by Murrel Bland
Small and medium-size developers can succeed along the State Avenue Corridor.
That will be the message at the annual meeting of the State Avenue Corridor Planning and Marketing Committee at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the multi-purpose room at the Community College’s Technical Education Center, 6565 State Ave. The committee is part of the Business West organization.
Four developers will tell of their successful efforts along the corridor. They will be Clifford Dale Jr., Dr. Mohammad Ghassemi, Steve Tran and Greg Wilcox. Greg Kindle, president of the Wyandotte Economic Development Council, will moderate the roundtable discussion.
Dale and his family corporation have purchased the former Sports Page Lounge at 941 N. 74th Drive that will become a family restaurant. The Dales also are planning to develop the area at 57th Street and State Avenue into a retail complex; the Unified Commission recently approved this property as a Tax Increment Financing district.
Dr. Ghassemi has purchased various properties along the corridor including vacant restaurant properties and parcels at 86th Street and State Avenue. He is moving his medical offices from the Turner community to renovated quarters at 59th Street and State Avenue.
Tran and his parents came here as Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s. He is the owner of a printing and web development company. More recently, he has developed laundromats. He has purchased the former Perkins restaurant that will become a “Bubble Room” laundromat and coffee shop.
Wilcox is the owner of Midway Auto Parts in the East Bottoms of Kansas City, Mo. He also owns Gold Properties that developed the Boyd Center at 79th Street and State Avenue; the center replaced an ugly house and unattractive landscaping.
Dr. Jane Winkler Philbrook, the president of Business West and the Unified Government commissioner from the Eighth District, will welcome those attending. Dr. Philbrook is a property owner and has an optometric practice in the corridor.
Alicia R. Hooks will tell of the entrepreneurship program at the college.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is executive director of Business West.