Northland Lifestyles
 Representatives for Platte County’s newest major retail center, Zona Rosa, weren’t bashful about using descriptions such as “upscale” and “regional.” Some outside the area were even taken back when comparisons were made with the venerable Country Club Plaza.
Since opening in mid-2004, Zona Rosa has, without a doubt, helped solidify a new level for Northland lifestyle. While its traffic has been significant, the regional visitors indicate that this area now has amenities worth visiting. Constructed in the corner of Highway 152 and I-29, the developer almost instantly created a near perfect blend of old-style charm and people-friendly bustle.
“It really is a throwback to the downtown districts of the past,” explained Rosemary Salerno, general manager. “We’ve really been pleased at the response so far. I think people really understand what this development is all about and they like it.”
The numbers tell part of the story. The center opened in 2004 with approximately 500,000 square feet of retail. Restaurants, pubs and nightclubs continue to add tenant to the mix. Residential and office space have begun leasing above-ground floor retail. In the summer of 2005, a unique, 300-seat theatre club and café opens along with three adjoining theaters.
One of the best measurements of success is that Zona Rosa was ahead of schedule planning its next phase—a 400,000-foot addition that will nearly double its current size. Set to begin later in the Fall of 2005, the expansion will include more residential development and a hotel.
 Measured in Dollars The significance of Zona Rosa may be even greater than its healthy business traffic and growth predictions, however. In addition to thousands of shoppers for its owner, and sales tax revenue for Platte County, Zona Rosa also establishes the Northland as a serious contender as a destination. The parking lots full of Johnson County (Kan.) license plates, even visitors from out of state, witness to the establishment of this retail center as a regional retail destination, and by extension Platte County and the Northland.
The implication of this has been overstated, but it is significant. Kansas City, with its Country Club Plaza and Johnson County with half a dozen large retail centers, have dominated the area’s commercial lifestyle focus for several years, leading Clay and Platte County leaders to worry about “sales tax leakage.” On a more basic level, Northland residents who wanted to shop, dine or seek entertainment “someplace special” often felt they had to travel out of their community. It was one more contributing factor toward a Northland sense of inferiority.
Other retail and public development have helped build the new Northland image by providing tangible evidence of the area’s high quality lifestyle choices. One of the first is Briarcliff West, the mixed-used development that primarily has been associated with some of the finest new homes in the Northland, perched dramatically on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and downtown Kansas City.
The Briarcliff development recently broke ground on a $25 million mixed-use development that will include more than 130,000 square feet of restaurants, retail and office. Named Briarcliff Village, this new facility is expected to open in the spring of 2006 with continuation of Briarcliff’s emphasis on landscaping and luxury, featuring a Tuscan Village motif.
Capitalizing on Vistas  One of the most dramatic Briarcliff projects is already under way: an $80-million condominium development on the southern tip of the area’s prominent ridge. Once an abandoned rock quarry, this property is destined to become The Ravello at Briarcliff, 264 upper-end condominiums that will include underground parking with amenities fitting their setting and as much as 2800 square feet of space.
Further along is Briarcliff’s long-awaited retail area, a 140,000-square foot project that also will include mixed residential and office space. In another design reminiscent of old-style downtown living, the plan calls for retail on the ground levels with office and residential above. Several upscale restaurants are already in negotiation for ground-level properties.
Briarcliff’s property along Highway 169 extends west into Platte County, as far as the ridge overlooking Riverside. This extension becomes significant in view of the dramatic work being conducted in that city, including a major widening of Highway 9 that passes from North Kansas City, south of Briarcliff and into Riverside. The highway is being converted from an old, concrete roadway into a new parkway that will, in short order, create a new community entrance. Significantly, Highway 9 eventually will connect Hunt Midwest’s Northgate Village, Briarcliff and Riverside Horizons.
“The southern part of Clay and Platte County has really been overlooked,” said Nathaniel Hagedorn, Briarcliff’s project manager. “It’s not just potential now, because it’s really happening.”
More the Merrier Briarcliff and Zona Rosa may be among the more dramatic, but they are not the only major lifestyle developments in the Northland.
Next door in Riverside, that virtual remake of the community is progressing as that city invests its proceeds from Argosy Casino in major infrastructure improvements. A series of public streets, community buildings and other projects over the last 10 years will be dwarfed, however, when nearly 1,200 acres are open to development. That area, newly protected by a huge levee dedicated in May 2005, will include approximately 500 acres owned by the city and planned as Riverside Horizons, an upscale, mixed-use area.
Brent Miles, Community Develop-ment Director for Riverside, said the work is still in the earliest stages, although considerable progress is underway on key infrastructure, including a new interchange with I-635 that will make the area one of the most access-friendly sites in the metro area. “The interchange is the lynchpin,” Miles said.
Other Northland lifestyle developments include Liberty Triangle, which is expanding an existing retail development to the east side of I-35 at Highway 152, and St. Joseph’s Shoppes at North Village.
One other developing area is not retail, but it’s worth mentioning: Smithville Lake, with more acreage than almost any combination of other area reservoirs, has blossomed into a well-rounded facility, with two golf courses, trap shooting and beaches. In the summer of 2005, the triathlon championships will be held there, although they won’t be the first national attention for the lake.
“During the 2004 election, a writer from Fortune Magazine was here and he couldn’t get over what we had,” noted Craig Porter, Eastern Clay County Commissioner. “Of course, they have lakes and other features in New York, but you have to drive for hours to reach them. He couldn’t believe all of this was right next to a major metropolitan area.”
This can all be found in Kansas City’s Northland.
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