Downtown Mission/ The Gateway

[mistervinix]

Oh well. So much for this being a unique project. Look at what happened to Blue Ridge Mall...

[NDTeve]

Oh well. So much for this being a unique project. Look at what happened to Blue Ridge Mall...

Great...sure that will bring a real desirable crowd to the neighborhood.

[kcmetro]

Why does every new development have to include a fucking Wal-Mart?

[AJoD]

Wow.

Here's a letter sent to Mission residents:

http://media.kansascity.com/smedia/2011 ... .So.81.pdf

Surprisingly, the comments to the Collison story chrizow linked are not inane.

[GRID]

Does anything say FAIL more than this? Walmart will be the anchor tenant of a massively state subsidized project in mission. If you can't develop a great infill spot like this using crazy STAR bond incentives with anything other than a walmart anchored project, then that should tell you something about how over built retail in in joco and how little demand there is to build new urbanisim walkable communities in KC. I mean this is only a few miles from the plaza and would have been one of the only places on the KS side that was something other than single family housing zoned separately from everything else. Is there no demand for urban development in KS for those that would never live in MO?

Not to mention, the state will subsidize the bleep out of a development that will no doubt create blight right down the road in Roeland park where there is walmart only a mile away.

Absolutely insane. Another case of the worst state use of incentives I have seen anywhere in the country. The corporate welfare in ks continues. KCK (east of 635) should be the ONLY freaking place in KS where STAR bonds should be allowed after the initial speedway project.

[KCJhawker]

From August:

The developer of the proposed $180 million Mission Gateway redevelopment project has been granted another construction extension to receive millions in state incentives.

Kansas granted Gateway Developers LLC a six-month extension — to Dec. 5 — on a deadline to break ground and remain eligible for $63 million in sales tax revenue, or STAR, bonds. A previous six-month extension expired in June without progress at the site, at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Johnson Drive.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/p ... bonds.html

These seems like quite the rush job to save the $63 million.

[AJoD]

Reaction on Mission's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/CityofMissionK ... tif_t=like

[FangKC]

Why does every new development have to include a fucking Wal-Mart?

Wal-Mart appears to be the only retailer left in America.

[FangKC]

I predict the aquarium portion of this project never gets built. I would wager there is only a 50/50 percent chance that the apartments will get built.

I imagine that there will be some push-back from Mission residents over the Wal-Mart based on past reaction.

[Stockton]

Oh well. So much for this being a unique project. Look at what happened to Blue Ridge Mall...

Blue Ridge Crossing is a great development for that part of town. But it appears the Mission project is still going to be unique and innovative for this region and will still be utilizing the great location of the Gateway.

"“This is the best development announcement to occur with this project for a long time,” Valenti said.

Mayor Laura McConwell of Mission said the revised project still retained the key elements her city wanted for the massive development tract.

“We’re happy all the mixed-use elements remain, and we’re staying true to our community’s vision,” she said.

Besides Wal-Mart and the aquarium, other elements of the 26-acre development include an additional 150,000 square feet of retail; 300 apartments; 150,000 square feet of office space; 3,000 parking spaces; a 35,000-square-foot movie complex; and a 45,000-square-foot fitness center.

The project will have several levels, Valenti said, and the Wal-Mart will be on the ground level with access from Johnson Drive, Roeland, and Roe.

“You’re not going to realize it’s a Wal-Mart,” he said. “They’re committed to doing something special there.”

Architectural details are still to be worked out, but Valenti said the revised project “will have some height to it” and the apartments might rise eight to 10 stories."

I first assumed if any new-urban elements were retained in the project it would mean Walmart would be a rather typical store layout facing SM PKWY while the rest of the project was new urbanism. Based on that assumption I was startled when I read Walmart would face Johnson Dr and Roe. However, as you can see in the above quote once I read on I was happily surprised to see it appears the Walmart and entire project will still be unique and remain new urbanism. How well implemented it will be? We won't have a better idea until we see renerings.

