Impressions of Overland Park (Kansas City, Olathe: sales, hotels, houses)

[Dolfan]

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Overland Park while attending a ocnference at the convention center. The city is frequently mentioned in lists of best places to live, and it is easy to see why. The population is about 150,000 but the land area is so large it does not seem crowded. It is an attractive looking area and very clean. Metcalf Ave, which appeared to be one of the main roads, had no shortage of stores and restaurants, although I had difficulty finding a supermarket. Walmart was a good substitute however with its extensive grocery section. One thing that surprised me was that I was being charged tax on groceries, which I am not used to. The city is also home to many large companies. There are numerous, large office buildings which are scattered throughout the city rather than clustered in one place. At the south end there is an interesting botanical garden and children's miniature farm. Overall I was impressed with the city and the surrounding area.

I stayed at the Sheraton Hotel, which is connected to the convention center. Normally I would have chosen a motel, but the conference organizers pre-booked rooms at a discounted rate and I figured this would be convenient. The service and rooms were fine, but I did not like the ways they tried to get more money out of you. Telephone calls had a $1 surcharge per call, plus the cost of the call, including toll-free and local numbers. A bottle of water was placed in the room with a note in fine print that $4 would be added to your bill. A newspaper was delivered and .75 charged unless you specifically requested it to stop. Good thing I did not order the breakfast. On top of the high cost (17.50), there was tax (7.525), a delivery charge ($3) and a service charge (18%). I did not understand the difference between the last two. Breakfast for two could have easily set me back $50. You would think that these things would be complimentary considering the high cost of the rooms. Ironically, you can get all these things for free at a lower priced motel, which is where I intend to stay next time. I would achieve the same goal (a place to sleep), spend much less on the room, be able to use the phone, and sometimes get a free breakfast and paper. This was really the only negative and it is not a reflection on Overland Park but on large scale hotels in general.

[bls5555]

Kansas City suburbs are all pretty nice. Im not sure why they pick Overland Park to be on the top 10 lists over others such as Shawnee, Mission, Prairie Village, etc..

Even on the missouri side the suburbs such as Lee's Summit, Blue Springs and Liberty are all very nice.

Nice to hear that you were impressed with the area and Im pretty sure if you had gone to the other suburbs around KC you would have been equally impressed.

It can be looked at as a positive or a negative but as you stated EVERYTHING around KC really seems spaced out.

[whowants2know]

I agree! The entire JOCO area is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. And I also agree that there many great places on the MO side as well.

Now that I think of it, I guess the only grocery store I can think of on Metcalf is Price Chopper at 75th/Metcalf. But, that's pretty much out of the way from the Sheraton.

I've lived here for 14 yrs and love it!

[M TYPE X]

The original poster could have been ambling around Naperville, Illinois (or any other large suburb in the country) or staying at the Sheraton Towers in downtown Chicago (service charges on top of service charges for the privilege of having a bottle of water placed in the room).

Welcome to America! Which prepackaged experience would you like?
Seriously, how do you know you're in Kansas City, and not Denver or Minneapolis?

... my next post is going to be about driving in State X and how drivers in State X never use their turn signals/drive too slowly/stop on onramps. I never claimed to be free of all trite posting influences.

[GraniteStater]

I would characterize Overland Park as a city in transition right now. For the most part, the city is beginning to be built out and the only newer developments are occuring at the far southern reaches of the city. Many of the northern and central portions of the city have aging populations and the majority of the housing in these areas is also older and mainly pre 1970s era housing. The jobs are fairly abundant in Johnson County, especially compared with the rest of Kansas. Diversity has also been increasing as well. The population density of Overland Park is slightly higher than other cities in the county and some of the older neighborhoods have more of an urban flavor compared with the bland, boring, and beige cookie cutter suburbia apperance.
Major construction projects are occuring in the city along the I-435 and US 69 highway corridors. Sound barrier walls are increasing in number daily as the city tries to "shield" the loud noises of the highways from residential neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods were built even before the highways were constructed in the 1960s especially. Overall, housing prices are fairly reasonable for a large suburban city especially since overall median household incomes are fairly high. I believe that the average price of a home in Overland Park was around $280,000 the last time I checked. Their is a lot of variety in the housing stock in Overland Park, with varying price ranges as well. A major complaint that has been brought up a lot is that many of the parks and open space areas are located in the outer edges and wealthier suburban areas of Johnson County. Their are not many large parks in the older more developed areas in the central and northern part of the county. Sprint has its Corporate World Headquarters Campus in Overland Park and office complexes are scattered throughout portions of the city. Olathe also has growing median incomes and the company Garmin seems to be doing extremely well. Be aware that most neighborhoods in this city are new with a lot of "ugly" cookie cutter houses and strip malls everywhere.

[Old Surrender]

Right on M TYPE X! I have to say 90 percent of JOCO=barf. But the original poster is an interesting case study: Regionalism is slowing giving away to hemongony. All the 'burbs look the same, all of the small cities are embracing Applebee's, Best Buy and other crap big-box stores en masse. Drop a person in Naperville and tell him he's in OP, he would probably believe you till he's stuck in traffic and all the license plates say Illinois. I'm looking to return to the KC area once my wife is done with grad school and JOCO ain't on the list of places to live.

[M TYPE X]

Sometimes you need a printer ink cartridge or some comfort food, in which case Best Buy and Applebees work well. Charge that ink cartridge and that dinner, and you'll wonder where the $50 went when you look at your bill a few weeks later ... nothing special or memorable, unless the bathrooms stank, you got food poisoning, or your computer/AV equipment purchase doesn't work.

We can be fair to these cities for what they are, but not try to overstate their importance or appeal. I'm done doing that with Detroit.

[whowants2know]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

The original poster could have been ambling around Naperville, Illinois (or any other large suburb in the country) or staying at the Sheraton Towers in downtown Chicago (service charges on top of service charges for the privilege of having a bottle of water placed in the room).

Welcome to America! Which prepackaged experience would you like?
Seriously, how do you know you're in Kansas City, and not Denver or Minneapolis?

... my next post is going to be about driving in State X and how drivers in State X never use their turn signals/drive too slowly/stop on onramps. I never claimed to be free of all trite posting influences.

You would not be happy anywhere you lived.

[cchiang12]

I moved to CT (30 miles North of New York City) a year ago from OP, Kansas.
Trust me, the cost of living is nothing compare with the North East coast.
7.5% sales tax? no big deal. Extra charge with Hotel "stuff"... again it's a lot cheaper than here (NYC).

[xpnctoc]

Ditto on cchiang12's comments. Erie County, NY (Buffalo) sales tax right now is 8.75%. And at the time of this posting the HIGH KC gas prices are 10-15 cents LOWER than the LOW Buffalo gas prices. (Low KC to high Buffalo prices have as much as a 45-cent/gal. difference!)

(Don't even get me started on property taxes, utility bills, etc...)