Plaza District Council meets to discuss future of beloved Kansas City area

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Plaza District Council wants different ideas from the public about what the space should look and feel like. On Thursday, the group held a meeting at Unity Temple on the Plaza to discuss the future of the area.

The Plaza District Council is about one year old – and its goal is to bring the power players of the Plaza together to present a unified front. The group thinks that alignment is key to ensuring a bright future for the district.

“We’ll be better together,” said Plaza District Council President, Kate Marshall. “We’ll be stronger together.”

The Plaza District Council wants to provide leadership for an are near and dear to the heart of Kansas City.

“We would like to think that we have a shared interest in having the whole district, cohesively, be thought about in a more broad way,” said Marshall.

“When you have alignment like that, you can get more things done,” said Dennis Strait, a board member of the council.

The group hopes to learn from the successes of the Downtown Council and apply those lessons to the Plaza.

“When I was growing up here, you could not go to downtown after 5 p.m. There was nothing going on,” said Kim Wu, an attendee at the meeting. “If things could be revitalized on the Plaza, that would be amazing, too.”

The council is already in contact with HP Village Partners, the Dallas-based group reportedly in talks to buy the Plaza.

“Retail is a changing creature,” Strait said. “We’re very encouraged by the potential owners that are looking to purchase the Plaza because they bring a certain level of retail expertise. They know how to deal with places like this.”

The Plaza District Council says it has backing from the Nelson, St. Luke’s, UMKC, and local developers – among others. The council says they want to make sure that the issues Kansas Citians want addressed will be considered in the future of the plaza.

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