KCRag Forum

Karin wrote:The mall should try to sign more traditional tenants but it first needs major remodeling.

Right. It has a cheap look that might be fine for an outlet mall, but it needs to have an interior closer to Independence Center if it wants to go after a different tenant mix.

I think the Mills Corp. should acquire it and do something with it. Outside San Jose, California there is a mall called "The Great Mall of the Bay Area, interesting name huh?

This mall opened in September 1994, but it struggled in the Silicon Valley retail market for many years. The Mills Corp. acquired it around 2001 I believe and changed things around...they added more entertainment venues such as D&B, Vans Skatepark, and a movie theatre. Last time I went there back in August they seemed to be doing very well. Now if that can happen for GMOTGP.

Wasn't the original plan to be a traditional mall with department stores and such? I vaguely remember they reading how they couldn't land a department store anchor so they went with the outlet concept instead.

How much retail demand is there out past the southwest suburbs? Would be enough to support another Sears or JC Penney in Joco? ON the east side, Independence Center has a big area to pull from, with lots of smaller cities and like Warrensburg, Lafayette County, Sedalia, Boonville, etc.

it's unfortunate about what's happening to this mall. I agree with the earlier comments that mills corp should by it and bring in some better tenants.

Don't forget. Independence Center was on the ropes for awhile until the population and development occurred around it. The Great Mall will be the same. It was built before the population was there to support it.

Marshall's R.I.P.

screw this fucking place.......for real

totally hillarious, that this great development did not even make it 10 years.

It was doomed from the beginning. I remember going to it when it first opened and thinking WTF?

KCMax wrote: It was doomed from the beginning. I remember going to it when it first opened and thinking WTF?

sorry to say, some are already saying that about legends and village west.

do not forget. great mall of the great plains was PACKED at the begining, just like village west.

kcdcchef wrote: sorry to say, some are already saying that about legends and village west.

do not forget. great mall of the great plains was PACKED at the begining, just like village west.

Even at the beginning, the Great Mall had disappointing sales and traffic counts. Tenants were complaining before even a year in business. How many years has Village West been open and how many disappointed tenants are there?

trailerkid wrote: Even at the beginning, the Great Mall had disappointing sales and traffic counts. Tenants were complaining before even a year in business. How many years has Village West been open and how many disappointed tenants are there?

not sure, never been, never will go.

what i know is this, reading pieces on line in the kc star, they bragged up the great mall of the great plains, and listening to hard core subarbanites like my parents speak on how great it is, i just assumed the place was swamped, and had heard it was.

either way, i am happy it is failing. i will be more happy in 4-5 years when i hear that village west and legends is foundering too.

kcdcchef wrote: not sure, never been, never will go.

what i know is this, reading pieces on line in the kc star, they bragged up the great mall of the great plains, and listening to hard core subarbanites like my parents speak on how great it is, i just assumed the place was swamped, and had heard it was.

either way, i am happy it is failing. i will be more happy in 4-5 years when i hear that village west and legends is foundering too.

By that time, you should be around for the grand opening of the $1 B waterpark.

Economic development for the region is not exclusive to the central city or Missouri side. Sorry, but NFM, Cabela's, Schlitterbahn, Great Wolf, et. al aren't things that belong in the central city IMO.

As giddy as I am to see a pretentious Olathe project fall flat on its face, I dont exactly wish the same thing for KCK- the downtrodden and woebegone stepchild of this metro. It deserves a break, for once in sixty years- as much as I despise exurban-style developments.

trailerkid wrote: By that time, you should be around for the grand opening of the $1 B waterpark.

Economic development for the region is not exclusive to the central city or Missouri side. Sorry, but NFM, Cabela's, Schlitterbahn, Great Wolf, et. al aren't things that belong in the central city IMO.

i am perfectly happy for them out there, and am very excited they have ascertained ALL OF IT by giving it away, good for them.

i agree that these things do not belong in the city, but, there sure in the hell is plenty of room for them to build it. near tsc. south kc. redo bannister, re do blue ridge mall, this pathetic concept of moving farther, and farther, and farther out, called sprawl, when, there are more and more areas that get left blighted as we leave them behind.

screw village west and legends. i cannot wait til it fails. it will. just like blue ridge mall, once the areas best, or bannister, once the areas nicest, or metro north, which, i always thought sucked, fail. the only one to stay hot is independence commons, because they finally built up the area around it.

Tosspot wrote: As giddy as I am to see a pretentious Olathe project fall flat on its face, I dont exactly wish the same thing for KCK- the downtrodden and woebegone stepchild of this metro. It deserves a break, for once in sixty years- as much as I despise exurban-style developments.

i wish the urban core of kck the best.

dollar store tenant = vulture circling

Tosspot wrote: As giddy as I am to see a pretentious Olathe project fall flat on its face, I dont exactly wish the same thing for KCK- the downtrodden and woebegone stepchild of this metro. It deserves a break, for once in sixty years- as much as I despise exurban-style developments.

While I tend to agree with you, the Legends has set itself up to be major competition that could limit the success of the Power and Light District.  How many "destination" type places can a metro support.

kcdcchef wrote: totally hillarious, that this great development did not even make it 10 years.

One thing I have noticed about suburban developments like this....they are built for obsolescence while more urban centers like the Plaza keep on ticking through the years.  How many old suburban centers are there that are still going strong in the metro?  Even Metcalf South, once the pride of Johnson County is obsolete and I suspect the flagship, Oak Park Mall, is going to be suffering when the newly slated commercial developments in southern JoCo are finished.  Suburban development tends to roll on outward leaving blight in its path whereas urban centers at least have some long-term staying power. 

The problem with Olathe's Great Plains Mall is that it will eventually become a near-vacant building occupied solely by a marine corp recruiting center amid a sea of unused parking spaces.     

right you are, Highlander. 

suburban development is disposable development.  sad but true. 

KC0KEK wrote: I thought that a major difference between the Great Mall and the Odessa Outlets is that Odessa is -- or at least was supposed to be -- a true outlet mall. I remember reading years ago about an argreement between retailers and suppliers that outlet malls had to be a certain distance outside of a metro in order to sell deeply discounted merchandise. I think that it had to do with appeasing department stores, who resisted the competition unless it was so far away that it would be inconvenient for their customer base to shop there on a regular basis. So for example, Brooks Brothers couldn't go into an outlet mall inside an MSA if it still wanted to sell through Dillard's, Macy's, etc., there.

This post is the most accurate about the history of the Great Plains Mall.  However, as a factory/outlet mall it fell onto hard times much like the two similiar malls in Lawrence and I am not sure about the financial condition of the one in Odessa.  To work as a regular mall it does not have a population base nearby to support it.  Independence Center had a similiar condition a few years after it was opened.  It was isolated and it took some time before the population/development around it caught up to it. Unless there is a change in the neighborhood around it the Oak Park Mall should have a long history.  The Plaza has succeeded because it has been remodeled (store mix) over the years.