When we cheer our new, much-improved downtown — as we have every right to do — we cannot do so unreservedly.
We already knew that because taxpayer dollars are underwriting the Power & Light District to the tune of about $10 million a year, and that number apparently is headed higher before it will come back down and finally go away.
But The Star’s Kevin Collison reinforced the reservations about downtown redevelopment on Sunday with a close look at the dramatic loss of jobs and the sharp upswing in vacant office space downtown.
Collison’s A1 story said that while attractions like the P&L District and the Sprint and Kauffman centers have prompted “more people to live and play downtown,” it’s a different story on the business front. “U.S. Census data shows that from 2001 to 2011…greater downtown lost 19.6 perrcent of its private employees,” Collison reported. “That’s 16,237 fewer private jobs.”
Reflecting the decline in jobs, Collison continued, the vacancy rate for Class A and B office space stood at 27 percent in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 19 percent for the same quarter 10 years ago.
Those are striking statistics, I’m sure you’ll agree. Collison said part of the problem is that downtown has lost employees and businesses to the Kansas suburbs and to the Country Club Plaza. To see the impending impact of the Plaza, all you have to do is look at the Plaza Vista project that is coming together on the Plaza’s west side. That will be the new Kansas City area home of the Polsinelli law firm, which currently has big presences on the Plaza and downtown.
Collison quoted one developer, Tim Schaffer of RED Brokerage, as saying that despite the high vacancy rate, downtown needs more modern office space.
Some of the highest vacancy rates are in some of the oldest buildings, including One Kansas City Place, Town Pavilion and City Center Square, all of which were built in the 1970s and 1980s. In other words, it’s kind of like our airport situation: We’ve got an airport that is convenient and manageable, but it is not appealing to many users, to the airlines and to the government, which has to provide an overabundance of security employees because of the dated three-terminal set-up.
Just as with the airport, we need to kick into high gear on new or rehabbed downtown office buildings. It’s going to require some developers to stick their necks out and bet on the future of downtown.
I’m betting on it…but, then, that’s easy for me to say because I’m not putting any money on the table.
Nevertheless, here’s the main reason I’m betting on it. Collison quoted Bill Dietrich, president of the Downtown Council, as saying…
“We are trying to change attitudes that have developed over 30-plus years…But the enhancements in downtown have saved downtown. It would have been a lost cause and we’re poised to recover.”
He’s absolutely right. Think of what downtown would be like if we still had the nasty bars on 12th and Main streets, the windowless massage parlors on 14th and the crumbling sidewalks on Baltimore at 12th. Think of what downtown would be like without the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Sprint Center, the Power & Light District and the new H&R Bloch building.
Without those changes, there is no way we could lay claim to being “a great city.” We would be bathed in shame and ignominy. We would be an apple rotting from the inside out…I, for one, would have been tempted to bail to another midwestern city that was on the move, like Denver or Indianapolis. (I don’t know if I could have talked Patty into it, but I believe I would have given it a major effort.)
But with the Sprint Center packing people in for concerts and basketball tournaments; the Kauffman Center filling up for symphony and opera performances; and the P&L bars, restaurants and stores serving up energy and excitement, we are in pretty good shape; we can take a lot of pride in our transformed downtown.
We just need a young version of Larry Bridges, or a few people like him. Remember? Bridges’ goal was simple: All he wanted to do was build tall buildings. It helped, of course, that he had the late Frank Morgan’s money behind him.
So, it’s not like snapping your fingers. We need people with money…people with money and vision. Then, we would really take off.
Oh, and give me that new airport terminal, too.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Another fine piece of work by Kevin Collison, aka Bagdhad Bob The Builder.
All lipstick on a pig Fitz. The issue of outdated real estate was another convenient fact that got locked in the closet during the larger downtown debate.
Everything can’t get converted to lofts, condo’s and apartments. Big companies that can make big deals don’t want a historic building. They want open, bright, cheery and energy efficient. They want espresso machines in the bathroom stalls with tablets built in the doors so they can Skype while taking a dump.
To attract the type of customers one would expect in a “renaissance” these older buildings require the kind of improvement that is less expensive to achieve by tearing them down and starting over.
