Have you been to the Power and Light district yet? If the answer is no, start making plans to go. It’s worth it.
Okay, we know the concerns about the brand new entertainment district downtown: For starters, it didn’t come cheap. $850 million dollars, to be exact and the city is on the hook for 300 million of that. If this thing goes under, the city will get a large chunk of the bill. I still wonder how it will affect the Plaza, Westport and River Market. How many bars and restaurants can the city and metro area support? But enough of the negatives.
The Power and Light district is impressive. In fact, when I first walked through the KC Live courtyard area earlier this month, the first thing that went through my mind was: “This is better than I expected.”
There’s no doubt that downtown Kansas City needed something like this… badly. When my wife and I flew here to shop for a house, KMBC put us up in a hotel downtown. We were surprised how absolutely dead it was after 5 pm. Not that it was all that exciting during the day either. Now, there’s a whole new vibe.
I’ve been in several of the bars and restaurants in the Power and Light district and every one is upscale and seems top-notch. The new bowling alley, Lucky Strike Lanes, is my favorite so far. It’s bowling alley meets New York City lounge, with a beautiful view of KC from large windows on the one side. What a cool place to take friends and family from out of town.
Of course, both the Sprint Center and the P&L district were practically built for out-of-towners. We wanted the Big 12 tournament back and this year, the tourney has returned and fans from all across the Midwest seem impressed by the new and improved KC.
Look, I’m cynical enough to know that a lot could still go wrong here. How many of these fancy establishments will make it and be here 1,2,5 years from now? We’ll see. But I really hope the district thrives and downtown thrives with it. This is a great region and metro to live in and it deserves to have a bustling, fun downtown. So get going and visit already. It may have been built to attract the out-of-towners, but it’s up to us here in the Kansas City metro to make sure our new crown jewel shines for years to come.
I want to join in with those who have expressed their disgust with the smoking ban in Kansas City. I have made a personal choice to not smoke or chew. It should be left to our business owners to decide if it is allowed. I will gladly tolerate second hand smoke instead of watching people spit in cups when I am at a bar. Maby spitting in cups should be banned too. Also, allowing smoking at the casinos and the sports complex is out of line with the intent of the ordinance. Guess we know who has the power in Kansas City.