I can't speak for AKP, but I'm not really trying to bust some retarded "I told you so" nonsense, I rather see myself as saying YO LET'S FIX THIS SHIT AND NOT REPEAT IT.

Methinks P&L's success will be dependent on continued downtown population growth and even more events. P&L itself does not draw from the burbs except maybe Fri/Sat nights. P&L is active when there are other events/conferences going on. Downtown needs more events and/or more population growth to sustain P&L. Restaurants seem to do pretty well for weekday lunch crowds though.

I think population growth would be a huge boon. Streetcar may help with that. Economic recovery should help, too, but what else can be done aside from massive municipal subsidies to build more housing? Or do we need to fill existing housing? My understanding was that vacancy rates were pretty low.

@all

The Power and Light District is a convention district-- not a real neighborhood.

Change costs money. Imagine 2002 and the images of a blighted and barren South Loop. Then think of now, and these recent headlines.

Downtown Kansas City expects weekend influx of 30,000 people -- March 23, 2012



http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/03/23/downtown-kansas-city-expects-weekend.html

Downtown Kansas City prepares for storm of weekend Big 12 games -- March, 2012

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/blog/2012/03/photos-downtown-big-12-tournament.html



Kansas City sets tourism records in 2011 --- January 25, 2012

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/01/25/kansas-city-sets-tourism-records-in-2011.html



Madonna tickets disappear quickly, indicate nationwide draw to Kansas City -- March 6, 2012

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/03/06/madonna-tickets-disappear-quickly.html

I went through downtown last night and it was insanely packed, everywhere. There was a lot going on and it felt like a real, vibrant city.

It is.

We took MAX down to River Market late yesterday morning - was busy as usual for a nice Saturday. Then took MAX to P&L to see a movie - noon movie nearly sold out. Sprint Center had Disney thing going on, most P&L restaurants hopping, early line forming for a show at Midland Theatre. Then took MAX to Crown Center and walked around - very busy and people were gathered by the new aquarium though we didn't check it out. Then took MAX to Plaza... Main St through Midtown had above avg foot traffic for a Saturday. 47th St sidewalks were packed. The city was thumping day and night.

BTW, it was good to see a lot of tourists take the bus. The ATA needs to bump up Saturday runs to every 10 minutes instead of 15. Though Sunday really needs to be addressed first as it only runs every 30, which they should at least bump to 15 when there are this many events going on at once.

I've been noticing that other cities are having noticeable new investment in rental apartment buildings in their urban areas, and new housing construction was up in Kansas City in the last two months.

While Kansas City usually lags in new construction in our urban areas, this is a good sign overall that the economy is bouncing back--even in some segments of real estate. 46 Washington is on track, and The Neptune Apartments are getting renovated on the Plaza. Then there is that residential development near Main and 51st Street. I think the Bancroft School redevelopment housing project is going to have its' groundbreaking in June.

I would think that Cordish would go ahead and renovate the Midland Theater office tower into rental apartments to test the residential market in P&L itself.

Does anyone know how many units of the East Village Apartments have been rented thus far?

I think how quickly the Argyle Building sells will give us some indication about the downtown housing market. The City Council would probably look more favorably on a residential housing redevelopment there than the last plan to make it a boutique hotel. The Argyle is the most obvious next renovation downtown. I would think Sherman Associates would be interested in the Argyle.

Then of course we have to see what happens with the former Federal Reserve Building. I don't know if it can get financing for another boutique hotel. I would wager that it is more likely that financing would come for a rental residential conversion instead.

Does anyone know the status of the Gold Crown Properties' redevelopment of the Pickwick Hotel? Renovation was already supposed to have started by now according to a September 17, 2010 KC Star article.

The ultimate success of P&L rests on having a large downtown population to support the retail, and fill out the remaining empty spaces that have been built. The sooner the population grows downtown, the sooner the City won't have to subsidize the district.

Isn't the old Fed building becoming an Embassy Suites? Or did that fall through?

Yes, it was announced that Hilton was talking to Jason Townsend about an Embassy Suites in the Federal Reserve. That was back in July. I guess they haven't signed a deal, or we would have heard about it by now.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/print-edition/2011/08/05/kansas-city-downtown-condo-project-may.html?page=all

I was just in the Pickwick awhile back and they haven't done anything to it. It's still just the way it was left, hotel turned section 8 housing and is in fairly bad shape as is. I'm sure the deal fell through as there would be A LOT of work involved.

Are people still living in the Pickwick?

Nope, just one caretaker that lives on the 2nd floor. Rest abandoned.

Sounds like the makings of a horror movie

It looks like a horror movie inside as well.
It was section 8 housing for quite sometime and those people tore the hell out of it. There are still refrigerators in some of the apartments/rooms and they are full of mold and old food. Holes in the walls, etc.

Wall Street Journal article that will again fan the flames of ignorance.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... ansas+city

how so?

Referencing the choir that sings the refrains like: "Power & Light is a failure!", "the city can't do anything right!" and the old favorite "The city council is lining the pockets of developers!"

Again, overall revenue from taxes is up in greater downtown outside of the Power & Light District, and the Downtown Council has said that those additional taxes make up for money the city is putting into paying off bonds on P&L. Those gains probably wouldn't have been possible had there not been a plan to redevelop downtown, since other investments were made because of the entertainment district and arena.

In addition, Sprint Center has generated about $1.2 million a year for the City since it opened.

The other thing that is not calculated is where the City would have been without P&L and Sprint Center. How many more employers would have fled downtown for Kansas? J.E. Dunn would probably be gone. Populous and Barkley too. Sporting Innovations wouldn't be coming downtown. There would be no grocery store. The CVS would be closed by now. I doubt Market Station would have been built, and there would likely be no plan for the East Village. There would be no talk of the new apartment tower going up next to Cosentinos. The Grand and Reserve hotels would be not on the planning books. 1006 Grand would still be empty. There would be little to no chance that the old Power & Light Building would be redeveloped in the next 20 years. And the President Hotel and Mainstreet Theater would be demolished by now.