THE NEW URBANISM TREND: LIVING AT THE SHOPPING CENTER
The 10-year-old Zona Rosa, the $200 million mixed-use neighborhood up north at Barry Road, is largely credited as jump-starting the latest living trend, new urbanism, in Kansas City. Residents tired of suburban sprawl and having to get in the car every time they were out of milk or eggs or needed to pick up dry cleaning are gravitating to new mini-town centers combining retail, restaurants, offices, residential living and other services in one compact, nicely landscaped “town square.” Call it the 21st-century version of “living above the shop,” but this new high-density style of residential living is attracting everyone from single, professional millennials to empty nesters.