At a recent girls’ tennis tournament at the Country Club Plaza Tennis Center, the sound of passing cars and idle buses occasionally drowned out the cheers of encouragement from watching parents.
The event had brought teams from high schools across the Kansas City metro to compete. Gina O’Brien sat in a shady corner, chatting with a player’s mother, while her husband coached a tennis doubles team a few courts over.
“This lady from Lee’s Summit and I were just discussing what a nice facility this is. How much history is here,” she said. “And how it gives the tennis program — city-wide — an opportunity to enjoy this area, when a lot of us would never come down here.”
The outdoor courts, located between Brush Creek and Mill Creek Park, have long been home to the Rockhurst High School, St. Teresa’s Academy, Rockhurst University, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City tennis teams. O’Brien says her husband, who coaches at The Barstow School, has to book tournaments here a year in advance.
But these schools might have to soon look for other options, if Kansas City decides to tear down and replace the historic tennis courts.
Last week, the city of Kansas City opened a request for proposals from developers to repurpose the space, with specific interest in ideas for affordable and multi-family housing, retail and public spaces.
It’s a piece of prime real estate that could get a lot of use, with the recent sale of the Plaza to new owners and the KC Streetcar’s imminent Main Street extension. Once that streetcar line opens next year, it will include a stop at Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd and Main Street, right next to the courts.
The Plaza Tennis Center was originally built in 1928 — just a few years after the Plaza itself — and the land is owned by the Kansas City’s Park and Recreation Department. However, the 14 courts are privately managed, and conditions have been deteriorating for years, to the point that they couldn’t even be used for college tournaments.
In 2023, the facility’s previous management company, Genesis Health Club defaulted on its payments to the city. The lease was then taken over by the United States Tennis Association Missouri Valley/Heart of America (USTA), which promised to share 40% of its profits with the city to fund court improvements like resurfacing.
Kansas City Manager Brian Platt says the city is now looking for a “higher and better use” for that particular spot, but it’s interested in finding another place to put the tennis courts.
“Just a tennis court doesn’t attract that many people,” Platt said. “There are many times during the day when people are not using the tennis courts. Most of the day, I’d say.”
Platt says a redevelopment wouldn’t just benefit visitors of the Plaza, it could also improve life for residents. Attracting more people to live in the neighborhood has been a major focus of HP Village Management, the new owners of the Plaza.
“We don't have a grocery store, we don’t have a drug store,” Platt said. “We don’t have a place where you can get your daily needs anywhere walkable on the Plaza.”
Local residents are conflicted about getting rid of the courts.
Kate Marshall, president and founder of the Plaza District Council, sees it as a necessary step in the revitalization of the Plaza.
“You’re going to have 10,000 people a day getting off the Plaza streetcar stop and walking into the Plaza, and it seems suitable that some wonderful, welcoming development is right there when they get off the train,” Marshall said.
Marshall says the Plaza would likely need more residents in order to get amenities like the Trader Joe’s that was recently hinted as being a possibility.
The executive director of the USTA, Mary Buschmann, declined to comment to KCUR. USTA’s lease for the tennis courts lasts through the end of this year.
Andrew K. stood outside the courts during the recent tournament, watching his daughter play as he had many times before. He says the tennis courts make the city unique, and doesn’t want to see them sold off.
“I really wouldn’t support such a move,” he said. “I really thought it was all over and done when last year they tried to do the same thing, and it didn’t work.”
The deadline to submit development proposals is November 1 at 11:59 p.m. Kansas City will review ideas, and hold meetings with community members and stakeholders before it makes any decisions. Selling off the land would likely require approval from the parks board and City Council, and potentially a public vote.
Platt says the city hopes to have an idea for the project before the streetcar stop opens in 2025.
