KCRag Forum

Simmer down, y'all.

Acupuncture place is torn down. We are closer to a delicious breakfast spot.

Katz Drugstore artists have been told that the church is selling the building and they must vacate the building. I don’t know yet if this is a pending sale or preparation for listing.

I want a food hall in that location so bad.

Am surprised the owner doesn't wait until value goes up further as streetcar plans become more solid. But imagine value has already gone up since they've purchased.

mykn wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 8:28 am I want a food hall in that location so bad.

Did I hear you say Trader Joe's?

smh wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 11:08 am

mykn wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 8:28 am I want a food hall in that location so bad.

Did I hear you say Trader Joe's?

I’d be happy with either of those as long as the windows are opened back up to Main and the clock maintained. TJ would likely spur additional development.

Save the Clocktower!

smh wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 11:08 am

mykn wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 8:28 am I want a food hall in that location so bad.

Did I hear you say Trader Joe's?

I’ve always thought a TJs would go great in that electronics supply building.

TJ's would be nice but they aren't doing very many urban areas and most expansions have been near broadly high income areas lately.

earthling wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 2:36 pm TJ's would be nice but they aren't doing very many urban areas and most expansions have been near broadly high income areas lately.

Very trur

They opened of announced 17 stores in the past year.

Most are in edge suburbs or the outskirts of smaller cities. Three of them were urban and two of those were NYC.

The Drugstore, a midtown space for Kansas City's young and emerging artists, will close

The Drugstore, a collaboratively run studio space at the corner of Westport Road and Main Street, is shutting down after seven years. The 26 current resident artists will pack up and leave over the next few months.

Redeemer Fellowship, a local church and landlord to the Drugstore, plans to put the iconic Art Deco building — orange trim, clock tower — up for sale.

"We simply lack the capital in our ministry budget to invest in developing or improving the facility in the way we think the neighborhood and community deserves," Andy Bean, the church’s director of operations, tells The Pitch.
...

https://www.thepitchkc.com/news/article ... will-close

Another CID? From the PZE agenda: http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/LiveWeb/Docum ... KtAAmYRNfF

Approving the Petition to establish the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District; establishing the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District generally located on the south side of Westport Road between Roanoke Road on the west and Clark Avenue on the east Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri; determining the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District to be a blighted area; determining that certain actions are reasonably anticipated to remediate blighting conditions and will serve a public purpose; requiring the annual submission of certain records; and directing the City Clerk to report the creation of the District to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Wow. Qdoba's didn't last all that long in Westport. It's an area replete with some high quality local restaurants so not a huge surprise.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/busines ... 97854.html

Westport and chains have never been a good mix. Am surprised it lasted that long. Even Starbucks didn't last. Westport could use a local wraps place though. I miss the days of Mesa Wraps where the condo building was later built (Port Fonda location). That was maybe my favorite wraps place anywhere (and one in Dupont Circle DC that was similar).

Eon Blue wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:47 am Another CID? From the PZE agenda: http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/LiveWeb/Docum ... KtAAmYRNfF

Approving the Petition to establish the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District; establishing the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District generally located on the south side of Westport Road between Roanoke Road on the west and Clark Avenue on the east Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri; determining the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District to be a blighted area; determining that certain actions are reasonably anticipated to remediate blighting conditions and will serve a public purpose; requiring the annual submission of certain records; and directing the City Clerk to report the creation of the District to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

That little "blighted" area in the description obviously is Westport Flea Market.

All of the Qdobas are pretty much shutting down in this metro. I really think the KC market cannot be touched with fast casual Mexican cause of Chiptole and it's domiance in this market. I haven't been to Chiptole in about a year or 2 but I've been disappointed the last few visits.

One of Qdoba's problems might be that the can't find a good local franchise owner with knowledge of the market. The recent stores were corporate-owned. Sometimes that can be problematic since they aren't as experienced with store placement, finding good local management teams, etc.

A good local franchise owner can make a difference simply because they can put together good local management teams. A local owner is probably constantly visiting each restaurant and kicking asses. Hired managers might not have the same investment in success.

If you ever watched the show "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" on the OWN Network, you know the owner was in her late 70s, and she was at one of her St. Louis restaurants every day. Even with family members involved managing her restaurants, she had to keep on top of things because people would slack off. She was afraid to retire, because she knew that even her family members would slack off. She tried hiring professional managers with experience in restaurants, and still had problems.

She tasted the food everyday, and chastised even-long time cooks for quality issues. She would throw out sub-standard food because she knew that declines in taste and quality would drive people away. As long as she ran the operation, it was successful. Her son tried to break off and run restaurants in Houston and Los Angeles, and struggled.

Steve52 wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 3:37 pm

Eon Blue wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:47 am Another CID? From the PZE agenda: http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/LiveWeb/Docum ... KtAAmYRNfF

Approving the Petition to establish the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District; establishing the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District generally located on the south side of Westport Road between Roanoke Road on the west and Clark Avenue on the east Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri; determining the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District to be a blighted area; determining that certain actions are reasonably anticipated to remediate blighting conditions and will serve a public purpose; requiring the annual submission of certain records; and directing the City Clerk to report the creation of the District to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

That little "blighted" area in the description obviously is Westport Flea Market.

801 Westport Road is actually the "816 Hotel", so this yet another sales-tax-only CID to renovate an existing hotel. Great urban policy! /s

Personally, this travesty should be torn down but I suppose they could maybe do some intervention with the facade and how it interacts with the street. Not optimistic.

The place has never been great, as I recall it was a Holiday Inn around 2008 when I made the mistake of putting my family up there before downtown had more affordable options.

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2019 7:35 pm

Steve52 wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 3:37 pm

Eon Blue wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:47 am Another CID? From the PZE agenda: http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/LiveWeb/Docum ... KtAAmYRNfF

Approving the Petition to establish the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District; establishing the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District generally located on the south side of Westport Road between Roanoke Road on the west and Clark Avenue on the east Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri; determining the 801 Westport Road Community Improvement District to be a blighted area; determining that certain actions are reasonably anticipated to remediate blighting conditions and will serve a public purpose; requiring the annual submission of certain records; and directing the City Clerk to report the creation of the District to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

That little "blighted" area in the description obviously is Westport Flea Market.

801 Westport Road is actually the "816 Hotel", so this yet another sales-tax-only CID to renovate an existing hotel. Great urban policy! /s

Personally, this travesty should be torn down but I suppose they could maybe do some intervention with the facade and how it interacts with the street. Not optimistic.

The place has never been great, as I recall it was a Holiday Inn around 2008 when I made the mistake of putting my family up there before downtown had more affordable options.

I used to work at that dump a few years back. They had "renovated" the place. It's the asshole of Westport. Drug dealers, prostitutes, etc ran rampant there. I assumed the request was for the backside buildings connected to Flea Market that caught on fire this past winter.