The King Is Coming.
The Burger King that is. Shawnee is getting a new Burger King restaurant at 75th Street and Nieman.
On a personal note, I’m looking forward to that. When I’m in the mood for a fast food burger I usually drive by McDonald’s and head for the Wendy’s at Wedd and 75th (and that’s in Merriam). OK burger King, we know you have one customer………….and hopefully many more.
Now, when this came up at the council meeting this past Monday we were treated to another one of Dawn “Motormouth” Kuhn’s self-aggrandizing diatribes. It’s nice that she had a hand in this, but fast food businesses are not the answer to Shawnee’s lack of commercial development. Just like the new Antique Mall in the old Hy-Vee building at 64th & Quivira is a nice touch. And, I hope they do well. But, that is not the answer to our lack of commercial development.
What we need is some strong development along the I-435 corridor (ala Zona Rosa). Look at what is happening at Village West. New soccer stadium, casino, Cerner Corp HQ and other items. The potential for getting bleed off from that area has to be enormous. Will something be done before it is too late? Mixed use………………hotels, restaurants, major shopping. And then with the proximity to I-70 what about some light manufacturing and/or corporate headquarters buildings. Technology companies with nice campuses. Now that would be exciting.
Chuckle of the night: When Councilmember Jeff Vaught questioned the requirements that were put on Burger King for appearance. He inquired as to whether or not Shawnee had a Uniform Building Code. The city’s planning director very politely had to inform him that the building code is exactly that, it has to do with various aspects of construction (electrical, plumbing etc.), not appearance. Why the chuckle? Mr. Vaught is in commercial real estate, and seldom lets a night go by where he doesn’t remind us of this. Thought he would have known that.
Sidebar: Technically the Uniform Building Code does not really exist anymore by that name. A few years ago it was consolidated with two other codes to become the International Building Code, and I’m not in commercial real estate. :-) :-)
