OFFICIAL: The Legends at Village West

[GRID]

They are not going to KCK. Come on people, HR has more sense than that. This is a typical rumor started by Kansans that think the whole city is moving to KS because they have NFM and Cabellas.

Downtown is going to pull this off with cordish and the arena.

[QueSi2Opie]

This is a typical rumor started by Kansans that think the whole city is moving to KS because they have NFM and Cabellas.

The Dude is spendin' too much time in Olathe.

[TheDude]

HR has not been announced yet cause RED is keeping all of this info extremely confidential; they will drop the bomb when they get a theater lined up (which UG has issued an RFP for and will technically "own" it just so they can get the 1,000,000 sf of retail kicked off). in addition to HR, you will see a lot of unique retailers in Legends not currently in the KC market; a lot of these retailers have been wanting to go downtown but no longer are willing to wait, esp since they can get extremely low rent rates due to the STAR bond financing (if you dont know what that is, i will be happy to explain how this tool is being used to finance construction of all of these projects) i am getting this information from reliable inside sources all, not just rumours, but nothing is a done deal until they turn dirt. i agree that this will be a symbolic slap at KC for not getting its sh#t together.

[KCPowercat]

puff, puff, give man.

[QueSi2Opie]

HR has not been announced yet cause RED is keeping all of this info extremely confidential; they will drop the bomb when they get a theater lined up (which UG has issued an RFP for and will technically "own" it just so they can get the 1,000,000 sf of retail kicked off). in addition to HR, you will see a lot of unique retailers in Legends not currently in the KC market; a lot of these retailers have been wanting to go downtown but no longer are willing to wait, esp since they can get extremely low rent rates due to the STAR bond financing (if you dont know what that is, i will be happy to explain how this tool is being used to finance construction of all of these projects) i am getting this information from reliable inside sources all, not just rumours, but nothing is a done deal until they turn dirt. i agree that this will be a symbolic slap at KC for not getting its sh#t together.

Okay, I'm biting. Is it goin' to be a Hard Rock Cafe or a Hard Rock Hotel? It wouldn't completely surprise me if a HRH went to the Speedway and a HRC went downtown.

[GRID]

puff, puff, give man.

huh?

There is no way redneck village will get these types of tennants, it's a rural area with no decent demographics for ten miles. Free land, free bonds, free road and other infrastruture improvements and you still will not see places like HR go out there.

They can talk all they want about who they want to bring out there, but till it opens, I won't believe it.

Downtown will pull this off, Downtown has to pull this off or KC is in trouble.

[dangerboy]

HR is going to Speedway!! Cordish will collect their $500k and move on

Are you serious? Where did you find this info? It's not on the Legend's website.

He is just speculating.

[trailerkid]

RED now officially lists Legends opening date as Spring of 2005 on its web site...a long freaking time away.

Rumors may be true about Legends stealing most (if not all) of the thunder from the downtown entertainment district. Back in August, RED confirmed at a business forum they were in talks with Virgin, Nike, Gameworks, and ESPN Zone...which means little, but that they are aiming to become "the" tourist spot in KC.

[GRID]

From KCBJ August 2003:

"Dan Lowe, a partner with RED Development, said he hopes to begin announcing retail, restaurant and entertainment tenants for The Legends in about 30 days. The project will open next year."

We will see, I know RED is going after those tennants, but they would be stupid as hell to go there with Cordish about to announce it's developemt.

[kcmajik]

but that they are aiming to become "the" tourist spot in KC.

wouldn't that be nice for "OUR" tourist spot to be out in the friggin burbs! lol - oh well, it will be an attraction the JOCO people will feel safe attending

[QueSi2Opie]

wouldn't that be nice for "OUR" tourist spot to be out in the friggin burbs! lol - oh well, it will be an attraction the JOCO people will feel safe attending

JOCO people feelin' safe in WYCO?! NEVER!!! Only South of 119th Street will we ever feel safe...along with our gated community and hummers.

[KCK]

I don't know about Legends, but the AppleBee's at village west just opened. Let me tell you, it is really nice having an AppleBee's within 5 miles of my house. Also this might not seem like a big deal to KCMO or JOCO folk, but Nebraska Furniture Mart is great for me, because for the first time ever, I have a large electronics store near my house. I live about 5 miles away. Before this I had to go to Best Buy in Lenexa, which is about 20 miles away. I'm not so thrilled about WYCO trying to be a tourist spot, but I appreciate these two places at least. I guess Cabela's isn't bad either, my sister works there, and she gets me pretty good discounts on fishing equipment. The whole Nascar thing is not my cup of tea, but the track brings certain new oppurtunities to KC. For instance at a place that large, you could put on a quite large car show, like a Nationals event, with Hot Rods, Lowriders, Imports, pretty much everything. It would get good magazine coverage and make KC look good.

