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RED Development, city and state officials held an open house today to present
the LEGOLAND project and answer questions. I had the chance to drop by the
presentation on the way home from work today. I did not have time to stay for
the presentation, but I did pick up the handout detailing the project.
The area they are looking at is an ideal spot for the section on town they
From the Handout:
Begin Quote
LEGOLAND Missouri is not just another shopping center and entertainment
attraction.
- The proposed LEGOLAND park is just one component of a 200 acre development that includes retail, office, aquarium, convention center and hotel
- LEGOLAND and Sea Life Aquarium are international sucess stories, which entertain and educate millions of families with young children every year
- A LEGOLAND in Lee’s Summit will be only the firth LEGOLAND in the World and the second in the US and Sea Life will be the first in the country
- LEGOLAND California has been voted the number one theme park for Children in the United States for five years running, and LEGOLAND parks worldwide receive well over 90% guest satisfaction
- LEGOLAND offers exciting programs for schools that bring a classroom curriculum to life
Two-thirds of the money necessary to build this development will come from
private investment.
- Total cost of the project is $539 million
- The LEGOLAND park is asking for $110 million in public support
- Any financial risk associated with the TIF bonds will rest with the developer
“We see the LEGOLAND project as a great addition to an already fantastic quality
of life in Lee’s Summit and a substantial draw for the metro area of Kansas City
and the State of Missouri. We look forward to continue the process of bringing
these exciting international attractions to Lee’s Summit.”
John Ussher, LEGOLAND
Dan Lowe, RED Development
End quote
Illustration of proposed park:
Scan of
Handout
Other recent articles/editorials from the Kansas City Star:
Lee’s Summit must be skeptical in reviewing LEGOLAND proposal City should seek
an independent analysis of project finances
Theme park would be a great addition to KC area
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snip
The area they are looking at is an ideal spot for the section on town they
snip
Looks like I lost some of the post.
The area they are proposing is already a popular shopping location for this
section of the city and has the infrastructure in place to handle large volumes
of people. The other side of the interstate features a large shopping area with
several dozen shops and about a dozen restaurants. The location is 10 minutes
from I-70 and about 40-50 minutes from KCI airport.
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In lugnet.legoland, Matthew Rausch wrote:
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snip
The area they are looking at is an ideal spot for the section on town they
snip
Looks like I lost some of the post.
The area they are proposing is already a popular shopping location for this
section of the city and has the infrastructure in place to handle large
volumes of people. The other side of the interstate features a large
shopping area with several dozen shops and about a dozen restaurants. The
location is 10 minutes from I-70 and about 40-50 minutes from KCI airport.
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So, what is your take on the project? Is this a cross between a LEGO Imagination
center and a LEGOLAND Park? From the looks of the one working link you have, the
image of the flyer, the graphic is of the park only. Where would the shopping be
located? Or does the shopping mean only LEGO.
This is quite a surprise to me. I bet others had their jaw drop like mine. Not
that I am knocking Kansas City, Missouri (which by the way, you might want to
explain briefly for others the dual state nature of Kansas City, MO) but, this
is really only a regional place for travel. While I am certain adding a LEGOLAND
MO to the list of parks would be great, foot traffic is certainly, I would
guess, going to be lower than LEGOLAND CA.
Did they mention this as part of any larger expansion scheme? Like to Florida,
maybe? (fingers crossed).
Keep the community up to date on this. Certainly, it might be a few years away,
but its not to early to start planning a convention in Kansas City!
Todd
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In lugnet.legoland, Todd Thuma wrote:
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So, what is your take on the project? Is this a cross between a LEGO
Imagination center and a LEGOLAND Park? From the looks of the one working
link you have, the image of the flyer, the graphic is of the park only. Where
would the shopping be located? Or does the shopping mean only LEGO.
This is quite a surprise to me. I bet others had their jaw drop like mine.
Not that I am knocking Kansas City, Missouri (which by the way, you might
want to explain briefly for others the dual state nature of Kansas City, MO)
but, this is really only a regional place for travel. While I am certain
adding a LEGOLAND MO to the list of parks would be great, foot traffic is
certainly, I would guess, going to be lower than LEGOLAND CA.
Did they mention this as part of any larger expansion scheme? Like to
Florida, maybe? (fingers crossed).
Keep the community up to date on this. Certainly, it might be a few years
away, but its not to early to start planning a convention in Kansas City!
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Disclaimer: I lived in the Kansas City, Missouri, area for a few years. It’s a
great town, lots of golf courses, the best BBQ in the known universe (in my
opinion!), and some crazy fanatical baseball and football fans. I really
enjoyed living there. (And living now in the Twin Cities, I’m only about a 7
hour drive away.)
But, I don’t see a Legoland park doing well there. The park could only be open
six or seven months out of the year, and the metropolitan area isn’t so big that
they could rely on just local visitors - they’d have to have out-of-town
visitors to make it feasible. If you’ve ever flown into the KC airport, it’s in
the middle of nowhere, at least an hour drive from the location of the proposed
park. And unlike Southern California, there aren’t that many other attractions
to help draw people.
My ‘gut’ response is that the developer is using the Lego name as a way to draw
interest and money into their project, and that this Legoland won’t be part of
the final design.
JohnG, GMLTC
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So, what is your take on the project? Is this a cross between a LEGO
Imagination center and a LEGOLAND Park? From the looks of the one working
link you have, the image of the flyer, the graphic is of the park only. Where
would the shopping be located? Or does the shopping mean only LEGO.
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I corrected the links. Apparently they required a cookie. It worked when I
tested them last night, but today didn’t. Thanks for pointing this out.
The graphic only shows the LEGOLAND area. They did have a map of the area
displayed, but I have not been able to find an electronic copy. IIRC the
shopping is to the west of the Park and the conference center and hotel is to
the East.
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This is quite a surprise to me. I bet others had their jaw drop like mine.
Not that I am knocking Kansas City, Missouri (which by the way, you might
want to explain briefly for others the dual state nature of Kansas City, MO)
but, this is really only a regional place for travel. While I am certain
adding a LEGOLAND MO to the list of parks would be great, foot traffic is
certainly, I would guess, going to be lower than LEGOLAND CA.
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I don’t think they expect to have the country-wide draw that California has, but
they are going for more the day trip crowd. Kansas City is within a day’s
travel for a large section of the Midwest and I think this is their target
crowd. Missouri already has several successful attractions, so this might just
serve as another stop on a trip. I’m not sure if the park would be as
successful as California, but I think it would be unique enough that people
would take the time to stop on their trips.
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Did they mention this as part of any larger expansion scheme? Like to
Florida, maybe? (fingers crossed).
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My guess is they are avoiding FL since it is so expensive and they would have so
much competition.
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Keep the community up to date on this. Certainly, it might be a few years
away, but its not to early to start planning a convention in Kansas City!
Todd
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