Farmers’ market, more fountains, grocery store among plans for new Plaza ownership

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - It’s been more than two months since new ownership took over at the Country Club Plaza. HP Village Management hit the ground running to bring life back to Kansas City’s crown jewel.

The City of Kansas City is also looking at bringing new energy to the area.

Historic Plaza Tennis Courts

They are looking for proposals from developers to reimagine the Historic Plaza Tennis Courts.

“This is the first step in us figuring out other ideas and other thoughts and visions for some of the area in the Plaza,” said city manager of Kansas City Brian Platt.

He said this request for proposals doesn’t mean the tennis courts just disappear.

“We don’t have any specific ideas or plans right now this is just the beginning of that process perhaps they can stay on that site and other things get added to the site, perhaps they move nearby or on top of a building that can go underneath of it, where we can get a lot more activity and excitement in the area, more than just tennis courts,” said Platt.

He added, “What is a higher and better use for that land, and can we add some of the community benefits that people have been asking us so much about, grocery stores, retail, additional apartments, affordable housing, there are so many things we can add to the Plaza on this site and also maintaining and keeping the tennis courts in some other location.”

He said this is going to be a robust community engagement process before any decisions are made.

“I feel like they kind of add a little pzazz to the Plaza area, especially for people that live in the area that would want to use that to play tennis practice whatever. I don’t know if putting apartments or restaurants on that side of the Plaza would make a huge difference,” said Olathe resident Elina Katsman.

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“The Country Club Plaza property in itself has so much opportunity to be so much more for people,” said Platt. “A site that was previously slated to become a Nordstrom is another site that is just a pile of dirt right now that we think could be reimagined into something much more beneficial to the area and Kansas City.”

Platt said he talks at least once a week with the new owners of the Plaza: Highland Park Village Management.

“You already see a lot more visual presence of security more cameras better lighting more people on the street,” said Platt. “A cleaner Plaza, storefronts are being revitalized and it just looks and feels a little bit nicer.”

New Plaza ownership

While the city decides what will happen to the tennis courts, your visits to the Plaza will continue to change over the next year.

“It is a staple of Kansas City,” said Plaza visitor Josh Harbord.

The Plaza has changed ownership a few times over the years.

“It’s not what it used to be I just coming here when I was younger and it was just the place to be,” said Katsman.

HP Village Management is determined to make this the place to be once again.

ALSO READ: New owners of Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza promise ‘immediate’ improvements

“We knew we were going to encounter a lot of issues and we did. There is a lot of capital that hadn’t been reinvested in the property so we’ve spent the last two months just cleaning the Plaza up,” said Highland Park Village Management President Ray Washburne. “Simple things like washing windows and cleaning awnings, and then we’ve gone in we are starting to replace lighting in the parking garages we are painting all the parking garage exits we’ve closed exits.”

A big priority for them is safety, it’s something they immediately changed when taking over.

Washburne said they’ve increased the security budget by over a million dollars a year.

“You can see it on the Plaza today that the car break-ins and things like that that were happening we’ve eliminated because we’ve got so much more security walking up and down the sidewalks,” said Washburne.

He said they are in talks with local restaurants and retail to fill the empty storefronts.

He said it will take time and they are in this long term.

“There are some areas of the Plaza where we are going to focus bringing in a number of restaurants we are having a lot of discussions with people right now just trying to figure out the right product mix to do,” said Washburne.

He said this first year is about assessing what has been done and how they can improve it over the next year.

“We’d like to come in and brick the streets we’d like to come in and do all new landscaping and put roundabouts in a lot of the streets to slow traffic down through the property,” said Washburne. He added, “We’d like to bring a grocery store of some type back not a full-line grocery that people normally see, but something like an 8-10,000 foot type thing that can service not only the Plaza tenants and customers but also all the apartments and office buildings around us.”

ALSO READ: People excited to see what changes will come to the Country Club Plaza as new ownership takes over

As for the tennis courts, the city is in charge of that project, but they hope any changes add to the area.

“We are encouraging of something happening to the tennis courts cause we think whatever they put there whether they are apartments, hotel, office, or whatever we are going to feed off each other,” said Washburne. He added, “What we don’t want to have is something happens on the tennis courts that just becomes an island out there we want it to really fit in the fabric of what we are trying to do with the Plaza.”

As this is the City of Fountains, they have plans in store for those, too.

“What we found is a lot of the fountains are still on the water systems they were in when they were first installed in the 1940s and 1950s that’s why they are always broken,” said Washburne. He added, “We are going to go in and fix all those get the lighting fixed in the fountains, and again in some parts within the Plaza we’d like to do some roundabouts just to really slow the traffic down and put fountains in the middle, enhance them and bring more fountains.”

In addition to the Plaza Art Fair and Plaza Lights, they have other ideas for the area, such as bringing back horse carriages during the holiday season.

“In addition to Art Fair and the Christmas tree lights is this spring we would like to introduce a farmers market and bring more Saturday morning activities to the Plaza so people have a place to stroll to,” Washburne told KCTV5.

Community involvement

With the new owners, residents and visitors have seen the changes and look forward to more.

“Some more affordable stores and restaurants I feel like some of the stores and restaurants here are high dollar. I think I would come here more often if there were a little more affordable stuff here,” said Harbord.

“We need local community, local businesses to be a part of the Plaza because that is what makes Kansas City great,” said Katsman.

For HP Village Management, they want the community to be involved.

“We look at this as a community asset, not something that we own it is something that is really owned by the community,” said Washburne. Adding, “We are not trying to come in and introduce like previous owners, or a big public company what we think you want we want to hear from the community what they want and then we will make it work where it works for everyone.”

Those with the Plaza District Council shared they are excited about adding more housing and additions to the area to keep it robust and successful.

ALSO READ: Port KC Board approves $362 million in bonds for development in Country Club Plaza neighborhood

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