TKC EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING NEWS!!! FEAR THE KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR SPECULATIVE REAL ESTATE BUBBLE ON TRACK TO BURST!!!
Once again irrational exuberance has enraptured downtown Kansas City as real estate speculators attempt to scam big bucks from naive souls who think that travel mag hype is anything more than part of an organized effort to pump and dump so many local properties.
There's always rabid opposition to any fact check of the Downtown Kansas City "Renaissance" ponzi scheme because there's big money on the line for many developers, contractors and firms looking to make cash from greater fools. Sadly, politicos without any real biz experience mistake this "excitement" for reality because nobody wants to ask too many questions about the intentions behind campaign donations.
Still, the hype paints a pretty picture as local media reporting on the trend is more akin to a marketing brochure.
To wit . . .
CHECK THIS EPIC LIST OF LUXURY LOCAL LIVING SPACE SOON TO GLUT THE KANSAS CITY REAL ESTATE MARKET AND BURST THE SPECULATIVE BUBBLE CREATED BY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR HYPE!!!
Right now civic scammers are floating this link via social media because the pictures are beautiful and there's a dearth of critical thinking on facebook that might wonder about high-end condo/loft/luxury apt. saturation in Kansas City given the loss of so many local jobs over the past 15 years.
You decide . . .
IS KANSAS CITY SOON TO BE A LUXURY LIVING SPACE MECCA FILLED WITH UPWARDLY MOBILE HIPSTERS OR IS THIS ALL JUST A TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED FRENZY THAT WILL IMPLODE LIKE IT DID AFTER THE START OF THE ONGOING GREAT RECESSION?!?!
In fairness, people are entitled to make their sales pitch.
But this is a question of Kansas City priorities.
Are we a town that's nothing more than a staging ground for the latest scheme for any developer with a wad of cash and a new suit? Or do we actually care about communities outside of the downtown loop that haven't enjoyed as much loving attention from this 1% cabal of civic elite attempting to double down on a development bet that has already lost big bucks for Kansas City?
You decide . . .
So, you're saying the toy train is not going to save us? I don't believe it.
ReplyDeleteAs long as City Hall continues to shift all the risk, debt, and financial burden on taxpayers rather than the developers what could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteWe are witnessing a full-scale sellout to developers, who are working closely with municipal government for short-term speculative gain.
ReplyDeleteNow show a list of just those properties which aren't receiving public money.
ReplyDeleteI thought 'pump and dump' was Westport's new marketing slogan?
ReplyDeleteJust watch Idiocracy to see what all this stuff is going to look like in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhen you hate everything so much why worry about things you'll never enjoy or take advantage of?
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting for Sly's tulip bulb sale. Isn't that how all this got started?
ReplyDeleteAnd be sure not to tell anyone that the millenials will be aging out in a couple years and their priorities will change just like every other preceding generation.
Only the massive public debt and endless bond payments will remain.
All aboard!
Tony you have zero cred on this issue.
ReplyDeleteYou might get a few newbie suckers to bite, but anyone who has been in the metro a couple of years will be heading for the burbs in short order. Fuck your choo-choo!
ReplyDeleteHey speculators, come on by and make an offer for a property right on the streetcar line. You can make a nice drawing of your proposal with a streetcar right outside the front door as a selling point. Address is 415 Grand. This should be a choice primo location for a hipster loft building, in the trendy River Market end of the toy train.
ReplyDeleteDon't fall all over yourselves trying to be the first to get to my door and buy my property now before the streetcar is done and the cost goes way up.
The 5% of Kansas City's population in downtown live in taxpayer subsidized housing, work at taxpayer subsidized jobs, eat and drink at taxpayer subsidized establishments and soon will ride in taxpayer funded streetcars.
ReplyDeleteThere hasn't been any non-subsidized building or renovation downtown in years, hardly any new employers who are not subsidized and yet somehow this is "economic development".
Looks like a sardine tin stood on it's side.
ReplyDeleteWhats the total amount of taxpayer subsidized beds added to downtown so far?
ReplyDeleteSpending my time off downtown in a rooftop apartment building lounge with a recent college grad girl in neon sneakers and standard issue gym shorts sitting on the other side of the room doesn't appeal to me.
ReplyDeleteSpending time fuming endlessly about things I can't possibly obtain appeals to me.
ReplyDelete3:07, if she were sitting on your side of the room, like in your lap, would that appeal to you more?
ReplyDeleteWhere are all the baristas and service workers going to live. Servants quarters?
ReplyDeleteGhetto Apartments just a hop skip and jump east within walking distance 4:50.
ReplyDeleteSo when does the big wave of Millennials moving to downtown and renting apartments begin?
ReplyDeleteThe millennials Visa card will expire soon. Bank of Dad will ignore Mom(loan officer), decide that the art and coffee child needs to grow up and get a real job.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the actual design of this building, it joins the many others that are being designed and built on the cheap to take advantage of all the taxpayer deals and will become a plague on downtown in just a few years after it's built, briefly occupied, has rents drastically lowered, and then falls into bankruptcy after being mostly empty.
ReplyDeleteLooks like 1960s public housing.
Agree with 11:19. The magical mysterical not yet built but already at break-even Mensa boy memorial combination flying carpet and streetcar amusement park ride will make everything work out just fine. People will come from all over the world just to take it in. It will be just like the end of "Meet Me in St. Louis" except in Kansas City.
ReplyDeleteA town with no middle class. Just affluent whites in high-security luxury buildings and impoverished ghetto dwellers. What's wrong with this picture?
ReplyDelete7:23, your concern is very real. Many of the cities that our mayor wants to compete with have huge income gaps between the rich and poor. One of the great things about KC, imo, has been that it's a great, affordable place to raise a family.
ReplyDeleteYeah all those rendering sure do look pretty. But, as mentioned already in this thread, how many of those proposed projects are seeking embarrassing amounts of tax incentives and how many of the approved projects got embarrassing amounts of tax incentives?
ReplyDeleteThis is becoming a joke. Yes, I want a booming, bustling downtown as bad as anyone in this city. I was born and raised in this city. But I don't want any of that shit if it's going to affect my tax burden negatively and hurt the city. Seems like this city just cannot wait to lift it's collective skirts and bend over for any "developer" with a stack of cash to come in here and build something. Tax payers have been more than generous priming the pump for downtown projects. At some point our city leaders have to shut off the faucet.
But, they won't. They'll forever continue to allow every developer with any modicum of interest to come in here and fist tax-payers in the anus while the fat cats in the city continue to get tons of financial kick-backs for screwing the public. It's insane how easy our city leaders are. There are probably prostitutes out there with better judgement.