Frontier Justice retail center coming to Village East in KCK. (how much, buy)

[zach_33]

Originally Posted by kcmo

The drive out there is just kind of depressing. It feels like you are leaving the metro area and it becomes sort of rural and sparely developed for the last part of the trip. Then once you are there, it's just an island of chains restaurants and big box stores, many of which seem to cater to a more rural or "country" demographic and you can tell by the people that are out there. It's also probably the most "Kansas" part of metro KC. If that makes sense. It does draw from Topeka, Lawrence etc. It's flat and always windy as hell out there too. It's just not my cup of tea. I know lots of people like the area though.

Completely agree. Hunting and shooting is not my thing anyway, but with all the state budget cuts and anti-government sentiment in this state, a store called Frontier Justice makes pretty good sense.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by kcmo

The drive out there is just kind of depressing. It feels like you are leaving the metro area and it becomes sort of rural and sparely developed for the last part of the trip. Then once you are there, it's just an island of chains restaurants and big box stores, many of which seem to cater to a more rural or "country" demographic and you can tell by the people that are out there. It's also probably the most "Kansas" part of metro KC. If that makes sense. It does draw from Topeka, Lawrence etc. It's flat and always windy as hell out there too. It's just not my cup of tea. I know lots of people like the area though.

I do like NFM though. Wish they had stores like that in the DC area.

I take Metcalf to 635 to I-70 and really the only "depressing" part is 635 around Kansas Avenue.


Now driving to a lot of places in KCMO depresses me because there is so much run down stuff you see. I'd rather see rural/country/grass/fields than that. To me that's more attractive than developed, but run down, areas.


That's part of the reason I like southern Missouri, south of Springfield. The highways are rural/country, but it's really pretty. You don't have a bunch of run down development along the highway.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I take Metcalf to 635 to I-70 and really the only "depressing" part is 635 around Kansas Avenue.


Now driving to a lot of places in KCMO depresses me because there is so much run down stuff you see. I'd rather see rural/country/grass/fields than that. To me that's more attractive than developed, but run down, areas.


That's part of the reason I like southern Missouri, south of Springfield. The highways are rural/country, but it's really pretty. You don't have a bunch of run down development along the highway.

I see what you are saying, but the drive to Village West is far from appealing. I will admit, parts of kansas are rather pretty. But 435 or 70 to Village West is just low density rural/industrial with very bland topography. It just makes the drive seem even further than it is. It's like taking 435 to KCI (from MO or KS). It just drags out the drive and makes it seem like it's taking forever to get there. Give me something to look at and I prefer to dive in a metropolitan area, not country roads (at east around KC, I mean CO, CA, even out here around DC it's different. Tall trees, hills, mountains, water, not just farms and a few trees. So I always take I-29 to KCI. Unless you are coming from St Joe, it makes little sense to come in via 435. Everybody has different tastes.

I just don't like Village West. It could be in midtown KCMO (god help KCMO if it were) and I would still hate it (actually I would hate it more because it would be difficult to ignore).

I'll put up with something like zona rosa, lenexa town center, leawood park place etc for brief occasional visits, but I would avoid village west like the plague. It's too redneck/country out there.

[luzianne]

^^^^

I think the drive I 29 to the airport is ugly. On both sides of the highway there are older houses, and not old in a good way, or old retail areas to look at. Not appealing at all. And then east of Kansas City on I 70, going to the stadium, is all run down. And nothing much to look at past the stadium, either. 71 highway is bad too.

Funny, but it doesn't seem like it's rednecks that are hanging out at Village West. The last few times I've seen there I've seen a couple of homeless people hanging out at the bus shelter and there seem to be a lot of blacks there now Who are definitely not redneck.

I love Sporting Park, I love Nebraska Furniture Mart, and I like Kansas Speedway, or I did when it was new. I don't really go out there for anything else.

[zach_33]

The soccer stadium is one of the nicest sports venues I've visited - large enough to feel some energy but small enough to feel some intimacy, and it seems to draw a nice crowd. Great Wolf Lodge is kind of depressing to me in the same way a low-end casino is depressing. Cabelas does bring to mind shotguns and pickup trucks. And Nascar race tracks reminds me of a bad movie with Will Ferrel and Busch beer. And now that swimming complex just conjures up tragic imagery.

They really should have put that soccer stadium down in central KCMO where all the yuppies could get to it by streetcar. Now that would be a money maker.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by zach_33

The soccer stadium is one of the nicest sports venues I've visited - large enough to feel some energy but small enough to feel some intimacy, and it seems to draw a nice crowd. Great Wolf Lodge is kind of depressing to me in the same way a low-end casino is depressing. Cabelas does bring to mind shotguns and pickup trucks. And Nascar race tracks reminds me of a bad movie with Will Ferrel and Busch beer. And now that swimming complex just conjures up tragic imagery.

They really should have put that soccer stadium down in central KCMO where all the yuppies could get to it by streetcar. Now that would be a money maker.

You just have a stereotype in your mind of race tracks, just like people who have never been to the Kansas/Missouri have an image in their minds of it being just like the Wizard of Oz. Have you even been in Cabela's? It doesn't make me think of shotguns and pickup trucks as in confederate flag/redneck. It's more outdoor sportsman type stuff - hunting, fishing, etc. Never been in Big Wolf Lodge but I can't say it depresses me.


