The owner of the Plaza, has put KC’s CROWN JEWEL up for sale…
Yep, it’s come to that. Highwoods Properties has owned the Country Club Plaza for 17 years and put a truck load of money into the area to reboot what was once one of the busiest places in our city day and night.
Highwoods says it wants to to put its money into other developments around the nation. They also owned Prairie Village shopping district and sold that to Lane4 in 2009.
And today that area is booming with hot restaurants and more traffic than we saw back in the Toon Town days of the 1970’s, so maybe a new owner for the Plaza will be a good thing. Right now nobody knows what’s in store for the future of one of America’s nicest shopping and entertainment districts.
Just a few months ago I wrote about the Plaza’s problems.
They remain the same.
Less people going out in general, DUI fears, night life way down, as is much of the shopping. And with the Plaza getting bad press on urban unrest and a rough crowd scaring off the customers, with violent crime at night, it’s really just symptomatic of what we see more and more of in our nationwide today.
And the fact our city has spread out way south and north hasn’t helped matters.
The Plaza is just not the near-by area it once was for many Kansas Citians. Especially with so many of the money folks living in areas that have their own shopping and dining areas.
Johnson County has really taken off with a ton of new shops, stores and too many new restaurants to visit on an even monthly basis.
So it’s the art fair, Christmas lights and not much else for the Plaza anymore.
Like so many of us I grew up with the Plaza being THE spot in this city.
The Plaza was our heartbeat, our center of the city. I lived down there for 10 years and loved it. If you were a night life person then you probably remember the nightclubs and huge bar crowds of the 70’s through the 90’s. No more.
What’s left of all that is in Westport and Power & Light for the most part. Yet even big sporting events from the Royals post season to the Big 12 basketball don’t bring the crowds they once did. Christmas shopping on the Plaza used to be a sight to see. Thousands walking around and shopping for weeks leading up to the big family holiday. Today its far less.
We all have our Plaza stories.
When I traveled all the time as a younger guy I would always look for the Plaza area of the cities I visited or moved to. But never found its equal.
Maybe a new owner will be something that in the end helps this beautiful district that we all are so proud of. I sure hope so.
That soldier getting jumped and beaten by 6 black people is exactly why people, with the exception of our intrepid leader Harley, go to other venues now for entertainment and shopping. The media will always play down the racial truth of violence on the Plaza, just like the media is loath to cover black on white violence anywhere. That said, people will talk and the Plaza is just another casualty in the Culture War.
You are right Glaze, it used to have that joyful je ne se quoi that no other shopping area I ever went to could match.
Jenny said what?
Jenny is Jenny from the Hood and she say, “QUOI???” which is Ebonics for, “Whatchoo say, Willis? I have a RIGHT to be here with my homies, I don’t care what the curfew says and MY congressman will back me up!”
you cant afford a starbucks coffee…no one cares what you thinko or say..
except the racist/vile haters on tonys blog!
STARBUCKS??? Who said anything about Starbucks??? Besides, their coffee SUCKS!!!
a major billion dollar corporation just invested a billion dollars in the
plaza….do you think a ditch digger or box salesman knows more than billionaires about real estate?
you look stupid when you old guys make such stupid comments about
things you know nothing about!
can’t resist replying to your comment, harley.
highwoods does/did not have much experience in the retail arena. their focus and expertise in office buildings and the like.
so while ditch diggers, box salesmen, and other common folk might not have the money, the smarts or the skills to play real estate developer, there are companies with more expertise in retail shopping centers than highwoods.
Why would anyone frequent an area where the merchandise and food are tragically overpriced, and the odds of getting jumped by lawless thugs increase 10 fold? Piss on the Plaza.
Idiots, harlinators and tourists. However, the media and police can only cover up so much crime for so long before it is common knowledge. The Plaza hit that tipping point a while ago with the local community. It still has a while longer to go until the tourists will be saying it to each other when they get off a plane.
Dude is correct in that the Plaza has a long history of covering up crimes. The Star was complicit as well, not just the police. But that mostly went away in the mid to late 1990s.
dude…that was 20 years ago!!!!!! are you still living in
the 80s and 90’s.????????
You know nothing about business glaze and its obvious even more with this story.
YOu live in the past. The long ago past. Maybe you got knocked out at
winsteads on the plaza but time has changed.
Of course our city has expanded with southern housing now going out to
160th and further south.
Development of the 119 and 135 and 151 corridors has been huge. But cities
expand and grow….just like st. Louis has.
However…you lack the knowledge that the plaza is still operating at a high
occupancy rate. I would love to see their rate. And they’re doing it at some of the
highest square footage rates in the city…STILL.
