OFFICIAL - Arena construction

[kard]

Sitting at Willie's last night, we noticed the giant wall just north of Truman road.  I think the loading dock is behind it.

I'm being super critical here, but want to know why the dock was put there.

-why does the loading dock dump on to Grand, directly across from the PnL?  the other side of the building would surely have less pedestrian traffic.
-while The Wall "hides" the dock, it obliterates any kind of pedestrian interaction.  Yesterday the city sent information about the street scape work being done on Truman Road.  It will be interesting to see what we get there.
-Grand is a Boulevard.  Semi's aren't generally allowed on Boulevards.  I would imagine the Parks Board is ok with this?

[eliphar17]

I'm being super critical here, but want to know why the dock was put there.

That is the lowest part of the site. The point of a service entrance is to have easy access to the lower levels of the arena. There was really no other feasible way to do it, not with limestone just beneath the surface making it expensive to dig down at any other part of the site. This was one of the big issues during the design of the arena - how to locate the service entrance to satisfy both cost and aesthetic considerations. I think it's a pretty good compromise.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I'm being super critical here, but want to know why the dock was put there.


-Grand is a Boulevard.  Semi's aren't generally allowed on Boulevards.  I would imagine the Parks Board is ok with this?

Well, there has to be a loading dock somewhere and sometimes that somewhere may not be the bests in looks but one sometimes has to take the bad with the good.

Semi's can be on blvds if they are going to a location that is located on the blvd. 

[KCPowercat]

this was mentioned in another thread but they are putting up an electronic sign on top of the ticket office windows...probably just boring black and white board for future events.

[BVC]

this was mentioned in another thread but they are putting up an electronic sign on top of the ticket office windows...probably just boring black and white board for future events.

Incredible, breaking news...

[LenexatoKCMO]

Well, there has to be a loading dock somewhere and sometimes that somewhere may not be the bests in looks but one sometimes has to take the bad with the good.

Semi's can be on blvds if they are going to a location that is located on the blvd. 

I think they have actually done a pretty creative job of dealing with the docks from the Grand facing side of the building.  The angled wall they built for it kind of draws the crowd up towards the ticket windows and works pretty well with the geometry of the arena.  Its the Truman road facing portion of the dock that is going to be the real stinker, with one long continuous concrete wall up to the sidewalk.  As folks have said - it has to go somewhere . . .  I do wish they could have done something a little spiffier with the corner of Grand and Truman. 

[tat2kc]

It looks like there will be a gate on Grand at the loading dock. If they design the gate right, it could be pretty cool.

[KCPowercat]

Incredible, breaking news...

To each his own...I just report it.

One thing that surprised me on my daily walk to the sprint center is the # of exit doors on the ground floor on the very west portion beside the ticket booth...I would think there would be a lot of exits there to facilitate 18k exiting people.....maybe there is a bar going in right there so there will be limited entrances????  Sure doesn't appear that way in any of the published drawings.

[eliphar17]

The ground floor is not the main concourse, it is one level below. They wouldn't have exits for the main arena crowd on that level. And as far as I know, there's not a major exit on the west or southwest sides.

[KCPowercat]

I understand that but I would think there would have to be a ton of exits in all areas for fire safety. 

Even though that's not the main level, like the main entrance isn't the main concourse.  I'm sure they have it figured out better than my 2 minute analysis.

[aknowledgeableperson]

...I would think there would be a lot of exits there to facilitate 18k exiting people.....maybe there is a bar going in right there so there will be limited entrances???? 

Are you assuming that everyone will be coming from or going to one direction?  True, I have not looked at the detailed drawings (I do have more important things to do than to drool over some pictures).  I do find it hard to believe that, for safety reasons, that all people will be directed into one direction.  Most people want to get out of an arena as fast as they can after an event so I do not find it hard to believe that people will exit from the east and north and then walk around so that they can go to the P&L afterwards if they so desire (bet a large majority will be heading to their cars though).

[KCPowercat]

No I'm not assuming that.  I'm assuming the arena has multiple huge "exit only" doors all over....all I said was walking by today, where I expected them to be, there were only 3 doors....which I found odd.

No doubt, when leaving, everybody wants out as soon as possible.  Snide remarks about where they will choose to go are ignored. 

[anniewarbucks]

I do not think that the number of exits or lack of will keep the fans from exiting at their own speed. Here in Topeka at the Kansas Expocenter we only have 5 total exits out of Landon Arena.

[DaveKCMO]

i was driving east on 16th street between wyandotte and baltimore and was startled at the incredible view of the arena from that angle... it seemed soooo much bigger. i'm usually on foot further east.

[anniewarbucks]

Was over there today with my parents and they thought it was neet. it is comming along real nice.

[KCKev]

i was driving east on 16th street between wyandotte and baltimore and was startled at the incredible view of the arena from that angle... it seemed soooo much bigger. i'm usually on foot further east.

Is this the view?

[K.C.Highrise]

damn........... that's nice...................

[tat2kc]

i absolutely love the contrast between the older brick buildings and the sleek style of the all glass arena.  its such a departure from a traditional building design.

[moderne]

Buildings with a simple basic shape but on a large scale often become great landmarks unique to the locality.

[anniewarbucks]

From the webcam, they are starting to paint the sprint logo on the top of the arena. There is a wide yellow stripe down the center of the roof.