Buyer's remorse doesn't pay the bills
 By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post Most of us have had the experience. You find out after the fact that you've paid too much for something. Maybe it was something as small as an MP3 player. Maybe it was something bigger, like a car. You haggled as best you could until you agreed on a price you thought was fair, but as you left the dealership you glanced over your shoulder in time to see your salesman high-fiving and doing mid-air chest bumps with his co-workers. That should have been your first clue. It's no secret the subsidies provided to Cordish & Co. to develop the Power & Light District were way too generous. That's the danger when you're dealing with an entity that competes with an almost monopolistic advantage. I mean really, how many companies out there specialize in developing entertainment districts in struggling mid-major urban centers? Other than Cordish, only McCaffery Interests comes to mind. McCaffery partnered with Graves Hospitality Corp. to develop Block E in Minneapolis, another oft-criticized deal but at least on the surface the financials look much more favorable for the taxpayers. With only one competitor that we probably didn't even contact, it's no wonder how Cordish & Co. was able to secure such favorable terms. Kansas City is in a terrible position. The ink on the contracts is dry, the Big XII basketball tournament arrives in less than a month and Cordish is in no hurry to open any businesses. "Read the fine print on the contract you signed" seems to be the slogan for our new entertainment district. Not very catchy but at least it's honest. Should we be angry? Of course. Vindictive? Not against the businesses in the P&L District. That would be counter-productive. There's nothing left for us to do but patronize the establishments whenever possible, try and find every positive attribute of the district and tout them to visitors, and quietly, very quietly learn from our mistakes. |
posted by Mark at 1:10 PM
Comments on "Buyer's remorse doesn't pay the bills"
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Anonymous said ... (2:16 AM) :
post a commentI'm angry, but I sure don't know what to do about it. Most of the people who made this terrible decision are gone from the council.
We can certainly voice our concern over their attempt at more money for the proposed Hotel.
Anyone in the retail/restaurant buusiness already sees the writing on the wall. With over 100,000 sq ft it is just about impossible to generate the gross sales needed to cover the bonds. As citizens we realize the negative impact it will have on our city so how can you wish them ill will.
It just amazes me how the CORDISH OWNED businesses were able to open up in time for Sprint but they have dragged their asses when it comes to getting their in house competition opened.
Cleaver left us with multi-million dollar failures in Union Station and combined sewers. So we sent him to Congress. Barnes has done the same with the arena, P&L district, again with the sewers, so I guess we should send her to congress too?
Included in the reasons for remorse might be Cordish's opposition to the Festival District legislation intended to benefit every small business district in the City. Not the most community minded position from our new corporate citizen.
I agree that Cordish is managing the P&L grand opening poorly; two missed dates, no excuses. City leaders should have been more vigilant in the exact wording of the contractual agreements.
However, the arena, P&L and Kauffman PAC (seperate deal) are completely transforming our downtown and helping KC slowly back into metro competition with cities that have surpassed us years ago like Denver, Minny, even StL. This was absolutely necessary if we had any intent of halting the perception of sheer failure from our ghost town of an urban core. We couldn't get our largest companies to locate DT for years. You've gotta spend money to make it, and we're on the tipping point; without P&L, we wouldn't have a chance at the kind of large scale, city-wide rebirth that we're on the verge of (already happening DT, parts of midtown, west side and NE). And without humongous subsidies P&L would not exist in DT KCMO, or probably even in Village West, Lenexa or OP where TIF is becoming commonplace as well.
But Cordish builds pretty things. Who cares if there's nobody there or nothing open. The important thing is that we tore down a bunch of old buildings and parking lots to make it look PRETTY!!!
And that is the substance of Kay Barnes. Kay has the comprehension of the 4 toothed drunk uncle that lives in the trailer park.
Hey, I've got an idea. Let's open a bunch of restaurants in a recession.
This is another example of Wayne Cauthen's incompetence. He was the city manager. Time for Wayne to go back to Denver. This what the Three Trails(Bannister Mall) is going to be in 5 years.
the restaurants and bars in P&L will be fine, they're already packed on many nights and certainly weekends and event nights, and the place is still a construction zone. We didn't simply make the south loop pretty, we've brought DT back into focus for the entire metro area, and created new sales tax revenue streams in the process. don't assume this thing will fail, just because you won't go there.
This area was a close-to functionless wasteland of surface parking lots for over a decade and is now the reason folks in the burbs (and the city) are talking about KCMO and DT again. It is the reason Block and McMeel are downtown, it is an ideal complement to the (very different) momentum in the Xroads. It is not a perfect development (even I have some qualms with Cordish), but it is a dramatic positive statement for KCMO.