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Fridav. April 20, 1979
University Daily Kansan
Merchants dispute shopping mall effects
By SHIRLEY SHOUP
Staff Reporter
The prospect of a large shopping mall to be built in Lawrence at 31st Street and Armstrong Road has elicited a great deal of interest among residents.
The first obstacle to the mail was cleared last month when the city annexed 61 acres south of Lawrence where the developers, Jacob, Visconsi and Jacob Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, want to build the mail.
BUT THE Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission and the City Commission, after approving the annexation, made it clear
The planning commission recommended the annexation on the basis of the land's suitability for general development, not on what would be needed.
City commissioners said the land was annexed to insure that the city would maintain control of the land. If the commission had not annexed the land, the county would have been able to decide how the land would be used.
The biggest battle is yet to come. Because all annexed land is automatically zoned 1S1, single-family residential, a shopping center and retail space are available.
RICHARD ZINN, a local lawyer who represents both the landowners, Ruby and Richard A. Armstrong and Betty Grisham, and the developers, has requested that the land be zoned C-4, the city's broadest commercial zoning.
The planning commission and the city commission will not consider the request until next month. When they do, there is sure
The Downtown Lawrence Association probably will oppose a zoning change for the same reason it opposed annexation. Members think a regional mall is not consistent with Plan '96, the city's comprehensive growth plan.
Jane Eldredge, a lawyer for the Downtown Lawrence Association, said, "Plan '95 points out that the projected population for 1995 is 89,000 maximum. A regional shopping mall smaller than the one proposed would need a population of 150,000 to support it. Plan '95 it would be 1990 before Lawrence could support any size mail."
BUT ARTIRHUER CURM, manager of the Gibson Discount Center, 215a Iowa, said anyone who wants to build a mall should be.
"I'm for free enterprise," he said. "People tell me we didn't hurt anyone when we came in here 10 years ago."
Cromer said a mail would offer different kinds of merchandise than his store did.
He said he thought there was no way to measure whether a mail
Glenn West, executive vice president of the Lawrence Chamber
"We have a problem with this question," he said. "We represent 1,500 business and professional people, and we find a mixed view in
of Commerce, said the Chamber had not taken a position on the mail.
THE DOWNTOWN merchants are concerned about it, and there are those who are closer to the proposed site who are very much in
"There is no clear stand in our membership so we have not taken a position."
West said many merchants along south Iowa Street and people in
"WE'VE SEEN what it's happened to other towns where shopping has been built," he said. "The resulting devastation is bad for the town."
Massachusetts, said the downtown merchants were not opposed to competition, but they want the competition downtown.
"Topeka, St. Jo, Springfield—their downtowns are all in trouble.
"We're working to bring in one or more department stores and more shops. We would like to have a convention center or a shopping complex."
Arensberg said that if a shopping mall were built in Lawrence, it would mean disaster to downtown.
Mall could shift trade to south; downtown considers expansion
By DOUG HITCHCOCK
Staff Reporter
The proposed shopping mail could mean a gloomy future for downtown merchants as business moves south, according to some
Jeff Leonard, commercial developer for Langhofer Real Estate, 280 lot development, the trends for commercial property development on low价
"Before the Holiday Plaza was built, the action was at 23rd Street. Now, it's moving south. It's obvious that the trends will be different."
George Ryan, an associate with Calvin, Eddy and Kappelman Real Estate Company, 1028 Massachusetts, said the downtown district should try to improve so it could put up stiff competition for the mall.
"It would be my opinion that the downtown business district needs to expand to compete with the mail," he said. "Not particularly to the north and south, but to the east and west to Vermont and New Hampshire streets."
Ryan also said the 600 block of the downtown area could be used as an example for merchants in the 700, 800 and 900 blocks.
"I think it would be an asset to the merchants farther north to
develop access and parking facilities as well as the 600 block has," he said.
Ryan said the business districts along 23rd Street and Sixth Street already have been hurt by new businesses such as the ones depicted in Figure 14.
However, he said if downtown merchants worked to improve the area and if the area expanded, downtown Lawrence would be able to attract more customers.
The reactor, Philip Gill Harrison of Gill Real Estate, 901 Tennessee St., said "What it it went the other way and that mall was."
One realer voiced concern about the possibility that the mall would not be successful.
"Everybody is worried about the downtown area. I'm worried about the mail. If that thing goes under, what are we going to do with that while elephant on the floodplain," he said, referring to the Wakauras River, a portion of which is on the floodplain of the Wakauras River.
the building and construction trades thought the land should be zoned for the mall.
Harrison said the design of the mail could affect its success.
"A lot depends on how it's done," he said. "If it's upley, if it's a lot of these kinds of things could either help or hinder the mail."
"They think you shouldn't use zoning to restrict competition and protect the downtown merchants," he said. "Some feel that anyone who wants to build a shopping mall should be given a chance to try it."
To help combat the argument that Lawrence needs more shopping and better services, the downtown merchants have extended shopping hours, opened their stores on Sunday, subsidized a bus to run from the KU campus to downtown and arranged with the Council on Aging for Bus 62, a transportation system for the elderly, to run on Saturday.
"If that goes in, there won't be any more private money spent downtown," he said.
Jack Arensberg, president of the Downtown Lawrence Association and owner of Arensberg's Shoe Store. 819
SO FAR, Arensberg said, the merchants' efforts have been successful.
And he may be right. It's difficult to find any Lawrence organization that stands strong in favor of the mail. However,
The Gread and Pinckney neighborhood associations have passed resolutions opposing the mall because, they say, it will harm the business community.
Although the East Lawrence Improvement Association has not officially opened the mall, it sums up a viable downtown.
Barbara Wilkins, the group's president, said. "We are in favor of keeping a downtown that's alive, but the downtown should also be more open."
SHE SAID there had been no drive either to support or to oppose a mall, but, she said. "There is the spectre of a dead downtown in New York."
Bog Eggert, president of the Far East Lawrence Improvement Association, said, "People out here don't feel they're much affected
Some of the other neighborhood associations have not taken a stand on the issue. They say they do not think the neighborhood has enough money to pay for it.
The Sunset Drive-Broadview Heights Association president, Ployest Roydon, said, "The idea of getting embroiled in local politics is not a bad thing."
But for those already involved, the issue is a hot one.
Eldredge said the city had worked in the early 70s to beautify the area along Massachusetts, and the primary reason the new city hall was being built at Sixth Street and Massachusetts was to encourage private development on the north end of the downtown area
ELDREDGE AND Arensberg said they thought it would be a waste of money to urge businesses to establish any place other than the downtown area because the business had put so much money into the area.
She said the library, post office, law enforcement center, senior citizens center and other public buildings also indicated that she would be there.
"We don't know if we're talking about an 80-shop mall or just about a big department store with shops to buy later," she added.
Eldridge also said the developer had not yet provided enough information for the city to decide about the mail.
RUBY ARMSTRONG said the developers planned to disclose the names of the department stores at a special planning commission meeting.
She said the developers were going to show the commissioners slides of what the proposed mall would look like.
West agreed.
"I'm just sorry that so many people have made up their minds before having all the information," Armstrong said.
"There is still a great deal of information that the developer has not made available, and a number of people have made up their minds."
The developer has said only that the mail would contain three major department stores with about 80 smaller shops.
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