The Mass Street Soda Co., based in Lawrence, Kan., is expanding this summer to the Legends Outlets with KC Soda Co.
According to a spokesman, the shop will offer sodas, floats and ice creams. It will offer more than 1,300 premium craft sodas from independent brewers across the nation and worldwide, the spokesman said.
The new soda shop will open sometime in June and will be located in a 1,328-square-foot space below Dave and Buster’s at The Legends Outlets, according to the spokesman.
The owners and founders of the soda shop are Matt Baysinger and Lucas Thompson.
At the shop’s opening, they will launch a craft soda brand to be called KC Soda, the spokesman said. There are three locally brewed KC Soda flavors planned, including cream soda, a root beer with a special kick such as cinnamon, and a peach soda using Kansas and Missouri peaches, according to the spokesman.
A vacant area (closest to front) that is at the corner of Parallel Parkway and Village West Parkway is slated for a new development, Unified Government officials heard Monday night. To the left of this area is The Legends Outlet parking garage, and to the south of it is a new Residence Inn hotel under construction.
A new $50 million housing and parking development is planned for The Legends Outlets at the intersection of Parallel Parkway and Village West Parkway.
Described at a Unified Government Economic Development and Finance Standing Committee meeting Monday night, the new three-story development features 246 luxury market-rate apartments above it. There will be more than 400 parking spaces for the public to use. The apartments will have one and two bedrooms.
The new three-story development will be located to the west of the existing Legends Outlets parking garage on a 2.5-acre vacant parcel, according to George Brajkovic, UG director of economic development. There will be a bridge connection to the existing garage. To the south of it is the new Residence Inn hotel under construction.
The development team is EPC Real Estate, RED Legacy, KKR and Humphreys Architects. EPC also has done other projects in the metropolitan area, including Village at Mission Farms, Highlands Lodge near the Plaza, and Avenue 80 in Overland Park.
Brajkovic said some of the more recent multifamily housing in the area includes Delaware Heights, west on State Avenue; and Northpoint’s Village West Apartments, phase 1 which is completed, and phase 2 which is under construction.
Steve Coon of EPC Real Estate said the company introduced luxury high-density apartments to the Kansas City area. Its projects have three criteria, connectivity, proximity and walkability, he said.
The developments have many amenities and have access to transportation and to jobs, he said. Residents can walk to retail stores and parks or trails, according to Coon. It’s something very different from a suburban walk-up garden apartment, he added.
“We look for the ability to take the elevator down to the curb, take your dog for a walk, and enjoy it,” he said. The Legends Outlets is a highly walkable area, which is attractive to this sort of development.
He said EPC tries to make sure the architecture of the developments fits the neighborhood and its surroundings.
“With The Legends, we’re helping to bring an urban feel in a suburban location, which is a real opportunity,” Coon said. “Renters really like the urban environment a lot.”
This project proposes industrial revenue bonds with a 10-year payment in lieu of taxes and a 0 percent tax abatement, Brajkovic said. The one-year PILOT is projected to be $300,000, he said. The development is in the Piper school district.
Also, a six-tenth of one percent sales tax add-on would move the total sales tax to 9.975 percent in the community improvement district, he said. This sales tax add-on would include The Legends Outlets area, except for the movie theater and the CommunityAmerica Ballpark, which are owned by the UG, and excluding Sporting KC, Cabela’s and Nebraska Furniture Mart, he said. The CID district is from 110th Street to the east, excluding NFM, Sporting KC, the movie theater and baseball park.
While the project may be without any dedicated parking spaces, Brajkovic said at least one parking space per unit needs to be set aside for the apartments. With around 650 total spaces planned, about 400 of the spaces could be used by the public who are shopping at The Legends, he said.
Brajkovic felt that the CommunityAmerica Ballpark could be left out of the sales tax increase area, so that at some future date, more sales tax might be added on there to pay for improvements at the ballpark. The movie theater sales tax was not being raised, as it is just about ready to be put on the market, UG Administrator Doug Bach said.
The project is expected to return to a UG meeting in the future for more discussion.
A new hotel, the Residence Inn, is under construction to the southwest of The Legends Outlets parking garage. Another development was announced Monday night for just west of The Legends Outlets parking garage.
Donnelly College recently held its annual job fair. This particular job fair really offered a lot of positions that are available not only for the students but also other members of the community as well.
Multiservice Information Technology is a company that specializes in design and setup of management and closed loop payment programs, which was founded in 1978 with their own fuel card program for over-the-road trucking companies. At the fair they had accounting positions, project manager, engineering, financial goals, inside sales reps, business analyst and customer service coordinator.
Sprint, which is due to open up a brand-new call center in Overland Park, Kan., has a position that is called bilingual operator services representative. It requires a person who could handle upset customers and maintain a positive and professional attitude and the ability to communicate with customers in non-technical terms to ensure understanding of the next step. The starting hourly rate for this position is $12.62 per hour. It requires a high school diploma or equivalent. Bilingual is a must, English, written and verbal, and Spanish, verbal and students studying Spanish language are welcome to apply as well.
UPS was there as well. It has a lot of opportunities in its organization and has a lot of openings.
These three companies are just an example. There were more companies that are not mentioned. More than 20 companies were represented in this annual job fair.
Those who attended not only had an opportunity to find out what was available but they also had the opportunity to meet with companies of their liking.
