Bannister Mall

[Watcher]

Looks like demolition has begun...

[crazydrummerdude]

Looks like demolition has begun...

Perfect time to explore it.

[Watcher]

Only if you want to spend much time in a small room with a fat sweaty guy named "Bubba". I think security is still pretty tight there from what I have seen.

EDIT: I found some pictures that somebody took in there shortly before demolition began. A friend of mine sent me this link:
http://forum.kcrag.com/index.php?topic=15320.0

[The10ck]

heh on the topic of bannister mall that came up where i work about it being abandoned and i told the guys i work with who were talking about it that it was being demo'd.

it came up cause they were talking about another mall in olathe that only has a few shops and a couple eating places. they were like its the next bannister.

i forget what mall they were talking about.

[Watcher]

I'm not sure on that one either. There are a few others in the area that are in bad straits, (Ward Parkway Center and Metcalf South, just to name a couple) but I'm not sure about what's in Olathe. All I really ever see with any regularity of Olathe is the part that is by I-35. *That* all looks like yuppie-ville to me.

[insaneninjaguy]

The One in Olathe is the "Great Waste of Space" aka the Great Plains mall. It will be closed here in a few years.

[Kit]

creepy

[Watcher]

The One in Olathe is the "Great Waste of Space" aka the Great Plains mall. It will be closed here in a few years.

I haven't been to that one it a while. Is it mostly empty too?

[The10ck]

The last time i was there which was probably 3 or 4yrs ago. It had the theaters still and a bunch of other shops. But all the large like deparment stores were mostly gone. a alot of smaller shops were gone too.

I must say that the mall is in a odd place to begin with. Since the south side of Olathe isn't really developed on that side. In fact i drove past there recently about a month or two ago and there's some construction in the area but not much and hasn't been for years.

The layout for that mall was odd too i must say. Since it was like a giant square, in stead of the multiple story type malls.

[Kit]

are we talking about the same mall? I thought this was the one pretty much at the corner of 71 and 435 I drive past it going to the Chiefs games. That isnt the south side of Olathe is it?

[insaneninjaguy]

Bannister is at 71 and I435. and Great Plains is at 151 and I35.

There is a all lot of housing south of 151st and I-35 now almost to Spring Hill. There's Home Depot, Target and shit load of restaurants south of I-35 and 151st. The county is adding I believe 1 or 2 more Highway ramps between Olathe and Gardner.

The mall was there long before all lot it. Plus they built the place in a Industrial park then rezone some of it for commercial. I, myself only live a few blocks away and haven't been there in over a year or more.
They sold the place off a few months ago and the new owners plan to let it run for a couple of more years and close it. Thats what was being said on the grape vine.

[Watcher]

There are two new overpasses going in between Olathe and Gardner. I drive by there every day. I'm not 100% sure there will be exit ramps for them, but I don't see why there wouldn't.

Bannister Mall, currently in the advanced stages of being demolished, has nothing, strictly speaking, to do with the Great Mall of the Great Plains. It just looks like the Great Mall may meet the same fate unless the developers there do something about it.

[The10ck]

Which is sad. I used to shop there back in the ol'days when it was good to go to.

[Kit]

i got my prom dress there... it was a monstrousity actually i saw the exact same dress in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion a few years later. That was interesting.

[ImAWalkingCorpse]

I am still saddened by Bannister Mall being demolished. I used to own a store there in the mid 90's.