Plaza Vista office building near the Country Club Plaza is sold

The 10-story Plaza Vista office building, which opened last year near the Country Club Plaza, has been sold for an undisclosed price to a Denver real estate firm and an international investment partner.

EverWest Real Estate Partners LLC and Chilean-based Independencia Asset Management acquired the office property from VanTrust Real Estate LLC, according to an announcement Wednesday. This is the partnership’s first foray into the Kansas City area.

The Plaza Vista is home to the Polsinelli law firm, which moved about 450 employees into the building in late 2013. The 253,720-square-foot property has retail space on the first two floors and a six-level underground parking garage.

The building, at 900 W. 48th St. just off the west edge of the Country Club Plaza, is nearly 99 percent leased, said CBRE, the real estate firm that handled the sale.

Other tenants are Waddell & Reed Inc., which has an investment branch office, the Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar and JJ’s restaurant.

JJ’s opened Wednesday, less than a block from its former home, which was destroyed in a natural-gas explosion and fire in early 2013. The explosion damaged the Plaza Vista building.

The sale does not include the 132-room Hotel Sorella on the south side of the property. A VanTrust affiliate continues to own the hotel, said Dave Harrison, president of Kansas City-based VanTrust Real Estate.

The Plaza Vista building was completed last year by VanTrust. The building replaced the failed West Edge project, which was originally envisioned as a uniquely designed $84.5 million office and hotel development.

After the project stalled and the real estate developer entered bankruptcy, the unfinished property wound up being taken over by VanTrust. The company rebuilt the building into a more conventional office tower.

“This is a real nice addition to the sequence of the history of this project,” Harrison said.

EverWest is a privately owned real estate investment manager. It owns more than 30 office, industrial, multifamily and retail properties, according to its website.

Independencia Asset Management, which has a Miami office, is part of a company headquartered in Santiago, Chile. The company owns properties in Boston, Richmond, Va., and several other U.S. cities.

This story was originally published November 12, 2014 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Plaza Vista office building near the Country Club Plaza is sold."