Country Club Plaza to be purchased by Dallas company with ties to Hunt family
The Country Club Plaza, long considered Kansas City’s jewel, is under contract to be sold to a Dallas retail company with family ties to H.L. Hunt, the father of Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, those close to the deal confirmed to The Star on Wednesday.
The new owners, who are looking to close on the deal by year’s end, are Ray Washburne and HP Village Partners, owners of Dallas luxury shopping district Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931 and whose Spanish-style architecture is similar to the Plaza’s.
The Country Club Plaza outdoor shopping center opened 100 years ago, in 1923, the creation of developer J.C. Nichols.
Washburne is married to Heather Hill Washburne, a great-granddaughter of Texas oil magnate H.L. Hunt. She is a partner in HP Village Partners.
News of the possible transaction was first reported, through an anonymous source Wednesday, by CitySceneKC. The contract was confirmed to The Star by a highly-placed source who spoke Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because of a non-disclosure agreement.
The price of the transaction was not disclosed. The purchase is tentative pending the buyer’s due diligence and closing.
“I think this is probably one of the most exciting developments on the Country Club Plaza in the last 25 years,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.
In recent years, Lucas has criticized the Plaza’s operation, particularly once Nordstrom’s canceled plans in 2022 for a new department store, leaving a 3-acre pit on the Plaza’s west edge.
“Anyone with a connection to Kansas City, who understands how important the Country Club Plaza is to our future, is someone I’m looking forward to working closely with,” he said.
Councilwoman Andrea Bough, who represents the Plaza in the 6th District at-large, said, “The Country Club Plaza is an iconic landmark in Kansas City’s landscape. I look forward to having conversations with any prospective owner, new owner or the current owners, on how we can improve on the many memories of generations of Kansas Citians and restore the Plaza to a vibrant place.”
“We are absolutely delighted by this unofficial announcement,” said David Westbrook, a founding member of the Plaza Area Council, representing stakeholders in maintaining the historic district. “This represents a significant investment from a family and a Kansas City-related brand that has the deepest roots in this community, and deep pockets that will be helpful, too.”
The fate of the Plaza has been the topic of intense debate in the post-COVID years as storefronts have remained empty, reports of crime on the Plaza have become an increasing concern and the Plaza’s economic fortunes have soured.
In May, the current owners of the 15-block shopping district, Macerich and the Taubman Co., defaulted on payment of their $295 million loan, prompting their lender, Nuveen, to look for “a mutually acceptable outcome.” A source with Nuveen declined to comment Wednesday.
In 2016, Macerich and Taubman purchased the Plaza for $660 million from Highwood Properties of North Carolina. The price, even then, was thought to be hundreds of million of dollars more than the Plaza was worth.
Earlier this year, the owners of the Plaza challenged its county valuation, set at $292 million in 2019 by the Jackson County Board of Equalization. The Missouri tax commission agreed to reduce its value to $179.6 million.
Highland Park Village, located a mile from Southern Methodist University, includes, among other vendors, Hermes, Fendi, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Dior, Chanel, Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, Valentino, Cartier, Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels.
In 2022, HP Village also purchased a stake in Phillips Place, a luxury shopping district in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ray Washburne has been a prominent GOP fundraiser. His name was frequently mentioned in 2016 as a possible Cabinet member in former President Donald Trump’s administration.
