EPA moving to Lenexa from downtown KCK

[kcmetro]

This article mentions the EPA move.

http://www.grist.org/sprawl/2011-05-31- ... e-campuses

[brewcrew1000]

This article mentions the EPA move.

http://www.grist.org/sprawl/2011-05-31- ... e-campuses

To quote the article
"The whole corporate campus seems a little dated," says Joe Mansueto, chairman and CEO of Morningstar

Thanks a lot Sprint

[Highlander]

To quote the article
"The whole corporate campus seems a little dated," says Joe Mansueto, chairman and CEO of Morningstar

Thanks a lot Sprint

Maybe so but Exxon, here in Houston, just announced construction of a corporate campus in the Houston Burbs of The Woodlands that will house some 8000 employees. The fallout will be the abandonement of several office buildings around Houston, 2 of which are already suburban, and a 44 story building downtown.  It's funny to read the comments, sound a lot like KCrag forumers complaining about JoCo stealing from KC (the Woodlands have become the location of choice for several former Houston city companies). 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bus ... 02126.html

[KCPowercat]

Oil company just padding their numbers....make everybody drive to work.

[pash]

.

[aknowledgeableperson]

www.stltoday.com/business/local/article ... 892a2.html

"A 2009 Brookings Institution study found jobs moving farther from the urban core in 95 of the 98 metro areas analyzed. But the migratory patterns spread wider in St. Louis. Using 2006 data, that study ranked St. Louis eighth in job dispersion, with more than half of jobs located more than 10 miles from downtown St. Louis. Only 14 percent of jobs were within three miles of the center."

"NISC hires a lot of young engineers, computer experts and technical workers. Increasingly, Chief Operating Officer Dan Wilbanks finds that his young hires were raised in modern suburban subdivisions, many of them in St. Charles and west St. Louis County. They like the lifestyle. 'It's very comfortable for them,' says Wilbanks."

[KCPowercat]

Did they need a study to figure that out?  Historically jobs have been centered in the urban core....so there is only one way for them to go.  Only a matter of time before they move back given thats where alternative transit options and the new generations are choosing to live.

[pash]

.

[aknowledgeableperson]

New generations?????????

"NISC hires a lot of young engineers, computer experts and technical workers. Increasingly, Chief Operating Officer Dan Wilbanks finds that his young hires were raised in modern suburban subdivisions, many of them in St. Charles and west St. Louis County. They like the lifestyle. 'It's very comfortable for them,'

[KCPowercat]

New generations are choosing the urban cores to live. They were raised in the burbs and are looking for a more exciting life. All the Gen y and creative class info shows this.....but ignorning that data in favor of broad general "maybe yes / maybe no" posts is more fun I guess.

[chrizow]

well, there is no doubt that lots and lots of new college grads are choosing to live in the burbs, often the very same burbs they grew up in.  it's just also true that a growing percentage of those young folks is choosing the urban core.  

i imagine that the percentage of young folks choosing urban vs. suburban varies from metro to metro.  just anecdotally, my brother works in west STL county and manages a team of a couple dozen 25-40 year old programmers and other IT professionals, zero of which live in STL City, though one lives in University City in an urban fashion.  

my bro lives in west county also, 40 miles from the City, never had an interest in the City, and his neighborhood seemingly contains a lot of people in the 25-35 y/o range. 

sorry if this sounds like an AKP post, but it's true.  

[KCPowercat]

Obviously people live in both....the data shows overall though more are choosing cities than in the past.

[KCPowercat]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/0 ... whit_n_569
226.html

[chrizow]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/0 ... whit_n_569
226.html

sure, i realize that.  i think that compared to most metros, STL is probably on the back end of this emerging trend, which is reflected in the article AKP cited about St. Chuck.  KC is clearly not an new urban frontrunner, but it is more "new economy" than STL and is probably a few steps closer to the Atlantas, Charlottes, and Denvers of the US than the STLs. 

[GRID]

I would say that downtown KCK is more of a liability than the suburbs when it comes to attracting young talent.  What in the world does Downtown KCK offer?  I would much rather work in Lenexa than Downtown KCK.  There is no transit, there is almost no real urban vibe there, the existing EPA is basically a tiny island far from the good things about both suburban office parks and the atmosphere of working in a downtown core.  This is not a true downtown vs suburban comparison.  There is only one true downtown in kc and it's in Missouri.