I don't understand people saying Village West caters to rural/country people based on the people they see out there because I honestly don't see that at all. There are some, but not overwhelmingly. I see all kinds of people out there, but notably a lot of black and middle eastern Americans as well as not-redneck white people.

I think the soccer stadium is in the perfect place.

[miguidesanrafas]

BOOM like I said earlier, that whole area is growing, the American Royal is pursuing a $160 million dollar complex in Wyandotte County, it's safe to assume that it would be close to the National Agricultural Museum out in Bonner Springs.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by miguidesanrafas

BOOM like I said earlier, that whole area is growing, the American Royal is pursuing a $160 million dollar complex in Wyandotte County, it's safe to assume that it would be close to the National Agricultural Museum out in Bonner Springs.

A waste of sales tax dollars for subsidizing this- STAR bonds for 14 jobs at 80 million dollars. As the saying goes, "you can't fix stupid."

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by luzianne

You just have a stereotype in your mind of race tracks, just like people who have never been to the Kansas/Missouri have an image in their minds of it being just like the Wizard of Oz. Have you even been in Cabela's? It doesn't make me think of shotguns and pickup trucks as in confederate flag/redneck. It's more outdoor sportsman type stuff - hunting, fishing, etc. Never been in Big Wolf Lodge but I can't say it depresses me.


I don't understand people saying Village West caters to rural/country people based on the people they see out there because I honestly don't see that at all. There are some, but not overwhelmingly. I see all kinds of people out there, but notably a lot of black and middle eastern Americans as well as not-redneck white people.

I think the soccer stadium is in the perfect place.

Been to several NASCAR races at KS speedway as I was given free tickets quite often. It is absolutely a very blue collar crowd and a huge portion of them are not shy to be known as rednecks, especially the hard core race fans. I personally like Indy and formula one racing and demographics of the crowds are very different. I have nothing against those that like NASCAR. The whole NASCAR/hunting/love my guns/hate the government/redneck culture it just not my thing. Just like cities are not your thing.

Originally Posted by miguidesanrafas

BOOM like I said earlier, that whole area is growing, the American Royal is pursuing a $160 million dollar complex in Wyandotte County, it's safe to assume that it would be close to the National Agricultural Museum out in Bonner Springs.

Boom because of 80 million in STAR bonds.

While I obviously can not stand the whole bistate corporate welfare thing in KC, this is actually fantastic for KCMO. This is one case where this is a win/win for both KCMO and KCK.

First off, KCMO didn't want to spend 30 million to keep the American Royal, let alone 80 million and for good reason. The American Royal simply is not worth the cost to the city. It doesn't generate enough economic activity to justify the huge subsidy and it's no longer a good fit for urban KCMO as the city gentrifies and redevelops. If KCK and Kansas want to hand over 80 million dollars, so be it. I'm sure KCMO will still benefit from those that do visit the AR from out of town. Most visitors to metro KC will make their way over to KCMO for one reason or another (tourist attractions, airport, hotels etc).

Secondly, the city really needed to unload the American Royal anyway and this keeps them in metro KC and will probably give them a much better place where they can actually be successful since the Village West area is perfect for the demographic that also patronizes the AR. (NASCAR, Ag Hall of Fame, Cabellas, shooting ranges and a bunch of big box retail and national chain restaurants. perfect for the "country" crowd that probably doesn't like gong to downtown anyway. Since the FFA left KC (they were the vast majority of the attendance in past years), the AR has pretty much died and the city of KCMO is tired of trying to subsidize it.

The AR needs lots of space and it needs space that can sit unused for much of the year. The AR leaving the West Bottoms is basically another indicating of where KCMO is heading. The West Bottoms will develop with new infill residential etc much faster now that the AR is not sitting on hundreds of acres of land and parking lots that are rarely used.

So this is a case where the American Royal is perfect for this location. It's just too bad KCMO couldn't have gotten the soccer stadium in return. That would have been a nice venue for the riverfront or something. I still can't believe they put that thing in the parking lot of a giant furniture store in the middle of nowhere.

[luzianne]

^^^^^^^I'm kind of puzzled at your ideas about all things "country." Nascar/hunting/love my guns/hate the government/redneck are not all synonymous. There are lots of people who embrace some of those things but not others. I think it's just silly to paint a whole group of people with such a broad stereotypical brush when it's just not true. There are people from all walks of life at Nascar races. I ran into Carl Peterson at Kansas Speedway one time! The crowd consists of anything from rednecks to Johnson County professional people to celebrities. Yep, it's true. Yet your whole post is about trying to put down people who like Nascar by calling them "country." It might be those "country" people with guns saving your city a$$ one of these days if all hell breaks loose, because people like you will not be prepared to save themselves if it comes down to it. So you might want to not be putting them down so much.

And like I said, Nascar does not equal hunting does not equal love my guns does not equal hate the government does not equal redneck. I tolerate Nascar (if I go to a race, it's more because I enjoy spending time at an outside venue in nice weather than because I want to watch the race. I'm usually counting the laps till it's over.), I hate hunting but I believe people should have a right to own guns, I don't like the American Royal, I don't hate the government but I think it's overreaching, and I am not a redneck. So there goes your stereotype.

I love that the soccer stadium is in KCK and I love that it bothers you so much.