World’s Most Expensive Billboard

Every day on the way home I pass the world’s most expensive billboard located in Merriam, KS.

So far there are no takers for the prime spot to place a sign.

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. The City of Merriam, KS had such high hopes for this retail center that it didn’t hesitate to kick out residents and businesses previously occupying this area. The story was documented in The Pitch few years ago.

No one ever moved into this development. Once a year a Halloween store takes a temporary residence in one of the storefronts.

The rest of the time it’s pretty much abandoned.

Even the Circuit City sign is gone, either stolen or sold; Circuit City no longer exists in its brick-and-mortar incarnation.

No loading and unloading has ever happened here.

Every day this view from the Merriam City Hall reminds the City Officials of their failure to be diligent with the taxpayers’ money and falling for the developers’ exaggerated promises.

Last year, another management company was “ready to aggressively move forward with leasing and sales activities” but the absence of any progress is glaring from the photo above.

In the meantime, Merriam relies on a less fickle source of revenue – traffic tickets. Merriam police are always trolling their two mile stretch of I-35 to write required 8 tickets a day. A speed-trap between Shawnee Mission Parkway and Johnson Drive is all but guaranteed, especially on weekends.

2009 Merriam Police Annual Report

Someone has to maintain the revenue of almost $1 million and having a virtual toll booth on a nearby interstate doesn’t hurt. If you are wondering, the population of Merriam is somewhere between 10 and 11 thousand, roughly equal to the average number of filings.

Obviously Merriam is not the only place swindled by developers and hit with grim economic reality, but the lesson is never learned, as demonstrated by the continuing discussions of another Kansas City, MO downtown hotel.

Might as well start looking forward to increase in traffic fines in KCMO.

http://hyperblogal.blogspot.com/ Hyperblogal
What they need is a 1,000-room hotel to provide onsite shoppers.
http://donna-justme.blogspot.com/ Donna W
There’s an outlet mall at Odessa that has pretty much suffered the same fate.
http://kcmeesha.com m.v.
At least the outlet mall was alive at some point and still is (somewhat). I remember driving there to shop long time ago. There is an outlet mall in Olathe (enclosed), where I live, which is also not doing well. There is one in Warrenton near St.Louis, we stop there once in a while on the way. Outlets don’t seem to be bargains anymore. They sell lower quality stuff made specifically for the outlets, not extras and seconds like they used to.
On the other hand,this place never had a tenant.
Mike
Good piece. Like most others, I forgot this place existed, even as I drive by it.
Looks like a great place to take your kid for driving lessons.

http://kcmeesha.com m.v.
that’s exactly what I thought, my kid is a few years away from driving. the only problem is that it’s in the direct view from the Merriam PD building up on the hill.

I Travel for JOOLS
I haven’t been there in ages, but isn’t the Merriam Town Center Mall right close to this one? If so, why in the world would they build another one close by which looks very much like the one they already have…size, types of stores, etc.?
Fact is we taxpayers are just lumps of coal when it comes to developers. I’ve served briefly on a small town Planning Commission and the developers rule the roost. I quit because I couldn’t stomach it. The developers work with the city public officials for months before Public Hearings and Planning Commission public meetings are held (and that’s legal) and the common folk don’t have the advantage of knowing the details before the public hearings are held so they don’t even know the right questions to ask at the hearings and almost always lose if they fight a project. The developers get huge tax abatements from the cities (read taxpayers) while pushing projects that upend communities. And, although the city officials can’t by law have professional interests in the specific development projects they work on, generally the commission members are in development related professions such as civil engineering, architecture, etc. and they know all the major developers and at some point down the road, they may work together with the same developers.
You know the old saying, “You can’t fight city hall.” Actually, I’ve seen in done successfully but it is a huge effort and the public is definitely the underdog.
http://kcmeesha.com m.v.
There is a bigger retail center (not sure about the name) on the North side of Johnson Dr. with Cinemark, Hen House, Home Depot or Lowes, restaurants, etc. It’s very much alive and busy. They just overestimated how many people are willing to jump off the highway and shop there.
http://jjsinkck.blogspot.com jjskck
The Merriam Town Center (NE corner of Johnson Drive and I-35) is indeed thriving as you mentioned.
Merriam Village (SE corner of Johnson Drive and I-35), was completed just a couple years ago. Really, the location wasn’t the problem; it was the timing (completed right before the economy tanked) and their selection of an anchor tenant (Circuit City = bankrupt). And maybe the fact that retail was dramatically overbuilt metrowide.
Indeed, the only tenant the center has seen is the seasonal Halloween store you mentioned.
Interestingly, if you look at the SW corner of 67th Street and I-35, you can see the beginnings of another Merriam development that was never to be – flattened land and a couple side streets to nowhere.
http://moravings.blogspot.com Mo Rage
great post. good points.
And Hyperblogal is right, eh? Like us KCMO folks! (big laugh here).
Welcome to the new America.
Your next post should possibly be the coming wheat field, next Spring, that was the Mission Mall, maybe.
http://moravings.blogspot.com Mo Rage
Oh, and yeah, the outlet mall at Odessa has been going down for years. Then there’s the Olathe “Mall of America” or whatever they called it–it’s been tanking for some time. “The Legends” is a patently bone-headed idea that will never take off because even for people relatively close by it’s a pretty good drive out there (What were they thinking? That no matter what, “if you build it, people will come”?). Finally, there is Zona Rosa. Stay tuned for that to implode. What a pain in the neck with it’s narrow streets and absurd parking. It will last a while but not forever.
Been by Metro North lately?
A ghostland, like so many big malls and developments.
Happy holidays.
http://averagejane.blogs.com Average Jane
I live in Mission and we get to enjoy a large, weed-filled mud pit where there used to be a shopping mall. So at least they actually built something in Merriam.
http://www.matt.com Aaron Collins
What I find most disturbing about these kinds of things is that the local officials who visited this nonsense on the people seem to be immune from electoral retribution. People forget and just vote them all back in.
tacitus
@Average Jane – Great news! The state of Kansas is giving a developer $63 million to convert the weed-filled mud pit you speak of (formerly known as Mission Shopping Mall) into nearly a million feet of retail and office space (though they’ve got no specific tenants at this time).
In all seriousness, I’m not quite sure how new retail and office space will revive a mall who’s performance was (apparently?) poor enough that the owners actually took a bulldozer to it, then left the site looking like an artillery range for least 5 years. Anyway, from where I stand, most established retail locations are holding on right now (not growing). However the metro area is totally and unquestionably in a glut when it comes to square feet of available office space.
I’ve come to the conclusion: When it comes to practically ANY capital spend or construction project, the developers are really leading the politicians.
Pingback: Another One Bites Asbestos Dust | Kansas City With The Russian Accent

World’s Most Expensive Billboard

Meta