Everything can’t get filed under if you build it they will come.
Most of the real estate downtown isn’t even suitable to run a call center or collection agency out of.
Larry Bridges and Frank Morgan had plenty of money, but they also had plenty of smarts about the commercial real estate market. Times have changed. The old number crunching doesn’t work in today’s market. Too much risk to do the right thing.
“…espresso machines in the bathroom stalls with tablets built in the doors.”
Now, that calls for some Class AAA office space…
(You’ve got a way of creating some idelible images, Smartman.)
From what I’ve heard it’s too difficult for a small business owner to be in the P&L. Granted there are two-sides to every story, but I heard that the local owned/operated restaurant The Peach Tree struggled then failed over high rents and obtuse management of P&L. The Peach Tree may have been responsible for their own downfall, but I’ve yet to see something home-grown take it’s place. P&L seems very ho-hum to me, they have all the other chains – Gordon Biersch etc. In few more years, I’ll probably completely ignore the P&L, like I do the Plaza. I can’t change the tax scheme, but I’ll vote with my dollar and P&L will very little of my support because of it’s lack of local flavor. Local flavor would probably fit nicely with Smartman’s concept of renaissance as well, keeping the character of buildings while improving commerce.
Everything you say is accurate, Bryan…I seldom go to the district because I prefer the variety of local and distinctive places available to us in the neighborhoods and suburbs like 39th Street, Westport, Brookside, Waldo, Prairie Village, Corinth, North Kansas City and Parkville.
I do like Gordon Biersch, which is one of the few “destination” locations in the district.
However, the district serves a great purpose, and that is, of course, giving visitors as well as local residents a great place to gather and party before and after downtown events and big occasions. When I go to Denver, I normally gravitate to LoDo because I know I’ll find a concentration of places to eat and places to see there. That’s the way it is with the P&L: Gotta have it or dowtown folds up at 10 p.m.
I have a friend in the commercial real estate business who owns, managers and brokers space. His balance sheet is an indelible image.
Finding the Class AAA tenants to fill the amount of vacant space in the metro is impossible. It’s not just KCMO vs Overland Park. You have to factor in Springfield, Omaha, Des Moines, Columbia, STL.
It’s a very ugly situation that will probably require taxpayer assistance. Otherwise most of these older buildings will wind up with small tenants that sign short term leases and do more harm to the building and the neighborhood than good. It’s the commercial equivalent of renting rooms at Crown Center by the hour for some boom-boom-pow
Has anyone talked about mass transit on this issue? Doesn’t it make more sense to create a climate of easy transportation to and from the downtown area, as a way of “setting the table” (so to speak) for future downtown development? If we have millions of dollars to develop a new airport that a majority of people don’t want, couldn’t some of that be put to better use in developing appealing mass transit?
Mass transit would be the cherry on the cake, but the cherry would cost more than 1,000 cakes. I’m wringing my hands…How will we ever be able to do mass transit? Had we kept our downtown up to date, I think we would have made mass transit a higher priority, when it was “affordable.” Now, it’s probably not.
Fitz, I totally agree… L&P is for visitors!
My carefully placed bitch and moan was for locals, who pay the tax bill that you were writing about ;-) …oh, and I like GB too, but I’m sure get my point about P&L being too commercial. Maybe it is my age, or profession, but I long for a “Keep Austin Weird” area. (Google it.) Yeah, that’d never fly with tax dollars. Oh well, I’ll keep dreaming.
Another indelible image of hourly “boom-boom” – – about to change your name to Smartassguy. – – very good point, by the way.
Leave them vacant if all you can do is ask for taxpayer assistance.
I met Dreiseszun and Morgan when they had that little bullshit office over around 95th and Nall.
You would never have known these guys pulled so many strings in the city.
They were easy to deal with and seemed like pretty good guys.
I don’t know Fitz, I am too old to really be a judge of what makes sense in an entertainment district, but it does seem, that this city just goes and goes and goes to the well like it will never end.
The conversation with all of these projects eventually gets around to ROA and if we look back at the promises made at the time,very few are actually producing like they were supposed to. You mention Denver and Indy and I have been to both cities recently. They are quite different than KC and most importantly are not crippled by a state line running through the Metro area. I think that state line, like it or not, gives this city an identity and a burden to bear that other cities don’t have to deal with.
