KCRag Forum

Woodside Village is a proposed multi-use development designed as a walkable and integrated open-air Village organized around the Woodside Health & Tennis Club, 330 lUxury residences, a 35,000 square foot shopping center, and an energized public realm where citizens can gather and strengthen community bonds at events such as a weekly farmer's market. The Village is to be anchored by a grocery store, restaurants, casual
dining, and other service related shops all buffered by wide, heavily landscaped sidewalks and paths meant to provide a greater sense of neighborhood connectivity. Designed in accordance with green and sustainable principles, Woodside Village is planned to be the first LEED certified neighborhood in the State of Kansas. Woodside Village is proposed to coincide with the expansion of the Woodside Health & Tennis Club including a
new building for additional fitness facilities as well as a major renovation of the tennis courts and outdoor pool areas.

chingon wrote: I predict older Westwood residents cock-block this via:

"Doesn't fit the neighborhood"

"Single family"

"Owner occupied"

"Traffic"

"Parking"

Woodside owner Blair Tanner says the club is an inch away from its dream of becoming the "it" place to live near the Plaza and Johnson County. The city is poised to green light Tanner's plan to expand the Woodside Health & Tennis Club and surrounding area into a beautiful new mix of apartments, shops, offices and a 'living life healthy and fun" Mecca.

Tanner's plan, which I have seen, has spectacular apartments and a new outdoor pool area that is second to none. It'll be a tad pricey for some, but well worth it to those that can afford it. Residents will also become a member of Kansas City's hippest and most popular health,tennis and glam club.

This is the mindset that may doom all of JoCo.  Fear of housing and developments that aren't single family housing will be a difficult hurdle to overcome.

GRID wrote: I don't know, but that rending looks like crap. 

chingon wrote: If you look close all the people in that rendering are wearing hideous KU, jaydork crap. I trained my kids to notice and complain about people wearing KU stuff, even though I myself am too cosmopolitan to care about college sports
(go, M-I-Z-Z-O-U).

As for the proposal itself, I?m not surprised that the city council (and without a doubt, some residents) are impressed. Although dismissed by some as looking sterile, I think the drawings look pretty nice. An organic foods market, pizza joint and yogurt shop would certainly be frequented by my family. And unlike several people I?ve heard from who seem alarmed at the prospect of rentals in an otherwise single-family home area, I don?t think think a rental population equals a bunch of ?transient? lowlifes, especially not at the luxury price point (starting at $1300 a month) offered here.

Having sat down for an hour with Blair Tanner, it?s clear he?s not just some coastal developer looking to make an easy buck. While he was born and still spends most of his time in L.A., Mr. Tanner grew up spending summers at Woodside, which his father built in the seventies. He has an emotional attachment to the place and has spent at least five years coming up with these plans. So when he says that he has the best intentions with this project, I have no doubt he?s telling the truth.

Other things I?m not so sure about. He says he couldn?t be more confident in the demand for these kinds of apartments, but also admits that the number of apartments was increased to 330 because that?s the only way they can pay off the cost of the development. He told me there is no financial risk to the city, but obviously there?s a risk that a project of this size would get stalled and leave an ugly, undeveloped space similar to those seen in Mission, Merriam, Overland Park and other parts of the city.

An anony tip came in today that once again demonstrates that neighbors surrounding the proposed project don't blindly accept power point presentations amid The Great Recession. Check the money quote:

"They're sure trying to ram this thing through. The retail numbers make absolutely no sense!!!"

Woodside developer Blair Tanner said that the first phase of the retail component is 22,000 square feet and that more than half the available space — about 12,000 square feet — will be taken by a GreenAcres Market grocery store.

“The city has asked us if we were going to do a formal study, and we felt it was unnecessary,” Tanner said.

Unnecessary? How is it unnecessary? You’re asking for a massive lease renegotiation and a 20-year TIF plan to put in 330 luxury units and retail space that will fundamentally alter the look and feel of the entire area, and doing a formal study is unnecessary?

For someone who is launching such an extensive campaign to win the hearts of Westwood residents, this is a curious — even alarming — statement. The one consistent question I’ve heard people in Westwood ask is “Where are the numbers? Where’s the formal study we’ve been told about from the get-go?”

Yet when presented with a list of written questions from a seasoned reporter at a respectable business publication, the mayor gets downright indignant. How dare citizens and the fourth estate do anything to slow us down? We’re trying to run a development deal here!