KCRag Forum

Having seen a push to infill and instill more urban designs into suburban city centers, I was wondering which one you all felt like did the best job.

Leavenworth
NKC
OP
Prairie Village
Olathe
Gladstone
Lee’s Summit
KCK
Independence
Other

Liberty's square and the surrounding original town is very well done

Minimal tear downs, they have multiple protected historic districts with formal designations
lot parking makes up a small percentage of land use
They didn't cover their historic buildings with post-war designs
15mph speed limit on the core square
except for a damaged building and one empty lot that I know insurance has tied up the area is almost fully occupied
They implemented a true road diet on the square, it looks great. this followed a road diet on the KS street entry, the direct road from 152
It's well connected with sidewalks to civic amenities like the college and nearby schools
It's walkable to all nearby neighborhoods
They never widened the streets or made them fast. The biggest one is 4 lanes and 30mph and everything else is two lanes
The community uses it for events on an annual basis so it's a civic center

The Liberty Square is great. It's a nice ease into Jewell too.

Parkville downtown is a good one too. Similar to Liberty has Park University right there along the bluff, nice river views, a cool mix of local shops and restaurants. Parking is there but not oppressive and there are many historic buildings.

If Amtrak to St Joe or Omaha happens, Weston will become my favorite "suburban" downtown.

Parkville could use infill on those surface lots across the tracks. I guess flooding concerns make that a dream

While still not a traditional downtown area, Gladstone has made a lot of urban progress in the past 5 years.

They're gone from no downtown area at all to at least urban style apartments, a couple of restaurants, city park with ice skating, and Gladstone's only hotel (opening later this year).

Downtown Shawnee is making a go of it.

One complex finished
https://www.sixty16.com/?utm_source=Lea ... h_Marketer

One being constructed
https://www.blumeshawnee.com/

Another townhome project is planned for the old Wonderscope location.

Transport Brewery, Servaes Brewery, Drastic Measures cocktail bar, Friction Brewing is moving into the old Hartman Hardware location.

McLain's Bakery.

Old Shawnee Bank is getting a facelift and supposedly has a restaurant tentant lined up.

And they are putting Johnson Drive on a road diet for 3 months.

grovester wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 3:00 pm Downtown Shawnee is making a go of it.

One complex finished
https://www.sixty16.com/?utm_source=Lea ... h_Marketer

One being constructed
https://www.blumeshawnee.com/

Another townhome project is planned for the old Wonderscope location.

Transport Brewery, Servaes Brewery, Drastic Measures cocktail bar, Friction Brewing is moving into the old Hartman Hardware location.

McLain's Bakery.

Old Shawnee Bank is getting a facelift and supposedly has a restaurant tentant lined up.

And they are putting Johnson Drive on a road diet for 3 months.

Hopefully that Road diet becomes permanent

Riverite wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 3:01 pm

grovester wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 3:00 pm Downtown Shawnee is making a go of it.

One complex finished
https://www.sixty16.com/?utm_source=Lea ... h_Marketer

One being constructed
https://www.blumeshawnee.com/

Another townhome project is planned for the old Wonderscope location.

Transport Brewery, Servaes Brewery, Drastic Measures cocktail bar, Friction Brewing is moving into the old Hartman Hardware location.

McLain's Bakery.

Old Shawnee Bank is getting a facelift and supposedly has a restaurant tentant lined up.

And they are putting Johnson Drive on a road diet for 3 months.

Hopefully that Road diet becomes permanent

Agreed, Nieman turned out pretty well.

Lee's Summit is the one to watch IMO.

AllThingsKC wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:48 pm While still not a traditional downtown area, Gladstone has made a lot of urban progress in the past 5 years.

They're gone from no downtown area at all to at least urban style apartments, a couple of restaurants, city park with ice skating, and Gladstone's only hotel (opening later this year).

It's stunningly great and ends at badly done so quickly. N. Oak is not fun to drive on let alone walk across.

All the best downtowns have a great core and don't just end like Gladstone does. Hopefully they can keep going and work on that part. The few blocks around their downtown is majority parking and it doesn't have to be.



NKC's downtown is another good one. It disappears quickly to the south but it's well integrated with the neighborhoods to the north. What they're doing is all top notch and they're managing to grow more dense without removing their existing homes which is great.

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 3:15 pm Lee's Summit is the one to watch IMO.

Seems like loads of trendy businesses are going there

I think OP has done the best job not necessarily on design or anything like that but because they have added a lot of housing in the area and its making the area very walkable and attractive to young professionals.

Liberty is a nice little downtown for a suburb, same with Parkville, but both specialize in their own little things.

normalthings wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:25 pm If Amtrak to St Joe or Omaha happens, Weston will become my favorite "suburban" downtown.

Parkville could use infill on those surface lots across the tracks. I guess flooding concerns make that a dream

Never been to Weston so I looked it up on Google, nice downtown for a small town.

