I have no idea. After that last encounter I am glad they are tearing it down. If only they would blow it up with him inside it.

That would be nice. Get those soccer idiots the hell out of Arrowhead.

So long Bannister Mall.......

Lots of memories there....


http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/884


The redevelopment of Bannister Mall got off the drawing board and into the demolition stage Wednesday.

Excavators started taking down the former Jones Store and will begin moving south over the next year, tearing down the mall to make way for a $949 million mixed-used center called The Trails.

The 467-acre development would be anchored by an 18,500 seat professional soccer stadium that would house The Wizards, Kansas City’s major league soccer team.

Eventually it would add a 12-field tournament soccer complex for local, regional and national tournaments, a 250-room hotel, up to 1.1 million square feet of retail and up to 1.7 million square feet of office space.

Area residents who showed up at the Bannister Mall site Wednesday were thrilled.

Standing in the parking lot with the demolition crew, well, I had a flashback to 1980.

I was with the electrical crew then. I had just moved to the city to attend UMKC and my big brother knew a worker who gave us a sneak peak of the spanking new center at Interstate 435 and Bannister Road.

Its sheer size - more than double, maybe triple my hometown mall - the skylights, the sculptures, the landscaping, the big name stores set to open - this was going to be life in the big city.

And when it opened in August of that year it was the place to be for many in the city.

Area high school students considered it 'their' mall and many still do. As young parents they shopped there as families.

After I became retail reporter for the Star most of my excursions there were to cover openings, and then more and more often closings.

The big names left, then the small locally owned stores.

Guard towers were constructed to make people feel safer. It didn't work.

But the only time I was actually worried was when I realized I was in a whole wing of the mall that was empty of people and stores.

Since Bannister Mall closed in late May 2007 vandals had moved in to 'help' with the demolition by breaking out all the windows and taking everything not nailed down - and then some.

So it was sort of bittersweet to see that once beautiful mall become rubbish (rubbish that will be recycled).

But here's hoping the developers can pull this project off and give south Kansas City residents another awe inspiring gathering place they can be proud of and call their own.

I lived near there for 9 years. It was cool in its day. Time stands still for no man some famous dude once said.

I'm still pissed off that Kevin Smith didn't get to film Mallrats there. It was his first choice, and the mall passed on it due to the "objectionable content". Would have been nice to see my old stomping grounds immortalized on film like that.

This story is so much more complicated than people are willing to admit.

It incorporates White flight (back to the urban core), falling property values, lost anchor stores that propped the mall up, the decline of a once bustling Benjamin Plaza, the decline in popularity of enclosed malls, middle class families moving East in to Lee's Summit/Independence/Blue Springs, shifts in disposable income with the occupying demographic, etc. etc.

That said, I had some wonderful memories at that mall.
I once worked there in the movie theater (United Artists).
I grew up in South Kansas City...It'll always have a special place in my heart.

We're on the verge of another failed Kansas City development sinkhole that'll quickly get stale and cost us millions upon millions of dollars.

*Yawn*

dont forget the crime quotient

I acknowledged that crime was a factor in saying that the story was much more complicated than that.

Crime was the major factor. People did not feel safe shopping there anymore.

The rest is just excuses.

I don't think Clark is going anywhere.

1. Benjamin trails was a ghost town for many of Bannister's thriving times, it is irrelevant.
2. A shit ton of more shopping options have opened for the southland since the time that that area was THE shopping destination for all south suburbs.
3. Wards was a big loss, then the deterioration of surrounding shops [how many hardware stores failed at the Home Quarters facility], Venture, BB and CC, then Hypermart all closing shop.

Speaking for myself, I stopped going there when more than one person I know was a victim of violent crime there.

I lived in the South Kansas City for all but about 4.5 years of my life.
The perception of the occupying demographic (much darker than in years past) and crime in the area is quite a bit more significant than the actual increase in crime.

Oak Park Mall, according to statistics, has often reported a higher rate of crime than did Bannister Mall. (Not) Surprisingly the perception of that area is quite a bit different.

Indeed.

Summit Woods, the resurgence of Ward Parkway, Town Center Plaza, Walmart on 135th & State Line, the Belton Walmart, etc.

I'd be interested in seeing some reports. My perception of the problems at Bannister Mall is not from personal experience.