Fix the sewers, fix the streets and hire some more cops. Wouldn’t getting back to just being good stewards of tax payer money provide a more substantial basis for future improvement?
I don’t like the big ideas much, they always seem to dissapoint and the consequences for failure are resting on the shoulders of an ever decreasing middle class.
JMO
Wow Chuck, you struck a nerve. I met Frank and Sherman through Clifford Roth, now inmate Roth, when I was doing some construction work for him. Back in those days, the 80’s, I would frequently have breakfast meetings at The Corner Restaurant. Little did I know that Frank did too. After our one brief meeting he never failed to say hello to me whenever he saw me there, which back then impressed the hell out of the people I was meeting. For all of their faults they were brilliant businessmen and deal makers that knew how to get stuff done.
They bought some stuff from me, nice guys. Pretty funny too.
:)
Fitz, you must have really struck a nerve with this blog…I have never seem/read so many respoonses to any other one.
Kansas City needs some new thinking…downtown revivals are a thing of the past. Denver and Indy did theirs 25 years ago. Louisville has tried to attract people to their downtdown for many years…evidentally lights and cops aren’t enough.
Sounds like to me a group in KC are trying to spend money on an new airport and downtown without a clue as to what is going on with our current teenagers…yeah, they are the ones that will supposedly use and pay for these things! We old farts shouldn’t think , build,, and indebt them up to their necks with buildings we wanted when we were alive. Today’s young adults think differently (check out their average credit card debt) than our generation. They will be unable to pay for the two projects!
I found it very amusing that the “H” was burned out on the signage of the POWER AND LIGHT sign in the picture on your blog. Does that tell you something?
Very observant of you on the “H,” John. I had never noticed that in the photo (which I took).
I disagree with you on the matter of us “old farts” (yes, indeed) building now and not worrying about who will pay later.
Rehabbing downtown buildings or constructing new office buildings would be strictly in the realm of private investment. On the other hand, if the city wanted to push for a new convention hotel — another thing we need — the city would help pay for that, or at least a parking garage and surrounding infrastructure. So, yes, that would be a cost concern — but not for office buildings, which is the point at hand.
As for the airport…It would be a $1.2 billion investment, but the revenue bonds would be paid off by the airlines (various fees and gate rentals) and the users. So, our beloved children probably would have to pay higher air fares (but wouldn’t they, anyway?), but they would not have to pay off general-obligation bonds, which the city would have to put its “full faith and credit” behind.
So, as I see it, for not an outrageous amount of money coming directly from taxpayers, our children and their children could have an up-to-date city with a modern airport and a downtown that attracted businesses and new jobs, as well as visitors.
Fitz, you should watch “Ruckus”. They touched on this subject and it was imformative and contentious.
I missed it tonight, Chuck, and loking at the KCPT schedule online, I don’t think it replays.
Usually on Sunday.
Chuck, you….and you too Fitz……seem far too wise to watch Ruckus. Isn’t it just a community version of The Jerry Springer Show with stupider participants and less viewers?
I’m just a “wise” ass.
The show is weighted to the liberal point of view, Mike and one other conservative usually at odds with Yowl, Mary Howlran and Gwen Grant me some more cash.
Here was my review of yesterday’s program, which included Steve Glorioso (BTW missrepresenting the figures the CDO…, well, you gotta watch it.)
“Gwen Grant shilling for more money for “Investment” in the inner city was hilarious. If they dumped cash outta helicopters over 27th and Tracy the money wouldn’t dissapear any quicker.
If Mary Howleran were any more condescendling and pompous she could be on Downton Abbey. In fact with her continued references to her friendship with Queen Kay Barnes and parroted pedagoguery from the liberal narrative she probably thinks she is the star of Downtown Abbey, where office space is filled with minority physicists who, thanks to Affirmative Action discover the key to free energy from cold fusion by crushing old copies of the Kansas City Star under the Dubs of Escalades.
Steve I’m so Glorious looks like Gollum’s drunk brother. He is on the committee to decide if the city will be ruled by a stonger mayor. The Orcs win in this movie.”
