Cities that achieve the most development success often plant the seeds years in advance.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, for example, laid the groundwork for its wildly successful Village West development (Nebraska Furniture Mart, Kansas Speedway and Children’s Mercy Park) by purchasing more than 300 acres of private property, including some homes that had to be razed, in the late 1990s.
The government and the county as a whole have been reaping the benefits ever since. (The government got a harsh lesson in planning about a decade earlier, when it failed to buy up, for possible development, land around the privately financed Woodlands horse and dog racing tracks at 99th and Leavenworth Road, just east of what became Village West. The tracks failed, and The Woodlands and the immediate surrounding area remain a wasteland.)
With similar foresight — that is, the Unified Government’s purchase of the acreage near at 110th and State Avenue — the city of North Kansas City made a strategic decision in 2012 to buy dozens of acres at the southeast quadrant of Armour Road and I-29/35 when the Archer Daniels Midland flour mill there was going out of business. That might have been a good business for many years, but it was always a nasty looking operation, dominated by a towering silo amid weeds and barren surroundings.
I am a frequent visitor to North Kansas City, owing to two facts: My primary care physician is in a building at the North Kansas City Hospital complex, and Patty and I own a building at 14th and Swift (two block east of Burlington), where she has operated her garment-manufacturing business for many years.
So, it was pleasing to me to watch that ADM silo come down a few years back. I had no idea what was coming next, but just having that site cleared was a step forward.
This week, The Star’s development reporter, Steve Vockrodt, reported in detail plans for the nearly 60-acre site. On Tuesday, the North Kansas City Council approved a financing plan for a $134 million redevelopment that is scheduled to include:
:: A $35 million golf driving range/entertainment complex called Driv Golf Lounge & Brewhouse. Driv Golf is along the lines of Topgolf, which has close to 30 locations around the country, including one at I-435 and Nall in Overland park. (Although I’m an avid golfer, I’ve never been to Topgolf, and from what I hear, it’s much more about drinking, dining and entertainment than improving your golf game.)
:: Two hotels, a conference center, a grocery, 200 apartments, restaurants and other retail.
In separate moves, the city sold Meierotto Jewelers a tract, where it will build a store, and it has arranged a land swap with Burger King, which has a store in the redevelopment area. Burger King will move to a new site farther east on Armour Road.
Leading the development is a firm called National Realty Advisors in Leawood. Vockrodt said the financing plan includes tax-increment financing, a community improvement district and a guest tax on the hotel rooms that will be part of the project.
The publicly funded part of the project is expected to be $33 million of the $134 million total.
…But back to that decision of city officials to buy the site. Sara Copeland, the city’s community development director, told me the land acquisition process actually began about 15 years ago. Back then, Copeland said, a relatively small piece of property was going into bankruptcy court, and word had it that someone wanted to buy it and put up a mini-storage facility. The city didn’t want that to happen, so the city counselor went to bankruptcy court and, armed with authorization to pay up to a certain amount, successfully purchased the plot.
“That set us on this course,” Copeland said.
Sara Copeland
Several other piecemeal purchases subsequently took place, including the former Payless Cashways — later Sutherlands — site. (The store was demolished in August.) The largest purchase, of course, was the ADM site, which cost the city $11.3 million — with an additional $1 million spent on demolition. Although city officials didn’t have a specific plan in mind for the area where they were scooping up acreage, Copeland said, “We were concerned about what was going to happen with the mill.”
Now, after many years of prescient land acquisition, the city stands ready to capitalize. The City Council will need to approve several more actions along the way, including establishment of the TIF district, but Copeland said construction of a new street within the redevelopment area is expected to begin as soon as the weather improves.
“It’s been quite a process,” Copeland said. “It’s starting to happen, and we’re really excited about it.”
**
North Kansas City is a great little town. Its population is only about 4,300, and it covers only 4.2 square miles. But it has some excellent bars, restaurants, bakeries and other retail establishments — many along the several-block, “downtown” section of Armour east of Burlington. It has an extremely low crime rate, and I can tell you from experience city services are excellent.
Copeland and other city officials have a right to be excited about the upcoming project, which, Copeland said, could be the biggest commercial development in the city’s history.
Seaking as a property owner in the city, I can say it will be great to see North Kansas City start participating, in a big way, in the development boom taking place in much of the Kansas City area…In a year or two, I might even find myself driving over to Driv to hit some golf balls.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Erratum: “Seaking as a property owner in the city…”
Also, I got lost at “…the Unified Government’s purchase of the acreage near at 110th and State Line…”; is there a new project slated for South KC?
Also also, if I was keeping up, it (roughly) appears that NKC has already sunk up to $20 mil in this project and has committed to another $33 mil, which means they are financing nearly half of the project. Isn’t that ambitious for a tax base of 4300 souls?
Finally, your take on Topgolf is spot on; it’s too expensive, crowded and just plain loud to make it a go-to place for range work. But if your aim is to eat and drink, talk a little trash while futzing around with your clubs, it’s great.
I guess I’ve lived too close to State Line Road for so long now — six-plus years — I’ve lost my bearings…I mean State Avenue, of course. (Corrected.)
…I don’t know exactly how much NKC has invested in the land purchases, beyond the $11.3 million for the ADM site and $1 million to clear it. Regardless, situated where it is — smack in between the two Great Kansas Cities (south of the river and the Northland) — NKC has always had an economic heft disproportionate to its population and square mileage.
It did get out over its skis several years ago when it built that huge community center several blocks back west on Armour (and eventually turned it over to the YMCA), but I think it will be OK on this one. Remember, every time someone turns into Harrah’s at MO 210 (Armour) and Chouteau Trafficway, at least $1 goes into NKC coffers…I’ve watched the cars flow in there (not mine), and it’s mind boggling.
