Quick Look at Kansas City’s Power & Light District
While returning to St. Louis from Kansas last week I asked my friend, Seattle Architect Rich Kenney, to exit the highway so we could do a quick spin through Kansas City’s Power & Light District.
Offering over a half million square feet, The Kansas City Power & Light District is the mid-west’s premier entertainment epicenter. With more than 45 unique and captivating retail outlets, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues, the District offers something for everyone. Located in the heart of downtown, this vibrant, new eight-block neighborhood links the Convention Center to the Sprint Arena and is bringing the beat back to Kansas City.
World-class attractions include the Midland Theatre by AMC, The Mainstreet Theatre, and the KC Live! Entertainment District.
As we didn’t even get out of the car this post is simply an introduction. I need to return and spend some real time there to get a better understanding of the development.
My interest in P&L is two-fold. First it is a major multi-block development in a major city, reason enough. The developer, Cordish, is the selected developer to build St. Louis’ Ballpark Village.
The purple area is the Sprint Arena and the blue is the Power & Light District. The central business district is just to the North.
Kansas City’s downtown is like many – surrounded by highways. St. Louis had an additional highway planned that would have cut off downtown from the city to the West & North. Thankfully it never got built.
The official map for P&L, above, shows the many small businesses as well as the extensive parking. The did a good job concealing the parking structures from view.
Above is a view looking East on 14th between Main & Walnut. One of the four valet zones seemed totally unnecessary on a Thursday afternoon. But then again, on-street parking is rare.
A block East we get a better view of the Sprint Center at Grand. Here on one side of 14th is one of the rare spots with on-street parking. The store on the left is a grocery store.
Going East on 12th the transition into the P&L is thankfully subtle. Thus the district connects nicely with the adjacent blocks to the West. This is likely due to the desire to attract conventioneers from the convention center.
One of the criticisms I had heard was visible from the car as we stopped at a light — the brick sidewalks are already getting uneven. The edge of the man hole cover, above, is a trip hazard. The person that creates brick sidewalks is the person that has never rode a wheelchair on them.
The buildings are mostly new and nicely varied. Different colors of brick are used as well as metal. The detailing gives a contempory look & feel to the area — much better than a fake retro look. The interior of one block is a 21+ area only.
Again, I need to return and experience P&L on different days of the week and at different times to get a full understanding. I hear it is so successful that other formerly popular areas are now short on customers.
– Steve Patterson
I had a chance to check it out a couple of months ago and wrote up my thoughts in the BPV thread on urbanstl.com.
I thought the overall design was pretty decent, but the tenant mix was lame. The restored movie theater is absolutely gorgeous, and the Sprint Center is a really unique – and cool – sports/entertainment venue.
Your last sentence echos my concerns with BPV here – I can easily see the Hard Rock Cafe moving out of Union Station and into BPV, leaving US with another vacant restaurant.
Not to mention KC backed the bonds for P&L and is paying millions out of its general fund to cover the lack of revenue.
A friend is a (former) restaurateur in downtown KC. He contributes the demise of his business directly to this development. I agree, as his restaurant was very good, even if not in an entirely ideal location on the very north edge of downtown. Anectdotally, other locals blame KCPL’s popularity with the stagnation of other formerly popular areas around the city (Midtown, Crossroads, Westport, Plaza, etc.). I believe once the novelty to wears off the other areas will reactivate. Hopefully existing businesses will be able to hold on until then. Survival of the fittest, you say? Not when new businesses are subsidized over older existing ones. And don’t think this project happened any quicker than Ballpark Village. I remember seeing renderings back in 1993.
Overall, I think its well done from an urban and architectural perspective. It does integrate parking well and has a balance between street and internal focus. I think the Sprint Center is very attractive as a replacement for the venerable Kemper Center which was always somewhat isolated down in the stockyards.
Like Dustin said, I could see BPV negatively affecting Washington Avenue. The plans for BPV that I’ve seen included a bowling alley – how fair is that to Joe Edwards?
As a frequent KC visitor, each of these areas offer something different. I’ve gone to P&L when friends wanted to go dancing but then the next day we go to the Plaza to brunch & find good deals at pricey shops.
When we went dancing, the was a definite dress code (no baggy clothes, no bandannas) which definitely made for a better experience.
I think the major difference between Saint Louis and KC is walkability. I can park my car in a hidden garage in the Plaza and not run to a meter during the day.
>>plans for BPV that I’ve seen included a bowling alley – how fair is that to Joe Edwards?<<
I don’t think Joe has anything to worry about.
“I think the major difference between Saint Louis and KC is walkability. I can park my car in a hidden garage in the Plaza and not run to a meter during the day.”
I’m not sure “walkability” has anything to do with parking at a garage vs. on the street.
^ Agreed. Parking in a garage does not relate to “walkability” at all.