Regarding infill in Parkville, measures could be taken on the developer side of things to be able to build on those lots. Mostly would have to involve building artificial hills above the area where it typically floods. It costs more and the market might not be in Parkville for a product of that price range, but you never know. Can't say it doesn't work till it's tried.

brewcrew1000 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:04 am I think OP has done the best job not necessarily on design or anything like that but because they have added a lot of housing in the area and its making the area very walkable and attractive to young professionals.

I agree that OP has done better, it has always felt a bit to sterilized for my liking though I’m a much bigger fan of Lee’s summit or north kc

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:32 am Regarding infill in Parkville, measures could be taken on the developer side of things to be able to build on those lots. Mostly would have to involve building artificial hills above the area where it typically floods. It costs more and the market might not be in Parkville for a product of that price range, but you never know. Can't say it doesn't work till it's tried.

Those would be really small and tall artificial hills. Flood stage is 25 feet, record height is almost 49. So need to build over 25 feet above river height
So that’s ~2.5 stories up.

Might as well build a parking garage with units on top, would get more space for everyone that way

flyingember wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:42 pm

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:32 am Regarding infill in Parkville, measures could be taken on the developer side of things to be able to build on those lots. Mostly would have to involve building artificial hills above the area where it typically floods. It costs more and the market might not be in Parkville for a product of that price range, but you never know. Can't say it doesn't work till it's tried.

Those would be really small and tall artificial hills. Flood stage is 25 feet, record height is almost 49. So need to build over 25 feet above river height
So that’s ~2.5 stories up.

Might as well build a parking garage with units on top, would get more space for everyone that way

But for a town like Parkville, an approach with large parking podiums doesn't make sense. But I get the point you're making. These hills would have to be huge while also being small at the same time.

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:45 pm

flyingember wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:42 pm

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:32 am Regarding infill in Parkville, measures could be taken on the developer side of things to be able to build on those lots. Mostly would have to involve building artificial hills above the area where it typically floods. It costs more and the market might not be in Parkville for a product of that price range, but you never know. Can't say it doesn't work till it's tried.

Those would be really small and tall artificial hills. Flood stage is 25 feet, record height is almost 49. So need to build over 25 feet above river height
So that’s ~2.5 stories up.

Might as well build a parking garage with units on top, would get more space for everyone that way

But for a town like Parkville, an approach with large parking podiums doesn't make sense. But I get the point you're making. These hills would have to be huge while also being small at the same time.

DT Parkville revitalization has been studied back in 2013 and more in the 2019 Parkville Master Plan. It's a hard problem, the flood zone combind with the railroad tracks make it tough to connect the park to downtown.

http://parkvillemo.gov/government/city- ... parkville/

http://parkvillemo.gov/government/city- ... ster-plan/

alejandro46 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 3:45 pm

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:45 pm

flyingember wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:42 pm

Those would be really small and tall artificial hills. Flood stage is 25 feet, record height is almost 49. So need to build over 25 feet above river height
So that’s ~2.5 stories up.

Might as well build a parking garage with units on top, would get more space for everyone that way

But for a town like Parkville, an approach with large parking podiums doesn't make sense. But I get the point you're making. These hills would have to be huge while also being small at the same time.

DT Parkville revitalization has been studied back in 2013 and more in the 2019 Parkville Master Plan. It's a hard problem, the flood zone combind with the railroad tracks make it tough to connect the park to downtown.

http://parkvillemo.gov/government/city- ... parkville/

http://parkvillemo.gov/government/city- ... ster-plan/

At the end of the day maybe we don't need development on the edge of the city. Having some land that can flood and remains as forests and fields and parks is ok. English Landing Park is part of what makes downtown Parkville great.

Great thread idea. I'm a big fan of active suburban and small town downtowns.

Parkville is pretty awesome. The topography and university are beautiful, it has the best riverfront park and river access in the metro, and it feels like a small river/rail town but has downtown KC sitting on the horizon across the Missouri. The retail strip is tiny, however, and there is a general vibe of under-utilization - not sure what is going on with the old Piropo's space and it's fabulous view, for example. Agreed that if any kind of redevelopment or even fresh tenants could invigorate that strip mall area across the tracks near English Landing Park it could be a game changer. Will be improved when Hwy 9 has sidewalk installed connecting DT to the north toward 45 Hwy (believe this is planned).

Currently, the most pleasant overall is probably downtown Lee's Summit. They've done such a nice job there; looks great, historic core, functional Amtrak station, it's full of interesting tenants and seems to be quite popular. I just rode the new Rock Island Trail from end to end a couple of weeks ago and ended the day there - would be awesome if they could connect DT to the Hartman Park trailhead nearby.

DT Overland Park has to be most improved of late. Really impressive how much new multifamily and office they've put up surrounding the downtown core, but it still feels a little isolated to me, sitting right off of Metcalf with little feeling of being the "center" of OP in the traditional DT sense, for obvious geographic reasons. This thread reminds me that I need to go check it out soon again

Metcalf is downtown OP's biggest impediment. There's a reason you never see pedestrians there.