Ray Washburn said the new owners plan to spend more than $100 million on an extensive renovation of Country Club Plaza.
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The family-owned investment partnership that owns Dallas’ upscale shopping center Highland Park Village has completed its acquisition of Kansas City’s iconic Country Club Plaza and will now overhaul the infrastructure of the century-old Midwest shopping and dining district with a $100 million overhaul.
An affiliate of HP Village Management LLC completed the transaction on June 28 after months of evaluating the property’s aging infrastructure. The potential deal was first reported last October.
Terms of the transaction, including price, were not disclosed.
The new owners plan to spend more than $100 million on extensive improvements to Country Club Plaza, said Ray Washburn, president of HP Village Management Co. The roughly 1 million-square-foot center in Missouri’s largest city will be similar to Dallas’ venerable Highland Park Village, only on a larger scale, Washburn said.
“It’s about four times the size,” he said. “It’s 15 blocks. It’s a huge piece of land.”
Washburn said Country Club Plaza was the first shopping center built in the country.
“It looks exactly the same as Highland Park Village. It was built at basically the same time,” he said. “Our plan is to buy the building and do the same thing we did with Highland Park Village and turn it into the great, internationally recognized property it was. It’s a great building, but it’s been in debt for a number of years and has been neglected for a number of years.”
The joint venture between the previous ownership group, Macerich Cos., and Taubman Centers, defaulted in May 2023 on $295.2 million in acquisition debt owed to Nuveen, the lender from its $660 million acquisition in March 2016, according to the Kansas City Business Journal, a sister publication of the Dallas Business Journal. Nuveen had solicited interest in the debt sale from local and national groups. Dallas-based real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured LLC advised Nuveen on the loan sale related to the transaction.
The renovations will include a “major cleanup,” resurfacing roads, upgrading retail, lighting, landscaping and reoccupying the center, Washburn said June 28 in some of the new owners’ first comments about their plans following the acquisition. He said preserving the architecture, improving existing structures and creating pedestrian-friendly gathering places will be priorities.
Current anchor tenants include Anthropologie, Apple Store, Capital Grille, Cheesecake Factory, Coach, J. Crew, Sephora and Tiffany & Co., Washburn said. Washburn declined to name the new tenants being targeted, but said they will be similar to the stores in Highland Park Village and the Knox Street area. HP Village Management is advising on leasing, marketing and management of the existing properties on Knox Street and is also investing in a major expansion project currently underway.
“We will continue to focus [in Country Club Plaza] “We’re going to have contemporary brands, the Knox Street tenant lineup, and a lot of luxury brands,” Washburn said. “I can’t announce who it’s going to be today, but we’re going to be upgrading the whole luxury brand collection like we have in Highland Park Village and bringing in a lot more contemporary-type tenants like Rag & Bones.”
When asked about the timeline for the Kansas City project, Washburn said, “It’s starting immediately.”
“Maintenance crews will be there on Monday to start scrubbing and cleaning the ship,” he said.
The new investors plan to work with local police to beef up security at the property.
“Like a lot of cities, security is an issue that’s not really being addressed,” Washburn said. “We’re going to address it, just like we’ve done in the past at Highland Park Village.”
In 2009, HP Village Partners acquired the 250,000-square-foot Mediterranean-Spanish-style Highland Park Village for $171 million, the highest price paid for a retail property that year. The group has since invested millions in infrastructure improvements, including a $225 million refinancing through Nuveen in 2017, to position the center as a luxury retail destination.
Most recently, Highland Park Village underwent a nearly $6 million infrastructure improvement project that began in early 2020 and included newly paved parking lots, new underground utilities, and landscaping and lighting upgrades.
Knox Street, which stretches about a half-mile from Central Expressway to Abbott Avenue, is lined with high-end retailers and fine dining. Michael Dell’s investment firm BDT & MSD Partners, Dallas-based Trammell Crow LLC, The Retail Connection LLC and Highland Park Village Associates LLC own properties in the area and are developing a three-tower project with hotels, restaurants, retail space and housing.
HP Village Management is a privately held company controlled by descendants of Margaret Hunt Hill.
Washburn and his company may be best known in Dallas for their Highland Park Village and Knox Street holdings, but they own, manage, operate and invest in numerous high-profile projects.
In Dallas’ central business district, Washburn’s Charter Holdings owns the 8-acre former Dallas Morning News property on Yonge Street as well as the nearby landmark Founders Square building, an office building built in 1914 and renovated in 2015. Washburn added the Founders Square property on Jackson Street to the Charter Holdings portfolio in 2023.
Washburn purchased the former Dallas-area property in 2019 and is working with developer Matthews Southwest to redevelop the site. The paper moved into its new offices in the former Dallas Central Library on Commerce Street in 2017.
Redevelopment of the newspaper site has been put on hold due to the $3 billion redevelopment of the adjacent Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, an expansion also being spearheaded by Matthews Southwest that could use 130,000 square feet of the former DMN headquarters site. Washburn told DBJ in February that he wants to redevelop the former DMN site in a way that “adds value to the convention center.”
“I want to do a hotel and entertainment that will benefit the convention center,” he said.
In Kansas City, Washburn viewed the Country Club Plaza purchase as a “legacy investment,” and several prominent families were involved in the transaction, he said.
The new owners have hired several Kansas City-based architects to assist with the master plan and design.
The leasing effort is being led by Steven Summers, whose family is co-owner of HP Village Management. Summers said future visitors can expect a mix of unique dining options run by locally and nationally known chefs, as well as retail options that include the addition of high-end fashion retailers.
“Country Club Plaza is a historic, world-class asset worthy of one of the world’s best brands, and we look forward to bringing it to Kansas City,” Summers said in a statement.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a release that the redeveloped Plaza will offer world-class shopping, more housing and office options and a safer environment.
“Today’s news ensures that Country Club Plaza will be a vibrant part of our community for generations to come,” Lucas said in a statement. “We thank Ray Washburn and his team for confirming what many around the world see as a fantastic time to invest and do business in Kansas City.”
Washburn, Summers and Lucas are scheduled to announce their plans for the Plaza at a media event in Kansas City on July 1.
According to the release, Country Club Plaza originally opened in 1923 as the first suburban shopping center planned to accommodate shoppers arriving by car. It was designed by architect Edward Delk in a Baroque Revival and Moorish Revival style similar to the architecture of Seville, Spain, one of Kansas City’s sister cities.
Washburn said the new owners have met with and listened to input from Kansas City residents who are keen to restore the shopping centre.
“In discussions with the Plaza’s neighbors, we received significant feedback,” Washburn said in a statement. “We have assured residents that, similar to Highland Park Village in Dallas, we plan to preserve and protect Country Club Plaza’s unique architectural charm and history.”
This story has been updated to reflect Eastdil Secured LLC’s role in the transaction.