Walmart is not that bad, especially if it's innovative and unique. This store will be 150K sq ft vs what was originally going to be over 200K. Roeland Park will not suffer. The Bella Roe Plaza is nice and will continue to thrive, despite the fact it should have been more urban in the first place. The Walmart there is ghetto anyway and obsolete (I mean, isn't it an old "discount city" building?).

It's nice to see the project has been humbled while remaining unique. After all, Mission is not Fairway or Prairie Village. While I applaud their development efforts, the economy just hasn't been friendly for demanding higher standards, so I'm happy with this outcome.

[KCMax]

What's nice about the Bella Roe Plaza? It is your typical strip mall parking lagoon, and worse yet, the bricks used for crosswalks (in bad locations where no one uses them) are already deteriorating. They could have made that thing way more ped-friendly, especially considering how many families I do see trying to traverse the huge parking lagoon.

[Stockton]

What's nice about the Bella Roe Plaza? It is your typical strip mall parking lagoon, and worse yet, the bricks used for crosswalks (in bad locations where no one uses them) are already deteriorating. They could have made that thing way more ped-friendly, especially considering how many families I do see trying to traverse the huge parking lagoon.

No doubt there was greater potential when RP was redeveloped. But my point is I don't believe closing that ghetto Walmart is going to lead to "blight".

[AJoD]

I imagine that there will be some push-back from Mission residents over the Wal-Mart based on past reaction.

Yeah, see the facebook page linked above. BUT...to Stockton's point, I'm still hopeful this can work out positively, and I don't think Walmart in and of itself is a negative. Just the consistent pattern over the past five years of having an decreasingly attractive plan. This is not for the Gateway, but someone on that Facebook thread linked this rendering of an urban Walmart somewhere else:

[mistervinix]

I expect the next "shoe to drop" to be when they announce it will be built "in phases, with the Walmart being built first". Translation: the rest of it will still be years and years away from being built, if ever. And high-rise apartments/condos? Didn't the nearby residents kill that idea in earlier plans?

[lock+load]

Who will want to live right next to Walmart? And what high quality office tenant wants to be in the parking lot of a Walmart? Horrible plan.

Take down the fence, grade the land, plant some grass and wait for the economy to improve and bring a better project.

[GRID]

Who will want to live right next to Walmart? And what high quality office tenant wants to be in the parking lot of a Walmart? Horrible plan.

Take down the fence, grade the land, plant some grass and wait for the economy to improve and bring a better project.

This ^

[chrizow]

this is seriously like some kind of terrible joke. an "urban" wal-mart and a Z-grade aquarium on such a prime site?

[FangKC]

Who will want to live right next to Walmart? And what high quality office tenant wants to be in the parking lot of a Walmart? Horrible plan.

Most people probably wouldn't, but if the Wal-Mart (especially with a grocery store and pharmacy inside) was built like the rending above, and there were other shops and services in walking distance, with apartments built above or nearby, there are plenty of seniors and disabled people that would. People who can no longer drive want and need to live close to such services.

[grovester]

Just to be clear, these are the same folks who lived next to the mission mall. There is no residential immediately adjacent to the site. That said, I agree, the walmart will get built and the rest will not, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, on the public dime. And RP will wither.

[Highlander]

I imagine that there will be some push-back from Mission residents over the Wal-Mart based on past reaction.

Yeah, see the facebook page linked above. BUT...to Stockton's point, I'm still hopeful this can work out positively, and I don't think Walmart in and of itself is a negative. Just the consistent pattern over the past five years of having an decreasingly attractive plan. This is not for the Gateway, but someone on that Facebook thread linked this rendering of an urban Walmart somewhere else:

Will the Walmart look like this? While it's still a Walmart, at least it's not aesthetically hideous. If it is a standard garden variety Walmart, kiss a nice part of quasi-urban Johnson County goodbye.