Destination Northland | KC's Prime Expansion Destination

During the first weeks of May 2005, one of the most important steps in developing Platte County may have occurred with unveiling of the “Kasarda Plan,” a 160-page study that proposes an economic development effort likely to impact Platte County and the entire Northland.

The study recommends a major acceleration of development in and around Kansas City International Airport. Although the details include everything from enterprise zone regulations to street right-of-ways, the bottom line is as simple as it is important to Platte County: the airport is potentially an enormous economic engine that must be leveraged starting…now. With a Kansas City administration experienced in successful airport development, and major growth already underway in nearby areas, the plan is well-timed to build on the synergy that increasingly typifies Platte County, Missouri.

Located north of the Missouri River and occupying the strategic I-29 corridor between KCI and downtown Kansas City, Platte County already has witnessed one of the most dramatic growth periods in recent Missouri history. Commercial and especially retail development has established the area as major player in metropolitan Kansas City.

The best single example is the upscale development Zona Rosa. Opened in 2004, this “new urbanism” retail center features an old-town style with some very new twists: 500,000 square feet of commercial development that draws shoppers from a 20-county area to stroll among the shops and courtyards. Planning already is underway for a second phase—a 400,000-square foot addition that will include a hotel.

Zona Rosa is only part of Platte County’s retail growth. Just across I-29, Shoppes of Boardwalk has become one of the largest retail concentrations in the metro area. To the south, Tulleries Plaza is being planned as another upscale development. Along the I-29 corridor and north of Highway 152, modern automobile dealerships and growing commercial development have linked the retail area with land near KCI, even before efforts to implement the Kasarda Plan. To the north, once sleepy Platte City has become one of the area’s fastest growing housing markets.

Two other significant corridors add to these devel-opments, Highway 45/64th Street and 9 Highway.

The first is a key link with I-29 west toward Parkville and The National, Parkville’s “lifestyle” community that features upscale homes and two national-level golf courses. With this kind of demographic, it’s not surprising that 45 Highway is the scene of rapid retail expansion, including the new and still-growing Parkville Commons center.

To the south, Highway 9 passes through Riverside into Parkville. Two more-different communities hardly could be found, but both are finding their own way to deal with dramatic growth.

Riverside, by far the younger community, is utilizing the success of its Argosy Riverboat Casino to fund what may be the most dramatic community improvements for any city of its size in Missouri. The most significant involves an $80 million levee that will open nearly 1,200 acres to development. With freeway and rail access, the Riverside Horizons project will be less than 15 minutes from both downtown Kansas City and KCI. Devel-opment is expected to begin next year on a mixed use plan including retail, commercial and light industrial.

Parkville’s success starts with its quaint downtown, a regionally popular restaurant and retail destination that has maintained its attractiveness even as it expanded. The National, Parkville Commons and a recent annexation to a strategic intersection with I-435 illustrate the foreword vision of this community.

The potential of KCI makes all of these developments even more significant. The Kasarda plan calls for development of more than 8,000 acres of airport property and initiation of aggressive incentives for another 10,000 acres that surround the facility. With an emphasis on modern, high-speed business needs and the existing presence of Platte County’s superb interstate network, the area’s future could not appear more optomistic.

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.