April 2022: The Big Boom

THE BIG BO OM Here are 11 KC neighborhoods where real estate has exploded

TOP AGEN TS Biggest sellers in KC real estate

TAX BROKE

FLAGSHIP SAILS

MO MARY JANE

A novel legal theory could hammer municipal budgets in Johnson County

A new Strawberry Hill bookstore hopes to join a close-knit community

Missouri’s young medical cannabis scene is already on the cutting edge

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Malfer & Associates is a team of real estate agents affiliated with Compass Realty Group, a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. Photos may be virtually staged or digitally enhanced and may not reflect actual property conditions.

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We love Kansas City like family. We know what makes it great, we know how it struggles, and we know its secrets.

Through great storytelling, photography and design, we help our readers celebrate our city’s triumphs, tend to its faults and revel in the things that make it unique.

PUBLISHER

Kathy Boos kathy@kansascitymag.com EDITOR IN CHIEF

Martin Cizmar martin@kansascitymag.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Mary Henn mary@kansascitymag.com ART DIRECTOR

Katie Henrichs katie@kansascitymag.com ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR

Makalah Hardy makalah@kansascitymag.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Kayla Masisak

DESIGN INTERN

Natalea Bonjour

COPY EDITOR

Kelsie Schrader WEB COORDINATOR

Madison Russell SALES

Angie Henshaw angie@kansascitymag.com WRITERS

Dawnya Bartsch, Chase Castor, Nina Cherry, Natalie Torres Gallagher, James Harris, Nicole Kinning, Susie Whitfield PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS

Chase Castor, Caleb Condit, Joanna Gorham, Jeremey Theron Kirby, Samantha Levi, Hanna Luechtefeld, Chris Mullins, Rebecca Norden, Nate Sheets

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6

KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

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Located deep within the rocky, forested terrain of the Missouri Ozark Mountains, Big Cedar Lodge is a remote haven of natural beauty that brings conservation to life.

Connect with family by connecting to the great outdoors. b i g c e d a r. c o m

APRIL 2022

74 The latest innovations in Missouri’s medicinal cannabis industry

60

82

88

Market Madness

Top Agents

Brunch Bliss

11 KC neighborhoods where real estate has boomed

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

A list of the biggest sellers on the KC real estate scene

A new spot in Grandview is a super hip spot for brunch.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHASE CASTOR

MEDICAL MJ

In This Issue APRIL 2022

S WAY

31

T H E LO O P

17

Wheeling Out

TA S T E

Classy Glass

Duet in the Crossroads sells glass goods that are on par with TikTok trends.

88

Grand Housewife

Sweet Tea pies get a pop from rose petals.

The Columbus Park neighborhood association wants to get rid of a DIY skate park on Harrison Street.

32

Green Garments

A local fashion designer makes streewear by thrifting and sourcing sustainable textiles.

34 36 Big-Box Business Breaks

The brothers who started Flagship Books have relocated to Strawberry Hill.

Old Meets New

Major corporations in Kansas are using a legal tactic known as “dark store” theory to reduce tax burdens.

E V E RY I S S U E

12

Editor’s Letter

23 Calendar 04.2022

THE BIG BO OM

R E A L E S TAT E | M E D I C A L C A N N A B I S

Here are 11 KC neighborhoods where real estate has exploded

TOP AGEN TS Biggest sellers in KC real estate

28 Backbeat O N TH E C OVE R

Photography by Caleb Condit and Rebecca Norden

96 Surreal Estate SPECIAL SECTIONS

kansascitymag.com

42 Kitchens Trends TAX BROKE

FLAGSHIP SAILS

MO MARY JANE

A novel legal theory could hammer municipal budgets in Johnson County

A new Strawberry Hill bookstore hopes to join a close-knit community

Missouri’s young medical cannabis scene is already on the cutting edge

KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

A new, hip brunch spot in Grandview

90

48 Real Estate Profiles

Time for Tao Tao

Chef Annie of Tao Tao has been feeding KCK since the ’70s.

Book Voyage

A home in the Northland blends tradition with modern design.

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10

87

Flower Power Pie

92 93 94

Blonde Brew

Belton’s first microbrewery serves a blonde coffee beer.

Newsfeed

The latest in KC food news

’Cue Card

A new barbecue joint in Parkville serves “oldstyle” brisket and pork.

Don’t play games with

your health.

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FROM THE EDITOR

C O N T R I B U TO R S

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

Hanna Luetchfield ILLUSTRATOR

The illustration on our news story about the “dark store” theory was drawn by Hanna Luechtefeld, a local graphic designer and illustrator. They graduated from the University of Central Missouri in 2019 with degrees in graphic design and illustration and have a passion for zines and DIY comics.

James Harris WRITER

Our profile of the people behind Panic Fest was written by James Harris, a Black, Mexican, and white writer who writes speculative fiction with a literary twist. He currently resides in Kansas City, where he contemplates the dreadful, the macabre and the end of all things sacred.

Chase Castor

PHOTOGRAPHER

This month’s news story about the likely demise of the city’s signature DIY skate park was both written and photographed by Chase Castor, a local photographer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Vice, the Washington Post and many others.

Castor has previously covered the skate park for Kansas City magazine.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOANNA GORHAM

A

bout six months ago, I did something a little bit eccentric: I removed my oven.

I live in Brookside, and I have a small kitchen with limited counter space. I didn’t remove the oven because I don’t cook but because I cook enough to be annoyed by the space it occupied.

I use a big Breville toaster oven for most things other people use their regular oven to cook, and if I am cooking a giant hunk of meat, I’m far more likely to cook it sous vide, smoke it on my Big Green Egg or pressure cook it in the Instant Pot. So I rented a dolly and wheeled my oven out to the garage, then replaced it with a cart that has an induction cooktop and shelves for my toaster oven and microwave. Finally, all seven feet of my countertop were free.

And it has worked out really well (if you have a toaster oven, how often do you use your real oven?), even if it does make me feel a little bit like a kook.

I’ve talked to so many people who have made big and unexpected lifestyle changes since the pandemic. I haven’t talked to anyone else who’s gone No Oven—if you have, please contact me so we can start some sort of support group—but my change is obviously a lot less extreme than many of those that others have made.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that over the last month as we compiled this issue’s cover story, a feature on booming neighborhoods.

We worked with Redfin to crunch data, including increased sales price, time on the market and sales price over the listing price. We removed everything below the median to settle on eleven zip codes where things have blown up the biggest. After we got the zips, we talked to more than a dozen real estate agents about each area to get a feel for who’s moving there and why.

One thing that came up repeatedly in those conversations is that many people who moved to neighborhoods like West Shawnee or Martin City weren’t necessarily expecting to buy in those areas this time two years ago. But with prices everywhere in the metro exploding and inventory at historic lows, many families started broadening their searches.

I strongly suspect that such demographic shifts are going to have all sorts of large and unanticipated consequences in the decades to come. In a way, this feature may come closer than most we publish to being the proverbial “first draft of history.”

If you’ve been thinking it’s time for a little more space or a different lifestyle, hopefully this package will be helpful to Martin Cizmar EDITOR IN CHIEF you. If your kitchen is the main problem, MARTIN@KANSASCITYMAG.COM though, I do have another idea…

THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE IN KANSAS CITY HAS ARRIVED Parkway Real Estate has assembled some of Kansas City’s finest and most experienced agents to form a boutique buying and selling experience. The result is big brokerage service with the most personal style.

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Meet our Parkway Real Estate agents: Patty Parsons Alexis Mirakian Abby Bone Alex Sherf Andrea Hunter Brian Van Deusen Charlotte White Courtney Craig Courtney Pfaff Drew Baranowski

Greg Sherf Jan Bleakley Jessica Sweaney Joni King Kelly Howard Kelsey Benz Kortney Jones Lauren Anthony Margy Ronning Patti Adler

COURTIER

SHOUT OUT

NUMBERS FROM THIS ISSUE

2

Inexplicably, the number of stories in this issue that mention Santorini.

PA GE 25 & 4 0

15

Hours in a workday for some UPS managers— before the pandemic.

PA GE 9 4

25

The height in feet of a banana tree growing inside a Johnson County home’s dome.

PA GE 96

HI, PIES

Last month, we tasted every slice, pan and pie we could get our greasy hands on—and we determined KC is indeed undergoing a pizza renaissance.

We shared forty-three of our favorite pizza joints around the city in our Slice of Life feature, from New York-y to St. Louis-style pies and even a local frozen pizza. We also included a special section on KC slices, with spots like d’Bronx, Leone’s Original, Grinders and others among the ranking. People were quick to respond via email and on social media. Many showed excitement at wanting to try new pizzas, several showed support of our list, and some mentioned spots they thought should have made the lineup.

Not an expert but I agree that D’Bronx should qualify and be on here. My favorite locally! Also, didn’t really enjoy Haha’s or Fat Sully’s on my visits. —Aaron Rhodes I would add Italian Delight of Kansas City, Kansas to your list—a long time Italian restaurant with a huge following in Wyandotte County.

Great NY slices as well as strombolis and calzone.

—Stephen Byrd Good to see Buffalo State on there. Being a NY transplant the pizza in Kansas and Missouri has been underwhelming. Buffalo state is a go to and their chocolate chip cookies are awesome.

—Christian Mollon Those commenting Mamma Leone’s and Leone’s Original Pizza & Pasta thank you so much for the support. My

“

This month’s issue includes a feature on innovations being made by local medical marijuana companies. We could not have done it without the help of Patrick Moore, our trusty podcast producer who is also a very knowledgeable cannabis consumer.

BEHIND THE SCENES

father brought the New York style pizza in 1980’s to KC! Thanks for the shout outs.

—Isabella Wiegers The fact that Rudy’s Pizza In Lawrence is not on this list is ludacris! Joe Jacelone yes!

Papa Kenos is up there as well! —Nate Wall Not surprising to see Pizza Tascio KC on there! Best pizza, period. —Anthony Burgos Pizza is my desert island food. The only thing I can imagine eating and loving seven days a week. However, with no true Chicago style deep dish—recognizing there are a few wanna-be’s—KC is not ready for pizza prime time. We need a true deep dish pizza like Pequod’s, Lou Manate’s, Pizzeria Due, Giordano’s, etc. Any hope of this? —Steve Silverstein

Art Director Katie Henrichs assists photographer Samantha Levi at Duet in the Crossroads to capture images of trendy glassware.

CORRECTION

An article in our March issue misstated the timeline of jazz saxophonist Stephen Martin’s career. Martin came to KC eight years ago and released his debut album in July 2018.

CONTACT US

Kansas City

P.O. Box 26823 Overland Park, KS 66225-6823 (913) 469-6700 EMAIL: editor@kansascitymag.com

Anytime I would take a pill that would fix something, it would break something else. I smoked a lot of weed and it helped me a lot, and it didn’t do anything else.”

—FAISAL ANSARI, CO-FOUNDER OF MMJRECS SPEAKING ABOUT HIS CANCER TREATMENTS

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

Scream down the ‘Best Trail Ever’ at Fitzgerald Mountain. Cruise the 37.5-mile Razorback Greenway. Learn about the beauty of the Natural State at the Hunt Family Nature Center. Get your cowboy on at the Rodeo of the Ozarks. Experience all this and more in Springdale, Arkansas!

ExploreSpringdale.com 800-972-7261

Download our app:

We’ll Show You Around Springfield!

Whether it’s enjoying a refreshing beverage at one of the many local craft breweries or cruising down a scenic water trail on a kayak, we love our city and know the best places to eat, drink and play.

See you in Springfield, Missouri!

Point your smartphone camera at this QR code to find out more about things to do in Springfield.

L E A D I N G T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N I N K A N S A S C I T Y

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHASE CASTOR

PARK AND RIDE A landmark local DIY skate park faces the wrecking ball in fast-gentrifying Columbus Park.

BY C H A S E C A S TO R

KANSASCITYMAG.COM APRIL 2022

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The Columbus Park neighborhood association is looking to displace a signature DIY skatepark.

P

it wouldn’t last forever. Still, he had a reaction when a giant “For Sale” sign popped up overlooking the lot that’s home to the Harrison Street DIY. “My stomach sank a bit,” he says. “But I also knew from the get-go that it might not last forever.”

Fish, age 29, is one of many Kansas City skaters who have put time and money into building one of the city’s signature skateparks by hand, using $70,000 in material—concrete, rebar, lumber, tiling and paint to cover up graffiti.

The DIY park was built on a vacant city-owned lot, and now the Housing Authority is preparing to put out a request for proposals to would-be developers of the land.

This Harrison Street DIY is a skatepark in Columbus Park built and funded by Kansas City’s skate community starting in 2014.

Ben Hlavacek, a founder of the park and a professional skate park builder, says that to have a park like Harrison Street built professionally would cost at least a half-million dollars. Skaters know

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

it as one of only a few transition-style parks in the area that provide a flowy skate experience as you create a fun line or sequence of obstacles to skate. It’s not strictly skateboarding at the DIY; you’ll see folks on roller skates, scooters and in-line skates as well. The typical crowd covers a wide range in age and experience. The organizers at the park want it to be a welcoming space for all.

But the skatepark sits on six acres that the Columbus Park Neighborhood Association has waited twenty years to have developed. The neighborhood has big hopes for this land. They want affordable single-family homes built on it and are working with the housing authority to court the right development plan.

Kate Barsotti, president of the Columbus Park Neighborhood Association, says “emotions are all over the place” on the park and future development.

“Some people are very attached and will be sad to see it gone, especially if they are skaters themselves,” she says.

“Some of the little kids from Guinotte come frequently, and that’s going to be a big loss.”

But, she says, others feel the skaters have outgrown the park and it’s time to move on because “that land should have been developed years ago.”

“Most neighbors,” Barsotti says, believe the park “was supposed to be temporary, and they are ready for the next phase.”

But what happens to the DIY when the land is sold and development starts? Several scenarios could play out. Many in the skate community want the park to stay and development to build around the park, incorporating it into the neighborhood more seamlessly.

The most dire scenario for the Harrison Street DIY is the destruction of the park with no promise for a replacement, leaving the skate community empty-handed with nothing to show for their years of hard work.

Some advocates for the park, including Wes Minder, Councilman Eric Bunch, and Burns & McDonnell, have thought up a way to set aside land under the incoming Buck O’Neil bridge for the skate community to start another DIY. They would even provide the materials to build the park but leave construction to the skate community. There are also talks of putting in a professionally built skate park in addition to setting aside space for a DIY skatepark.

Nothing is set in stone, though, as the request for proposal hasn’t even been published yet.

