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The marketing of the Myers Park retail area in south Carthage got off to a slow start, but Realtor James Kirby, with Keller Williams Realty, told a group of Carthage residents signs will soon be up on the property and marketing flyers and material will soon be available.
Carthage Chamber President Sabrina Drackert said Kirby spoke to between 15 to 20 Carthage residents and officials and answered a number of pointed questions.
Drackert said Kirby was searching for a business that could bring people to the middle of the Myers Park property, drawing other businesses to the still-unsold sections of the former airport.
“The prime land is gone,” Drackert said. “That’s the issue. I think everyone sees that now. I think everyone sees it; it’s been talked about, city council members have talked about it. Residents have talked about it. The realtor talks about it. Everyone is well aware that the prime land is gone, but if you take some of that retail destination and mixed-use mentality, it can still be good development land if you do it correctly.”
The prime land was along the heavily-traveled Grand Avenue, facing east and along Fir Road, facing north. The land that’s left, facing west on Hazel Street, facing south on Airport Drive and in the interior, all faces roads that are not as heavily traveled as Grand and Fir.
Drackert said Kirby told the group that developing that land will require attracting a tenant first that can get people driving to the interior of the development.
Drackert said Kirby used the Sliver Creek Development in Joplin on the southwest corner of the Range Line Road and I-44 interchange as an example.
“They have a Social Security office over there and they have an AT&T call center, and those things bring people out there,” Drackert said. “That’s what the developer was trying to do at Silver Creek is bring people out there and then they’ll go to Fazoli’s and have dinner or shop at those stores. You just need something to grab someone’s attention and then someone else will say, hey, I have a coffee shop idea or I have this or I have that. It snowballs from there, so you need something, not big, but substantial to bring people out there.”
Drackert said Kirby told the group he had been slow in pushing the city and his employer to approve signs to be put on the property promoting it.
Kirby told the group that he had been heavily involved in buying property for the new Mercy hospital in Joplin and that had kept him from focusing on Myers Park.
Kirby and Keller-Williams Realty have about 18 months left on a two-year contract to exclusively market the Myers Park property.
The marketing of the Myers Park retail area in south Carthage got off to a slow start, but Realtor James Kirby, with Keller Williams Realty, told a group of Carthage residents signs will soon be up on the property and marketing flyers and material will soon be available.
Carthage Chamber President Sabrina Drackert said Kirby spoke to between 15 to 20 Carthage residents and officials and answered a number of pointed questions.
Drackert said Kirby was searching for a business that could bring people to the middle of the Myers Park property, drawing other businesses to the still-unsold sections of the former airport.
“The prime land is gone,” Drackert said. “That’s the issue. I think everyone sees that now. I think everyone sees it; it’s been talked about, city council members have talked about it. Residents have talked about it. The realtor talks about it. Everyone is well aware that the prime land is gone, but if you take some of that retail destination and mixed-use mentality, it can still be good development land if you do it correctly.”
The prime land was along the heavily-traveled Grand Avenue, facing east and along Fir Road, facing north. The land that’s left, facing west on Hazel Street, facing south on Airport Drive and in the interior, all faces roads that are not as heavily traveled as Grand and Fir.
Drackert said Kirby told the group that developing that land will require attracting a tenant first that can get people driving to the interior of the development.
Drackert said Kirby used the Sliver Creek Development in Joplin on the southwest corner of the Range Line Road and I-44 interchange as an example.
“They have a Social Security office over there and they have an AT&T call center, and those things bring people out there,” Drackert said. “That’s what the developer was trying to do at Silver Creek is bring people out there and then they’ll go to Fazoli’s and have dinner or shop at those stores. You just need something to grab someone’s attention and then someone else will say, hey, I have a coffee shop idea or I have this or I have that. It snowballs from there, so you need something, not big, but substantial to bring people out there.”
Drackert said Kirby told the group he had been slow in pushing the city and his employer to approve signs to be put on the property promoting it.
Kirby told the group that he had been heavily involved in buying property for the new Mercy hospital in Joplin and that had kept him from focusing on Myers Park.
Kirby and Keller-Williams Realty have about 18 months left on a two-year contract to exclusively market the Myers Park property.