Are you saying the stores there know nothing..that the smart business people who
run those places aren’t making money. Go find the occupancy rate there then
go to joco for their rates and the square footage costs. It will amaze you.
The owners don’t want your 1980 disco clubs down there….I meanthose went
out 30 years ago in this town. What’s wrong with your timing? You live in
the past.
And as the population spread south with it came a different attitude.
You don’t belong in a club…unless it’s touches where people your age go to
hang…that’s your people…people your age and they do a great business with people
in their 60’s and older.
So let’s get real here. You dream of the past. It’s over dude. Your idea of business
growth is an old worn out dream from long ago.
The plaza is like every other place for kids to congregate and for people to shop.
But things have changed and either you adapt or you go down the tube.
Look out south and the number of new sporting good stores. They’re incredible
one with a ferris wheel.
But the plaza remains the plaza and there’s nothing in America like a great
night on the plaza walking down the street.
Don’t know about you but I lived there…I was there during the 80s and 90s….
and it was fun…but we had no choices to drink if we wanted to go out.
But life changes…fact is that all the times I’ve been down there for any
occasion…never had a problem!!!!!!!!! Never. Saw young black kids down there…
but I never had a problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its business plan changed….it doesn’t want people like you….it wants females
with money and men with money who will spend it!
All these guys on kcc like Wilson and chuckles…they never spend money in those
places. So how would you feel if a 100 people came into your place and ordered
water all night. Be pretty pissed off wouldn’t you? Same with the plaza…
they’ve faced many tough times…from floods to riots…and still is the crown jewel
of the nation as far as retail and food and the ambiance of the area.
yes there’s hobos like chuck hustling for a buck….there’s some black kids
raising cain….but the answer is pretty simple how to solve it.
WHY DID THEY NOT GET RID OF THAT THEATRE WHERE THE TROUBLE
WAS? DO THEY HAVE A LIFELONG LEASE THERE? PAY THEM 2 MILLION
TO MOVE OUT….DO SOMETHING……INSTEAD WE HAVE THE PROBLEM
THAT LINGERS WHEN THE ANSWERS ARE SIMPLE.
I don’t think the plaza wants guys like you and your playboy image down there.
With that comes trouble and late night antics.
So like your baseball and football stories that are always wrong and lack any
sort of factual information or numbers to back up your foolish and incorrect
statements.
Also….we were down at the p and l after a royals game. Plenty of people there…
it was packed….didn’t see any trouble….went in a few clubs …looked around…
saw they were in there twenties then left…..and saw no problems.
We were there during last year’s plaoffs….thousands crammed into the
living room area….music…dancing…young people having a blast….and we
had no problems.
I thnk the media with all the different medias we have today blow up these
things so they look worse than they really are.
crime is down…but you wouldn’t think so if you watched the 500 news stations
we have.
sorry dude….you aint no spring chicken. times have changed but the plaza
still has got it.
you need to get out and see the world dude. This isn’t the hippest city in the
nation…but i’ll take it over any other city you can name.
if you hate it so much…you could move!
everything about it you hate…from the sports to the music…to the night life…
to the shopping and the overall feel of this town.
maybe you need to move on somewhere else…and see how really good we have
it here!!!!!!!!
Geez Harley, do you have a life. Did you spend like 30 minutes crafting that Groundhog Day like, oft repeated critique of Craig?
I will make one point; and that’s that getting rid of the movie theater is not any kind of guarantee that black youth will stop hanging on the Plaza. They hang in Westport and downtown and other places without movie theaters.
The simple fact is that the Plaza is in close proximity to a ton of urban youth, and they find it a fun, safe place to hang, just as you do. Unfortunately for Highwoods and many of the upscale shops, their mere presence is a turn off and/or is viewed as threatening by a number of the people who are drawn to the Plaza for shopping and dining.
They ran McDonald’s off for the same reason you are suggesting they get rid of the movie theater and look how much that helped.
again…mr. vw…..(hows that recall going?)…..a billiondollar
company with the greatest business minds in the world
are and have put over a billion dollars in the plaza…
you are not smarter than they are….I’m sure the problem
will eventually be taken care of.
I’ve never had aproblem as have probably 99% of the people
who go there. Fact is that if you get a bunch of drunks together…you will eventually have problems.
getting rid of mcdonalds was smart…now get rid of the
theatre….put in live acts or do something smart and
get the problem solved.
billionaires know more than you and glaze and wislon…and
the polar bear and chuckles.
all you dudes do is complain while the real people with
vision move on in life…
get real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
as I said before….money follows money….you are wrong
again.
serious hearne…I never hear the people talking about being
scared of going to the plaza…it seems to be you old guys
on kcc and tonys blog. Maybe you hang out with a negative
crowd or different group of people…but I never hear the
kind of negativity about the plaza that you old guys hear…
its probably the “archie bunker” types that keep spreading
this stuff.
can youprove to me that its any worse this last summer than
it was in the past.
