Competition has suddenly — and surprisingly — heated up to land an aquarium both in Mission and in Kansas City’s downtown area. At this point, the suburban proposal has a clear lead.
Mission officials have nailed down a site as well as financing, which includes millions in public funds from the state.
The city of Mission expects the aquarium to be a key attraction for an office, residential and retail development that will break ground this fall at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Roe Ave., site of the razed Mission Center Mall.
Across the state line, the Economic Development Corp. in Kansas City has just put out a fast-track request for developers to come forward if they are interested in building an aquarium.
No preferred sites or funding plans are yet on the table.
Kansas City’s biggest strength would be its central location and current attractions such as Union Station, the Power & Light District and the Missouri riverfront. Representatives from all three of those areas appear interested in the project.
Metropolitan Kansas City has scattered its assets for many years, creating challenges for downtown and the tourism-related businesses.
Still, supporters of the Mission aquarium point out that it would be built in an inner-ring suburb just minutes from downtown and the Country Club Plaza.
The request by the EDC, a quasi-governmental development agency, to enter the aquarium sweepstakes is a bit startling.
While talk of an aquarium in Kansas City, Missouri, has gone on for years, no serious proposals ever emerged.
Instead, the city has concentrated on reviving downtown with an entertainment district and several office projects. One long-ago idea of building an aquarium near the Richard L. Berkley Riverfront Park gave way to plans for office and residential development.
In recent months, Mayor Mark Funkhouser and other elected officials have said Kansas City needs to be wary of future commitments of public support for projects that could be privately financed. Presumably, that would include an aquarium. The mayor also has noted that the city’s tax base can’t support every tourist-related project that comes along.
For now, the emerging contest over where to build an aquarium appears to be another example of how regional leaders don’t cooperate or communicate well enough.
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Aquarium battle
Were all one KC, as long everything is built downtown. Why don't you just say it, "All we want from the Kansas side of the state line is your MONEY."
bannister road super tif
I think after the Bannister Road/Neal Patterson Admitted by Mayor Smart With Nothinghouser Money Losing Super TIF starts up along with the looming business slowdown if not recession, there won't be money for almost any of these discretionary items.
Not that this will matter to the oblivious Gruesome Twosome but many of us regular citizens might start getting deeply discouraged.