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.

Barnes was a principal architect of Kansas City's deal with private investors to develop the downtown Power and Light District. The terms of the deal essentially require the City to pay for shortfalls in revenue on the servicing of the bonds issued to develop the district. P&L has been a fiscal disaster for Kansas City with taxpayers perennially paying millions of dollars on the bond obligations out of the general budget, and forcing the city to offset the debt by cutting into essential services, such as street maintenance and fire protection.[7][8][9] Some have suggested an investigation into Barnes' direct and indirect relationships with developer Cordish Co.[10] and the financing banks should take place

As a side note, you forgot to mention that it is likely that the P&L financial issues got KC its infamous mayor, Mr Funkhouser. With a different mayor, maybe one who was more prodevelopment, who knows what would have happened in the story of downtown development.

Some redevelopment was occurring before the P&L was announced, was it not? And it would be safe to assume that other plans of development and redevelopment would also happened without the P&L.
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The Sprint Center is an independent develoment that could very well have happened without the P&L and its announcement likely would have been a catalyst for some P&L District-like development around the arena.

The same thing was said about Union Station. "What a waste of money!" "Look how much that thing costs." " KC government is inept." And look at it now. It's making money and is a definite asset for the city. The same thing will happen with P&L.

Yes, the President Hotel was to be demolished according to the city's redevelopment plan but it was saved and redeveloped independent of the P&L District effort, and the start of those redevelopment efforts predate the P&L.

A truly odd couple drives new downtown project

Kansas City Star, The (MO) - Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Author: KEVIN COLLISON

It was a dramatic moment for downtown Kansas City. The characters on center stage were a small-town Iowa native and a fast-talking city slicker from Baltimore.

David S. Cordish, who has done urban entertainment projects from Salt Lake City to Atlantic City, N.J., had run on a bit too long about his firm's accomplishments.

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Mark A. Ernst, chairman and chief executive officer of H&R Block Inc., is not known for being colorful, but the native of the tiny (pop. 2,200) Mississippi River town of Bellevue, Iowa, could not resist taking a verbal jab as Cordish finally relinquished the podium.
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Both cities have dynamic downtowns, and Ernst noticed something about the caliber of people who like being in that environment. If you didn't catch the story Friday about Block's announcement, here is what he said:

"By choosing to locate our headquarters within the new entertainment district, we will have the opportunity to retain and recruit the best and the brightest talent for many years to come-highly educated people who value the diversity that an urban workplace offers."

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Successful cities, Florida argued, are places that are attractive to those kinds of people. They offer a vibrant urban scene, pedestrian life, live music and an eclectic energy. That's just the sort of environment Cordish wants to achieve with his Kansas City Live development. If he is successful, it will benefit not only H&R Block and its work force but every other worker downtown and its burgeoning residential community.
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The redevelopment of the President Hotel , for example, which from what I've heard has picked up the needed votes on the Kansas City Council, should add authenticity to what is planned by Cordish.

Hopefully, two years or so from now, we'll be able to have a drink at both a trendy franchise place like the Hard Rock, and then slip over to the Drum Room for another.

That blend of old Kansas City tradition and new Kansas City revitalization should be a fun mix. If this $400 million South Loop redevelopment plan comes to pass the way Ernst and Cordish laid out last week, I'll drink a toast to both men.

I am not being ridiculous. It was only after P&L was announced that you started seeing outside developers willing to come into downtown Kansas City. I really doubt Kimberly Clark would have invested in redeveloping 909 Walnut without the P&L plan. How would any realtor be able to fill a building that size without those new amenities downtown? The South Loop was a dump. Employers didn't want to be next to it. Developers can't get loans to redo a building the size of the former P&L Building when it is sitting next to a blighted district.

Had City leaders not gotten P&L done, a lot of the remaining employers would have just baled after decades of seeing nothing get done.

We wouldn't have seen the hotel upgrades downtown either, and would have a small number of second-rate hotel rooms.

It was a night and day difference in downtown after P&L was built.

And we need outside investment, because the big money to do new projects will ultimately have to come from outside the City.

The same thing was said about Union Station. "What a waste of money!" "Look how much that thing costs." " KC government is inept." And look at it now. It's making money and is a definite asset for the city. The same thing will happen with P&L.

Very few investments make money in the short term (and that's still where we are with P&L). If you want to make cars or computers or open a restaurant you have to spend money up front to, hopefully make it back and more in the long run. Union Station lost money up front, is making it back now and will probably be a wash in the near term. But, you have a much better asset than what was there before and it, hopefully spurs further development. It's the same with P&L. Mark my words, it will be a wash or better by the time the bonds are paid off. But, what is there in the long term blows what was there before away. Have some vision!

Great point. The subsidy is what $10-$13 million a year? How does that compare to what Kansas is paying for the Sprint Campus? What KCMO/Missouri are paying for the sports stadiums? I'd argue the economic impact of P&L is far greater than that of TSC.

As far as P&L being a long term investment, hey, I'm on board and I hope it pans out. It wasn't sold that way, though.

Here's the thing: I thought P&L was going to be awesome. I naively thought it would be a panacea. I thought the residential would come sooner. I thought it would be higher-density. I thought it would more quickly lead to improved transit and rampant spinoff development. Sure, the economy has played a big part in some of these issues, but my disappointment in its failure to pay for itself is just the icing on the cake. My disappointment runs a lot deeper, and it is hardly assuaged by massive, speculative lists of good and bad things that may or may not have happened if P&L didn't exist. That's all I'm saying. Urbanity is cooler now everywhere. Revenues are up in cities. People want to be in cities more now than they did 10 years ago. Asserting that the correlation between P&L's existence and increased revenues downtown definitively implies 100% causation is silly.

I'm glad it's here, although I do wish it were doing better, and I hope it does better in the future. I wish it had more stuff I was interested in so I could help it do better. :/