KC Rep in talks to relocate to Country Club Plaza. ‘Both sides want this to happen’
Before it was KC Style Haus, the spot at 4704 Wyandotte St. on the Country Club Plaza was a Restoration Hardware.
Before that, for 71 years from 1928 to 1999, it had been the historic and Spanish-styled Plaza Theater.
In the not-too-distant future, if an agreement is reached, the old movie house may once again become a venue for drama and comedy as the new home for the KC Rep — the live repertory theater group long in residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, but which is set to leave after June 2029.
Neither The KC Rep nor officials with the Plaza would comment on The KC Rep’s focus on the Plaza, which was first reported by The Kansas City Business Journal.
“We have no comment,” Caroline Hogan, the Plaza’s public relations and social media manager, told The Star.
“As it pertains to the Plaza … we have nothing further to add at this time,” said Jana Liles, the KC Rep’s director of marketing and communications.
On Thursday, sources close to the discussions, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed that the Plaza and The KC Rep were in negotiations.
“Both sides want this to happen,” one source said.
KC Rep to the Country Club Plaza
Designed by architect Edward W. Tanner, the original Plaza Theater, with its 72-foot-tall tower, was built in the Spanish Revival and Mediterranean styles.
The building took up two-thirds of the block. The tower, Historic Kansas City notes, “anchors an asymmetrical composition enriched with arched openings, decorative ironwork, cast stone ornaments, clay tile roof and elaborate detailing.”
The theater seated 1,950 people.
In June 2024, the 15-block Plaza — which had been languishing under the joint ownership of Taubman Centers and the Macerich Company — was sold for $175.6 million to Dallas-based HP Management, later rebranded to HP Village Partners and now called Gillon Property Group.
Since the purchase, Gillon has upgraded security and brought cosmetic changes to the Plaza, through better lighting and painting, as it also sought tax incentives and City Council approval for a proposed $1.5 billion revitalization project.
In May, the City Council approved Gillon’s Plaza master development plan, which includes raising the limits on building heights on certain parcels from the current 45 feet to between 120 and 178 feet.
To “increase density,” meaning adding more people on the Plaza, Gillon has proposed allowing construction of as many as 750 to 1,100 apartments.
Bringing live theater to the Plaza would presumably be in keeping with the company’s long-term vision for the Plaza to be a destination for people to live, work and play.
KC Rep has been at UMKC for 62 years
What is now the KC Rep was founded in 1964 by Patricia McIlrath, the then-chairwoman of the University of Kansas City’s theater department.
The group began as the Summer Repertory Theatre and, in 1968, became the Missouri Repertory Theater. In 1979, it began mounting productions inside the 630-seat Helen F, Spencer Theater at the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center on the UMKC campus.
In 2004, the company rebranded, changing its name to the Kansas City Repertory Theater, or KC Rep. In 2007, the KC Rep opened a second location, The Copaken Stage, downtown in the Power & Light District.
As a nonprofit organization, The KC Rep received significant philanthropic support from individuals and organizations, such as the Hall Family Foundation, the Graves Family Foundation, the Marion & Henry Bloch Family Foundation, the R.C. Kemper Charitable Trust and numerous others.
According to The KC Rep’s 2024 tax filings, the most recent available, the organization ran about a $1 million deficit that year, taking in about $6 million in revenue with just over $7.2 million in expenses.
The theater reported having assets of about $17.4 million, of which nearly $15 million is listed as “publicly traded securities.”
Nelson-Atkins, UMKC Conservatory, Symphony all seeking funds
The possibility that The KC Rep will construct a new theater comes at a time when several arts organization are raising money for projects of their own.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has mounted a campaign for a $170 million expansion. The UMKC Conservatory, housed along with The KC Rep in the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, is in the midst of a $60 million fundraising campaign for expansion and renovation of its building.
In June, the Kansas City Symphony announced that it, too, was looking to build a 4,600-person music venue at 4901 Main St., on a vacant lot near the Plaza library. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will remain the symphony’s home. The new venue is intended to highlight contemporary music, from pop to rock to jazz to live orchestrated films.
The hall’s price tag is $70 million. Private funds are to be used, much of which has already been raised. The balance is to be sought over the next 30 months.
