PARK PLACE

Ingredient's Steve Kerner recently prepared his Summer Salad for Paul Herdtner of FOX 4. The salad was included to highlight Ingredient's vast array of custom salads, allowing guests to choose from 60 different ingredients and 14 dressings. The salad recipe can be found at http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=6673738.

From the KC Commercial Journal:

"Tortoise Capital Investors LLC and Aloft Hotel were recently the first office and hotel, respectively, to become part of Park Place, Leawood's first Main Street-style, mixed-use development.

Tortoise Capital Advisors, a pioneer in capital markets for master limited partnership (MLP) investment companies and a leader in closed-end funds, separately manages accounts focused on MLP's in the energy sector. It is relocating its offices from Corporate Woods office park in Overland Park to its new 17,500-square-foot home at Park Place."

Leawood Mayor Peggy Dunn, Jeff Alpert, Melanie Mann and Peggy Rice speak of Park Place and its socioeconomic impact.

From the article:

"Promoted as a gathering place for the suburban community of Leawood, Park Place aims to offer a true mixed-use development with the city's first hotels. Upon full completion, which could take an additional five to seven years, the project will have more than 1 million square feet of retail, office, hotel and residential space.

True to its name, Park Place also is to include two parks, one of which will have a hike/bike trail and an ice skating rink in the winter.

"We felt like it was a responsible way to develop a place that would be enduring and something that was missing out in the suburbs," said Melanie Mann, a co-developer with Jeffrey Alpert."

Ericsson's Kansas City headquarters to move to Park Place.

From the article:

"Ericsson, a market leader in mobile technologies, will occupy 14,376 square feet of office space in Park Place's Aubrey Building. The site will serve as Ericsson's Kansas City headquarters.

"We are exicted to move our Kansas City headquarters to such a great location," Executive Vice President and General Manager Scott Willis said. "Park Place is a quality development, centrally located for our employees and nearby one of our key customers, Sprint."

The Star's Joyce Smith previews Park Place's grand opening and future hotels, lofts

From the article:

"Park Place will celebrate the grand opening of its first phase Saturday with in-store promotions, entertainment and events, including story time, free paraffin wax and hand massage, face painting and a pizza box decorating contest – all topped off by fireworks.

The $450 million pedestrian-friendly development will eventually offer retail, offices and residential components, including lofts, town houses and condominiums, along with two boutique hotels, an ice rink, two parks and a hike/bike trail. It also has a six-story parking garage with 595 spots, along with surface and street parking."

From the article:

"Park Place, which boasts stores and restaurants as well as friendly outdoor commons, officially opened with charity events, a ribbon cutting, entertainment and promotions. Park Place's current operating tenants include Trezo Vino Wine Bistro, California Pizza Kitchen, Annabelles Fine Linens, Envy Boutique, The Learning Tree and Park Place Gallery. Park Place's offerings continue to grow with the anticipated spring/summer openings of Ingredient, Fish City Grill, Le Reve Salon, Paciugo Gelato, and The Rice Gallery of Fine Art. This fall, Park Place's ice terrace and hotel will open to be followed by winter debuts of RA Sushi and Morton's, The Steakhouse."

A brief summary and multiple photographs from Trezo Vino's VIP Grand Opening Reception were featured in the Happenings section of 435 South's May issue.

From the article:

"Trezo Vino Wine Bistro opened its doors at Park Place for a VIP reception on March 19. Guests wined, dined and mingled the evening away. Trezo Vino offers 40 wines by the glass and 165 wines by the bottle. The bistro also features its own private-label wines. Menu items created for optimal pairings and served on plates made for sharing, include tapas, salads, flatbreads and desserts."

Jeff Alpert was featured on KMBC 9 on Wednesday, April 30. Alpert spoke to Chris Nagus about Park Place's convenience, consumer catered plan, and future endeavors. During the segment, The Learning Tree's Betty Leonhardt also shared her views about business traffic thus far and how she envisions business to increase as the development opens. The segment included various shots of the Park Place development. The feature aired on 9 News at Ten.

Four Park Place tenants were recently featured on local television in conjunction with the debut on Saturday, March 29.

Ray Groves of The Learning Tree was featured on FOX 4 on March 18. He showed viewers toys and crafts available at The Learning Tree that parents can utilize to bring out the little artists in their children.
On March 22, Melanie Mann joined Kimberly Moussa of Park Place Gallery and Mark Christopher Weber, a local artist, to inform how art is a significant feature of Park Place. Weber's artwork was displayed for the feature on KCTV 5.
FOX 4 featured Chef Kyle Kroenke of California Pizza Kitchen on March 22. Chef Kroenke prepared a BBQ Chicken Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen's most popular pizza.
In addition, Annabelles Fine Linens demonstrated how to fold fitted sheets for spring cleaning on April 7. Kathy Watkins folded to perfection on FOX 4.

Park Place unveils first phase

From the article:

Leawood Mayor Peggy Dunn hailed Park Place as the future of downtown Leawood.

"When it's completed it will truly create the center of our town, so to speak, " Dunn said. "An area where people can come together and really build that spirit of community and gather for celebrations and it will be extremely pedestrian-friendly."

Dunn said the project has been worth the wait.

"It takes time to be very deliberate and precise with all of the decisions that go into it," Dunn said.

Developers Melanie Mann and Jeff Alpert, who have moved their offices to Park Place, said the development's debut is the first step in the realization of their vision.

"It's very exciting," Alpert said. "Our motivation for developing is really to create places that people can enjoy, and whether it's a subdivision for their home or places they can shop that's really our underlying motivation and what keeps us going in the business.

"The fact that we were able to see people walking up and down the streets and in and out of the shops and eating in the restaurants...it just validates all the time and effort we've put into it over these last seven years."

When complete, Park Place will boast 200,000 square feet of retail space, 350,000 square feet of Class A office space, up to 350 residential units between condominiums and townhomes, and two concept hotels with a total of 298 rooms. There will also be a park and an outdoor ice rink.

The hotels will be Leawood's first.

"What makes Park Place so special for Leawood, or what would make it special for any community, is the fact that it does have a senes of place and a place where people can come and stroll the streets, enjoy sidewalk dining or take advantage of some of the unique programming we'll have in our parks," Alpert said. "These are all unique amenities for any city and particularly for Leawood."