“They will have a better location with amenities we cannot provide,” Barsotti says. “The location under the highway is also good for the city because that area could get sketchy without people using it. It will be a more prominent project and hopefully they will take what they have learned from here and make it even better.”

Things are still in the very early stages—the land hasn’t been sold, the RFP hasn’t even been sent out for developers—so all the ideas about what will happen with the DIY are speculation and hopes. The Harrison Street skate community (follow them at harrisonstreetdiy.com) is organizing and meeting with the city and housing authority to raise awareness of the park’s importance to the community in hopes that all parties involved can find space for the park in their plans.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHASE CASTOR

TH E LO O P PA R K A ND R IDE

The Women’s Committee for the UMKC Conservatory

ON THE PODCAST:

PIZZA MONTH

Celebrates 80 Years Shirley Helzberg, Honoree Scholarship Benefit Luncheon and Performance A Performance in Perfect Harmony Presented by Scholarship Recipients

WED.

10:30

11:45

APR 20

Silent Auction

Luncheon

Indian Hills Country Club 6847 TOMAHAWK ROAD, MISSION HILLS, KS, 66208 FOR TICKET INFORMATION, CALL 913.384.5615

Kansas City’s Only Podcast presents pizza month! In-depth interviews with Pizza Tascio's Erik Borger, Devoured's Jhy Coulter, The Dish's Jason Ransom and food photog Zach Bauman.

KANSASCITYMAG.COM APRIL 2022

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BREAKING BIG A novel legal theory could drain the coffers of Johnson County government by greatly reducing the taxes big box retailers pay.

BY S U S I E W H I T F I E L D

E M P T Y C O M M E R C I A L R E A L E S TAT E P R O P E R T I E S mean blighted neighborhoods and the loss of tax revenue. But “hypothetically empty” buildings may also mean huge tax advantages for bigbox businesses.

In Kansas and several other states, major corporations are using a legal tactic known as “hypothetical lease value” or “dark store” theory to possibly reduce their tax burden. The argument contends that bustling business properties should be taxed as if they were empty. Retailers claim that appraisers place too much emphasis on the income generated by businesses and not on how much the building and its land would sell for on the open market.

Thriving businesses with large retail properties generally pay taxes that are a major source of revenue for cities. In 2021, however, the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled that Johnson County had overvalued a group of Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs by nearly $123 million.

Ed Eilert, chairman of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners, says that in a two-to-one decision, judges ruled that John-

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

son County was not able to show that the Board of Tax Appeals erroneously interpreted or applied state law in the case.

However, the minority opinion harshly criticized the ruling, stating that the appeals court exceeded its authority granted by statute. The case is currently being appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeals also sided with Arciterra, a Phoenix commercial real estate company that had argued that its Olathe property had been overvalued by about $5 million.

Nebraska Furniture Mart won a similar appeal to the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals against Wyandotte County by alleging that its million-plus-square-foot space should have been evaluated as if the store were closed. NFM could potentially garner a nearly $1.5 million refund from Wyandotte County’s Board of Tax Appeals.

Linda Terrill, a Johnson County lawyer and president of the American Property Tax Counsel, represented NFM in its appeal, stating that commercial property should be valued the way homes are valued, based on the assumption that the current owner-occupant will eventually leave.

In a 2017 NPR interview, Terrill said that “dark store” theory is a misnomer based on a misunderstanding of how property tax is assessed. Although Terrill would not comment on the NFM case for this article, she has said that property tax should only assess the building, not its contents.

Kansas law currently uses “fair market value” to determine property taxes. Andrea Boyack, chair of Business and Transactional Law at Washburn University School of Law, says that three methods are used to determine the value of real estate: similar nearby properties with adjustments for any unique factors; a “cost to replace” analysis; and a property’s stream of income.

“Unfortunately,” Boyack says, “the law has not been able to determine one perfect benchmark for real estate value.”

Evaluation is a seemingly gray area, and big box stores argue that local tax authorities should not make these decisions.

Beau Boisvert, a Johnson County appraiser, says, “Our evaluation date is January 1 of every year. The goal is to create a fair and equitable balance in tax evaluation, which we substantiate with relevant facts on that date.”

If Kansas were to use “dark store” theory for every evaluation, Boisvert estimates that draining local budgets of millions of dollars in commercial property tax revenue and having profoundly negative effects on libraries, school districts and city governments. The tax burden would then shift to property owners and smaller retail businesses. Services would likely be cut.

Eilert says the courts should not decide how to interpret statutes adopted by the Kansas Legislature.

However, unless the Legislature can agree on a unified approach to property evaluation, expensive and protracted courtroom battles could continue indefinitely.

ILLUSTRATION BY HANNA LUECHTEFELD

TH E LO O P TA X ATION A ND REPRESENTATION

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SPORTING KC DEFENDER GRAHAM ZUSI IS THE LONGEST TENURED MLS PLAYER WITH A SINGLE TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMEY THERON KIRBY

WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN APRIL

April

09 GO: Sporting KC hosts Nashville on Saturday, April 9 at Children’s Mercy Park. 7:30 pm.

KEEPING AT IT

Near the end of Sporting KC’s 1-0 win in its home opener against Houston, Dynamo defender Tim Parker threw up his hands in frustration. The veteran Parker is a big man with flaming red hair, so his gesture caught the crowd’s attention, but he probably wasn’t alone on his side. This Sporting KC team is nettlesome and persistent—the type of team that drives opponents batty. Sporting has a veteran squad, fielding the oldest starting lineup in the league. Not only is Sporting manager Peter Vermes the longest-tenured manager in MLS history, but defender Graham Zusi has played longer with one MLS team than any player

in history. Houston was coached by a longtime former Sporting player and assistant, and the Dynamo players seemed well-prepared. But there’s a big difference between knowing what your opponent is likely to do and stopping them. Sporting was able to keep relentless pressure on the Dynamo defense until something leaked through. That methodical pressure offense makes for a squad that’s satisfying for spectators, and the friendly, family-oriented tailgating scene around Children’s Mercy Park is especially appreciated with Royals baseball delayed a few weeks.

—MARTIN CIZMAR

KANSASCITYMAG.COM APRIL 2022

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09

W H AT YO U WA N T TO D O T H I S M O N T H

April

T H E B E AT C A L EN DA R

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition April 1 Part of the wave of virtual art exhibits sweeping the country, this show is part of a series happening nationally. Organizers promise thirty-four “near life-size” reproductions of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, which was painted by the master Michelangelo. The replicas are high-resolution photos printed onto fabric using “a special printing technique to emulate the look of Michelangelo’s painting on freshly laid lime plaster.” April 1-May 1. Times vary. Country Club Plaza, 211 Nichols Road, KCMO.

Jim Gaffigan April 1, 7 pm Were Hot Pockets funny before Jim Gaffigan’s classic comedy bit? At this point, it’s hard

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

to remember how the classic American microwave food was perceived before Gaffigan spent four minutes trashing them. We look forward to reconsidering whatever the Michael Jordan of schlubby dad jokes targets next.

Friday, April 1. 7 pm.

T-Mobile Center.

National Geographic Live

The Greeting Committee April 9, 7 pm The indie rock band from Kansas City is performing their hometown show at the Uptown. The Greeting Committee first caught attention when their single, “Hands Down,” played on KRBZ back in 2015. The band makes the kind of warm-weather beats you drive to with the windows down. KC will be the last stop of their Dandelion Tour that sold out most of its shows. Saturday, April 9.

7 pm. Uptown Theater.

April 5, 7:30 pm

The Royale

Fan of Nat Geo? The 2022 live series is coming to the Kauffman Center with ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, paraclimber Maureen Beck, wildlife filmmaker Bob Poole and others.

The adventurers will share their explorations and discoveries alongside award-winning videography and photography.

There will also be a follow-up Q&A with the audience.

Tuesday, April 5. 7:30 pm.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Jack Johnson was the first Black heavyweight champ, an American icon of the early twentieth century. KCRep is staging The Royale, a new work by playwright Marco Ramirez (Orange is the New Black, Daredevil) that shows the human cost of making history.

This show opened in March at KCRep’s Copaken Stage and now does a small tour around the city, including shows at Mattie Rhodes Cultural Center and the Brush Creek Community Center.

Now–Sunday, April 10. Various times and locations.

April 10

Santana April 12, 8 pm Not just a mystical Latin jazz god behind some of the best guitar records of the seventies but also the author of the most successful single in the history of the pop charts, according to Billboard. Make it real, or else forget about it. Tuesday, April 12. 8 pm. T-Mobile Center.

Robyn Hitchcock

Alan Doyle

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April 14, 8 pm

April 21, 8 pm

The English singer-songwriter rode the New Wave from start to finish, heavily influencing ’80s college rock acts like R.E.M. and The Replacements along the way. His solo shows are intimate acoustic affairs that showcase his storytelling and songs pulled from his thick catalog. He often does a set seated at the piano, playing stripped-down versions of pop-rock songs like “Somewhere Apart.” Thursday, April 14. 8 pm. Knuckleheads.

Remember the sea shanty trend of the early twenties? That unexpected trend burned bright on TikTok for nearly as long as whipped coffee. When it comes to sea shanties, Alan Doyle might as well be Elvis. The Newfoundland-based folk-rock band that Doyle fronted was well known for mixing old-time regional standards like “I’se The B’y” and “Lukey’s Boat” with originals like “Ordinary Day,” which were absolutely massive on Much (iykyk). Thursday, April 21. 8 pm. The Madrid.

Local H

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY RESPECTIVE VENUES

April 18, 8 pm A half-decade before the Black Keys and White Stripes made two-piece rock bands a thing, Local H provided proof of concept by serving up a full-bodied grunge sound most were surprised to discover came from just two dudes.

Their biggest hit will always and forever be “Bound for the Floor,” but their enthusiastic live shows keep fans coming back. Their new record, “Local H’s Awesome Quarantine Mix-Tape #3” is a collection of fun covers including “When Doves Cry” and Fountains Of Wayne’s “Hackensack,” a tribute to the late, great Adam Schlesinger, who died of coronavirus in April 2020. Monday, April 18. 8 pm. RecordBar.

The Black Cat April 21, 7 pm This showing is part of the “pre-Code Hollywood” series at Stray Cat film Center, which explores the creative works of the brief period before the movie industry started self-censoring according to the Hays Code. The Black Cat is one of the

biggest hits of that era, a 1934 horror film starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi that was one of the first movies to feature an almost continuous music score. Thursday, April 21. 7 pm. Stray Cat Film Center.

Chelsea Handler April 23 & 24, 8 pm Wildly controversial. Inarguably funny— even political opposite Joe Rogan will admit as much. Eager to employ strategic nudity for PR purposes in a way we haven’t seen

since Kim K. Ladies and gentlemen, performing two shows live with no filter, Chelsea Handler.

Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24. 8 pm. Uptown Theater.

Utepils April 30, 10 am You know Oktoberfest, when Germans finally crack long lagered beers after the summer heat. But do you know utepils?

Utepils is Norwegian for “outdoors lager,” and the tradition is tied to your first porch beer after the long, cold winter breaks.

Lenexa Public Market has turned the day into a small-scale beer fest, with a passport to get stamped after sampling each offering. Saturday, April 30. 10 am. Lenexa Public Market.

Parkville Microbrew fest April 30, 1 pm Arguably the city’s best-loved annual beer fest, this event’s tagline is “rain or shine,” which must somehow invite rain. Even if it’s pouring, it’s pouring—put on some galoshes and a pancho.

If you’re looking to sober up before catching an Uber home, check out Off The Hook BBQ (page 94). Saturday, April 30.

1–5 pm. English Landing Park on the shores of the Missouri River.

Crossroads Artboards: Cesar Lopez + Angie Jennings Throughout April If you pass by the Charlotte Street space in the Crossroads this month, you’re sure to notice the return of a popular installation project. Charlotte Street’s Artboards series has existed since 2008, with nearly a hundred artists featured during that time. The double-sided billboards will feature works by photographer Angie Jennings, whose work was influenced by the costume from Turkey and the architecture and sky of Santorini, and artist Cesar E. Lopez, whose piece “explores the 3rd space through showcasing fictitious flags and manipulating them into personal interpretations.” Throughout April outside Charlotte Street, 125 Southwest Blvd., KCMO.

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T H E B E AT T EN-DAY T H R I L L

HORROR HORDE Panic Fest is a ten-day horror movie marathon for those who aren’t afraid of the dark.

BY JA M E S H A R R I S

and every seat was taken. On the screen, Patrick Wilson traversed the Further. I cowered behind my hands, the only buffer between me and The Man with the Fire in His Face. I was terrified. But when the monster ran toward the audience, instead of screaming, I laughed with a crowd of about two hundred people.

We all sighed in relief, and the tension dissipated—we pointed at each other, making fun of our fear.

Panic Fest, running from April 28 to May 8 (times and tickets at panicfilmfest. com), spawns the same atmosphere with a ten-day, horror movie festival held in the historic Screenland Armour Theatre of North Kansas City. This year marks their ten-year anniversary, a stretch of time filled with monumental T H E T HEATER WAS F I L LE D

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achievements and several accolades, including the World’s Top 25 Genre Festivals by MovieMaker Magazine.

Adam Roberts, a co-founder for Panic Fest, says what he’s most proud of is “that movies from new voices were discovered during the festival, and some were purchased by distributors and production companies.”

Panic Fest a chance for die-hard horror fans to not only scout out new scares but also connect, attend informative panels, check out terrifying podcasts and, most importantly, watch some of the classics with fellow enthusiasts.

Movies like Gags the Clown, The Birch and, most famously known, What We Do In The Shadows, first premiered in the U.S. by way of Panic Fest.

After two years of practice, thanks to

the pandemic, Roberts and his co-founder, Tim KC Canton, have altered the way you can attend the festival.

“This year, we really want to focus on in-person experiences,” Roberts says, “but we’re still offering our virtual experience and a hybrid ticket that allows you admission to the in-person screenings, panels and merch, along with access to the online movie library.”

When asked which of the ticket options he’d recommend for the best experience, Roberts says, “When horror films hit in the theater, they hit like nothing else. Everyone in the room is on the same page and the excitement is electric.”

Roberts’ comments brought me back to watching Insidious, scared out of my mind but having the time of my life with people I’d never met before. Horror films are fun when you’re by yourself, but when you’re with a crowd, when the electricity in the air is buzzing, nothing beats that charge.

With hundreds of feature films, short films, panels and podcasts submitted, the process Roberts and Canton go through to curate the festival’s screenings is extensive. “We want to see what people can do differently with the genre. We could easily bring a flashy name to Panic Fest and ride off that, but we want new talent. We want something different.”

