While Jack in the Box moves in, TGI Friday's and Ted’s Montana Grill pulls out of market

[aragx6]

I am so frustrated by this too. And the Boston Market thing actually made me remember something totally relevant to this discussion:

When I was a kid in the suburbs of St. Louis a Boston Market was built near our house and closed less than 3 years later. The building wasn't empty for long though -- Cingular took it over, renovated to their needs and moved in.

I don't know if this is because St. Peters did a better job at promoting smart growth -- even while expanding at a rapid pace -- or because Cingular recognized potential savings and took it, but whatever the reason, why can't this happen more often?!?

There was actually a KFC that turned into a bank now that I think of it too!

[TabulaRasa]

I used to bank in an old Hardee's, got my dog groomed in the old Chamber of Commerce, ate dinner in an old freight house (although you can do that in KC, too), and published a newspaper out of a former Coast to Coast hardware store. This was in a small town that routinely repurposed buildings, though.

[GraniteStater]

I agree regarding the eggregious landuse and waste of resources with regard to land development in many outlying areas of the KC metro. The "me first" culture has created a lot of this waste by encouraging conspicuous consumption of all types of resources and consumer goods. This mentality is particularly evident in JOCO, and I say this with first-hand knowledge of the culture of the area- particularly outside 435.
Once again, no one is saying everyone should move to an urban area of KC, MO, but we could definitely greatly improve upon the suburban built environment as a majority of the population resides in this setting. Too often, the citizenry does not get involved at the city level- so positions of power are often held exclusively by real estate heavy hitters, corporate elites, and those that could care less what the average resident thinks about anything.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I agree regarding the eggregious landuse and waste of resources with regard to land development in many outlying areas of the KC metro. The "me first" culture has created a lot of this waste by encouraging conspicuous consumption of all types of resources and consumer goods. This mentality is particularly evident in JOCO, and I say this with first-hand knowledge of the culture of the area- particularly outside 435.
Once again, no one is saying everyone should move to an urban area of KC, MO, but we could definitely greatly improve upon the suburban built environment as a majority of the population resides in this setting. Too often, the citizenry does not get involved at the city level- so positions of power are often held exclusively by real estate heavy hitters, corporate elites, and those that could care less what the average resident thinks about anything.

But that is not to say that the average resident is up nights fretting about a Boston Market being torn down to make way for a new McDonald's - or whatever. In most cases, the citizenry is not involved because they simple don't care.

I can think of only one notable exception to that, from my perspective, in recent years. And that was the demolition of the Indian Hills Cinerama Theater in Omaha. That theater was one of only a handful built in the United States a was of singular historic value because its screen was the largest of them all. All of the the biggest movies played there in the 60s and 70s and I saw several while I lived there, including 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. An awesome experience I'll never forget.

Anyway, when I found out - from reading a post on the CD Omaha forum - that it had been demolished in 2001 despite public protests, I was speechless and stunned.

But most commercial development falls way short of historical significance, so the decisions made by private business will follow marketplace demand and continue with little public notice or concern - outside of changes to shopping habits.

[aragx6]

We drove past an old empty grocery store in Shawnee yesterday. The SO tells me it used to be a Schnucks (it looks just like one) and that it's been closed and empty more than a decade.

I am stunned by the number of empty commerical properties I see in that part of Shawnee. What should be a nice neighborhood looks almost blighted in spots and it's clearly because of consident overbuilding. That's not good for homeowners, and were I one of them being screwed by my own county gov't I would be livid.