JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

In the past couple of days, two major development deals — one prospective and one underway — have cropped up, posing problems to a neighborhood in one case and to the well being of Downtown in the other.

Let’s start with QuikTrip, which is the Amazon of Kansas City. It’s based in Tulsa and is the best convenience-store chain I’ve ever seen. At the same time, it’s a behemoth, whose heavy foot sometimes comes down on neighborhoods resisting its attempts to build or expand.

But QuikTrip usually gets what it wants. A few years ago, for example, it won a big battle to double the footprint of its store on Westport Road just west of Southwest Trafficway. The only battle it truly lost locally was in 2014, when neighbors beat back its attempt to build at 33rd and Southwest Trafficway. But QT never took its eye off the Trafficway and now is back, seeking to build on the northwest corner of Southwest Trafficway and 39th Street.

QT proposes to demolish a massive, two-story building that appears vacant and apparently is or was part of a pharmaceutical services support company called UBC.

Pictured, looking east to west on 39th Street, is the two-story building QuikTrip plans to raze to build a new store just blocks from another QT on Westport Road.

Having a QuikTrip on incredibly busy Southwest Trafficway seemed like a bad idea back in 2014 and still seems like a bad idea. Southwest Trafficway is THE biggest artery from downtown to points south in Kansas City and eastern Johnson County. And that particular intersection is already very difficult to negotiate, especially if you’re going east-west and turning south onto the Trafficway from westbound 39th Street.

The Star reported that Patrick Faltico, president of the Volker Neighborhood Association, said most residents he had heard from were against the plan. They had concerns about traffic flow, loitering, trash and petty crime. Faltico pointed out that QT already has the store, apparently thriving, several blocks south on Westport Road, and, of course, there’s the Main Street store at 44th.

The Roanoke Homes Association, also opposed, issued a statement, saying in part: “This intersection is already a nightmare…Moreover, the new location would likely divert traffic onto nearby residential streets where speeding cars are already a threat.”

QuikTrip issued a statement, saying: “Our goal is to meet with the community and listen. We want to be a part of the community and we want to be good neighbors. Opening dates have not yet been determined.”

The fact that QT says “opening dates have not yet been determined” is a clear signal that the process is well underway and that the chances of QT backing off are very small.

I’m with the neighbors who are opposed, but I don’t like their chances of beating the Amazon of Kansas City.

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Next we turn to the puzzling case of Waddell & Reed, the Overland Park-based, mutual fund company that is supposed to occupy an 18-story building under construction  at 14th and Baltimore. The news this week, however, was that Waddell & Reed is being acquired by an Australian company for $1.7 billion. The building’s developer, a firm affiliated with insurance magnate Michael A. Merriman, is in line to get about $100 million in city and state tax incentives, provided the project is completed and Waddell & Reed moves in.

Now, though, the company’s future is uncertain, and today The Kansas City Star published a story under this headline, “Kansas City says Waddell & Reed’s tower will be built. But will they actually move in?”

If and when it’s finished, this building is supposed to house 1,100 Waddell & Reed employees. (I took this photo from the corner of 14th and Wyandotte, looking southeast.) The glass building in the right background is the recently opened Loews convention hotel.

For its part, Waddell & Reed issued a statement that was not particularly encouraging: “We will be working with all the appropriate parties and reviewing plans closely, carefully and collaboratively and will provide updates over the coming weeks and months.”

My fear is we’ll end up with a half-built building that will be an eyesore for years. Remember what happened back in the mid-2000s when Bob Bernstein, of the marketing company Bernstein-Rein, tried and failed to construct The West Edge on the Country Club Plaza? The unfinished project sat vacant for several years until VanTrust real estate bought it in 2010, tore it down and started over on a new building that it leases to the Polsinelli law firm. The project ended up as a big winner, but it sure caused a lot of angst and hand wringing while in limbo.

The last thing Downtown needs is a white elephant next to the convention center on one side and the new Loews convention hotel on another.