Destination Northland | KC's Prime Expansion Destination

Just outside the core area of Northland growth, an outer ring of communities provide an increasingly diverse range of lifestyle choices and economic activity that benefit from the nearby metropolitan area while enjoying a rural lifestyle. Although most are surrounded by luxury ranch homes and working farms, they feature local services and quick access to amenities of the metro area.

Not surprisingly, small cities such as Platte City in Platte County, Kearney in Clay County and even Clinton County’s Cameron are attracting residents who seek a more rural lifestyle but still want the benefits of the city.

Platte City is one of the most economically active. Just north of Kansas City International Airport and the I-29/I-435 intersection, Platte City has grown overnight from a sleepy rural town to a fast growing small city.

Nearby Weston has more notoriety for its beautifully restored downtown, and has one of the area’s most attractive “old town” retail areas with antique and craft shops, B&Bs, and an Irish pub.

Kearney in northern Clay County is noted for its small-town feel, despite growth in nearly every corner of the community. It has benefited from several developments that have helped retain its country village environment, including a multi-use residential development that features its own “village center” with a bank and retail shops.

Smithville has the benefit of the straight-line access to the Northland and downtown Kansas City via Highway 169. Even before the highway’s recent expansion to four lanes, Smithville was part of Clay County’s record residential growth, with extensive housing growth on its south side and in rural areas to the north and near the lake.

Because of its history, Excelsior Springs in Clay County almost does not qualify as an expansion community. The city experienced a significant hey-day before World War II, then lost energy when that golden age diminished.

Cameron in Clinton County is the most separate major expansion community, but in many ways its independence may be an advantage. Clinton County and Buchanan County also are benefiting from upper-bracket homebuyers who are seeking economic sites for large acreage estates. With their interstate access and rural expanses, both are seeing increased development in that market.

Jackson County is the region's core. Cass County has almost unlimited space. Wyandotte is experiencing a real renaissance to match its annual Renaissance Festival. And Johnson County? What else can you say? It's Johnson County.

But the Northland may have finally drawn an inside straight in the area's economic development poker game. After years of underdevelopment, Clay and Platte counties are now seeing some of the most dynamic expansion in metropolitan Kansas City. Even during recent economic pessimism, new construction, plans and permits scarcely slowed in virtually every category.

One reason is a variation on the "location, location, location" theme. Because of its historic status as something of a metropolitan step-child, the Northland has huge tracts of land served by utilities and open for development--and only minutes from both downtown and KCI. It's a combination that is unique to the region and one that promises to make most developers' hearts skip.

Actually, several developers have already taken advantage of the situation. One of the most imaginative involved not open land but a former rock quarry where Charles Garney built Briarcliff West, now one of the city's finest collections of luxury homes and upscale commercial development. What is instructive about this still ongoing development is that Garney was able to find essentially unused space literally overlooking downtown Kansas City.

Similarly open tracts are owned by diverse organizations such as Hunt Midwest, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the city of Riverside. Already under construction are major developments such as Shoal Creek and Zona Rosa, mixed use projects that promise impact well beyond even Clay and Platte counties.

The Northland's progress involves more than just empty space. Enough development is now underway to create a momentum that in turn is generating more development. Projects that had been on hold are being taken off the shelf and updated because the growing population and commercial traffic now make them feasible.

Highway 152 from I-35 to I-29 appears largely empty except for recent housing growth and the dynamic commercial area near I-29. That will change rapidly as a cascade of projects take shape: retail centers, a major theater complex and upscale offices are currently under construction or have broken ground.

Near 152 and I-435 Hunt Midwest and others are building several mixed- use developments. Other significant projects include an upscale retail, office and residential project near Maple Woods Community College.

Some Northland development is hard to see. Many of the area's finest developments are tucked into green hills and out of sight. Riss Lake in Parkville, for example, is a nice residential areas but is virtually invisible from nearby I-29.

Far more visible is retail develop-ment along the I-29 corridor with Boardwalk Square, the Shops at Boardwalk and BarryWoods. Across I-29 to the west, Zona Rosa is expected to begin opening in 2004 and quickly become a premier regional shopping destination.

Commercial and industrial growth are equally dramatic, but less easy to categorize. The area's heaviest concentration of industrial develop-ment remains in North Kansas City. The original, 1929 district and the newer, Paseo Industrial District remain vital, with expansions and new tenants announced every year.

Another area is overlooked because it is not very visible: Hunt Midwest's SubTropolis is the world's largest underground business complex with more than 4.5 million square feet of leased space. It holds more than 50 local, national and inter- national businesses, including a foreign trade zone. Northland "recycling" may see its most elaborate chapter in Riverside where that city has used funds from one of the

Northland's three riverboat casinos for a dramatic, city-wide rebirth. The latest and largest project is a massive levee to protect 1,200 acres of potentially prime development. The city is designing an upscale mixed-use project designed to be a regional showcase.