Downtown KCK needs so much more investment for it to even begin to be a desirable place to work (or live or play).    I think moving the EPA to KCK was a good experiment, a test to see if such an investment would spark more interest.  The experiment failed.  Kansas companies like Sprint, Garmen, Black and Veatch etc have had zero interest in downtown KCK.  Even Cerner is basically acting as if Downtown KCK doesn't exist.

This is a serious bummer for KCK, but does KCK even have a chance anyway?  All through the booming 90's and early 2000's nothing happened there.  The city built a hotel, the state and feds built a couple of government buildings and that's it.  Maybe it's time for KCK to just move on and forget about downtown KCK.  From the looks of Village West, I think they already have.  If KCK had put just a little more effort into downtown as they have with village west, maybe the EPA would not want out so bad and that's the bottom line.  They want out of KCK and JoCo was about the only option because they had to stay in Kansas.  But how can a city spark billions of dollars in investment using hundreds of millions in incentives in the rural hinterlands of the city while at the same do almost nothing for the downtown area (or any area of the city east of 435)?  KCK blew it.  They dropped the ball.  They decided to build a suburb and abandon downtown.  So the EPA is doing the same.

The EPA should be in downtown KCMO.  They should be in the central primary downtown of the metropolitan area, just like they are in every other EPA district.

They are not and it's just one more casualty of KC's political bistate situation.

But who can really blame the EPA for wanting out of downtown KCK?

[mean]

Downtown KCK needs so much more investment for it to even begin to be a desirable place to work (or live or play).

I agree, but it really is not as bad as it has been in the past. So many buildings that were vacant 5 or 6 years ago are now home to little taco places, Chinese restaurants, bakeries, etc. The old abandoned Katz on Minnesota is going to reopen as, I believe, a thrift store of some kind. There are nice new townhouses going up in Strawberry Hill.

Obviously we aren't talking about major development ala the PAC, but it's not fair to ignore it. Downtown KCK is a perfectly fine place to live and work, imo. Not much playing going on that I know of, but hell, you're five minutes from downtown KCMO.

I dunno. I'm not saying downtown KCK is perfect, or even close to it, but it is making some progress on a small, organic level. It will be interesting to see what, if any, effect the EPA relocation has on the area.

[chrizow]

i agree that the EPA should be in downtown KCMO, but i'd rather work in downtown KCK than lenexa.  downtown KCK may not be a vibrant "downtown" type area, but it is at least as appealing as a random urban 'hood in the city - international eats, grit, proximity to downtown KCMO, etc.  i'll take that over an isolated location in lenexa...

[rxlexi]

downtown KCK presents a case sad enough that I agree with Grid's hyperbole.  It really feels like it has just been completely forgotten about, with not the slightest real, large scale efforts made by the city or state to reinvigorate it.  Village West of course compounds this feeling x1000.

i love Strawberry Hill, and DT KCK has some nice, walkable bones, great views of the KCMO skyline and a halfway decent, central metro location.  But it just feels done.  KCK has decided to go all-in on the exurban playland of VW, with nary a serious glance towards the old downtown core.  Unfortunate.

[mean]

i agree that the EPA should be in downtown KCMO, but i'd rather work in downtown KCK than lenexa.  downtown KCK may not be a vibrant "downtown" type area, but it is at least as appealing as a random urban 'hood in the city - international eats, grit, proximity to downtown KCMO, etc.  i'll take that over an isolated location in lenexa...

This. At least if you work in an office building in downtown KCK, you can at least take a bus to work and walk to lunch. If you don't want to do that, you're a very short drive to tons of awesome KCMO options. Lenexa simply doesn't compare.

I agree that there haven't been many "real, large scale efforts" but those kinds of efforts aren't really what builds great cities. Given the choice, I'd give away vacant buildings to 200 committed, dedicated, hard-working small business owners rather than building a $1 billion project in my neighborhood.

[chingon]

Given the choice, I'd give away vacant buildings to 200 committed, dedicated, hard-working small business owners rather than building a $1 billion project in my neighborhood.

I'd vote to give you executive emminent domain for 4 years to do just this. Too bad democracy is so often so stupid.