Now what KCK needs to do is get as much higher density residential out there as possible. I mean apartments, townhomes, and duplexes, in this area, and then tout this as a cheaper alternative to JOCO for living. This might actually work since it's right near the highways I435 and I70, and is located in the best school distric t in KCK, Piper School District. This just might help to raise the population of Wyandotte county. Besides after a large number of consumers move into an area, businesses follow quickly.

Of course further north still in the Piper School District, I would develop larger scale subdivisions and fill up that farm land with single family homes. This is what JOCO did in order to achieve higher populations and we should know by now that we have to do anything it takes to succeed, even become as bland as JOCO, if it means that we will have steady population growth and a steady influx of new businesses.

I would also suggest that KCK try fighting with JOCO cities for corporate business. Give them whatever they want, but convince them that KCK would be a good deal. This kind of business can start a dominoe effect that brings economic prosperity into KCK. Besides, some nice mid rises would look really good out by the racetrack, or as a backdrop for T-Bones games. Look where Wichita's minor league stadium is located. It's right near downtown, but ours is in the country, but that allows us to build up around it.

If we do this right, it will be like building a new city out there, one that is free from the problems of the past.

[TheDude]

DMW--I double your comment--Speedway is great for KCK and its western residents. Finally services are being provided that were long over due. What's sad is downtown KCK--it seems that there is no hope and no amount of taxes raised at the speedway will be able to address those issues.

[KCPowercat]

too bad they had to relocate 100's of families (and screw them over in the process) to do it.

[KCK]

too bad they had to relocate 100's of families (and screw them over in the process) to do it.

Hundreds my ass. It was like 50 families, which were paid 125% of their property values and they let them keep the houses and move them if they wanted. Not exactly a screw over.

A screw over would be what happened to my dad when he was a kid. He lived in a housing area in KCK where the Bob Dole courthouse now sits. The city took the land from the owners (primarily black families) and tore all the houses down, then let it sit vacant for 30 years before building the Bob Dole courthouse. Not only this, but they didn't even pay the homeowners the value of the homes. KCK city government has always been fucked.

[phxcat]

I don't know what they were paid at the Speedway, but for a piece of land that large, I don't think that many people were removed. I think about the only place where you could have displaced fewer would have been the Sunflower plant.

[KCPowercat]

DMW....just stop. My parents lived that, I know exactly what they went through....it was not a sweet deal. PM me if you want more info. it was way more than 50 families as well.

[KCK]

Do you think that this kind of emminent domain is a bad thing? I really don't think so in this situation. 150 families, at lets say 4 people per family. That is 600 people, just a rough estimate. How much housing has been built, or proposed to be built because of the speedway moving out there? Im not sure on this, but I have been reading the kck planning commissions web site, and there are a lot of new subdivisions, townhouses, and even apartments being proposed for that area. Also how many commercial developments are being built out there because of the speedway? Ive found recent population estimates, and they suggest that in 2001, KCK actually grew by 1000 people, however in 2002, we lost 500 people, but that still leaves us 500 people up, which is a minor growth since the census. Since kck had only lost residents until recently, specifically when they finished the race track, then it can be assumed that the track had some impact.

Simply put even for KCK, that area was dead, with few stores, and only one over priced gas station (Kay's Korner for those who know the area). The areas where the housing was located had no potential for growth, and did little to help Kansas City Kansas grow. As soon as the racetrack was built, not just Piper experienced growth. 2 hotels and a Wendy's were built at 78th and I70, wal-mart built a supercenter in Bonner Springs in fact all around the Bonner exit at I70 is built up with businesses. Ten years ago there was nothing there.

Suppose for one second they hadn't built the racetrack. What do you think would have happened to KCK in 10 years? My guess is that more than 600 people would have moved out to Johnson County. This is war, there will always be casualties. The nascar track may be a private facility, but it served public interest, in this case the public is the rest of the residents of KCK. With this kind of boost maybe we can make a comeback. Then again maybe not.

[KCPowercat]

I don't think eminent domain is bad for the most part. Many people argued if eminent domain should be used to bring in private developers that were getting huge tax breaks though. Eminent Domain by definition is the taking of public land for public use.

Most were fine with it. Got them out of the highest property tax county in the state.

In this case, it's easy to see it was a net gain for the city (well in 30 years when taxes actually roll in from any of this) but it is still a bit of a moral decision for the gov't.

[phxcat]

Do you have a link for that information? I'd like to see what is proposed out there. As for emminent domain, although that was a privatte project, it is one that would almost be impossible for a private comany to pull off, just for land aquisition. The city also needs to help coordinate in order for it to become an entertainment center, not just a sports comlpex. And NASCAR is unique from other sports in that more people come from out of town, drop off their money and leave.

Even if the city doesn't get taxes from the complex for thirty years, there should be extraneous development, like what DMW was talking about that would be taxable.