I like the show, it has different points of view, dissembled behind predictable but entertaining personalities.
Chuck:
Perhaps an upgrade to rectum of knowledge is appropriate. Funny stuff, particularly DOWNTOWN ABBEY. Brilliant! The helicopters dumping money over 27th and Tracy is CLASSIC! Maybe KPRS could doo dat like WKRP did with the turkeys.
So much for cruel and unusual punishment. Putting Glorioso on TV is a bigger risk than Ed Sullivan ever took. He makes James Carville look like Brad Pitt, circa Thelma and Louise. You’d think by now some local dentist or even the people at Guier would have come forward and offered to straighten those pickets for promotional consideration.
You are one funny, linguistic SOB. You will never completely fill the void in my sardonic soul that Christopher Hitchens did, but you do make me laugh and smile, the value of which can’t be measured.
Back at ya pal.
Now lookie here, boys…my friend Stevie G is with his third wife, so he obviously has some kind of magic with the ladies. And it isn’t his teeth that are a problem; he had a split lip at birth. So, forget about his appearance; he’s smart and quotable, and he’s made himself over more than once, finding success in almost every new venture, except one — journalist. Remember when he had The New Times?
I made no references to Mr. Glorioso’s appearance other than by metaphor which was intended to indicate demeanor and disposition.
I would never, and if I have, I apologise, make fun of a person’s disability. Mr. G’s general humped down in the chair, snarky, smarmy attitude in conjunction with his voice, leaves him vulnerable to old, fat, bald guys like me, making fun of him.
God bless him, fuck his politics.
Split lip or cleft palate surgery is pretty routine with a high degree of success.
The issue with Steve Glorioso is that when he first started mingling in KC politics he never got the ass whooping he deserved. In cities like Chicago, the mayors assistant’s – assistant have guys like Glorioso coming out of their stool after breakfast.
Hell, I’m smart and quotable but also have no business in politics unless it’s a benevolent dictatorship.
And Fitz, please don’t use his “third marriage” as some sort of badge of honor. Women of a certain age are stupid and desperate. Check out the hound dogs from Kansas City on ourtime.com, the 50 and over dating sight. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and fat, ugly people need love too. But jeez?
When the question was asked of Miss Whoever about why women don’t make as much money as men had she said because we are stupid and do things like agree to become Steve Glorioso’s third wife she would have knocked it out of the park.
The fact that he gets over in KC as some sort of Lee Atwater type operative says more about us than him.
Again, as a father, I ask you, would you want your daughter to be Steve’s first, second or third wife.
“Again, as a father, I ask you, would you want your daughter to be Steve’s first, second or third wife.”
Having a daughter, I would like to think of him as the “One that got away.”
:)
I was kind of joking about the third wife business…just trying to give my buddy some sort of backhanded back-up as the spears were flying his way.
…To give you an idea of Steve’s resilience, many years ago several editors at The Star and the morning Kansas City Times tried to purge him from the paper. We political reporters routinely went to him for quotes because 1) he knew everything that was going on and 2) he always had great quotes. But the editors came up with this refrain: “Who does he represent? He has no constituency…” On the editorial page, Abouhalkah called him a “gadfly” at least once. Despite the effort by management at 18th and Grand to marginalize Steve, we reporters kept going to him, and he held his position as a go-to source. Of course, we used lots of other sources, too, but we weren’t about to throw Steve overboard.
That has to be a first in the history of the Tsar. Marginalizing people never seems to have been an issue in the past. Machiavellian as he may be he has been a disease cast upon us in that his moral compass points which ever way Ben Franklin tells it to. He is the living patron saint of “wh@res. More than anyone else, his exit from the KC political stage will be a sign that we, perhaps, have turned a corner in the right direction.
I’ve gotta get a new post up…Come on, Muse, help me! We’ve exhausted the the great Downtown/Steve Glorioso debate.
OK my suggestion is why in the hell is everyone up in arms about what the NSA and CIA are looking at that comes out of our bodies in the way of verbal and written content when we should be more concerned with what the AMA, Big Pharma and Monsanto are having us put into them.
Think allopathic versus naturopathic as your underlying theme.
Very nice! We are not worthy!
:)