCo now?  It was not un-provoked.

I try, I really do, I want JoCo to be a part of the city, hell, they are over 1/4 the population of the metro and nearly half the metro's damn economy and all we get out them is insults, every kind of insult imaginable, from simply looking down on the rest of the metro to killing and thwarting any kind of metro cooporation to literally luring companies away from the MO side.  Nothing IMO good has come out of JoCo that truly benefits the region as a whole.

And now they have a chance and here we go again, the bullshit remarks etc start coming out as usual, yet not one damn mention of this being good for the metropolitan area, it's all about Johnson County or it doesn't happen.

I truly feel sorry for the people out there that get a bad rap from the image that so many create, but I feel worse for our region which has such a large and important part of its metropolitan area that just refuses to "get on the same page".

sorry cyclops...I would just much rather see this development up by Gladstone, Liberty, Tiffany Springs, Riverside or out by Lee's Summit, Independence or out by the speedway or even by the truman sports complex (where people don't care what they live by I guess) than in southern johnson county, the only place my firm has actually done licence plate surveys to see how many MO cars are going through a neighbored (near Hallbrook).