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Exciting news for residents of the midwest United States! I read this in the
4/28/2006 Kansas City Star. "Joco" is the local shorthand for Johnson County KS:
a very well-to-do, family oriented suburb on the western side of Kansas City,MO
with population ~350,000.
Legoland is very close to reality here - the local politicians are very savvy in
getting projects like this to Kansas, and getting STAR bond approval (the last
thing needed before construction, according to the article below) should not be
any problem if past history is any guide.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14447062.htm
Legoland ponders Joco sites for amusement park
By KEVIN COLLISON
The Kansas City Star
“If you end up with a Legoland park, it will be the best attraction you’ve ever
had.”
Ted Owen, Carlsbad, Calif.
Legoland is scouting sites in Johnson County for its only Midwest theme park — a
colorful fantasy world of plastic bricks drawing families from a huge region.
RED Development, the developer behind The Legends retail project at Kansas
Speedway, has an agreement with the London-based firm that operates Legoland to
build a $200 million amusement and educational park. If built, it would be only
the fifth Legoland in the world.
Tourism experts say a Legoland theme park would have the name recognition and
reputation to bring visitors to the Kansas City area from as far as Minneapolis,
Denver, Dallas and Chicago.
“It’s considered a very well-branded and well-run operation with high levels of
customer satisfaction,” said Robert Routh, an analyst on the amusement park
industry with Jefferies & Co. of New York.
“It should draw a high level of traffic from an expanded radius you wouldn’t get
from a normal operation.”
The mesmerizing Legoland attractions are based on the interlocking plastic
blocks that have delighted children worldwide since their invention in Denmark
50 years ago.
Visitors describe the experience of visiting a Legoland park as a journey
through a magical land.
The 128-acre Legoland California near San Diego — the only one in the country —
drew 1.5 million people last year to more than 50 rides, shows and interactive
features. The park has thousands of scale models that include such landmarks as
the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower and a New York skyline featuring a Statue of Liberty
built from 12,200 Lego bricks.
“If you end up with a Legoland park, it will be the best attraction you’ve ever
had,” said Ted Owen, president of the Carlsbad, Calif., Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s built for kids and for kids to take their parents to.”
Two potential sites, both in Johnson County — one in the southwest, the other
the west-central portion — have been identified by RED.
The project, however, is dependent on obtaining state approval for STAR bonds
necessary to finance what would be a 400-acre development.
Legoland would anchor a broader development that would include a resort hotel
and up to 500,000 square feet of retail space, said Dan Lowe, a partner at RED.
He estimated the total investment at about $500 million. No more than half would
be subsidized by the public through tax incentives and other economic
development programs, he said.
If the necessary approvals are won, construction on the Legoland would begin
next spring with an anticipated opening in early 2009.
“It’s a perfect fit for STAR bonds because the goal of the program is to draw
visitors from out of state,” Lowe said. “This project would do the same things
as the Kansas Speedway.”
The Lego Group opened its first theme park in 1968 outside what was then its
company headquarters and manufacturing plant in Billund, Denmark. It expanded to
England in 1996, and then California in 1999. The last Legoland to open was in
Germany in 2002.
John Ussher, the development executive for Legoland, said the main audience is
children ages 2 to 13, and their parents. The parks feature an assortment of
interactive attractions where kids can immerse themselves playing with Legos,
enjoying gentle Lego-inspired rides and walking through cities and familiar
landmarks built with Lego bricks.
“Legoland is a clubhouse of Lego; it’s Lego comes alive for fans and guests,”
Ussher said. “Both parents and children interact and explore together. It’s not
just getting on a ride, but actively participating in the vehicle.
“We’re not thrill rides. We like to say we’re not white knuckle, but pink
knuckle.”
Admission is not cheap. A one-day general admission at Legoland California is
$53 for adults, and $43 for children ages 3 to 12 and seniors 60 and older.
Season passes are available for $89 for adults and $69 for children and seniors.
The park only allows 15,000 people in the gate each day.
Talks between Legoland and RED began about two years ago, but were put on hold
when the Danish owners of the theme parks sold a majority stake in them last
year to Merlin Entertainments Group, a London-based company owned by the
Blackstone Group of New York.
In January, Nick Varney, the CEO of Merlin Entertainments, said Legoland was in
a growth mode and interested in the Midwest and East Coast as potential sites,
according to reports.
Kansas rose to the top of the Midwest list because of the powerful economic
development tool it could offer through the STAR bond program. It allows
municipalities to issue bonds to finance major entertainment and tourism
projects and use the sales tax revenues generated to repay the bonds.
STAR bonds have been the major tool used to build Kansas Speedway and the
accompanying retail development, including The Legends at Village West, a $248
million project just opened by RED.
“We went to the Legends and couldn’t believe what’s happened,” Ussher said.
“STAR bonds are a fantastic vehicle to help economic development.”
Legoland executives also have had preliminary meetings with Kansas economic
development officials, including Secretary of Commerce Howard Fricke.
“He was supportive of the idea of a project like this coming to the Kansas City
area,” said Caleb Asher, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Lowe said Legoland would be the anchor for a development that would include a
300- to 500-room resort hotel, themed shopping area and potentially other
visitor attractions as well. His company believes the market for Legoland
includes 54 million people living within a day’s drive of Kansas City.
A Legoland in the Kansas City area would likely employ about 800 seasonal
workers and 110 full-time staff.
Routh, the analyst, described a Legoland park as being a “continental” draw but
not quite on the scale of an international attraction such as Disney World.
“This type of development would pull in a number of families in the Midwest who
aren’t able to go to theme parks in California or Florida,” Ussher said. “It
would be good for the local economy.”
All four of the Legoland parks average about the same attendance — roughly 1.4
million a year — both the sunny weather California location and those in
Britain, Germany and Denmark.
A Legoland park would not be expected to compete with Worlds of Fun because of
its younger audience. Stacy Frole, a spokeswoman for Worlds of Fun, said young
people in the 12-to-24 range, as well as families, are its target market.
“We always welcome anything that could bring additional tourism to the area,”
she said. “We are very proud of the product we have and feel people will still
come to our parks.”
Lowe said RED decided to pursue a location in Johnson County because it believed
it would be difficult to attract additional retail to the Kansas Speedway area.
Between Village West, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Cabela’s and other stores, there
is more than 2 million square feet of retail either built or planned.
Another major amusement park planned for the Kansas Speedway area, Schlitterbahn
Waterparks, also is proposing to build more than 400,000 square feet of retail.
“It would be difficult to get the massive retail necessary to pay off the STAR
bond in Wyandotte County,” Lowe said. “We know Johnson County is probably more
ripe for unsubsidized retail.”
PIECE BY PIECE
We’d make number five
Legoland has four theme parks: Denmark, England, Germany and California.
Yes, it’s a word…kind of
The name Lego comes from the Danish words “Leg Godt,” meaning “play well.”
What’s inside?
Legoland California has more than 50 rides, shows and interactive exhibits —
largely built of Legos.
How many Legos does it take to make small-scale versions of these sights?
380,792: The U.S. Capitol
150,000: The Eiffel Tower
50,000: Mount Rushmore
12,200: The Statue of Liberty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To reach Kevin Collison, development reporter, call (816) 234-4289 or send
e-mail to kcollison@kcstar.com.
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