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KANSASCITYMAG.COM APRIL 2022

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B AC K B E AT T H E B O S SA

HOT FUSION Multi-Grammy winner Eliane Elias is coming to KC.

By Nina Cherry

J

recently received the fourth Grammy nomination of her career for her latest album, Mirror Mirror. The album was a collaboration with jazz fusion legend Chick Corea, his last studio session before passing away just over a year ago.

It was Elias’s first instrumental album in two decades, since Solos and Duets (1995), a collaboration with yet another fusion luminary, Herbie Hancock. But Elias, who is not only a virtuosic and versatile pianist and one of the best bossa nova pianists of our time but also an accomplished vocalist and songwriter, is a legend in her own right.

Now, after a long couple of years, which has included the recording, production and release of a successful album, a severe foot injury and, of course, a pandemic, Elias is ready to be back on the road and performing. One of her first stops is Kansas City, where she’ll play the fortieth Folly Theater Jazz Series later this month.

Elias last came to KC in 2017 to headline another concert in the Folly Jazz Series, nearly selling out the house.

“My favorite part of music is actually performing for people,” Elias says. “I’m very excited to come back to perform after this pandemic.”

Elias will be joined by her husband, Marc Johnson, on bass, and Brazilian drummer Rafael Barata to form an outstanding trio.

“They’re great musicians,” Elias says.

“Everyone is a virtuoso, and with great rhythm. We have a lot of fun.”

Representative of her wide-spanning influences and training, Elias will perform a well-rounded setlist featuring everything from classic Brazilian songs, Latin jazz, Elias’s own original music and a couple of tunes from Mirror Mirror arranged for the trio.

“Whenever I come to play a show, I try to bring with me the essence of what I do,” Elias says. “I expect to have a really good time.”

If Elias were solely a pianist, her intricate voicings and technical prowess would be reason enough to see her live. But her songwriting and alluring, sultry vocals weaving together will take you on a journey, capturing that essence effortlessly, and, most of all, authentically.

AZZ PIANIST ELIANE ELIAS

GO: An Evening with Eliane Elias.

Saturday, April 16. 8 pm. The Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St., KCMO. $20–$55.

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Mariner Wealth Advisors (“MWA”) is an SEC registered investment adviser with its principal place of business in the State of Kansas. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. MWA is in compliance with the current notice filing requirements imposed upon registered investment advisers by those states in which MWA maintains clients. MWA may only transact business in those states in which it is notice filed or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from notice filing requirements. Any subsequent, direct communication by MWA with a prospective client shall be conducted by a representative that is either registered or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from registration in the state where the prospective client resides. For additional information about MWA, including fees and services, please contact MWA or refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov). Please read the disclosure statement carefully before you invest or send money.

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C U R AT I N G A B E A U T I F U L L I F E

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAMANTHA LEVI

DANCING ON GLASS

By now, you’ve probably seen the glassware trend on TikTok, and we have to admit—we’re pretty into it. I’m talking about vintage-style colorful cups, mugs and carafes that are taking over influencers’ nightstands and even the shelves of Target, though not without controversy. Local art gallery and store Duet in the Crossroads (517 E. 18th St., KCMO) offers a variety of trendy glassware, including a borosilicate glass carafe and cup set in amber, green and blue. The glass set is an easy and practical way to make any dining table or side table look sleek and timeless. Duet also stocks glass French presses, pour-over sets, bowls, vases, espresso cups and more. —MARY HE N N

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SLOW FASHION Conscientious fashion is on the rise, and local designer Tiffany Woodruff redesigns vintage and previously owned garments to create sustainable streetwear.

BY M A R Y H E N N

I

T TA K E S A L M O S T T H R E E

of water to make a single cotton T-shirt. And the waste doesn’t stop there, says Overland Park fashion designer Tiffany Woodruff. Textiles are right behind food, plastic and paper waste when it comes to space occupied in American landfills.

Woodruff is the woman behind Thriftedtiff, a clothing brand centered around streetwear designs and sustainability. She repurposes vintage and used textiles to keep them out of landfills and in contemporary fashion. And if the argument for sustainability isn’t enough to catch your attention, vintage and antique clothes are often of much higher quality than today’s “fast fashion” garments that aren’t made to last but rather to be replaced with the next new trend.

Woodruff’s conscientious label includes upcycled graphic tees, sweatpants and hoodies, which often incorporate elements of tiedye, bandana patchwork and embroidery in an

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Old English font—they’re cool, one-of-a-kind pieces.

T-shirts start at about $40, hoodies at $75.

“I didn’t really have a business plan,” Woodruff says.

“Thriftedtiff started as a passion project. Thrifting has always been a passion of mine, even from a young age.

It’s what I had access to and what I had to work with.

I didn’t get to go to Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch like everybody else did in high school. We were going to Goodwill, Salvation Army and estate sales.

“There’s this cyclical consumerism that society is really battling,” Woodruff says. “Plus, fast fashion labels wear down quickly and don’t hold value.”

Woodruff doesn’t simply tie-dye sweatshirts she finds at Goodwill, though there’s nothing wrong with doing that on your own on a Sunday afternoon. Rather, she sources materials and textiles from several places, like estate sales and warehouses, Red Racks and the back bins at Goodwill.

Woodruff also cleans and restores certain pieces and repurposes garments from other objects. When we met for an interview, she was wearing an oversized soft pink and white checkered sweater with fringe down the sleeves, a piece she created from a warm blanket from the ’80s as an homage to her personal style. “I love to be cozy and I love to mix traditionally feminine and masculine styles,” Woodruff says. I like to wear the baggy sweatpants— throw some patchwork on there— and a big T-shirt and a hat.”

Along with blankets, Woodruff creates pieces from curtains, comforters and any other materials she can get her hands on. She’s having her first fashion show on Earth Day this year, April 22, at the T-Mobile Center’s College Basketball Experience.

Woodruff will be debuting streetwear garments from her label to the public for the first time.

“The goal is to create social impact,” Woodruff says. “I think streetwear brands and fashion brands in general really lack that impact that actually holds value. You know, you take these old Metallica T-shirts, for instance, and you make them modern—there’s a cool story in that.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATALEA BONJOUR

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S WAY I N T ERV I E W

FAVO R I T E S P OT S Tarahumaras Mexican Restaurant “Tarahumaras is a Mexican restaurant just a little up the street from us. It’s really good.”

The Mockingbird Lounge “Mockingbird is right over here, too.

It’s a great bar, and it has a bunch of stuff going on.”

Kinship Coffee “They’re great.

They brought in coffee and doughnuts to give away at our grand opening. It’s been fun to make friends and business connections around here.”

How long have you two been a part of the Strawberry Hill community?

We’ve been here for about a year and a half. There’s so much we like about the neighborhood. Even before the Iron District, we were hoping to find a spot in this neighborhood.

When we first moved into the neighborhood, this space [Flagship] was a local little deli, then it was empty for several months before we moved in. For a long time, this space was a barbershop.

We are excited to be a part of the neighborhood and add to what they already have going on here.

What sort of collaborations and events do you want to bring to Flagship now that it has a permanent home? We want to join existing events that are already happening in the neighborhood, like Artwalk, and we’d like to start some of our own traditions and events, too.

We’d like to do local author readings, eventually.

We’ve got some book club ideas. A few people have reached out about existing book clubs wanting to do their monthly meetings here. We’d also like to maybe start our own book clubs eventually.

Two brothers just opened an independent bookstore in KCK’s Strawberry Hill neighborhood, with hopes of making it a welcoming space for readings and book clubs.

BY M A R Y H E N N

started Flagship Books in the Iron District of North Kansas City last March. When they outgrew their shipping container setup, they decided it was time to find a permanent home for their business.

The Melgren brothers found an open space on Ohio Avenue in their Strawberry Hill neighborhood. “It’s good to have our own designated space, and now we’re in the neighborhood where we live—moving closer was an added bonus,” Ty says.

Ty studied English and taught English abroad in Turkey and Tunisia, and he’s always read a lot. Joel has a background in business. “Opening a bookstore was kind of a natural collaboration for us,” Ty says.

We talked to Ty and Joel about Flagship Books relocation, the Strawberry Hill community and their future plans for the bookstore.

BROTHERS JOEL AND TY MELGREN

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What sets Flagship apart from other bookstores?

Like other independent bookstores, as opposed to a chain bookstore, we have the ability to carry what people who come in are interested in.

Whenever you’re curating a bookstore, your own personal taste automatically goes into the selection, and that gives a small, independent bookstore its own identity and charm.

We have a good selection of nonfiction graphic novels and that’s something kind of unique to us. We’re also kind of figuring out how to stock contemporary fantasy. We’ve got Dune and Lord of the Rings, but we also have newer fantasy books by women writers of color, like N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor.

If you’re looking for a particular book, we can help locate it, too. We place orders for people all the time.

That’s how we get ideas on how to stock our shelves, actually—by listening to what people are asking for.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALEB CONDIT AND REBECCA NORDEN

BOOK BROTHERS

How do you determine which books to keep on the shelves? We’ve got new fiction and nonfiction, and then we rotate books on the tables. For ordering new books, we talk to people and follow social media book accounts. I keep an eye on new releases as well. It’s kind of a challenge to figure out both what I think is interesting and what is also popular. That overlaps often, but not always.

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OLD WORLD MODERN Liz and Kyle Freeman took inspiration from various European styles when building their home in Shoal Creek.

BY DAW N YA B A R T S C H | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY N AT E S H E E T S

A

P LU N G E P O O L , H I D D E N S TA I R C A S E A N D

that doubles as a bar are just a few of the extras that Liz and Kyle Freeman incorporated into their Northland home, which they designed to showcase what a little creativity and attention to detail can produce.

“We really had fun with this house,” says Kyle, who, along with his wife Liz, designed and built this home, knowing it was going to be a part of the Artisan Home Tour that the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City puts on. “We wanted people to see all the creative things that can be done.

Kyle now runs Freeman Custom Homes, the business his father started. Originally, the Freemans purchased the lot along Shoal Creek Parkway in Liberty to build a custom home with a client in mind, but when the project didn’t come to fruition, they decided to create their own version of what a near-perfect domicile should be.

“When Kansas City developed its master plan, the city wanted to bring the parkway style you see down south up here, and Shoal Creek Parkway was a part of that,” Kyle says. He wanted to honor that idea by building a showstopper of a home, similar to many of the grand old homes you would find along Ward Parkway. “So when we really looked at it—a corner, high-visibility lot on the Parkway— we looked at it as a real opportunity to do our best and add something nice.”

The Freemans dubbed this approximately five thousand-squarefoot home’s style “old world modern.” They began to hand-sketch the layout and design of the house, eventually working with a draftsman to create the home’s final blueprints.

“We took a lot of influences from various European styles, the rural European country styles, and modernized them, made them more minimal,” Kyle says of this luxurious but relaxed and very livable home.

WINE CELLAR

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1

1 KITCHEN The Freemans knew from the get-go that they wanted the kitchen to have a high vaulted ceiling and a large window over the sink as its central focal point. In many ways, they designed the entire home around that central idea, Kyle says.

Rather than creating a sterile white-on-white kitchen, the Freemans opted for muted shades of white for the kitchen and in other areas of the home, colors that Liz likens to the shade of putty or perhaps a mushroom. “It’s still clean and bright,” she says of the off-white color scheme, but it’s not “stark.”

The white ceiling is accented with light walnutcolored beams that closely match the wood in the hood over the oven—these details are reminiscent of something you might find in an old English cottage.

Both kinds of wood are similar in tone to the hardwood floors and round dining table that sits not far from the main kitchen area and contrasting dark island.

“We weren’t looking for glitz and glam but casual and comfortable,” Kyle says. “Relaxing rather than sparkling.”

Handmade glazed white tiles were used for the kitchen backsplash. The tiles were “one of the very early things we latched onto,” Liz says. “They are simple and clean, perfectly imperfect. The imperfections were a part of the draw.”

The kitchen sits at one end of a large, open, vaulted space, with the dining table in the middle, and a living room at the other end, which is also punctuated by a floor-to-ceiling window.

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2

2 MUSIC ROOM A space more traditionally used as an office and located off the main entry has been reworked into a music room. It’s a sophisticated space, with its walls, built-ins and ceiling all painted in a moody dark blue color called Racoon Fur. Hanging above the grand piano is a weathered brass chandelier. The overall effect is soothing and serves as a visual relief from the mostly all-white interior of the rest of the home.

3 THE COURTYARD

Like many European homes, the house is centered around a courtyard. “Being on a prominent lot, there is not a lot of privacy,” Kyle says. “The courtyard is a way to bring in a lot of light but still have privacy.”

When you first enter the reverse plan home, you are greeted by a bank of windows that showcase the open-air courtyard beyond and the covered deck with a fireplace on the far side. Walking downstairs to the main entertainment area, the courtyard is accessible through large French doors. Cafe lights are strung from the roof across the open-air area, and travertine pavers combined with crushed granite make up the patio. Old world storefront elements were also used to conjure up feelings of “dining al fresco in a European Village,” Kyle says.

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4 TH E B AR A bright white wine cellar was built behind the downstairs bar off the courtyard and is visible through large windows that can open. “It makes a great entertaining space,” Kyle says.

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6

6 POWDER ROOM

The Freemans procured handmade clay Moroccan tiles to use along one wall in the powder room. The rough tiles are coupled with a natural, smooth wood countertop and cabinet. A simple yet traditional mirror and low-hanging opaque lantern-like light fixture add a modern take on classic design themes.

5 5 THE PLU NGE POOL A spa room with an oversized sunken hot tub is nestled in an enclosed indoor-outdoor room to the side of the courtyard and tucked under the master bedroom. It’s accessible from the courtyard, but a hidden staircase also leads directly up to the master bedroom, allowing for a discreet exit. No need to traipse dripping wet through the house.

A travertine tile was used around the pool, and a waterproof lime plaster similar to what is seen in places like Santorini, Greece, was used on the walls.

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7

8

7 MEDIA ROOM The Freemans knew they wanted to paint the media room a dark green, and it was serendipitous that they just happened to find a deep green velvet sofa in that exact hue at Nebraska Furniture Mart. “We got lucky,” Liz says.

8 MASTER BATH

Natural wood cabinets and beige marble hexagon tile were used in the master bath to keep the space warm and inviting, despite the crisp white walls and clean modern lines.

