KCRag Forum

I don’t hate the new look of this structure, but think it would be better with some more color.

It looks better at night when it's lit up

smh wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 4:08 pm

moderne wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 3:17 pm That Jack Henry building is hideous. Looks like something from the Abnos school of design.

I thought maybe it wasn't finished? But the signage is up, suggesting that look is intentional. Grim.

A lot wrong with it but those bars on the third floor windows are what really puts it over the top in terms of being bad.

Saw that The North Face is opening at Town Center Plaza. Either the KC market does really well for TNF and they can justify a second store or they're going to abandon the Plaza once the new store opens...

Highlander wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2023 12:33 pm

smh wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 4:08 pm

moderne wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 3:17 pm That Jack Henry building is hideous. Looks like something from the Abnos school of design.

I thought maybe it wasn't finished? But the signage is up, suggesting that look is intentional. Grim.

A lot wrong with it but those bars on the third floor windows are what really puts it over the top in terms of being bad.

Those bars are bad but what's really inexcusable is they got rid of the Spanish style awning which is what gave it character and connected it with the Plaza style and every other adjacent building. Now looks boring with all the charm of a suburban self storage facility.

Any news on the famous overgrown gravel lot??? Hopefully we aren't barreling toward a Mission Mall 10+ year debacle.

It's been eerily quiet.

MidtownCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 12:06 pm Any news on the famous overgrown gravel lot??? Hopefully we aren't barreling toward a Mission Mall 10+ year debacle.

It's been eerily quiet.

last i heard dillards had submitted a plan but they may have also backed out. Just really sad to see the plaza in its current state.

LCDSI wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:04 pm

MidtownCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 12:06 pm Any news on the famous overgrown gravel lot??? Hopefully we aren't barreling toward a Mission Mall 10+ year debacle.

It's been eerily quiet.

last i heard dillards had submitted a plan but they may have also backed out. Just really sad to see the plaza in its current state.

IK a developer who reached out wanting to build residential and retail. Was told there isn’t an interest in deviating from the retail only plans.

langosta wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:54 pm

LCDSI wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:04 pm

MidtownCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 12:06 pm Any news on the famous overgrown gravel lot??? Hopefully we aren't barreling toward a Mission Mall 10+ year debacle.

It's been eerily quiet.

last i heard dillards had submitted a plan but they may have also backed out. Just really sad to see the plaza in its current state.

IK a developer who reached out wanting to build residential and retail. Was told there isn’t an interest in deviating from the retail only plans.

Dumb. Frustrating.

Current ownership will be the death of the Plaza. Fucking mall owners and their inability to move on from a now long dead business model.

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 9:26 pm Current ownership will be the death of the Plaza. Fucking mall owners and their inability to move on from a now long dead business model.

Agreed. All hope was lost when I saw it was owned by a mall operator.

langosta wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:54 pm

LCDSI wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:04 pm

MidtownCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 12:06 pm Any news on the famous overgrown gravel lot??? Hopefully we aren't barreling toward a Mission Mall 10+ year debacle.

It's been eerily quiet.

last i heard dillards had submitted a plan but they may have also backed out. Just really sad to see the plaza in its current state.

IK a developer who reached out wanting to build residential and retail. Was told there isn’t an interest in deviating from the retail only plans.

They might change their mind if Dillards decides not to come to the Plaza.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:20 am

langosta wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:54 pm

LCDSI wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:04 pm

last i heard dillards had submitted a plan but they may have also backed out. Just really sad to see the plaza in its current state.

IK a developer who reached out wanting to build residential and retail. Was told there isn’t an interest in deviating from the retail only plans.

They might change their mind if Dillards decides not to come to the Plaza.

How likely is Dillard's anyway? Seems like there was a flourish of speculation, no deal was announced, and now nothing for some time. I guess the owners know the details but it certainly seems a long way from being a sure thing or even probable (not that Dillard's is much of a win - although I guess it does fill an empty lot).

