What will fill empty Nordstrom spot on Country Club Plaza? Here are 2 main contenders

The Country Club Plaza and Nordstrom officially broke up this week.

But the Plaza has at least a couple of suitors to fill the vast void that was to be the luxury retailer’s new Kansas City home.

The most likely contenders are a Dillard’s department store or a Target with apartments above, said real estate sources who work closely with the iconic shopping center.

Dillard’s apparently is the front-runner with a simpler proposal that could open in about two years. A Dillard’s spokeswoman declined to comment.

But the Target proposal is more complex, calling for a multi-level building — retail below, apartments above. In a statement, Target said: “We are continuously exploring possible locations for future stores, but we have no new stores news to share.”

Plaza officials said in a statement Tuesday that they and Nordstrom “mutually agreed not to move forward with the new Nordstrom store slated for the district.

But on Wednesday, a Nordstrom spokesperson indicated the deal was terminated at the request of Taubman and Macerich, the Plaza’s owners. The Plaza had no further comment.

David M. Block of Block & Co. Inc. Realtors is a partner in the Skelly building, across Jefferson Street from the site, so he has been closely following the project.

“It’s too bad after this long delay and the anticipation of this new quality retail opportunity with the Plaza,” he said. “What it does do, it opens up the door for multiple considerations of other retailer or mixed use opportunities that can bolster up the west side of the Plaza. I think Dillard’s would be fine. I think that property should be utilized at least for parking in the interim.”

In early 2018, the Plaza announced it was luring Nordstrom away from Oak Park Mall, its Overland Park rival. The new 122,000-square-foot store would anchor the Plaza’s west side and revitalize the iconic center, which currently has about two dozen empty storefronts.

The Capital Grille and Bank of America relocated. Those buildings, along with another restaurant space and some movie theater screens, were demolished more than two years ago to make way for the store at 4720 Jefferson St.

But the opening date was pushed back twice during the pandemic — first to 2022, then to fall 2023.

Now the west side is a fenced-off muddy area facing several empty restaurants and a former movie theater.

Some Plaza fans previously said they wouldn’t rest easy until they saw construction cranes for Nordstrom. They were right to be concerned.

Now they are worried that without Nordstrom, the site will become another Mission Mall with redevelopment plans delayed for years.

“We’ve dealt with a lot of over the last three years — the tearing down of the buildings, the construction debris, the construction mess — with the hopes that this destination retail was going to be coming,” said Chris Ridler, co-owner of Zócalo Mexican Cuisine & Tequileria, which faces the site. “While I have faith that Taubman will make the best decision, there are going to be questions of the viability of retail on the west side of the Plaza for the next two or three years.”

With the announcement that Nordstrom would not be coming to the Plaza, readers took to Twitter and Facebook to voice their frustrations:

▪ “Nordstrom should have to restore the area they damaged. They realigned Jefferson, tore down parking and businesses. It’s a total wreck.”

▪ “It’s so sad. They tore down that entire building and now we are left with a gross concrete garage and bare land. What an eyesore.”

▪ “Hey @Nordstrom screw you for destroying buildings, promising jobs, and pulling out with no accountability.”

▪ “The ironic part here is you probably come back with a Pinstripes, Main Event, Chicken N Pickle type place with something above or below that space...I dunno maybe a...movie theater!”

▪ “Thanks for tearing down midtown’s only movie theater in the process.”

▪ “Nordstrom should have to restore the area they damaged. They realigned Jefferson, tore down parking and businesses. It’s a total wreck.”

Matt Pennington, president of Drake Development, which is redeveloping the former Jack Henry building nearby, said there was no question the Plaza area needs more housing. But he questioned signing another department store tenant as a “quick fix.”

“Nordstrom was kind of their unicorn,” he said. “There are not a lot of department stores out there doing well. That model is dying across the country, and it doesn’t seem to be a good fit for the long term sustainability of the Plaza.”

Pennington said the next couple of decisions the Plaza makes will affect the perception of the district for future generations.

“If they make a bad decision here, to reeducate an entire generation that it is great, well good luck,” Pennington said. “It has to have unique offerings and it has to change.”

Robert Martin, president of the nearby Plaza Westport Neighborhood Association, said the Plaza’s current vacancies are not cause for much concern, because shopping centers across the country have faced the same twin problems of the pandemic and e-commerce.

“But it does call us to attract and raise up really good retail tenants and also commercial enterprises,” he said. “So having more offices on the Plaza, more residences on the Plaza, that would all be a good thing to support the retail and entertainment there.”

Duke Tufty, CEO of Unity Temple on the Plaza, which is next to the site, said his biggest concern currently is the “uncared-for vacant lot with litter, empty booze bottles, and kids going back in there partying.”

He would at least like it to be turned into a green space until a new tenant is signed.

“At some point, the Plaza has to stand up and take responsibility,” Tufty said. “If I have to go out there and plant grass myself, I will do that some night and see how that goes.”

But Block, like many Plaza fans, wants to see the west side with a strong anchor tenant.

“I think at the end of the day everyone wants to see a positive development on that property and something that will further solidify the drawing power to the Plaza for the future,” he said. “I hope it all gets done sooner rather than later. We’ve all been waiting long enough.”

Includes reporting by The Star’s Kevin Hardy.

This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 5:01 PM.