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Kitchen Trends

KANSASCITYMAG.COM MARCH 2022

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K I TC H E N T R E N DS

1

White Oak & Light Wood Cabinetry If you follow home decor trends at all, you’ve probably seen dark and bold cabinetry at the forefront—rich navy and deep emerald colors have practically taken over. While greentoned cabinets are here to stay, we will start to see more kitchen cabinetry in medium green hues and “greige” (gray-beige).

We’ll also start to see a move away from all-white kitchen cabinets into white oak and light wood cabinetry, which incorporate natural elements while making a space look light and lifted.

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Speaking of cabinetry, glass and mesh are becoming a trend alongside exposed shelving. Reeded glass in opaque and translucent varieties provides a hazy, luxurious feel—and also a bit of privacy. Mesh inserts in rattan and metal varieties are popular, too. Mesh provides additional texture and architectural detail to cabinets. Additionally, current cabinetry trends will be displayed in floor-to-ceiling cabinets.

Cooking in Style Six kitchen trends you’ll be seeing a lot more the rest of 2022

BY MARY HENN

hether you’re working on a remodel or doing some light redecorating this spring season, a fresh coat of paint in the perfect hue can do a lot of heavy lifting. But there are other design elements to consider, too—new cabinetry or hardware, a few statement pieces or a backsplash redo can give a space new life. Here are six emerging kitchen trends to consider in 2022.

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Cabinets with Mesh or Glass Doors

3

Brass Brass and gold details have been on the kitchen decor scene for a minute now, and they’re not going anywhere.

Hammered brass light fixtures, brass shelving and unique brass hardware are timeless, and their elegance will endure.

If you’re having trouble deciding on metal for your kitchen, mixing in brass elements is a safe move. Brass will always be on-trend.

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K I TC H E N T R E N DS

4

Natural Elements

Incorporating a few statement pieces can be a quick and easy way to uplift a room. Live edge and walnut cutting boards, rustic stone bowls, colored glassware and marble serving trays and salt wells are a few ways to add natural elements to a kitchen. Green plants, stone or brick also help to bring the outdoors in, making a space feel lively and warm.

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

5

Subway Tiles with a Twist

Like brass, subway tiles have been in fashion for over a century. Now, we are starting to see them with new twists—distressed, marble and colored subway tiles are all emerging. And it’s not just about how the tiles look but also how they’re laid. Vertically laid tiles and tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern are appearing in many modern kitchens.

6

Natural Stone Flooring

When it comes to flooring, natural wins again. We’ll see more large flooring in kitchens this year—specifically, large stone flooring. Limestone, large format porcelain and flagstone tiles provide a classic, simple and often industrial-rustic look that pairs well with most other elements.

JONAS BARRISH REALTOR. DAD. HUSBAND. ‘80s MUSIC ADDICT. ORCHID-WHISPERER.

bursting with ideas (& bald by choice)

Winner Readers Choice

Top Agent 2021

family man at heart + dogs (bc dogs)

rock-level strength to negotiate best rates, contract adjustments & whatever it takes to get your 5-star review appetite for style, art, creative solutions, & cherry Starburst

Guinness World Record* for dotting every i & crossing every t on like a refrigerator 24/7, tick tock

Jonas Barrish Associate Broker 913.626.4708 @jonasbarrishrealestate © 2022 Compass Realty Group. Compass Realty Group is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunities laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. Photos may be virtually staged or digitally enhanced and may not reflect actual property conditions.

*just kidding on the record; don’t sue me Guinness World Record ppl

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2022 TOP REAL ESTATE AGENTS/TOP PRODUCERS

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JONAS BARRISH Compass Realty Group

420 NICHOLS RD. 2ND FLOOR KANSAS CITY, MO 64112 | 913.626.4708 | JONASBARRISH.COM IT ’ S H A R D TO S PI LL T H E B E A NS about someone who has

hundreds of reviews on Zillow. The earth-shattering scoop: 100% of Jonas Barrish’s reviews are 5-star. And it doesn’t stop there. He was voted Kansas City magazine’s 2021 Readers Choice winner, is among Kansas City’s top 1% in sales volume, & is cited annually as a Nextdoor Favorite.

But, back to those reviews. Most of the Realtor love-letters Jonas receives are notably gushing, effusive and rhapsodic.

There’s this: “I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t use him or, worse yet, is on the opposite side of Jonas in a transaction.”

And this: “This guy is surgical in his approach. His ability to negotiate is unparalleled.”

Some succinct: “Jonas was ex-

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

tremely responsive. We’re talking instantaneous.”

Others shocking: “He told us a number he thought he could sell our house for, and I laughed it off as ridiculous. Too high. Fast forward, and he sold our house for even more than the crazy quote he gave us.”

Many punctuated emphatically: “Our appraiser told me that Jonas was the most helpful seller’s agent he worked with in 25 years!”

That’s Jonas on paper. To meet him in person, is to appreciate the industry whiz he’s worked hard to become.

He’s persuasive, shreds complex tasks into digestible bits, and has mastered the Herculean feat of making real estate fun. Moreover, as you settle in to enjoy one of his transcendent Manhattan cocktails, he may point out that he doesn’t lead a complicated

life (black t-shirt is his couture), shy away from daring interior design, or eat just 1 potato chip, but he will elevate your love for Kansas City a notch or two.

His goal is laser focused: to be all-in for every client.

He offers, “Do you know how many times I do the job for both my client and the other agent? It’s more than it ever should be. Which means my client has a major advantage.

Count me among the itty bitty group that gives a huge damn.”

You’re less likely to hear about the top accolades that line his walls, keynote speeches he serves up to elevate the industry, and positions of honor he’s selected to by peers.

His dearest trophy is the written word of past clients. And he won’t stop until he earns the same from you.

2022 TOP REAL ESTATE AGENTS/TOP PRODUCERS

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THE KOEHLER BORTNICK TEAM THE KOEHLER BORTNICK TEAM, REECENICHOLS | 5000 W 135TH ST. LEAWOOD, KS 66224 | 913.239.2069 | KBSELLS.COM THE KO E H LE R B O RTNI C K T E A M, ReeceNich-

ols offers a rich history and understanding of the Kansas City metro area. As one of the top-producing residential real estate teams in Kansas City, nobody knows this vigorous market as we do. We utilize progressive and modern resources to develop customized plans for each of our clients. The Koehler Bortnick Team understands that buying or selling a home is one of the most important investments of your life, and we are

prepared to help you every step of the way.

Founded by mother and daughter duo Kathy Koehler and Heather Bortnick, our team now includes more than 55 full-time professional real estate agents across five offices in Kansas and Missouri, including Certified Relocation Specialists.

When it comes to choosing an agent, you look for top-performance and customer satisfaction; all of our agents offer just that! As a team, we are fully dedicated to creating remark-

able experiences through superior marketing and constant communication with our clients.

We are ranked a Top Mega Team in the United States per the Wall Street Journal giving us more national exposure and reach for our clients. As a team, we closed over $480 million in residential real estate in 2021 with more than 1,000 homes sold, leading us to be the number one resale team in the area.

Honesty. Exposure. Results.

It’s what we stand for, and what we deliver.

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2022 TOP REAL ESTATE AGENTS/TOP PRODUCERS

MALFER & ASSOCIATES Compass Realty Group

1920 W 143RD ST., SUITE 200 LEAWOOD, KS 913.800.1812 | MALFERKC.COM

MALF ER & A S S O C I ATE S, Compass Realty Group has been a

market leader in real estate for more than a decade. The team has over 350 years of combined expertise and works with buyers and sellers at all price points. The team is hand-picked by Kristin Malfer herself, ensuring that each agent delivers exceptional customer service. With a white glove concierge experience, the team provides clients with the utmost professional benefits, including home staging, a robust marketing plan, professional photography and videography and much more. They offer a hassle-free experience from start to finish with a thorough plan for buying and selling a home.

The company’s multiple locations in Leawood and storefront in Prairie Village have it all: home staging, new construction, relocation specialists and a business development division. With their recent move to Compass Realty Group, they now have access to a network of over 25,000 Compass agents who represent the top agents in the industry and are able to gain national reach by increasing the marketing for each listing. With an eye for design, a feel for the city and genuine Midwestern hospitality, Malfer & Associates is the top choice when finding your dream home or selling your current home.

#3 Top Producing Real Estate Team in KC, ranked by the Kansas City Business Journal #61 In the Nation Based on Sales Volume, ranked by RealTrends by the Wall Street Journal

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

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53

THANK YOU FOR A

RECORDBREAKING YEAR IN 2021

20,000+ Homes Sold $8 Billion in Annual Sales #1 in Luxury Real Estate 3,000+ Agents 500 Agents Recruited $272,900 Donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities through the Gold Key Project 2,080 Meals Donated to Harvesters 18 Initiatives Rewarding Lives Voted Best of the Best in Kansas City

ReeceNichols.com

Selling over $1B in luxury properties, totaling more than the next 6 competitors combined (but who’s counting).

Local experts for 100+ years

Global network of buyers

Concierge service & closing

Powerful marketing

Exc Net Con Pos &G Serv Pro Idea Valu Sho

ceptional Properties Exclusi twork Your Ideal Neighborh ncierge Service Valuation & sitioning Strategic Showing Global Marketing Concierge vice & Closing Exceptional operties Exclusive Network al Neighborhood Concierge uation & positioning Strate owing Local & Global Mark signature.reecenichols.com

2022 TOP REAL ESTATE AGENTS/TOP PRODUCERS

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6850 COLLEGE BOULEVARD, OVERLAND PARK , KS 66211 913.451.4888 | WWW.THEROSTGROUP.COM

AG E N T, M I L E S RO S T has been helping

clients buy and sell homes since 2004. His experience in construction management and home renovations gives him knowledge that is invaluable in the real estate industry.

As a Keller Williams Luxury Agent, Miles and his team build relationships and ensure the highest level of service, representing homebuyers and sellers throughout the Kansas City metro area.

The team’s white glove service for all price points includes personalized strategies to meet client needs, preferred vendor recommendations, and high-end marketing with a well-established digital presence.

“Serving the client first, in order to earn their trust for life” is the group’s motto during the transaction, but the relationship continues beyond the sale. The Rost Group promises to continually stay in touch and to always be there for your real estate needs.

MILES ROST

The Rost Group Keller Williams Realty Partners, Inc.

KRYSTLE ESPINOZA Global Real Estate Advisor

BASH & CO. SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY 1900 SHAWNEE MISSION PKWY, SUITE 220 MISSION WOODS, KS 66205 816.377.4600 | KRYSTLE@BASHCOSIR.COM | KRYSTLEESPINOZA.BASHCOSIR.COM

VOT E D A 2 0 2 1 TO P AG E N T of Kansas City by Kansas City magazine, Krystle

Espinoza’s love for this area comes from her roots. She is proud to call Kansas City home, and she loves sharing how great this community is. Krystle understands buying or selling a home is one of the most important financial investments that a person can make. It is her belief that the process should be seamless for clients and her goal is for you to be completely comfortable with your decision. As a licensed REALTOR® in 3 states with experience serving clients across the metro, as well as a background in escrow closing, Krystle will help you navigate the home buying and selling process. Whether you are relocating, downsizing, or upsizing, Krystle is dedicated to helping you work towards your real estate goals and will be in your corner every step of the way. Krystle and her husband along with their two kiddos and two dogs make their home in Liberty, MO. She loves to explore the local spots around KC, get together with family and friends, and most of all LOVES to travel!”

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

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Vill ce in t onflict policHere are . 11 KC neighborhoods where real estate has exploded e i ers t ra l d c t h e ra i r nsw A P out a nd to alk to ts a h sba o t n t i a w hu ed t w ter H e r re f u s ugh TOP AGEN TS and her da Biggest sellers in , w KC real estate No 22

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THE BIG Kansas City real estate has exploded in the past two years.

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BO OM Here are 11 neighborhoods that have blown up the biggest, according to the data.

WORDS MARTIN CIZMAR AND MARY HENN PHOTOGRAPHY CALEB CONDIT, JEREMEY THERON KIRBY AND REBECCA NORDEN

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Two years ago, right around this time, the real estate market was at a standstill. The pandemic had just begun, and widespread uncertainty briefly—very briefly—brought the housing market to a halt.

That lasted a matter of days, says Jo Grammond, a buyer’s agent with Kansas City’s Redfin office.

“For about two weeks it got real quiet,” Grammond says.

“Before you know it, we were just super busy with people wanting to buy again. Then, with interest rates having dropped, it just became prime time, and it hasn’t slowed down since then.”

Not only has it not slowed down—it’s arguably accelerated. “Right now, there’s even less inventory than there was in 2020, at the height of it, when everybody was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s no inventory,’” she says. “There’s no area that’s safe in the Kansas City metro.”

Grammond says, and Redfin’s data shows, there are now multiple offers on any property that goes on the market, regardless of location. That’s made for an ultra-competitive climate, where prices are exploding in areas traditionally considered the most desirable and where desperate buyers are looking for homes in areas they’d never pictured themselves living.

For this story, we wanted to look at the areas where there’s been the biggest boom. The data team at Redfin maintains a list of the hottest zip codes in the country based on the speed of sale, increase in price and other factors. We worked with Taylor Marr, Redfin’s deputy chief economist, to crunch the numbers and weigh the formula for our local market. To make our final list, we removed all zip codes where the average prices were below the metro’s median price of $260,000 and have combined several areas where zip codes share borders and similarities.

Most of the neighborhoods seeing the biggest booms are not among the twenty wealthiest in the metro area, but they’re often bordered by one or more that are. That includes the zip code that our data put at the top of the list, which is surrounded on three sides by top-twenty zips but isn't itself among them.

In some ways, the Kansas City market has not changed that much. Schools are king, Grammond says: “The areas where we’re seeing the highest offers and the largest offers above the listing price are still driven by school districts.”

But in an era of exploding home prices, how that’s shaken out has been interesting. Here’s what the data show.

NUMBER 11

R E A L ESTAT E 2 0 2 2

Why it’s hot The areas of northern Johnson County along State Line Road (66205, 66208, 66209) all scored high on the metrics provided by Redfin. Miller says that reflects the desire for people to have access to both Johnson County schools—this zip code is divided between Shawnee Mission East and South zones—and the cultural amenities, restaurants and bars on the Missouri side. Plus, it’s easy to hop on I-435 and get anywhere in the metro area.

“It’s a great location, great school district, and close to restaurants, grocery stores, pools,” she says. “You have all of that. There are more popular non-chain restaurants coming to the area, like in Mission Farms. Way back in the day, there weren’t that many good restaurants in that area, but now there are.”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: Hattie's Fine Coffee, just across Mission Road in PV.

