Tagged: Country Club Plaza

John McClure, the owner and executive chef at Starker's Restaurant on the Country Club Plaza, has died. McClure was 35.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, Mo. – John McClure, the owner and executive chef at Starker's Restaurant on the Country Club Plaza, has died. McClure was 35.

According to The Pitch's Fat City blog, McClure was found dead in his home Wednesday morning.

There are two Moshe Safdie-designed projects in Kansas City: the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, slated to open September 16th; and West Edge, an office and hotel complex near the Country Club Plaza that's been plagued with problems. A construction dispute, bankruptcy, and changes in ownership stalled the project for nearly three years.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, MO – The Country Club Plaza has seen plenty of changes its nearly ninety years, but none of have sparked as much public passion as the recent announcement of new building plans by the law firm of Polsinelli Shughart. On August 19th, Plaza owner Highwoods Properties announced it would demolish the Balcony Building on the corner of 47th Street and Broadway to build an eight-story, glass office building.

Kansas City, MO – While most Kansas Citians spent their 3-day holiday relaxing, one or more were working at burrowing through a wall of concrete and steel on the Country Club Plaza.

There is no quiet way to chop through a concrete wall, yet no one seemed to take notice in overnight hours of Sunday to Monday at 48th and Jefferson. Burglars were cutting a 4-by-3-foot opening in the outside wall of Vinca Jewelry.

Kansas City, MO – The historic Plaza "Balcony Building" at 47th and Broadway survives in a new design presented at this afternoon's city council business session. Spencer Thompson of the Polsinelli-Shughart law firm which is to occupy the building explained the new plan.

Thompson said the final design will incorporate as much of the original architecture and Plaza streetscape as possible, and definitely will include the Spanish-style, red-tile roofed tower.

Kansas City, Mo. – A clearer picture of Saturday night's "flash mob" conflicts on the Plaza emerged in a city council committee meeting Wednesday. But it was also a meeting with conflicts of its own.

Most of the 900 or so young people police dispersed from the upscale shopping area were 16 or under. Many arrived by bus. Only a few, mostly among the older youths, were involved in fights.

Kansas City, Mo. – Stampedes, fights and a general melee in the County Club Plaza District Saturday night have Kansas City Police plotting strategy against next weekend and beyond.

Police now estimate as many as a thousand teenagers, and some even younger, went rampant through the Plaza. It took multiple canisters of pepper spray and arrests to disperse the 'flash mob' thrown together by use of Twitter and Facebook communiques.