It seems to me that current ownership is clinging to the old-school shopping mall mentality that you have to have a department store anchor. It's obviously time to give it up and go retail with apartments above. I'd imagine they're just scared they won't be able to fill more retail spaces considering the swaths of vacant storefronts they already need to fill. It's not entirely apples to apples, but I'm having flashbacks to Plaza 211 which is still not full.

That said, I do wonder what Nordstrom's strategy is for KC. They now have a full-line department store and TWO Rack locations in Overland Park. That seems a bit much... what are the odds of Nordstrom reconsidering the Plaza?

I predict they will build the department store for Dillards. It will close within five years. The space will sit vacant for another 10 years. Then they will decide to demolish the building and build residential only on that parcel.

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 10:25 am

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:20 am

langosta wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:54 pm

IK a developer who reached out wanting to build residential and retail. Was told there isn’t an interest in deviating from the retail only plans.

They might change their mind if Dillards decides not to come to the Plaza.

How likely is Dillard's anyway? Seems like there was a flourish of speculation, no deal was announced, and now nothing for some time. I guess the owners know the details but it certainly seems a long way from being a sure thing or even probable (not that Dillard's is much of a win - although I guess it does fill an empty lot).

I don’t know how to attach images on here anyways, but I was the one contacted by the person at corporate who said that it has been a nearly done deal for a while on Dillard’s end and that’s why they started downsizing at Oak Park, but Taubman/Macerich are dragging their feet. That was a couple months ago now and maybe someone at the REIT’s realized that Dillard’s has already bombed five times with a new miles of the neighborhood.

Simon historically has had a good relationship with Dillard’s. They brought the chain to Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. There were also two Simon Mall’s proposed a few years before the recession that largely went unbuilt because Dillard’s was the only anchor who committed. One was in Little Rock and would have poached the two Dillard’s from Park Plaza. The other was local in Martin City and likely would have been considered the joint replacement for the stores at Ward Parkway and Bannister Mall. We came very close to having a real cluster of a retail situation on 135th had the Copaken Walk at Highpoint Mall been built with Sears, Von Maur, and Famous-Barr, and then a Simon mall a stones throw away with Dillard’s.

msmith011 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 10:56 am That said, I do wonder what Nordstrom's strategy is for KC. They now have a full-line department store and TWO Rack locations in Overland Park. That seems a bit much... what are the odds of Nordstrom reconsidering the Plaza?

I work in Prairie Village where people will go shop on 119th in a heartbeat, but clutch their pearls and talk about how they won’t go to Oak Park Mall or the Plaza and only do car side pickup at Target at Ward Parkway Center because they’re so dangerous. A completely different demographic shops at the Lenexa Rack, and I think the large exodus of upscale brands from Oak Park along with the inconspicuous absence of stores like Apple and the downsizing of Dillard’s tell us that the monied folks are not patronizing our enclosed mall. It’s not quite on the level with Independence Center who lost Sephora and replaced it with Rainbow, but it could head that direction if CBL can’t convince the monied folks in western Shawnee and Lenexa to shop there. The residential parts of Overland Park and Lenexa around the mall aren’t exactly the most vibrant areas of either city.

I'd rather keep the vacant, weed infested gravel lot than build a Dillard's.

I'd like to see Screenland take over the leftover rump of the Cinemark. Dinner and a movie are still a perennial entertainment choice and the Plaza was one of the few places people could do both without getting into a car to go to different locations for each. The movie houses used to help steer customers to the restaurants.

moderne wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 10:25 am I'd like to see Screenland take over the leftover rump of the Cinemark. Dinner and a movie are still a perennial entertainment choice and the Plaza was one of the few places people could do both without getting into a car to go to different locations for each. The movie houses used to help steer customers to the restaurants.

The remaining theaters in Seville Square could be a standard theater, like B&B downtown. I believe there were 8 theaters in that building up the escalators. Would take minimal finances to reopen, likely just new modern seating and technology upgrades. Would take the Plaza just deciding they wanted it in the district.