Old Leawood

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66206

his zip code covers the areas typically called “Old Leawood,” which are north of I-435 between State Line Road and Mission Drive. This zip code is the seventh-richest in the metro area, with an adjusted gross income of $201,000. It borders the wealthiest zip in the metro—South Leawood’s 66211, where the AGI is more than $150,000 higher than anywhere else in KC. The area is mostly leafy, mid-century neighborhoods with large lots, some a half-acre. The typical home is a ranch that offers what real estate agents now call “main level living”—no stairs to climb to the bedroom, which appeals to those aging in place.

It’s been a popular area with people moving to the city, says Brooke Miller, an agent with ReeceNichols.

“People are desperate because of the pandemic,” Miller says. “There are a lot of people who have moved back to Kansas City, and there are more buyers than there are houses. People like the large lots, the nice houses and the family atmosphere.”

Modest homes on those sought-after lots also attract people who want a new build inside the 435 loop. “You also have a lot of people buying older homes with great lots and they’re tearing them down,” Miller says. “That’s happening like a madhouse over there.”

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H av i n g f u n With those large lots, most recreation in Old Leawood happens in backyards, but there is a one-acre park, Brook Beatty Park, at 86th Terrace and Lee Boulevard. The Glenwood Arts Theater, a small independent theater showing foreign and arthouse films, is on the backside of the Ranch Mart plaza.

Hot spots More than any other neighborhood on this list, Old Leawood is overwhelmingly residential.

However, on the south side of the area, you’ll find Mission Farms, which has a standout Greek restaurant in Paros Estiatorio, a Martin City brewing taproom and a popular Southern brunch spot.

Paros Estiatorio

NUMBER 10

East Olathe

66062

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he 66062 is east of I-35 and follows the contour of the freeway as its western border between Pflumm Road and 191st Street. It’s a massive area with 80,000 people.

“We’re talking about the largest zip code in Kansas by area,” says Sherry Timbrook, an agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. “It’s larger than any zip code in Missouri, too. It’s almost fifty square miles that it covers. So we’re talking about a very large land area and a very large population.”

Some of the zip code is served by Blue Valley schools, some is in the Spring Hill district, and much of it is Olathe.

Why it’s hot Unlike other areas of Johnson County that are now landlocked, the south side of 66062 still has room for new development—and new development is what’s driving the surge there.

Less than a half of a percent of the existing homes in the area are listed for sale, but in the last three months, sales closed on more than a hundred new homes.

“One-hundred families have moved into a brand new construction home,” Timbrook says. “There are another hundred and seventy-three that are under contract but have not gotten to a closing date yet.”

Expect to see more than two dozen offers on a single house—it’s been an ultra-competitive market.

“On Thursdays, when the new homes are listed, you see the same realtors with the same clients at the exact same houses,” Timbrook says. “Then all of a sudden you realize we didn't see so-and-so this week, I guess they got their house.”

H av i n g f u n The area does have some very nice parks, including Black Bob, Heritage and Lone Elm. But most people moving into the zip code are living in new developments with their own amenities.

“It's about making community connections,” Timbrook says.

“The community parks are fabulous, but the facilities in the neighborhood are a huge benefit of the planned communities.”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee:

Hot spots

At their neighbor's house. “They are very community-centric,” Timbrook says. “All the new developments have a clubhouse and swimming pools, walking trails, playgrounds and schools right within the neighborhood.”

The corridor off 119th Street and Black Bob/Strang Line roads is the hotbed of shopping, dining and entertainment in the area, Timbrook says. It’s got a little of everything: movie theaters, amusement centers, bowling, arcades, big-box shopping and boutique shopping.

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NUMBER 9

R E A L ESTAT E 2 0 2 2

the ten highest av e r a g e s a l e s prices among the 6 5 z i p c o d e s t h at h av e b o o m e d b i g

64145

Martin City

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his is arguably the most diverse area on this entire list, and homes range from $70,000 to $700,000 in this single zip code, says Heather Shelton with RE/MAX Elite. “It is absolutely primarily families,” she says. “It’s the epitome of the suburban area, and it is very diverse.” There are a lot of private schools in the area (Barstow).

Martin City itself is part of the Grandview District.

Why it’s hot Affordability—Martin City is the cheapest place to live “out south.” “That is changing rapidly,” Shelton says. “And then having access to virtually everything—you’re twenty minutes from anything in Kansas City.”

Being in Missouri is also a draw for some, she says. “You're close enough to Kansas and the Leawood area, but you’re not living in Kansas.”

Missouri’s medical marijuana program has also been a draw. “Medical marijuana is something that has changed a lot of lives and that’s been a big deal for people,” Shelton says. “It’s accessible in Missouri, and who knows if it will ever be available in Kansas?”

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: Martin City Coffee off Holmes.

“Specifically, the lavender latte is my recommendation,” Shelton says.

H av i n g f u n Red Bridge is one of the metro’s top parks. Martin City has indoor sand volleyball at Volleyball Beach and, of course, downtown Martin City is home to landmark steakhouse Jess & Jim’s and Martin City Brewing.

66211

$844,898

66221

$665,000

66224

$606,333

66085

$578,585

66209

$521,000

66206

$ 5 1 7, 5 0 0

64113

$490,000

66213

$ 4 3 7, 0 0 0

66223

$ 4 0 7, 5 0 0

66208

$379,300

1 OP/Leawood, 2 Southwest OP, 3 Southeast OP, 4 South OP/Stilwell, 5 South Leawood/OP, 6 West Leawood/Mission Farms, 7 Plaza Area/Brookside/ Armour Hills, 8 Middle OP, 9 South OP, 10 Prairie Village/Mission Hills

Hot spots The new Peanut on State Line is wildly popular. “It’s called the Leawood Peanut, but it’s on the Missouri side,” Shelton says. “There's cars lined up to park clear out onto State Line sometimes.”

Martin City Pizza and Taproom

NUMBER 8

Hitides

64108

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee:

The Crossroads / Union Hill / Beacon Hill / Hospital Hill / The Westside

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he 64108 zip code encompasses the Crossroads and parts of midtown and downtown Kansas City, stretching from landmarks like the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the east all the way to Ponak’s Mexican Kitchen on Southwest Boulevard.

It’s a hotbed for entertainment, food and the arts. This area has a lot of historic charm, with older homes and monuments like the National WWI Museum and Memorial. But there’s some new development happening, too, especially at the top of the hills in the Westside, where lots offer a prized view.

Realtor Beth Ott from Taylor Made Real Estate says that if someone is looking for a new build in this area, Beacon Hill is the top pick. “But there's always the possibility of a new build on the Westside,” she says.

“It's just a little bit different because, you know, it's not one big development. The Westside North area, in particular, is such a mix of new and old. You can find homes that are over a hundred years old, but then you could walk down the street and find a home that was built five years ago.”

Why it’s hot This zip code has many of the city’s top draws— the Crossroads Arts District, Crown Center, Union Station and the Kauffman Center. Living in the area provides easy access to transportation and attractions, plus views of the growing cityscape.

Hot spots These days, it’s all pretty hot here— restaurants, breweries and bars abound.

The Crossroads is littered with cool coffee spots: Hitides, Ollama, Goat Hill, Mildred’s, The Roasterie and Rochester among them. “Since the Westside North neighborhood has older homes, it definitely has more of an alreadyestablished neighborhood feel,” Ott says. “You've got Westside Local and Bluebird and, now, Clay and Fire over there. Fox and Pearl is just right down the street. There are so many restaurants within a few blocks, and people are really loving that.”

H av i n g f u n In addition to the National WWI Museum, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and Money Museum, there’s also Union Station and Crown Center, which offer many exhibits and events for groups of all ages like Science City and Legoland. Next to the lawn of the Liberty Memorial, there’s also Penn Valley Park with an adjacent off-leash dog park.

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NUMBER 7

R E A L ESTAT E 2 0 2 2

Hodge Park Photo courtesy KC Parks and Recreation

Why it’s hot “There are many areas of the Northland that have a smaller town feel yet are still centrally located to highways to get to downtown, the airport, excellent schools and great shopping,” Engle says. “Because we've been dealing with Covid for the last two years, there is a lot more remote work, which frees a buyer up significantly in relation to their distance from work. So many people are relocating from states and cities where homeownership is unattainable to the Northland for a great opportunity for their future and family.”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee:

64155

North KC / Staley Farms

H av i n g f u n There are several parks that have had amazing updates in the Northland, Engle says. She likes Hodge Park. “It has lots of trails and is connected to the Shoal Creek Living History Museum, where you can take a step back in time with historical buildings,” Engle says. “You might even see buffalo there.” For indoor fun, “T-Shotz is now open where the Metro North Mall location once was,” Engle says. “Rush Funplex is a newer version of Main Event in the Northland that has tons of activities to do inside like bowling, minigolf, go-karts and laser tag.”

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he 64155 zip code is in the Northland—south of 435, north of Barry Road between Platte Purchase Drive and Woodland Avenue. It’s an area that includes large new build homes around the Staley Farms Golf Club and mid-rise apartments around North Oak Trafficway. It’s about twenty minutes from downtown Kansas City and close to the airport.

“Housing-wise, the Northland is composed primarily of single-family homes,” says realtor Joy Engle, an agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate who works in the Northland. “The area mainly consists of families who want good schools for their children and a safe place to live.”

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

“Anytime you drive by a Starbucks in the Northland, you will often find cars wrapped around it—especially in the mornings,” Engle says. “However, there are some fantastic local coffee shops.

Friendly Bean is a local spot off Barry Road, and Headrush is close by, just off North Oak Trafficway.

Hot spots The Friendly Bean

The Northland zip code is hot for its proximity to just about everything and its quietness away from the major city lights.

NUMBER 6

New Leawood / Middle Overland Park 66209, 66213

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he 66209 and 66213 zip codes are abutting squares, together covering the areas of Leawood and Overland Park between 119th and 135th streets from the state line to Pflumm.

Combined, the zips cover a large area, but all fall within the same Blue Valley district—arguably the best in Kansas, says Tamra Trickey, an agent with ReeceNichols who lives in Leawood’s 66209 zip code. “They are all Blue Valley, so that is obviously a big, big attraction,” she says. “It really is the school district. The schools are superb.

All the Blue Valley schools are just highly, highly desirable.”

Most of the homes in the area were constructed in the nineties, with a few dating back to the eighties and some new construction. Those homes tend to have rooms that have a larger scale and larger footprint than comparable homes built before or since. The trees on the lots have grown in and matured, offering a little more privacy and richer landscaping than in new construction.

Why it’s hot The Blue Valley School District is the biggest attraction, but the area is also popular with people who commute to work or for recreation. Even as Johnson County development continues to push south, some people still strongly prefer to be north of 135th Street, Trickey says.

“There was a time when that seemed like the edge of the universe,” she says.

“This feels closer in, although it’s south of 435. It’s different than being way out south. It’s an easy twenty-minute commute to anywhere.”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: “There’s a Starbucks on every corner,” Trickey says.

H av i n g f u n There’s a park on every block, Trickey says, plus lots of public golf courses, top-notch shopping and easy access to both the Deanna Rose Farmstead and the start of the Tomahawk Creek Trail, which continues all the way out to Shawnee Mission Park.

Chicken N Pickle

Hot spots Pickleball and rotisserie chicken appeal to locals, and they finally got them together at the new Chicken N Pickle at Prairiefire.

“They used to have a policy that they would not have more than one per state, and there was one in Wichita,” Trickey says. “I know lots of people kept asking them to come to Johnson County, and I guess they were finally convinced. That’s the hot spot.”

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NUMBER 5

R E A L ESTAT E 2 0 2 2

Why it’s hot This area is close in and has established neighborhoods, which drive per-square-foot prices much higher than is typical, even in Johnson County. “You pay so much more for the area than you do for the size of the house,” Schulze says.

Schulze recently determined that she needed more room in her home, which prompted a big discussion about whether to move. Ultimately, her family decided to instead remodel their home for the second time in eleven years and added two bedrooms and a bathroom above the garage.

“Our street is phenomenal,” she says. “We’re best friends with all our neighbors, our kids are all best friends. We wanted to stay.”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: The Market at Meadowbrook is “super cute” and very popular, Schulze says.

66207

South Prairie Village / Northeast Overland Park

T

he 66207 zip code covers south Prairie Village from 83rd Street to the 435 loop between Mission and Lamar. It’s an area with a lot of homes built in the sixties, many of which have been rehabbed while others have been torn down as prices in the area have exploded. North of 95th Street is the Shawnee Mission East catchment zone while south of 95th is in Shawnee Mission South.

Lindsay Schulze, an agent with ReeceNichols who lives in the zip code, says the area is a “huge mix.”

“You have people who have owned their homes for fifty years and were the original owners, and you have a lot of turnover to younger families because people appreciate the established neighborhoods, they appreciate the trees, they appreciate the parks,” Schulze says. “We can walk our kids to school. People like that mix as opposed to it being cookie-cutter.”

Marian Coast of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate says people in this zip tend to have deep roots: “A friend of mine who was raised there, she's in her seventies and grew up a halfmile away,” Coast says. “They’re politically conservative and financially conservative, but they're not really radical. They’re welcoming. They’re very easygoing.”

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

Verbena at Inn at Medadowbrook

H av i n g f u n

Hot spots

It’s arguably the most walkable part of Johnson County, Schulze says, and her neighbors tend to love walking down to Meadowbrook Park, which has pickleball courts, tennis courts, a market and a huge playground.

As a member of the Olathe art commission, Coast is impressed with what they’ve done art-wise in the Meadowbrook area. “They’ve got some sculptures coming onto that shopping center,” she says. “Kid-friendly, a lot of art festivals. It’s very active. They have lots of children’s activities.”

Everyone we talked to agreed that the neighborhood clubhouse is a sports bar that screens Jayhawk games. “They love Johnny’s at Corinth Square,” Coast says. “They go there to watch KU games. That is the place to go.

My husband takes our son to Johnnys to watch the basketball game.”

NUMBER 4

It’s tough out there!

A local agent offers five warnings for would-be buyers.

1 . B e r e a d y t o l o s e —and don’t get desperate. Buying a home in this environment means competing with multiple offers, cash buyers and buyers who simply want the home more than you do. “Be prepared to put your best foot forward with a competitive offer, but don't lose sight of making a good financial decision for yourself,” says Erin Peel, an agent with Better Homes and Gardens Kansas City.

2 . W i n i n g m i g h t ta k e s o m e c r e at i v i t y. Sellers are in command

right now, so you may have to offer a deal, such as letting the sellers rent back from you while they shop for their house, paying for a cleaning service after they move out or even offering to chip in for their movers. “The highest price is not the only criteria that might be attractive to a seller,” Peel says.

