A plan to tear down a church in the Country Club Plaza and replace it with a tower that exceeds the district’s height restrictions already is raising hackles from developers and neighbors.
Drake Development LLC on Wednesday submitted an approximately $60 million proposal to build a nine-story building with multiple restaurants and high-end condo residences in place of The Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist at 604 W. 47th St.
A rendering of the nine-story proposal for Cocina 47 (via TR,i Architects)
The Overland Park builder’s proposal, called Cocina 47, ups the ante for what already was shaping up to be a high visibility scrap among Country Club Plaza interests.
Historic Kansas City, Plaza co-owner Taubman Centers and neighboring landowner Block Real Estate Services LLC in March mailed out a news release. The groups emphasized the Plaza Bowl’s significance for keeping future projects aligned with the district’s character, and blasted a smaller version of Drake’s project that exceeded it.
An ornamental tower in the earlier iteration, which was circulated among neighbors in recent months, would have required an approximately 20-foot variance from the Plaza Bowl, which caps new buildings in that area of the Plaza at 45 feet.
Read more in the Kansas City Business Journal