I lived in KC from ’97-’02. they used to talk a lot about p&l back then, it finally happened a few years ago (’05?). i visited a couple times in the last year. the design is nice, but the restauraunts are all overpriced chains and i couldn’t find any retail. the movie theatre is great. and i hear that the dress code is pretty racially motivated and arbitrarily enforced. i’ve not experienced this, but what i read about DJ jazzy jeff being kicked off the stage gives a little credibility to that statement.
In Mizzourah a pedestrian is someone who just parked their motorized carbon footprint in a garage or metered spot along the road. More cars than people in those pics.
Maybe I should clarify. When I’m in KC, I’ve driven into town from Lawrence–the car has to go somewhere. To further clarify, IMHO, CWE or Wash Ave don’t have the same feel as KC’s Plaza. You don’t see as many cars, pedestrians are not always blared at, you can safely cross wide streets without worry, etc.
The Power and Light District has been very successful in bringing tens of thousands of visitors back into Downtown. The Live Block is very cool with several bars opening into a common courtyard and event space. Restoration of the historic Midland and Mainstreet movie palaces is a great gift to the city. The new supermarket is an incredible boost for Downtown’s residential momentum. And the district forms a nice bridge between the convention center and the arena.
The tenant mix is very heavy on national chains and carefully focus-grouped “concept” bars and restaurants. These types of places are very popular with tourists, conventioneers, and suburbanites – but not so much with urban dwellers who tend prefer locally-owned establishments. This a common complaint with all Cordish developments – that they are a Disney version of Downtown and not an authentic urban neighborhood. There is also some indication that the district might have attracted some petty crime – crooks coming to prey on naive suburbanites unaccustomed to a night out in the big city.
To the argument that P&L has put other bars and restaurants out of business – take it with a grain of salt. P&L opened in a recession, so many of their competitors might have closed anyway. Several of the businesses that have closed in recent months were already weak. A lot of P&L’s effect has probably been to thin the heard, so to speak. On the other hand, there are also rumors around town that the city is so desperate for P&L to break even that Liquor Control is harshly cracking down on other Downtown/Midtown bars for the most minor of violations.
The biggest negative with P&L has been that it is losing money. The city guaranteed the TIF bonds, so taxpayers are responsible for deficits, not Cordish. This year the city is covering at least $4 million in loses. Cordish is also way behind schedule with the retail part of the district. We are still waiting for the Barnes & Noble and other stores, as well as the promised residential towers. Cordish is also protesting their property tax assessment, which is outrageous considering they are already getting an enormous tax break.
There was also a huge controversy over the Live Block’s dress code, which many thought targeted hip-hop fashion and African American’s. Thus the nickname Power & White District.
For me the biggest unintended benefit of the Power & Light District is that it has sucked up all of the suburban frat boys, douchebags, tanorexics, duders, bachelorette parties, etc. My neighborhood in Midtown/Westport is now much more livable since this crowd migrated north to Downtown. I can walk to the grocery on a Saturday night without stepping over passed out sorority girls.
If Ballpark Village develops similar to Power & Light, I would assume that The Landing and Washington Avenue would be most impacted, along with Delmar and the Central West End.
My understanding from KC relatives was that at the outset of design, the local restaurants were invited to open stores in the P&L however due to the high lease rates, it was unfeasible for anyone but the chain stores. No Gates, no Arthur Bryants, or other local BBQ’er or restaurateur could touch it.
While I’d love to have some of St. Louis’ best local names represented in BPV, I don’t entirely mind letting the tourists hang out at downtown Applebees and keeping the good stuff to ourselves on Wash. Ave and other “cooler” haunts. So far, this seems to be the course as the developers downtown have to practically give away the first floor storefronts to get them filled in the rehab buildings.
The recession might be a good thing for BPV in regards that the make up might shift from strictly to an entertainment district/bar mall idea to recognizing the fact that the value will be in a more dense, vertical mix of office and condo towers. Fortunately, w will have a much better chance to see Class A office space happen with Stifel Nichols involved indirectly through the Cards and their desire to stay downtown. Stifel has the money and muscle to secure financing. It also means that they will have a much more important say in the development. This will be a good thing
Also, Busch Stadium offers an aspect of development that differs from Sprint Center. New High rise development with condo’s overlooking the ballfield seems like no brainer and will compliment Washington Lofts, Cupples Warehouses and Lacledes instead of distracting. Once again, it will take time. But I think downtown St. Louis could easily have several unique mini neighborhoods and a much larger population within the next decade. Just need a steady progression of loft development with a highrise condo going up in BPV.
Finally, I think Union Station is already transitioning, with or without having to worry about BPV, into more solid property based on hotel and meeting room space serving Scottrade Center, Kiel Opera house and the office crowd in the immediate area. I wouldn’t doubt that Checketts is looking at the surface parking lots next to the multimodal center and trying to scheme an office development to his New York buddies (I wonder if anybody is drumming up the idea that St. Louis would make an ideal back office location for Chicago firms once High Speed rail money is thrown around). Then you throw in a rebuilt 22nd street interchange on the other side with the sole intention of creating more developemnt near Union Station. I’m very optimistic on Union Stations future with the idea that the mall concept needed to die.
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