3 . S t i p u l at e d r e p a i r s a r e n o t a t h i n g r i g h t n o w. You need to be

prepared to purchase the home in its present condition. “Have the home inspected, but prepare to review the results and determine if it is a ‘pass/fail’ for you,” Peel says. “For the most part, sellers are not going to be willing to renegotiate and make concessions for repairs with other buyers waiting in the wings.”

66085

Stilwell

T

he 66085 zip code covers Stilwell and far South Overland Park, the area south of 159th Street between State Line Road and U.S. 69. It’s an area that’s seen an explosion of new construction on large lots, including some small ranches with barns, says Stacy Anderson, a real estate agent with Malfer & Associates who has lived in Stilwell for twelve years. A decade ago, the area was still separated from South Overland Park, even if Stilwell students attended Blue Valley or Blue Valley Southwest schools. But the areas have now grown together—the newest Blue Valley school in the area is being built at 199th and Mission.

Why it’s hot

H av i n g f u n

preparing an offer, be ready to offer considerably more than the asking price.

You're going to need to rely on your realtor to advise you on how much is too much, but Peel says many homes are selling for ten percent or more over the asking price.

She cautions against letting your hopes get too high if you see the perfect house offered online in your budget.

The Stilwell area offers large lots with room for new construction. “If someone is looking for a little more breathing room, Stilwell would be the place you would look,” Anderson says. “The majority of new development is moving out south.

There’s a lot of new construction, new planned communities.”

Bluhawk Sports Park is set to open later this year or early next year and is one of the most ambitious developments the city has ever seen. It's a three hundred-acre, billion-dollar facility including two regulation ice rinks, eight basketball courts and even a ninja training course and an esports arena.

5 . S tay p o s i t i v e ! “This market is a roller coaster right now, and buyer fatigue can set in,” Peel says. “However, with an experienced agent in your corner, some patience and a little moxie, you will be able to find your dream home and take advantage of these historically low interest rates. As crazy as it is, it is still a fantastic time to buy!”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee:

Hot spots

4 . U n d e r s ta n d t h at t h e a s k i n g p r i c e i s a n o p e n i n g b i d . If you’re

The Starbucks inside the new Cosentino’s at 159th and Antioch is the popular pick.

Prairie Fire is close, but look for neighbors doing happy hour at Red Door Grill and Cactus Grill, Anderson says.

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NUMBER 3

Parkville

J

64152 H av i n g f u n

o Grammond, the buyer’s agent with Redfin, lives in Parkville’s 64152 zip. “We’ve got a whole mix of people,” she says. “We’ve got young professionals, we’ve got families. We see a lot of people who are moving here from out of state.”

Parkville is less than ten minutes from the airport and has lots of hiking, a small university and a very cute downtown—and it has Park Hill, one of the strongest public school districts in Missouri.

Why it’s hot Parkville is an old town with a charming downtown.

It’s very walkable and has what Grammond calls “that community vibe.”

“Isn’t it funny, as much as people want that bigger lot for themselves, they also really want a community?” she says. “Being able to have a connection with your neighbors is a big deal.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JONATHAN TASLER

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Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: Downtown Parkville has two great local coffee shops. Grammond favors the “adorable” Parkville Coffee, a classic college town coffeehouse that’s been around for a decade. Just a few blocks away is the highly Instagrammable new cafe/bar Incahoots, which also serves cocktails and doughnuts and has a seating area in an old train car.

Incahoots

Parkville is one of the prettiest cities in the Kansas City area—Country Living magazine named it one of the top fifty places in the country for fall color a few years ago. “Having the elevation, the hills, and having the water and trees was a really big deal for us,” says Grammond, who moved here from Denver.

English Landing Park along the Missouri River is “just the best place to walk,” Grammond says. Parkville Nature Sanctuary has three miles of hiking trails through a hundred acres.

Hot spots Grammond is a big fan of downtown Parkville, which has a weekend farmers market, antique shops and an extremely popular Irish Bar, The Craic.

“We moved here from Denver almost seven years ago and the first holiday we had was Fourth of July, so my son and I decided to go to downtown Parkville to see the fireworks,” Grammond says.

“It was the coolest experience. It was like, ‘Oh, this is why we moved to the Midwest.’ It was so awesome. Everybody knew everybody, and it was small and not overcrowded—just a quintessential Midwest experience.”

NUMBER 2

South Overland Park

66223, 66224

T

he 66223 and 66224 zip codes cover southeast Overland Park and a little bit of Leawood. Most of the area is south of 135th and north of 159th between State Line Road and U.S. 69.

These zip codes are not a secret. The website Niche named 64223 “the best zip code to live in” in the KC metro area, and the 66224 zip code is the metro area’s secondwealthiest by adjusted gross income.

Stacy Foxworthy is a real estate agent with Malfer & Associates and a fourth-generation Kansas Citian who remembers “when College Boulevard was a gravel road.” Foxworthy says this area of southeast Overland Park is especially popular with people who have deep roots in the city. “When the suburbs boomed when I was a kid, a lot of natives would say, ‘I never go west of Metcalf or Antioch,’ and what you notice is they still tend to stay in that area,” she says. “It’s a lot of people who grew up here and maybe said they’d never live out south, but maybe they realize they want a little more space or they want the schools.”

Why it’s hot “You have idyllic living with great schools and affluent, nice, master-planned neighborhoods and easy access to highways for people who have jobs where they need to get around the city,” Foxworthy says.

The area is favored not only by longtime locals but also transplants, who like its top schools and proximity to Missouri’s cultural amenities, Foxworthy says.

“The secret's out,” she says. “We have a lot of people moving here from the East or West coasts because they know it’s an easy place to live. When the pandemic hit, a lot of people really wanted a nicer house or a bigger house. There tend to be larger houses in that area.”

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: The Starbucks at 135th and Briar and Pilgrim Coffee at 127th and Metcalf are both very popular.

H av i n g f u n

Hot spots

There are several prominent country clubs, and for cyclists, the area offers easy access to both the Tomahawk Creek and Indian Creek trail systems. The Blue River Bicycle Club, the area's most active, is based there.

For more casual outings, Foxworthy says I-Lan Park is popular. “That’s a big one,” she says. “You see grandmas with their grandkids and moms with their babies going on stroller walks and older couples out for a walk.”

Between Town Center and Prairie Fire, this area of South Overland Park is awash in high-end retail and has notable local restaurants like Joe’s Barbecue and North Italia. Prairie Fire has the newest location of the wildly popular pickleball spot Chicken N Pickle, which has been a huge hit in the neighborhood, Foxworthy says. “The new Chicken N Pickle is hitting it hard,” she says. “It’s awesome. That corridor, you have the Prairie Fire Museum, Chicken N Pickle, Pinstripes and a really nice movie theater.”

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R E A L ESTAT E 2 0 2 2

66218

West Shawnee

T

he hottest zip code in the entire metro area, according to the data, is on the western side of Shawnee, south of the river and between K-7 and I-435. That comes as no surprise to Grammond, the Redfin agent.

“We just lost this property in Shawnee where it went for more than $100,000 above list to a cash buyer,” she says.

“We’re like, ‘How do you compete? We thought we wrote a very competitive offer, but we didn’t have that much cash.”

The area is in the De Soto School District, with most students there attending Mill Valley High School. “People are priced out of school districts they think they want in Blue Valley, and they start looking at the ratings and think, ‘Oh, this would work, too.’”

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

Why it’s hot The biggest reason seems to be schools, with Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission districts out of reach for a lot of younger middle-class families who want a larger lot and home.

“Compared to houses in Overland Park, where it’s hard to find something under $450,000 or even $500,000 for that matter, you still have a lot of options in this neighborhood to get a home that has some space from neighbors,” Grammond says. “It’s still considered a better value.”

Once those buyers start investigating the area, they learn about its easy access to freeways, especially for anyone going north to the airport.

“It’s really a fantastic location,” she says.

NUMBER 1

Hot spots The zip code itself is heavily residential and recreational, but it’s just west of downtown Shawnee, where there’s an impressive collection of breweries, a speakeasy with some of the finest cocktails in the city, a summer night market and the recently reopened Aztec Theater, which has been hosting live music a few nights a week.

In these pages, we’ve previously called downtown Shawnee the “South Beach of Johnson County.”

A bold statement—but the stats from Redfin suggest there’s some truth to it.

Aztec Theater

Where the neighbors grab a cup of coffee: Black Dog in Lenexa and the McLain’s in downtown Shawnee are the go-to's, Grammond says.

H av i n g f u n The parks and sports facilities in West Shawnee are second to none in the metro area. Shawnee Mission Park, perhaps the jewel of the entire county system, sits on its south side and offers a sand swimming beach and canoeing. The Kansas City Ice Center, the region’s premier rink, is also there.

The Mid-America Sports Complex, a seventy-acre baseball and softball facility that’s routinely named one of the best in the Midwest, is also there. Most neighborhoods would count themselves lucky to have even one of the zip’s smaller parks, like Stump or Mill Creek Streamway. “Especially for families, the convenience to the sports complexes is a really big deal,” Grammond says.

The Stats

141

Zip codes in the Kansas City area

66103 64130 The area of KCK near KU Hospital has been the most active sales market, seeing a 63 percent increase in listings from last year.

The area near the Nelson-Atkins has the highest growth year over year. Prices here are up a staggering 82 percent.

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Bright Green STORY BY Martin Cizmar PHOTOGRAPHY BY Chase Castor ILLUSTRATIONS BY Makalah Hardy

Missouri’s medical canna bis program has been almost universally pra ised as a stunning success. Here are five surprising innovations fr om local compan ies.

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I

In November 2018, Missouri voters cast ballots overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing Missouri’s medical cannabis program. It took almost two years, until October 2020, to begin accepting patients. Eighteen months later, even in a time of extreme political polarization, the program has been almost universally regarded as a success by editorial boards and analysts.

Almost ten percent of new jobs in Missouri last year came from the industry, according to an analysis of state labor data done by a pro-cannabis trade group. Patients now buy—and pay taxes on—more than $20 million worth of cannabis a month.

In January, The Missouri Times, a newspaper that covers the state’s political news, published a guest editorial fawning over the program, which has served 165,000 patients, created six thousand jobs and led to almost four hundred facilities operating across the state.

More than two percent of Missouri’s population now has a medical marijuana card, putting the state next to Florida and Alaska on the top end of the national scale. (Nobody uses medical cannabis like Oklahoma: Nearly ten percent of the Sooner State’s population has a medical marijuana card, according to data kept by the Marijuana Policy Project.)

Many expected Kansas—one of only four states to have not decriminalized marijuana and surrounded on three sides by states with legal cannabis in some form—to implement some sort of reform this year. In January, those

predictions were scuttled by Ty Masterson, a Republican from a small town outside Wichita. Masterson, the president of the state Senate, moved a bill authorizing a medical program into an obscure committee that he personally controls and then left it off the hearing schedule. If Kansas ends up delaying, it won’t be a surprise: Kansas was the first state to implement alcohol Prohibition and was the last to give it up, waiting until 1948 to legalize liquor.

In Jefferson City, it’s a very different story: A Republican from the St. Louis suburbs has introduced a bill to legalize cannabis in the Show-Me State, and several ballot initiatives are also in the early stages.

While the future of full legalization is still a little hazy, Missouri’s medical cannabis program has already spurred some surprising innovations. Here are five to know about.

Edibles take effect in just a few minutes and don’t overstay their welcome For new and novice cannabis users, edibles are an appealing option, says Seth Galusha, the director of edible production for Kansas City’s Nuthera Labs, which makes products for local dispensary chain Fresh Karma—but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

“Edibles are often an entry point because it’s a little less intimidating than smoking,” Galusha says. “But it’s actually the most difficult to dose.”

The problem with traditional cannabis-infused foods—usually made by cooking the plant in butter or oil, then using that butter or oil in a normal recipe—is that the effects can take hours to begin and linger much longer than is desired. There’s also a risk that the cannabis molecules clump together and two cookies from the same batch end up with wildly different amounts of

THC in them.

Galusha has found a solution to this: nanoemulsion. Nuthera has pioneered a specialized blending technique that breaks the cannabis molecules down below fifty nanometers, much smaller than is water-soluble. This puts them at the forefront worldwide.

“The smaller the molecule, the faster it can be absorbed,” Galusha says. “We’re able to verify our particle size, which I don’t think anyone else has been able to do. That’s something you would expect from a pharmaceutical company but you wouldn’t expect from a cannabis company.”

The product is called Fast Acting EDBLS gummies and is due to launch on April 18, just in time for April 20, celebrated worldwide as a holiday in the cannabis community.

The new fast-acting gummies take effect in three to fifteen minutes and only last two to four hours. Short-lived and potent highs are what most medical patients want, and having that come without a patient needing to inhale anything is a game-changer.

“It's like taking a dab—an edible dab,” he says.

Customers are starting to move away from “percentage shopping” In the earliest days of Missouri’s medical program, patients tended to gravitate toward products advertising the highest-tested percentage of THC. That’s changed as they’ve become

77

PICTURED Paul Chapman (front) and Dylan Duddeke are directors of cultivation at Greenlight Dispensaries

more informed, says Corey Rimmel, co-owner of Feel State, a franchise with locations in KC and St. Louis.

Feel State has been working to keep prices down—some dispensaries charge two or three times street price, and Feel State’s menu has some products at roughly street prices—and has employees sometimes spend an hour counseling patients on the right product.

In the end, the smell of the flower is what ends up being the best indicator.

Even when the flower tests as being less potent, those other compounds, called terpenes, add to the effects in what Feel State calls “the ensemble effect” (others call it the entourage effect).

“If you like the smell, you're probably going to like the product,” he says. “It all works together, like a band—one plus one equals three. A lot of people still shop based on what has the highest THC percentage, but that's like going to a liquor store and buying Everclear.”

It’s also worth noting that everyone we talked to for this story discouraged “percentage shopping”—not least because those percentages aren’t a very

good indicator of strength. They are based on the tests taken from a tiny part of the flower which doesn’t always mean the rest of that plant has similar strength.

You can get a medical card without having to talk to anyone Faisal Ansari is not only the co-founder of MMJRecs, a service that helps Missouri patients get their medical marijuana cards online. He’s also a patient himself.

Ansari partnered with a childhood friend, who is a practicing orthopedic surgeon, to start the company in February 2015, after Ansari’s own battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

“When I had and was going through chemotherapy, the side effects were just crazy,” he says. “Each pill, each medicine, has its own side effects. Anytime I would take a pill that would fix something, it would break something else. I smoked a lot of weed and it helped me a lot, and it didn't do anything else.”

