In the space of one week in August, preservationists scored two important victories on the Country Club Plaza. One victory was the final act of a year-long struggle; the other came after just 48 hours. Both reflected the strong – and growing – commitment of Plaza fans to protect this architectural gem.
One year ago, Highwoods Properties, the east coast suburban office park developer that owns much of the Plaza, stunned Kansas Citians by announcing a plan to bulldoze the Balcony Building and 94 apartment homes to build a 200,000 square foot office tower. Under this plan, the Balcony Building, a 90 year-old landmark in the core of the original Plaza, and the Neptune Apartments would be razed to make way for a bland office building that would rise the equivalent of 15 stories above 47th Street, towering over the one and two story historic Plaza buildings. The response was immediate and resounding. The Historic Kansas City and an affiliated group, Friends of the Plaza, organized marches, phone calls, letters and social media to push back. Over the next 12 months, Plaza supporters throughout the city – and the world — worked to preserve this unique neighborhood. They pointed out that Highwoods’ plan included converting hundreds of prime parking spaces used by the public into private, restricted parking reserved for the law firm tenant of the building. Supporters publicized Highwoods’ admission that the building would generate 2,200 car trips each day through already crowded Plaza streets. They observed that the combination of the parking losses, the conversion of residential land uses into office uses and the increased traffic could damage the already delicate retail environment on the Plaza. And, of course, they argued that there were many sites on and around the Plaza that were far better suited to a large scale office building than the site selected by Highwoods, which had long ago been designated as one for which no rezoning was recommended.
In February, the City Plan Commission voted against the project. In April, the Polsinelli/Shughart law firm, the proposed tenant for the building, withdrew from the project. Highwoods, however, refused to reconsider and pushed its plan for what had by then become a speculative office building through the City Council. Days later, in one of his final acts as Mayor, Mark Funkhouser vetoed the City Council’s decision to rezone the Neptune site. Two weeks after that, when a newly elected City Council convened, the Funkhouser veto was overridden.
What followed that second Council vote will be long remembered in Kansas City preservation circles. The effort began to put the Neptune rezoning to a vote of the people. Under election law, more than 7,000 valid signatures were required to put the issue on the ballot. Highwoods openly scoffed at the notion that such a large number of Kansas Citians would sign petitions to overturn the rezoning ordinance within the short time period the law required. Leaving nothing to chance, however, Highwoods spent tens of thousands of dollars on public relations and negative advertising, and retained political consultants noted for experience in smear campaigns. They even hired “blockers” to harass petition gatherers as they worked on street corners and outside grocery stores. When the petition gathering period ended, the Plaza supporters hadn’t collected the 7,000 signatures needed – they had collected more than 18,000.
On August 25, 2011 – just two months after the petition drive was certified as successful – the City Council of Kansas City voted unanimously to repeal their earlier rezoning of the Neptune site. This vote followed the announcement of an agreement between Highwoods and Plaza supporters that there would be no organized opposition to a similarly sized building if it were built west of the Neptune site, near other large scale buildings. The result was characterized by the Kansas City Star as a “total victory” for the opponents of this project.
The same day the Council voted to repeal the Neptune rezoning, Seasons 52, a new restaurant tenant on the Plaza, abandoned its plans to replace the graceful façade of the former Woolf Brothers store with a contemporary stone and glass entry. Alarms had been sounded by Plaza supporters when roof tiles and gables were removed from the building, which marks the entry to the Plaza from Wornall Road. The next day, metal framing was erected over the building entry, obliterating the lighted star and graceful ornamentation that had become a Plaza landmark. Historic Kansas City Foundation obtained drawings from the City of the restaurant’s plans for the building and posted them online. Seasons 52 was inundated with outraged calls, emails and entries on social media sites. Within 48 hours, Seasons 52 announced it would restore the original appearance of the building. The following day, the star which had shown for decades over the courtyard fountain was visible again.
As August closed, there was more good news for the Plaza. The Polsinelli/Shughart law firm agreed to relocate to the long moribund West Edge site, ensuring that their lawyers and staff will remain close to the Plaza, but in an area developed for and appropriate to large scale commercial buildings.
The Historic Kansas City Foundation is grateful for the support of the community in its efforts to preserve the Country Club Plaza. However, the continued vitality of the Plaza cannot be assumed; our ability to share the Plaza with our children and grandchildren depends on our own efforts and our willingness to take a stand.
(In other words, we must still try to obtain a historic overlay & a Design Review Board for the Plaza)
