From where I can see from the excavation driving by on 169, and the view from DT, it looks like either the office or hotel or both will block views from the SE corner of Briarcliff West neighborhood, but the Garney's mansion will still have its unobstructed sweep.  It must be good to be a king.

I was there yesterday and drove up to the residential section (single family), no one's view will be blocked, it higher than you might think and the skyline view is more southeast than directly south.

Was up there today.  Some views of the homes closer to 169 will be significantly obstructed.  Maybe the tops of the DT buildings will appear above the office or hotel roof, maybe not.

The company I work for signed a lease late last year for the Briarcliff office building.  I can't wait, we're pretty cramped in the space we occupy up by the airport.  I have no idea when the building will be done.  The last word we were given was around May 2008, but it looks to me like it could easily be late 2008.  I drove up there a couple weeks ago and could see they were doing ground work, but it didn't look like footings or any such structures had started yet.

Rimmans is closing

They are currently having a going out of business sale.

that is not surprising.  i never saw anyone else in there when i was there.  too bad.

it really seems to me that a lot of the BV businesses are struggling.  whenever i go there, with the exception of Piropos and maybe a couple other places, it's quite dead.  maybe it doesn't have enough (upscale) rooftops nearby to support it? 

Maybe part of it is that there is so much other new retail further north and closer to where the population is booming? 

I also wonder if they are getting much business from Downtowners?  My impression is that a lot them are still going to Joco to do their suburban shopping even though Briarcliff is closer.  For example, driving out to Whole Foods instead of going across the river to Green Acres.

My guess is that 75% of the KC metro has nary an idea of Briarcliff's existence. A trait that recurs when things are as spread out and disjointed as they are here.

Maybe the area truly is blighted.

meanwhile, cellar rat does well in an area without a grocery store. 

maybe rimann should open up shop in the loop?

i'm hearing that prices @ the ravello condos have been "slashed".

How are the prices at Rimann's going out of business sale?

The Green Acres in Briarcliff is pretty worthless, esp. compared to Whole Foods.  I would even take the Wild Oats in Mission over that.

How so?

I agree about green acres.  I have shopped there a few times when I knew I only needed a few things, mainly fruits or veggies.  They have a limited selection of most things, but what they do have is high quality.  My only problem is that I want to go to a store and get stuff I know.  I do not need all organic, tree bark infused toilet paper for 8 bucks a roll. 

Meanwhile the taxpayers will bear the burden as Briarcliff West expands its reputation as one of the poorest performing TIFs anywhere, anytime.

So what does happen when a TIF fails to perform? Is the city on the hook for payment of those bonds, or do they just default?

If the city is backing the bonds then it has to make the payments using city funds.

I don't often find even the produce to be top notch. Usually kind of tired and less than what I see at the regular supermarkets or River Market. but pricey.

I went into Green Acres and what I found is that its barely more than the organic/health sections located in the Hyvee stores.  I've got a Hyvee three miles from where I live, whereas Green Acres is 12 miles away.  I can get about 80% of what Green Acres offers in Hyvee and Hyvee has a lot of other stuff Green Acres doesn't carry.  Somewhat of a shame because I was hoping for a more expansive organic store in the Northland, but Green Acres just isn't it for me.  So I'll stick with Hyvee for now.

Pretty much what everyone else has said.  There really wasn't anything that impressed me at Green Acres.  The footprint is quite small, and like Wild Oats, it struck me as using a disproportionate amount of that footprint to focus on health and wellness stuff vs. high quality food.  Produce, butcher, cheese, deli all were disappointing.  They did have some nice lettuces.