Totally forgot about the Casino windfall, but I thought that cash was earmarked only for education.
Freudian slip? (“… several blacks back…”).
Sorry, just having a little fun with you on this frigid Friday.
I spent almost 10 years covering North Kansas City for The Star. When I covered that city, I think that Harrah’s was bringing in about a million a month. I don’t know how much it brings in today but I’m going to guess that it is less than it used to. This is really good news for “Northtown”. There was also an EPA Superfund site nearby because of some company that spent decades dumping herbicides there. Your assessment of NKC is right. It is the most Brookside-Waldo-like area north of the river. My favorite place there is the Screenland Armour movie theater. And the football stadium at North Kansas City High School is possibly the oldest in the metro area.
I am a NKC HS grad (71) that lives in Brookside now (over 30 years). I guess there could be some similarities between Northtown and Brookside but there will never be another Brookside.
Having said that, NKC is really developing like you say. My good friend recently opened up Pickels and Chicken on Burlington and he wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t seen a really great development pattern setting up in NKC.
I’ve done the Pickels but I haven’t done the chicken, so looking forward to it!
What a great name!
Pickels (sp?) and Chicken? Gotta look for that…But I’ll tell you a place you cannot go wrong — Paul & Jack’s, on Clay, just north of 18th.
It’s Chicken N Pickle — but you get the idea!
P.S. Did you pose for the caricature on the on-line menu for Paul & Jack’s?!
I am insulted, Gayle (even though you’ve never seen me). I DO NOT have a pointy nose.
Good research, though, on both the Paul & Jack’s and the Chicken N Pickle. Accuracy is our most important product here. And you’ve always got your magnifying glass out.
Every NKC class reunion is at Paul and Jack’s! I can’t remember a time that my class didn’t have one there.
Chicken N Pickle has court time that you can reserve on line. We did, I didn’t realize Pickle was such a popular sport. Guess it has been for a long time too.
This Chicken N Pickle thing is getting curioser and curioser…Explain yourself, man!
How about all those lovely pics you post from time to time? I swear I’ve seen you in similar golf slacks. And everything else fits except the nose.
Love NKC. We used to play Paul and Jack’s and also a place called Paci’s that’s now Johnny’s Back Yard. Our drummer and sax player were both from there and when we didn’t practice at The Mutual Musician’s Foundation, we used to practice at one of their houses on 23rd(?). Thanks to the casino they have virtually no property taxes (so apparently not restricted to education, although I think some gaming income has been so restricted). Unlike Fitz, I have no qualms about enjoying the food at the casino and have been to several concerts there when friends local and otherwise played their.
What hits me though is that all the development there is commercial. I can’t think of any new residential that’s going in which is strange given the low taxes and crime rates. I’m surprised KCMO hasn’t tried to annex the whole town for its income producing capabilities.
There has been some significant residential development, John…Sara Copeland told me about an apartment complex for seniors called Northgate Village, at 30th and Swift. From the website, it looks very nice; I can’t tell how many units but a lot.
Some single-family houses have also gone up in concentrated areas (although you wouldn’t call them subdivisions) within the last 10 years. I’ve seen some of them, and they are very nice. I don’t think they have a lot of room, however, for a ton of residential development; it is, for the most part, commercial and industrial.
…Just to be clear, I would go to Harrah’s to see a musical performance, but I wouldn’t gamble. I’m a horse player, you know; that’s the way to lose your money slower. If you just go to the track and don’t do the simulcasting, you can only lose a bet about every half an hour. And I only go to the track a couple of times a year, at most. Nothing like when I was single and spent a good number of my vacation days at various tracks around the country. The casinos are bad in every way, except for the concerts.
If Johnny’s is owned by the same guy that ran Paci’s it was a very enjoyable cigar bar. I don’t know if they still have no smoking rules in town, but he ignored them and you could smoke your cigar inside. It supposedly still has bands, booze and smoking.
“This Chicken N Pickle thing is getting curioser and curioser…Explain yourself, man!”
To explain myself, my friend that opened it was an owner of PB&J. He’s also a NKC grad. He’s opened tons of good restaurants, including the one up on 1-29 and 64th Street, that was call Paradise Cafe, I think. He always said he wanted to have a great restaurant in his stomping grounds and that was pretty close, but they sold it after about 10 years.
So now he is out of that partnership and back in with someone else. These kinds of place are well researched and put together. The concept must be a good one, or they wouldn’t have done it.
It is a group of 10 pickleball courts, 5 outside and 5 inside, and a PB&J looking kind of restaurant just to the north of it. They share a kind of a courtyard for outdoor for outdoor relaxation while waiting (for the court or the restaurant).
Pickle is kind of like tennis light.
I haven’t been to the restaurant but it looks good and if history tells me anything, it probably is.
The funny thing is, Bill was my roommate in college at KU. We really struggled to put meals together during those years because we were young guys who didn’t give a flip! If you would have told me he would become one of the best restaurateur/chefs in the city, well, all I could’ve said was, “You shoulda started earlier!” But we had fun.
Thanks, Bill…A story about Chicken N Pickle on KSHB-TV said “pickleball is kind of a mixture between tennis and ping pong.”
Here’s the link to that story…http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/pickleball-coming-to-north-kansas-city
Certainly information not to be found elsewhere on the Internet I’m betting. Yet another first for JimmyCsays.
One of the beauties of the blog is I it’s impossible to predict where the comments will lead.
Pickleball? Paul & Jack’s? Johnny’s Back Yard? Fine, we’ve got a big “news hole” here.
Sorry to put a damper on all your celebratory notes: I’ve worked in NKC for 10 years, great town in many ways, but when the air pollution is bad, its really bad in NKC, along with a smell of it.