The Kansas City Business Journal
The Country Club Plaza's new owners have big plans for the center's offices — starting with filling and refreshing widespread vacancies above its retail storefronts.
HP Village Management LLC recently tapped LANE4 Property Group to launch leasing efforts for second- and third-floor offices throughout the Plaza. The 101-year-old shopping center has about 93,000 square feet of vacant offices out of a total 240,000 square feet on its retail buildings' upper levels. Much of that space was empty but never backfilled by The Macerich Co. and Taubman Centers, whose joint venture sold the Plaza to HP Village Management for $175.6 million in June.
"The office space over the past few years has been, unfortunately, neglected," Drew Steffen, CEO of HP Village Management, said in an email statement, adding that bringing more office employees to the Plaza "will be a great benefit to our restaurant and retail tenants as it will bring needed daytime foot traffic."
The Dallas group, which also owns Highland Park Village in Texas, now is underway on big investments meant to bring the Plaza's existing offices up to Class A standards, Steffen said. The improvements will refresh office entries, lobbies, elevators and corridors. The group also has allocated $2 million to $3 million to build out spec office suites, or spaces prepared as move-in ready before tenants are signed. Steffen said about five initial spec suites will be ready in the spring, with more improvements and suites to follow.
"We see demand for office space from the local and leading-edge business sector desiring more collaborative space who appreciates more interaction with shopping, dining and services at their doorstep in a true mixed-use environment," he said.
Lane4's leasing materials now show 53,511 square feet of offices available in a number of sizes and configurations. The spaces are spread among nine buildings:
- Time West Building (435 Nichols Road) — 10,038 square feet
- Plaza Time Building (411 Nichols Road) — 6,081 square feet
- Cordoba Building (460 Nichols Road) — 13,730 square feet
- Esplanade Building (418 Nichols Road) — 5,211 square feet
- Plaza Medical Building (315 Nichols Road) — 1,612 square feet
- Theatre Building (233 W. 47th St.) — 4,290 square feet
- Tower Building (116 W. 47th St.) — 1,802 square feet
- Mill Creek Building (4638 Millcreek Parkway) — 8,202 square feet
- Balcony Building (330 W. 47th St.) — 2,545 square feet
New office tenants will enjoy HP Village Management's initial investments around the Plaza, including its quadrupled security presence, updated lighting and new landscaping. They'll also have access to dozens of retailers and restaurants, plus 1,510 hotel rooms and 5,226 garage spaces around the 15-block center, according to Lane4.
Beyond the refreshed boutique offices, the Plaza owners also have said an "architecturally significant" 12- to 14-story office tower is one of several options for the dirt 3-acre lot where plans for a Nordstrom store collapsed. Additional offices could go across the street in what's left of the former Cinemark Palace at the Plaza movie theater complex.
Steffen described those as "the prime, Class A office sites" on the Plaza, one of the city's healthiest submarkets and a highly desirable location. HP Village Management continues to review its options for those sites and other potential spaces for corporate office users, he said.
LANE4's Adam Abrams ad Mike Levitan are listing agents for the vacant upper-floor Plaza offices.
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