Plaza neighbors say taller buildings could prevent area decline: ‘Change is hard’
A rendering released this week by the owners of the Country Club Plaza — showing a preliminary plan that would include hundreds of apartments and several new buildings rising 10 to 12 stories tall — has, in general, been met with two polarized responses.
Some people seem to hate it, saying the tall buildings will ruin the storybook look and charm of 102-year-old, Spanish-styled shopping district, which on Thursday will celebrate its 96th annual holiday lighting ceremony.
Other people support it, arguing that in an age of online retail, the only way for the Plaza to survive, no less thrive, is to attract more people, greater “density,” to the area to live, work and play.
‘The views we’ve come to love will undoubtedly change’
On Thursday, the Plaza District Council, a neighborhood group whose mission is to support and promote the interests of the neighborhoods surrounding the district, weighed in, asking residents to “keep an open mind.”
In a piece written for its online newsletter, it also held that, “Without significant reinvestment, it (the Plaza) risks the fate of Bannister Mall, Mission Mall, or Metcalf South,” naming area malls that closed in 2007, 2006 and 2014 respectively.
“Change is hard,” the letter continues. “Our experience of the Plaza and the views we’ve come to love will undoubtedly change — and we will experience that as a real loss. And without this intervention, the Plaza would be on a path where everything we love could continue to deteriorate until the lights go out entirely.”
While not a direct endorsement of preliminary plans put forth by the Plaza’s owners, the Dallas-based Gillon Property Group, the letter appears to suggest that unless people accept, or at least remain open to, the direction Gillon is suggesting, that it could have existential consequences for the Plaza. Gillon purchased the Plaza in June 2024 for $175.6 million.
The newsletter begins, “The PDC (Plaza District Council) believes the new ownership team has shown genuine goodwill and a strong commitment to the future of the Plaza. After hearing them present at a meeting with the South Plaza neighbors, it’s clear they understand both the urgency of this moment and the responsibility of stewarding a place we all care deeply about. They are listening.”
Density and human scale
It also points out, correctly, that what Gillon has proposed as part of its preliminary Master Planned Development, filed in parts in October and this month with the city, is not final.
“This is the beginning of a long process that will involve community feedback, City review, financing, and continued refinement,” the letter points out. “Early images circulating online are not final designs.”
The rendering was released by Gillon to The Star on the same day that the Gillon Property Group was set to go before the Port Authority of Kansas City, PortKC, Board of Commissioners, in a first step, to consider incentives for the Plaza’s redevelopment.
According to the agenda, the company was seeking $1.4 billion in bonds and tax breaks to redevelop 1.7 million square feet of commercial space and create 750 residential units and 278 hotel rooms over the next 15 years. The company has repeatedly said it believes greater density on the Plaza — creating a more concetrated and populous neighborhood — is central to its revitalization.
The meeting, however, was postponed to allow other stakeholders, including the jurisdictions that would be most affected by the tax breaks such as Kansas City Public Schools, to weigh in.
The rendering was also released one day after the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects sent a rendering of their own to Kansas City Council members in objection to building heights being proposed by Gillon.
The rendering showed how the 150- and 200-foot heights proposed in the Gillon plan essentially made the Plaza’s iconic Seville Tower look like a pencil nub, in comparison. Leaders in the architecture group argued that such tall buildings would block sunrises, cast long shadows across the Plaza and cause wind tunnel effects. Their letter urged City Council members to preserve the Plaza’s “human scale.”
The opinion of the board. . .to a degree
Formed in 2022, the Plaza District Council is headed by founder Kate Marshall, with nine other individuals on organization’s board. Marshall said in a statement to The Star that the piece is not her lone opinion.
“That is the Plaza District Council’s statement,” she wrote, “and it reflects the opinion of the board.”
Members of the board that the Star contacted, however, said that the letter was not vetted with them and that they did not necessarily agree with its tone or its cataclysmic projections.
In its newsletter, the Plaza District Council noted a representative of the Plaza’s ownership group is set to speak to the group on Monday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th St.
The meeting is open to the public.
This story was originally published November 21, 2025 at 1:36 PM.