I think you blow it out of proportion because you live in
Lawrence!
I’m not afraid to go to the Plaza, far from it…
However as a longtime South Joco suburbanite, I can tell you a lot of the folks out that way look at the Plaza and downtown as semi risky places to hang with rare exception. So we’re talking perception/reality.
Strange as it may sound Harley, very few people in Greater Kansas City as a whole employ your enlightened online wisdoms when it comes to forming their opinions about what they read, see or hear in the news.
Shocking, huh?
sorry hearne…I’ve been right on everything.
put your money where your mouth is.
the plza neither wants your few bucks or you
wasting space there. Polar bear aint got a
pot to piss in.
and the guys shop the thrift stores.
stay away from the plaza.
you’re worse than the young black kids during
the summer.
you take up space and time of salespeople
and don’t spend a dime. Hang out at
the dollar store. That’s you’re kind of clothes
and its where they’ll give you good service.
theycater to people like you.
WHEN DUDE AND GLAZE AND HEARNE
AND THE POLAR BEAR ALL SAY SOMETHING…THEY’RE ALWAYS WRONG.
WHY…AS DON TRUMP WOULD SAY…
THEY’RE JUST NOT SMART ENOUGH TO
GET IT.
BY THE WAY…EXPECT THE DON TO BE
LOOKING IN KC SOON….HE KNOWS
WHERE THE MONEY IS AT!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!
stay way from the plaza..please…and spend yourmoney elsewhere. They don’t need your
few bucks you’ve got to spend on an Armani
suit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“… a billiondollar company with the greatest business minds in the world…”
too funny, harley. i didn’t know that bill gates, warren buffett, and other assorted billionaires, were investors.
i’m pretty damn sure highwoods employs some smart people. but the greatest business minds in the world (the WORLD!!!)? hardly.
Once again, thank you, Harley. You continue to prove how little you know. You judge me with no knowledge of who I am. You comment with virtually the same worn out lines. You have nothing new. You have no knowledge, original thought escapes you.
Whip out your W2 and let’s have a beer, you coward, anonymous little man. I’ll pay for the 1010 Taxi to get you there.
54pounds?….who’s the polar bear?
thank god you lost that weight…wouldn’t want you to
have a heart attack running from the black kids on the
plaza ….hahahahahahaha!
Serious question Glaze…..what would it take for you to pick up and move your location to the plaza? Would you even consider it?
I would think nothing…that is why I think the Plaza is dead and will never come back. It is a great place to go to get beat up by a mob of hooligans though
Jess we tried to move there a few years back, to what was next to George Bretts, the former Putch’s 210, nice spot…Highwoods decided, though we got a lease signed, we might bring ‘the wrong crowd’ now it was just comedy no dance club…I was heartbroken at the time around 2002 or 3…well it was a bad call on their part. Now we’ll never know.
TODAY yeah maybe…I go there alot cause I live on Shawnee Mission Parkway near the Plaza. I love the Plaza. I have never had an issue at night there. Nor am I afraid there. The incidents there are few and small compared to other areas in KCMO. The media just turned on them a couple years back, not sure why. Maybe cause the area got so quiet at night. I was the first to notice how slow it was two years ago. I used to tell people and they mostly thought I was nuts.
The closing of Blonde and all nightlife was the beginning of the end…NO LATE NIGHT was Plaza battle cry to get rid of young blacks. It was never 5% of the issue Westport or midtown had. Not nearly. But it was the Plaza, older white crowds than Westport and more shoppers and diners so it was a much bigger issue.
Would I got there today. Maybe…I think the Plaza has a future. It just needs some new leaders and ideas and better nightlife…it is still some damn beautiful. Its up to us KC folks to give it a chance and support it, as the younger groups have stayed behind Westport. Why not. It’s such a wonderful part of KC and our history. Just go look at how damn nice it is and we need to stop being haters. There have been to my knowledge no shooting deaths there!!! Lets take a step back and let it work. The Plaza deserves being saved for lords sake.
By the way a great question Jess. In short YES.
what you need to do is start having a Sunday night show at Stanford’s with a touring comic. It seems odd to have them finishing up saturday night. Sometimes that boozy, hung over 7pm sun set is the best of the weekend.
We always have Sunday shows, some are Murder Mystery some are all local acts some like this week is the main headliner..Sundays are tough always were…everyone is in bed by 8 pm..watching the evening NFL game…
Not sure how the Highwoods departure could be anything but a great thing. I predict a brighter future for our jewel… also… a better Plaza only helps Westport.