What makes MMJRecs special is that they offer “fully remote asynchronous consultations.” That means that all a prospective patient has to do is fill out a form that includes about twenty questions in their doctor-patient portal. The doctor can follow up with more questions as needed.

Otherwise, they pass their recommendations on to the state system for approval.

It takes twenty minutes to fill out the form and a week or two for the state to approve. The cost varies by where you access the portal—local dispensary chain NatureMed was MMJRecs’ first partner in Missouri and, as of press time, offers $25 consultations. The state collects another $25, bringing the total to $50.

“We started in California and slowly moved into states that allowed medical marijuana and allowed telemedicine,” Ansari says. “With Covid hitting, a lot of states streamlined things on telemedicine, which has been good for us and for patients.”

Patients simply order online—anything on the menu is available—and pay as they would for a delivery pizza. They can tip the driver, who they must greet and show their card. Discretion was a concern for many because early delivery customers were mostly motivated by mobility issues or because “they have kids and don’t want to take them through the drive-thru.”

“People worry whether the Cheech and Chong van is going to pull up to their house,” says Denzer. “We have just a little silver Kia Rio. Nobody will know unless you want them to know.”

While the delivery started for people who don't leave the house regularly, it’s now “really busy on snow days—anytime the weather is too hot, too cold. Once they try it once, we see it again and again.”

Cannabis is going to war with tobacco Dylan Buddeke, director of cultivation for Green Light dispensaries, which has its own farms, wants to quit smoking tobacco.

He’s been weaning himself off cigarettes with the help of a product that Green Light just started selling as “filtered smokes.”

“I was a pretty standard pack-a-day smoker,” he says. “Now I smoke a pack a week, if that, mostly at work when I can't use the darts.”

“Darts” and “cannadarts” are the company’s internal codename for their filtered, low-THC prerolls, which look and smell like a cigarette. The product was soft-launched in late February and is intended to help people stop smoking.

“You're not smoking to get high,” says Paul Chapman, Green Light’s director of cultivation operations. “You’re smoking to replace the habit. They look like cigarettes, they smell like cigarettes. It’s enough to curb his cravings and break the habit. You’ve got to want to quit smoking, but this will help with the habitual part.”

It’s not just cigarettes, either—Green Light also makes a product aimed at chewing tobacco users called Cowboy Cannabis Mint Chew as part of a program they call the Great American Spit Out. “It’s a one-ounce container, just like a can of Skol,” says Chapman. “Everything in there is organic and it’s all cannabis.”

You can have cannabis delivered When Riverside Wellness, which is situated in the little town of Riverside northwest of the city, got its license, they knew they wanted to do delivery. There was “no trepidation on our part at all,” says Mary Ann Denzer, the company’s COO. They thought others were likely to do the same. As it worked out, they became the first in the state.

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Top Real Estate Agents KANSAS CITY’S 2022

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC ACCELERATED MANY TRENDS. Shortly after the coronavirus pandemic began, housing prices started to creep up as supply dwindled. Two years later, even with most parts of life are back to normal, the pandemic continues to ripple through the local housing market. The average price for a home sold in Kansas City increased by 10.2% to $310,479 last year according to the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. Inventory is still a big issue: the number of sales was down 8.7% from 2020. Homes sold in an average of 22 days and for 99.6 percent of their initial asking prices.

We are again recognizing the agents who make the market go. This list was made using sales figures provided by the agents or brokers.

For the regular Top Agents list, those who qualify are listed in alphabetical order. The top agents and teams in terms of volume are listed first under the platinum section – their total volume is listed by their name, and they are listed in descending order based on their reported sales.

THE 2021 SALES NUMBERS: Individuals - $10 million or more

Teams of 3 to 5 - $50 million or more (platinum)

Individuals - $20 million or more (platinum)

Teams of 6 to 10 - $50 million or more

Teams of 2 - $15 million or more

Teams of 6 to 10 - $75 million or more (platinum)

Teams of 2 - $25 million or more (platinum)

Teams of 10+ - $100 million or more

Teams of 3 to 5 - $30 million or more

Teams of 10+ - $150 million or more (platinum)

KANSASCITYMAG.COM APRIL 2022

83

Individual - Platinum $20 million or more

Individual $10 million or more Tiffany Allen

Peter Colpitts, $40,776,084

Kara Anderson

Andrea Wardell, $35,197,827

Sharon Barry

Lynne Matile, $32,737,831

Karen Baum

Miles Rost, $31,000,000

Penny Borel

Jonas Barrish, $29,000,000

Bryan Bechler

Sherri Hines, $27,377,950

Rick Binkley

Linda Martin, $27,203,375

Jodi Brethhour

Murray Davis, $25,801,354

Robert Chadwick

Matt Kincaid, $23,775,000

Jamie Closson

Dale Hermreck, $23,433,819

Julie Connor

Lisa Bunnell, $23,225,288

Michelle Cook

Ronda R. White, $22,684,215

Brian Courtney Rita Dickey

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KANSAS CITY APRIL 2022

Sheri Dyer

Stephanie Murphy

Leslie Feeback

Tricia Napper

Nikie Jo Glasbrenner

Bettina O'Brien

Suzanne Golomski

Heather Philip

Chris Grider

Susan Palmer

Natasha Helixon

Aly Plunkett

Katie Heschmeyer

Charlie Potchad

Jessica Jasa

Rick Sanford

Liz Jaeger

Rebekah Schaaf

Melanie Johnson

David Slawson

Melissa Josenberger

Sara Stucker

Mary Carol Lienemann

Sonja Stoskopf

Rob Matthews

Sara Sweeney

Cathy Maxwell

Alicia Walsh

David Mombello

Debbie White

Sandy Murphy

Alan Williams

Sherry Lynn Westhues Gail Yancik

Teams of 3 to 5 - Platinum $50 million or more

Teams of 6 to 10 - Platinum $75 million or more

Alison Zimmerlin

Teams of 10+ Platinum $150 million or more The Rob Ellerman Team, $685,288,987

Ward Residential, $77,000,000

The Collective, $105,540,811

The Koehler Bortnick Team,

Brimacombe & Cohen, $65,800,000

Andy Blake Group, $96,271,610

$480,000,000

Wardell & Holmes, $55,963,588

Tradition Home Group, $80,001,675

Malfer & Associates, $255,692,928

Wolfe~Sweeney & Courtney

The Susan Fate Real Estate Group,

Edie Waters Network, $184,541,387

George Medina Team, $51,066,090

$51,798,217

$77,415,771

Rodrock & Associates, $153,070,042

Teresa Hoffman/The Red Door Group,

The Small Real Estate Team,

$44,308,844

$51,440,513

Teams of 6 to 10 $50 million or more

Teams of 10+ $100 million or more

Jennifer Harvey Team

Malfer & Associates

Moore Homes

Group O'Dell Real Estate

Teams of Two - Platinum $25 million or more

Sara Bash Reda, $41,000,000 Tamra Trickey Team, $37,820,587 Dana Benjamin Team, $27,086,325 Kathleen Markham/True KC Team,

Team of Three to five $30 million or more

$25,363,890 Locate McClung & Associates, $20,711,285 Jeremy Applebaum

Kathryn Thomas Team

Kirk Home & Land, $16,687,614 Discover KC Anderson Dreiling Group The Goldstein Team

Team of Two $15 million or more

Generations Real Estate The Hayhow Group The Hendrix Group

Tim & Jana Allen

Long Real Estate Team

Amy+Mindy Homes & Lifestyle

The Madden Myers Team

Mark Brewer

The Manning/Horn Team

Budke & Budke

Selling KC

The Fay Team

Alison Rank Team

Shelia Hampton Team

Richey Real Estate Group

Lola Kelly

Phil Summerson Group

John Simone

Twyla Rist & Associates

Thome Team

The Van Noy Group

The Transition Team The Westhues Team

KANSASCITYMAG.COM APRIL 2022

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THREE COURSE MENU

Savor the Season A Seasonal Culinary Event

HAND CRAFTED COCKTAILS

The Savoy at 21c Thursday, May 12th

Doors Open: 6:00 Dinner: 6:30-8:30 Come join us for the first in an event series, “Savor the Season”. Executive Chef, Brandon Brumback will stimulate your taste buds with a customized 3-course meal with cocktails crafted by Lifted Spirits Distillery, perfectly paired with each course. You’ll also learn how to create the cocktails that are being served and have the opportunity to purchase the locally crafted spirits.

Limited Tickets Available!

Limited Seating Available H O ST E D BY

PURCHASE TICKETS AT EVENTBRITE.COM

Extend Your Night $149 room rate at the 21c Museum Hotel

Call 417.840.9493 or visit https://events.kansascitymag.com

E AT I N G A N D D R I N K I N G W E L L I N K A N S A S C I T Y

PETAL PIE

Before the pandemic, Amy Marcus had never baked a pie. You’d never suspect that from trying a slice of her Raspberry Rose, a white chocolate mousse made with raspberry and rosewater in a crust of gingersnap and pistachio. Marcus worked as an artist and photographer for a long time, which shows up in her eye-catching topping of dried rose petals, part of an emerging trend toward the extravagant use of edible flowers. Marcus worked at Sura Eats in the Crossroads until the pandemic hit and started baking pies immediately after being laid off. “I’d literally never made a pie before the month I lost my job,” she says. “I was making pies because I was bored, and just letting people eat them.” Marcus’ pop-up pie shop, Sweat Tea Pie Company, stands out by comitting to unique flavors. “I would never make a cherry pie,” she says. “I would do an old-fashioned cherry pie with whiskey and bitters.” Marcus announces her planned pop-ups and takes special orders at sweetteapieco.com. —MARTIN CIZMAR

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TA S T E R E V I E W

GETTING TOASTY Housewife’s scratch-made food is drawing brunchers to Grandview.

BY N ATA L I E TO R R E S G A L L AG H E R P H OTO G R A P H Y BY C A L E B C O N D I T & R E B E C C A N O R D E N

G

R A N D V I E W ’ S M A I N S T R E E T I S A L I T T L E S L E E P Y . The small stretch is home to a barber shop, a model train store and a Mexican restaurant with a dilapidated awning (it’s called the Corner, and its house-made corn tortillas are worth a visit). Kip Unruh, president of Grandview’s Main Street Group, says it won’t always look like this. There are big plans to revitalize the small Missouri town, just twelve miles south of Kansas City. But you’ve got a good reason (besides the DMV) to make the trek now: Housewife.

Housewife is a totally unexpected scratch-made breakfast and lunch spot at 801 Main Street that’s fashionably out of place in Grandview. Located in a century-year-old building and sharing a bathroom with the insurance office next door, own-

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er-chef Anna Sorge has given the space an L.A.-style makeover: lots of white, exposed brick, natural wood, minimal decor and plenty of healthy green plants. It looks like the kind of place where you’d pay $15 for a shot of juice, and I mean that as a compliment.

But no single item on the current Housewife menu is over $14, and the small, always-shifting menu is enthusiastically Midwestern: sandwiches, soups, salads, a smattering of breakfast dishes and a bounty of assorted pastries. Chunky almond croissants dominate the case, pretty and proud as jewels. Pastry chef Zoey Ramberg makes around three dozen of these daily by hand. The dough shatters into buttery shards upon impact, but the best part is the decadent, nutty filling—likely in excess of what you might find at a Parisian pâtisserie but exactly proportionate to your craving. Prefer chocolate for breakfast? The double chocolate croissant boasts a punch of cocoa powder in the dough itself.

And Ramberg’s brownies—made with Bob’s Red Mill’s proprietary gluten-free baking flour blend—have their own following. The fat, fudgy squares are topped with a dollop of marshmallow-y meringue, and they are so good you’ll forget your manners and cram the whole thing in your mouth just to avoid sharing with anyone else.

All of Housewife’s bread is made in-house. Rustic loaves are used for the toasts: Sorge pairs smoked salmon with a homemade cream cheese she whips together from heavy cream, fresh dill and garlic.

You can smell the mushroom toast (flavored with truffle salt and truffle oil over whipped ricotta) before it hits your table. Sorge is most proud of her avocado toast. Ubiquitous and trendy though this brunch entree may be, she serves this the way she has been making it for a decade— with seasoned smashed avocado, roasted chipotle-tomato jam, cilantro-pepita pesto, pickled red onion and cotija cheese.

Sorge uses Yoli tortillas for her breakfast burritos, relying on the classic ham, egg and cheese combi-

nation, with a satisfying crunch from golden crispy potato crowns. This wasn’t intended as a shortcut: Sorge started with her own oven-roasted seasoned potatoes but decided she needed a hash brown texture instead.

At just six dollars, the made-to-order hot ham and cheese croissant with extra-thick slices of Black Forest ham, melted gruyere and a zippy apricot mustarda is a steal. But the real star of the breakfast menu might be the buttermilk biscuits and gravy. There is something about that whole milk gravy, with morsels of pork sausage and a heavy hand of paprika, that beckons you to scrape your fork against the plate.

None of these dishes is all that rev-

olutionary. Sorge recognizes that. “Is this the menu that shows all my skills?

No,” she admits, “but it’s what Grandview needs right now. We’re filling a void.” What Housewife sacrifices in novelty, it makes up for with flavor.

Sorge prioritizes quality over convenience. It’s why, with the exception of the breakfast burrito, there are no eggs on her breakfast menu: Housewife’s kitchen is small—just two hot plates and a prep station where Sorge assembles the orders—and the logistics of it mean that made-to-order eggs aren’t possible. You don’t even miss them.

The menu eases into lunch with two salads. Sorge takes kale and meticulously destems each stalk before tossing with a bright citrus and pecorino vinaigrette. She finishes the plate with a pale shower of pangrattato (herbed breadcrumbs). Each bite of the Thai chicken salad makes you want to take another—who wouldn’t like sambal and soy-marinated chicken with herbs and crushed peanuts? But it’s the small touches that give distinction: Sorge slices snow peas on the bias, giving you a perfect forkful every time.

Three of Housewife’s four sandwiches are served on homemade hoagie rolls (Ramberg offers a gluten-free option, too). There is a classic roast beef sandwich, a wonderful turkey club with thick-cut bacon and pepperoncinis, and a Godfather-worthy Italian hero served with a spicy giardiniera that wakes up your taste buds.

The chicken salad, modeled after the one Sorge remembers from her time

working at Dean & Deluca, is bursting with fried sage and roasted pecans and served on a croissant.

But on a menu full of humble-sounding dishes made special by Sorge’s touch, it is the soups that stand out.

