Plans to build high-rise buildings on the Country Club Plaza could clear a crucial hurdle next week when the City Council considers the new owners’ development plan.

The council is not yet considering tax-increment financing incentives to help finance the $1.5 billion plan. A separate property tax incentive that sparked outrage from Kansas City Public Schools and KCPS Parents in December also is still pending before the Port Authority of Kansas City.

The council is considering two ordinances related to the zoning and design guidelines of the deteriorating Country Club Plaza.

The first is a rezoning to a master planned development plan, or MPD, which would allow the Plaza’s new owners, Gillon Property Group, to construct buildings up to 120, 150 or 178 feet tall on four blocks of the shopping district. The plan also would require the renovation to fit in with the Spanish-revival architectural style of the landmark shopping district.

The second ordinance would give Gillon Property Group ownership of the sidewalks in the Plaza. Gillon would then be responsible for maintaining the sidewalks. Such a “sidewalk vacation” removes them from the public right of way.

Representatives of Gillon, along with the city’s planning department, presented the two ordinances to the City Council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety committee on Tuesday. The committee held the two ordinances until next week to make sure the members had time to thoroughly review the proposals.

“We bought the Plaza because it is an amazing place to be and has an architectural experience that we want to enhance,” Dustin Bullard, vice president of partnerships and place with Gillon, said at the May 12 committee meeting. “We understand not everybody may agree with our approach, but we hope everybody understands that the Plaza does need to evolve to meet the needs of today’s consumers and your city, as it grows as well.”

Inside the development plan

The proposal before the council is a preliminary development plan, rather than a final plan, so it doesn’t get into the specifics of what each building will look like.

But it would establish certain requirements for Gillon when they start designing the actual buildings they plan to construct in the Plaza.

For one, the MPD requires that Gillon provide a minimum of 2,500 parking spaces, as well as 250 bike parking spaces, across the entire 25.5-acre development.

It also sets requirements for the materials that Gillon can use for its buildings and facades. 

At least half of every building’s facade must be made with any combination of brick, stone, tile, terra cotta or stucco. Under the proposed MPD, it would be illegal for Gillon to design a building in the Plaza made primarily of concrete and plastic paneling.

Some uses, like a drive-thru restaurant or a gas station, would be prohibited unless Gillon is granted a special use permit.

“What is very helpful with this proposal is the design guidelines, because now there are none,” said City Councilmember Andrea Bough, who represents the 6th District at large and chairs the committee. 

She said during the committee meeting that when previous owners have constructed buildings that don’t match the architectural character of the Plaza, public outcry was the only way to convince the owners to change direction.

With an MPD, however, the owners can be required to tailor building designs to the Spanish-revival style.

“The only way to ensure that the architectural design is enforced,” she said, “is with the outcry that we’ve had. So I think that is one positive for this, taking that time to go through this and ensure that there’s something written down to preserve the architectural design of the Plaza.”

Pushback on building heights

The most controversial change to the Plaza area’s zoning requirements is the increase in height that would be allowed under the proposed changes.

Today, no building in the Country Club Plaza shopping district is allowed to be more than 45 feet tall.

That’s a concept dubbed the “Plaza Bowl,” which was first implemented in the 1990s but codified in 2019.

Vicki Noteis, the former president and current board member of Historic KC, was Kansas City’s director of city planning in the 1990s, and she told The Beacon in December that the bowl concept has made sure that the Plaza remains connected to the rest of midtown.

“What’s unique about the Plaza,” she said in December, “it’s changed from Sears and tire sales to Gucci and back and forth over the years. It still is an integrated part of the whole neighborhood area around it, and that’s really different than anything else.” 

But under the revised development plan for the Plaza, Gillon would be allowed to construct buildings that are much taller — four buildings along the edges of the Plaza, bordering Mill Creek Parkway on the east and Ward Parkway on the south, that will be between 120 and 178 feet tall.

(For context, the Giralda tower at the corner of Mill Creek Parkway and 47th Street is 138 feet tall. Liberty Memorial is 217 feet tall.)

Several members of the public gave testimony at the committee meeting objecting to the proposed heights and asking that the maximum height be set at 75 feet. They also requested that the MPD be amended so neighbors have the right to appeal zoning decisions to the full council if they believe the building designs need to be changed.

“By walling off the Plaza, it becomes exclusionary to other residents and even visitors that this district attracts,” said Chris Koch, the president of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. “A maximum height of 75 feet on the four sites would help preserve the investment of the adjacent communities, residences and other property owners.”

In addition, Historic KC has published a webpage listing several concerns with the proposed Plaza MPD.

The organization’s biggest concern is with changes to the 1923 Mill Creek Building, on the northeast corner of the Plaza, which they worry may be dramatically altered by the construction of a new 178-foot building.

But they’re also concerned that if the City Council approves the MPD as written, any final development plans could be approved only by the City Plan Commission, without councilmembers being able to weigh in directly.

Tax incentives still up in the air

As the MPD works its way through the City Council, Gillon Property Group is also requesting two different kinds of tax incentives from both City Hall and the Port Authority of Kansas City, also known as Port KC.

In total, the Plaza redevelopment is expected to be about $1.5 billion — roughly the same cost as the new Kansas City airport terminal and half the cost of the new $3 billion Royals ballpark and entertainment district.

The first Plaza tax incentive is a tax-increment financing plan, also known as a TIF, which will need to be approved by the City Council.

Essentially, the city will calculate a baseline level of tax revenue generated by the Country Club Plaza. Then, over the next 23 years, some of the increases in tax revenue above that baseline will be redirected to pay for infrastructure improvements for the Plaza.

That could include things like aging stormwater and sewage lines, sidewalks, crosswalks and road repair.

The Tax Increment Financing Commission recommended approval of Gillon’s TIF application in November 2025, but it has not yet been approved by the City Council.

The second and more controversial tax incentive is a property tax exemption being considered by Port KC.

In November, Gillon applied for an exemption of 72% of its property taxes over the next 30 years, but faced fierce opposition from community members, as well as taxing jurisdictions like Kansas City Public Schools.

Over 30 years, that property tax exemption would have been worth an estimated $309 million.

Since then, the Port KC board has held that proposal in limbo, waiting for Gillon to come back with a smaller tax incentive request.

Patrick Pierce, a spokesman for Port KC, told The Beacon that an incentive request would not be coming back to the board until at least June.

If Port KC approves the property tax incentive for the Plaza, it will never go to the City Council for a vote.