American Museum of Natural History in OP/KC area...another big score for the region!! (Kansas City: sales)

[replytodh]

That's right. No need to check your eyes.

The American Museum of Natural History is coming to the Overland Park/Kansas City area.

See link:
Prairiefire retail development breaks ground in Overland Park

[kcmo]

Terrible, terrible project.

First off, the ONLY reason this project exist is so this development can claim a tourist attraction as a portion of the development and receive STAR bonds to build a retail project in an overbuilt affluent outer suburban area. Between STAR bonds and local tax breaks and the overlay sales tax, this project is yet another state funded project and the actual museum (which is nothing more than a big box with a nice sign out front) is only a small part of what’s being subsidized.

Nothing about this project makes an ounce of sense. This should be at Union Station. Period. And in ANY OTHER METRO, it would be.

I don’t care if this project were located at Barry Road, 470 and Woods Chapel or Village West. This type of attraction belongs in the cultural heart of the city where it’s near other cultural attractions, transit, hotels, entertainment districts etc and it should be in a venue like Union Station, not in some upscale strip mall far far away from anything. I mean, this location is so far from nearly any other attraction in KC it’s not even funny. Is KC seriously now going to tell people to go to the WWI Museum, Plaza Crown Center, River Market, Performing Arts Center etc and then trek clear out to some suburban area that looks just like the suburban area they probably came from to see this museum? This thing will draw from outside of JoCo about as well as the NCAA did when it was out in JoCo (before they left for Indy thinking KC didn’t have any tourists) and the NCAA was at least in the 435 corridor.

This project screams what is wrong with Kansas City and why Kansas City just continues to de-centralize and fragment into a mess of urban planning that will never create the needed critical mass and vibrancy that the city so desperately needs.

What a wasted opportunity for Kansas City to use some of the space at Union Station to host something like this.

I mean, if Kansas wants to build state funded attractions, for the love of god, at least build up the riverfront of KCK or something and complement the existing cultural areas of KCMO with areas that are accessible to tourists, residents of the entire metro while at the same time redeveloping a completely ignored part of the city.

Considering that most of the STAR bonds are going to build the connected strip mall, this museum box could have been constructed along with many other improvements for the same cost and the state would get so much more out of it. Eventually it would lead to investment in KCK, trails along the rivers and lewis and clark and, transit like street cars to KCMO etc.

Instead, this is just yet another subsidized sprawl project that will do nothing but cannibalize other retail projects in this very overbuilt area which is full of other projects that are begging for incentives as well (like Corbin Park, Great Mall and Park Place), let alone the continued blight north of 435.

Funny thing is. In KC, this project will not get any bad press. Nobody will talk about any of the things I just mentioned. They will be too busy slamming KCMO for subsidizing the P&L district (which rebuilt six downtown blocks and brought downtown back from the dead) to ever realize that it’s projects like Prairie Fire that are completely absurd and borderline on fraudulent use of public money.

[MOKAN]

If in JoCo at all, this should have been in the Gateway development in Mission just like Fresh Market. If the "museum" were really going to be that great of attraction, it could have been put in downtown KCK and succeeded. Why would a museum be way out on 135th St in a bedroom area far from where most tourists and visitors go??? I guess it'll be convenient for folks with business in the office parks not too far north of there.