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Nordstrom won’t open on the Country Club Plaza until 2021 but it already is tweaking design plans for that location.
Its latest renderings — presented this week to the City Planning Commission — shows more “texture” to the contemporary facade of the two-story building at 4720 Jefferson St., at Nichols Road.
It features large windows with curving frontage in keeping with the curve of Jefferson Street at Nichols. A centrally located cafe on the second floor will give diners a view down Nichols Road, and the restaurant activity would serve as a draw for shoppers.
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A rendering of the north side of the proposed Nordstrom building on the Plaza.
Submitted Nordstrom
Historic Kansas City issued a statement of approval on the project: “Overall, Historic Kansas City and Friends of the Plaza see this draft proposal as a reasonable solution, its design and placement accommodating the needs of contemporary retail function and design, but in a manner that is compatible with the design, scale and form of the Plaza, and one that could bring new life to that block of the Plaza with the Nordstrom’s (sic) as a long-term tenant, and needed people and street activity in the area.”
Incidentally, after plans were filed in November to replace a 1940s church up the street with a modern mixed-use building, Historic Kansas City announced it would mount “an aggressive campaign to save the Plaza from new high-rise development.”
In other Plaza updates:
Plaza officials also have submitted a plan to take a 957-square-foot space at 418 Nichols Road and convert it to a portal for an office tenant who would occupy a 31,554-square-foot office space on the second level.
The space is currently home to Panache Chocolatier & Cafe, which has been on the Plaza for about 40 years and at the Nichols Road location since 1989.
In a statement, the current owners of Panache, Derrick and Julie House, said: “For 40 years Panache has been known as the Chocolatier on the Plaza. However, in the past three years our focus has been to continually create new, finer chocolates. Our recent awards in an international truffle competition affirmed that focus. We will continue to produce award-winning chocolates whether it is in our current location or another location.”