Behold: a glorious Philly cheesesteak stew, glittering with freckles of beef fat. An intense and unforgettable pork pozole that nips at the back of your throat. A tortellini zuppa that could fool a Tuscan nonna. Sorge’s talent for layering flavors sings with every spoonful. Each day offers a new soup and therefore a new reason to return to Housewife several times a week.

You might be surprised to learn that Sorge has never cooked professionally. She has spent decades working front-of-house in the industry—most recently as the general manager of the Market at Meadowbrook, where she met Ramberg—but until opening Housewife, she has been a home cook.

I was not at all surprised to hear this.

Everything Sorge puts on a plate feels like it was intentionally crafted and carries the joyful pride of a seasoned host coming into her element.

Unruh, the man working to revitalize downtown Grandview, calls Sorge the city’s “cool factor.” “There’s nothing cool around us until you get to Martin City,” he says. “Grandview is kind of dormant, but Anna is showing us that there’s an appetite for stuff here. It just takes someone brave to get it started. Right now, Housewife is your reason to come to Grandview— but that won’t always be the case.”

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CHINESE SOUL FOOD Annie Der, chef and owner at Tao Tao, is the ‘soul’ of the KCK community, and she keeps stomachs full, too.

BY M A R Y H E N N

I F YOU G O TO TAO TAO Chinese Restaurant in KCK on a Wednesday—or any day of the week—an hour before opening, you might find owner and chef Annie Der feeding people who are hungry before she opens shop. Chef Annie wakes up around 9 am and begins preparing fresh sauces for the day around 10. She often continues cooking nonstop until 2 or 3 am the next morning.

You might also find someone walking in who hasn’t seen Annie in seven years. At least, I did. A customer by the name of Ron walked in as I did and asked to see chef Annie. After several years away, Ron’s first order of business was to check on her, to “see how she was doing.” When Ron walked in, Annie recognized him immediately, hugged him and began to prepare an order for him—free of charge and dessert included.

“I have one mother, but a few moms,” Ron says. “Annie is my mom. She’s part of my soul.”

For many people in the KCK community, chef Annie, who recently turned seventy-five, is someone who has cared for them, fed them and been a mainstay in their lives for decades.

Most of her regulars come at least once a week—and they’ve been doing that for years. When asked why they come back, they say the food. But if you have the chance to talk to chef Annie for yourself, you’ll know she’s the real reason.

For more than five decades, Annie has been making dishes like Springfield cashew chicken, shrimp fried rice and crab

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rangoon. Tao Tao boasts eight different flavors of crab rangoon and is one of the only places outside of Springfield to make authentic cashew chicken— dishes that make Tao Tao unique to other local Chinese restaurants.

I watched chef Annie and her daughter Tina Der in action at Tao Tao one morning, and the three of us chatted as Tina and Annie made food nonstop for a continuous line of regulars and a few newcomers.

in the garden. I don’t plant vegetables—I’m no good at that—but I like flowers, and I like to be outdoors.

When I go on vacation [which is not often], I don’t like to fly or travel too far—too much sitting still.

I’ve been to Hawaii twice in my life, but the plane ride was too long. I like riding the train. We [Tina and I] rode the train out in San Francisco. I liked that.

I feel like a tiger. You know how I have so much energy? I don’t sit down.

What was it like opening Tao Tao over fifty years ago? Tina: My mom bought the old building that is Tao Tao—at the corner of Minnesota and 13th—with my father in 1971. The two had $7,000 saved and purchased the former chicken house to start their Chinese restaurant.

At the time they purchased the hundredyear-old building, my mom did not know how to cook.

But my dad was adopted from China by a Chicago family who was in the food industry, and he learned how to cook and run a restaurant at a young age.

He taught my mom how to make Chinese food.

How do you make your famous Springfield cashew chicken? And who came up with the idea of doing different flavors of crab rangoon? Tina: Mom fries the chicken fresh every day, and she marinates the chicken before frying it to make it extra tasty.

The crab rangoon, that was my brother. It’s taken a while to perfect the recipe. When we first started adding fresh fruit to the rangoon, they were too watery, and the filling would leak out in the fryer.

Now,we are working with a new recipe that keeps the filling intact.

How much of your life is running Tao Tao? How do you spend your time when you’re not at the restaurant? Annie: I work Monday through Saturday.

On Sunday, I like to clean my house or spend time

Do you remember all of the customers who come to Tao Tao? Annie: Yes, of course. Some of them I’ve known for decades, and I’ve cooked for their children. I always love to see them.

Tina: She remembers them, and they remember her.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALEB CONDIT AND REBECCA NORDEN

TA S T E I N T ERV I E W

SPRING AND SUMMER CAMPS AVAILABLE. MORE INFO AT: WWW.WONDERSOFWILDLIFE.ORG/CAMPS

TA S T E DR I N K

BURNT BREAKFAST Coffee? Beer? Blondes? Belton’s first brewery brings it all together.

BY N ATA L I E TO R R E S G A L L AG H E R

B E LT O N ’ S F I R S T M I C R O B R E W E R Y

PHOTOGRAPHY BY K AYLA MASISAK

serves a great blonde coffee beer—and plenty of local history.

Sometimes you need coffee but you deserve a beer. One of the best things about being an adult is that you don’t have to choose: Many breweries are happy to supply you with a coffeeinfused brew. Not all of them come in the form of a blonde ale, though. And Broken Hatchet Brewery has made a bestseller out of its Burnt District Blonde.

Brad and Cara Steele opened the microbrewery in Belton last May, though Brad had been homebrewing for several years. The coffee blonde was one of his early recipes. French Caramel Crème beans from the Roasterie are steeped with the beer inside the fermenter.

“I start tasting samples of the beer every half hour, but once I pour the beans in, I know that beer is being kegged within six hours.”

The result is an easy-drinking strawcolored ale with a smooth finish and just a whisper of sweetness from the flavored coffee.

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TA S T E B I T E S

Tiki Taco

Whale Tacos

NEWSFEED

WHAT’S NEW IN KANSAS CITY FOOD & DRINK

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY RESPETIVE VENUES

Coming in Cold The best-kept secret in Westwood Hills is ready for prime time. In a town where proper gelato is scarce, Sheri Weedman started making it at Annedore’s Fine Chocolates, her shop on State Line Road in the plaza north of Hi Hat coffee.

During the pandemic, word spread through the neighborhood about Annadore’s gelato, which Weedman, with some reluctance, admits to making in a “very fancy Italian batch freezer” and to Italian specifications on milk fat percentage. Weedman kept it on the down-low because she was worried demand would swap her shop. Demand for gelato and ice cream seemed to grow during the pandemic, when people were looking to get out of the house but not into a restaurant.

“They would get out, they would walk to my store, get a scoop and go,” she says.

Still, “I couldn’t do it the way I wanted to do it within the space of the chocolate shop.”

Things changed when Annedore’s moved its chocolate production to a space in downtown Shawnee, where you can also expect a small retail operation in the future. That opened space for the new Flying Cow Gelato—a name Weedman picked because “it’s a frozen dessert and it’s supposed to be fun. We don’t want people thinking it’s super serious.”

Look for flavors making use of Annadore’s caramel, marshmallow, toffee and fudge. “To do gelato correctly, it has to be made fresh, and we’re stepping to the plate and making it fresh each day,” Weedman says. “We’re doing eighteen different flavors. There will be a confectionary twist on it for sure.”

Crane Spin Crane Brewing in Raytown has been famous for its sour beers since opening. For most of that time, it’s been a destination: Raytown is not dense with gose-lovers, and it’s not a place where people often find themselves running errands. They’ve lately been rethinking that, especially in light of the opening of the Rock Island Trail, a bike and hike trail that slices across the east side of Jackson County and has a trailhead in the brewery’s parking lot.

“The trail has helped a lot with bringing in new visitors, and a lot of them are either not as familiar with as many beer styles or are fairly new to craft beer in general,” says coowner Chris Myers. “[Sours] won’t change as being a passion of ours, but of all beer consumed, local craft beer is only a portion still, and of that, sour beers are an even smaller portion. We want to make sure we are producing the best options for everyone.”

In an effort to have more “gateway” beers available, Crane has some new year-round beers: Migration Patterns IPA and a smooth-drinking corn lager called Odd Bird.

Speaking of pivots, a well-known taco shop on West 39th Street has changed hands and undergone a rebrand directed by some of the city’s top creatives.

The Wade Brothers are KCbased photographers and directors who honcho creative campaigns for brands like Nike, Oakley and Gatorade. (You know those hotels. com commercials with the Captain Obvious mascot? That’s them.)

Lindsey Wade, one of the two brothers, was laid up following surgery on a shoulder he injured while surfing when he started Googling businesses for sale. Lindsey, his brother Lyndon Wade and his mother Judy Rush are “serial entrepreneurs,” always looking for something to put their stamp on (Paradise Garden Club? That’s them, too.). Lindsey discovered that neighborhood favorite Tiki Taco (1710 W. 39th St., KCMO) was for sale, offering the right opportunity.

“I thought to myself, that little place is tiny but it’s always packed,” says Lindsey. “We’ve changed everything, but we haven’t really changed anything.”

“We love creative projects, we love building community,” Lyndon says.

“We wanted to keep it a fun place that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

It should be reasonably priced and good. It’s our mission to just have fun at it.”

“It’s such a happy place,” Judy says. “How can you be in a bad mood when you go into Tiki Taco?”

The old Tiki Taco was a “tequila shot in a plastic thimble,” kind of place. The new one has a bar program built around fresh fruit-blended drinks that Lindsey got help with from a friend in Costa Rica, where he’s a part-time resident. The tortillas, meanwhile, come from Yoli and now feature ingredients like Thai fried chicken and Korean beef. You can still get a six-pack of crunchy tacos for ten bucks and a marg made with good tequila, three different tops of citrus, and both Grand Marnier and Cointreau for eight bucks.

Tiki Taco will soon expand, opening a second location at 54th and Troost, in the former Coffee Break building, as soon as June.

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THE HOOK UP A new barbecue window in downtown Parkville serves “old-style” live-fire brisket and pork.

BY M A R T I N C I Z M A R

B

ARBECUE IS A TOUGH BUSINESS,

especially if you’re using live-fire pits that need to be tended round the clock. It’s a rare retirement business because of that—who wants to spend their golden years pushing around pork butts in the wee hours of the morning?

But for Wardell Hooks Jr., it’s a comparatively cushy gig. Hooks, who runs the newish Off The Hook barbecue window in downtown Parkville (115 Main St., Parkville, MO, offthehookbbqllc.com), recently retired young from a management job at UPS. “It’s very demanding,” he says in a matter-of-fact way. “As a manager, you work anywhere between eleven and fifteen hours a day.”

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So compared to his old seventy-hour work weeks, smoking meat on hickory and pecan with no gas and manning a walk-up window Thursday to Saturday is a pretty cushy gig.

Hooks makes pork and brisket, which he serves on sandwiches but also employs in ways you don’t see often in these parts, such as using it to top a hot dog and stuff a baked potato. That stuffed baker with brisket is reason enough to go—splash on plenty of sauce and witness Hook’s ethos, which is an even distribution of flavor.

“I want to make sure I have plenty of flavor throughout the bite,” he says. “My goal is to make sure that when someone takes a bite, not only is it tender but it’s flavorful through every bite.”

Hooks has been cooking since he was little, with early memories of making breakfast with his mother. “When I was about fifteen or sixteen I started making barbecue,” he says. In his twenties, he started doing backyard barbecues and tailgate parties.

“My friends were like, ‘you’ve got to open a business,’” he says.

So even while working a job-and-ahalf at UPS, he started a food truck. “I knew what I wanted to do when I retired from UPS,” he says. “I started the cart so that when I did decide to be retired, I’d already be established.”

That day came last June, when he left UPS at age 57 after working there for thirty-eight years. It wasn’t actually worse during the pandemic, he says; he was just ready to give up the grind and work for himself.

“UPS has always been demanding,” he says. “Great company to work for, don’t get me wrong, but it’s always been crazy.”

When the weather breaks, look for Off The Hook to expand its hours and add outdoor seating, plus live jazz, wine slushies and frozen margs, all in what Hooks calls “a real nice corner” in downtown Parkville.

“I wanted to chase my dream and I was in a position to do that,” he says.

“Most people have a dream but can never chase it.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALEB CONDIT AND REBECCA NORDEN

TA S T E ’CU E C A R D

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SURREAL ESTATE T H E S TO R I E S B E H I N D K A N S A S C I T Y ’ S M O S T E Y E - C ATC H I N G B U I L D I N G S

BANANA BUBBLE

R

ES EM BLING

T HE

TO P

OF

A

the Campbell Dome House is a true mid-century gem in the heart of a traditional Overland Park neighborhood.

Built in 1968, toward the end of the mid-century modern design movement, it was recently designated as a historic site by the Kansas Historical Society. Considered a Schwedler dome—meridional ribs connected together to a number of horizontal polygonal rings—the house was built by Bob D. Campbell, a structural engineer who was enthralled with domes and all the ways the structures could be used.

Campbell, who worked on the design of the Kemper Arena, Truman Sports Complex and Arrowhead Stadium, decided to build a home under a dome for his family, who were originally from South Texas, so they could

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enjoy the “outdoors” year-round.

“My grandparents were not planning on moving back to Texas, but they missed the weather,” says Keli Campbell, who is the third generation to live in the house.

She grew up next door to her grandparents’ dome home in a traditional house, where her father, the son of Bob Campbell, lives.

Keli’s grandparents lived in their sci-fi house until they passed. It then sat empty for years and was falling into disrepair. Hoping to find a way to restore the structure and keep it in the family, Keli and her husband Jeff Rhodes decided to move in and find ways to make it viable—they document those adventures at @campbelldomehouse.

“Structurally it’s in good shape,” says Rhodes, who, along with Keli, has been working on the

home to bring it back to its mid-century glamor days. “But there are a lot of projects. It’s definitely a work in progress.”

The dome hovers over a U-shaped, three-bedroom home creating a covered south-facing tropical courtyard with an in-ground pool, twenty-five-foot rubber tree, and banana and avocado tree. It has the feel of a greenhouse. A wall of windows in the living room of the home under the dome can disappear below ground, creating a large space perfect for entertaining.

Rhodes and Keli have started renting the space out for events, photoshoots and other artistic ventures as a way to create revenue for their renovation efforts and repairs.

“We could rent the space out much more than we do, but we live here,” Rhodes says. —DAWNYA BARTSCH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MULLINS

In a traditional Overland Park neighborhood, a massive domed house is furnished with full-size tropical trees.

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