What's Replacing Hereford House And Houlihan's At Town Center Plaza

Drive past 119th and Roe on a weekday afternoon and you'll notice two very different kinds of quiet. On the north side of Town Center Plaza, a two-story brick building sits wrapped in scaffolding, its old steakhouse signage already stripped away. On the south side, there's no building left to wrap. Houlihan's is gone entirely, replaced by a flattened lot behind chain-link fencing.

Both spaces belonged to restaurants that anchored this shopping center for roughly three decades. Both are being replaced this year. And the two projects taking their place could not be betting on more opposite futures.

Same Corner, Two Different Bets

The former Hereford House, open since 1996 and closed in August 2024 after a food-tampering case involving a former employee made headlines, is being renovated, not razed. Its footprint stays exactly as it is. New paint, an extended patio, and a familiar Kansas City name move in behind the same walls.

Houlihan's, which closed more recently, isn't getting a second act in the same building. The whole structure comes down. In its place: two brand-new one-story buildings, four restaurant spaces, and as of this writing, zero confirmed tenants.

One side of Town Center Plaza is preserving something residents already know. The other is demolishing a 30-year-old building to make room for something nobody outside a handful of Drake Development executives has seen yet. That contrast is the story of Town Center Plaza in 2026.

The Familiar Bet: A Brookside Name Comes To Kansas

The old Hereford House at 5001 Town Center Drive is becoming the second location of Brooksider Sportsbar & Grill, a Kansas City institution that's operated out of Brookside since 1985. Father-son owners Chuck and Jack Naylor took possession of the building earlier this year and are gutting the interior, turning what was a white-tablecloth steakhouse into a sports bar with an event space upstairs, according to reporting from the Kansas City Star.

The plans filed with the city keep the two-story, 12,228-square-foot building's existing shape but extend the patio by 746 square feet and add a 897-square-foot turfed area with a TV screen and yard games, per documents reviewed by the Johnson County Post. The menu will mirror the original Brookside spot: Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, BBQ pulled pork nachos, burgers, and mac and cheese.

Jack Naylor told the Star he grew up down the street from the new location and remembers when a different bar occupied a nearby spot on 151st Street.

"I grew up down the street, know the area and the people," he said. "I know what a good sports bar could do in the area."

The opening date depends on how quickly the city's permitting process moves, but the Naylors are targeting this fall, which means the first genuinely new thing to happen at the old Hereford House site could be open before the holidays.

The Unknown Bet: Four Restaurants Nobody Has Named Yet

The Houlihan's site is a different kind of project. Leawood's planning commission approved full demolition in March, and Drake Development is building what it calls the French Corner, a $18 million project with a 10,217-square-foot building on the west side and a 6,484-square-foot building on the east, each holding two restaurant tenants.

Company representative Dave Olson told planning commissioners the spaces will hold "high-end restaurants" new to the area, though he wouldn't name any of them. In April, Drake's Ian Mussman told the city council that tenants were expected to be announced within 30 to 90 days. That window has already passed, and as of this writing no names have surfaced publicly, which suggests either the leases are still being finalized or Drake is holding the announcement closer to groundbreaking than originally planned.

Grand openings aren't expected until spring 2027, more than a year after Houlihan's closed.

The city also approved a Community Improvement District for the project, meaning diners at the new restaurants will pay an extra 1% sales tax, capped at $4.3 million over 22 years, to help cover about 23% of the total cost. Not every council member was comfortable with that arrangement in a shopping center that's already fully leased.

"We think of this intersection as our golden intersection, and people want to be here," said Councilmember Lisa Harrison, who also raised concerns about what she called an "invisible tax" on everyday purchases.

The council approved the district anyway, by a 6-2 vote, with supporters pointing to the plaza's age. Councilmember Julie Cain noted the center is now in its 30s: "Things are starting to age out all over our town."

Everything Else That Changed This Year

The two big restaurant stories aren't the only churn at Town Center Plaza and its sister property, Town Center Crossing. Some of the following are already open. Others were announced earlier this year and haven't been confirmed open as of this writing:

• Local Lime Tacos and Margaritas was on track for a spring opening in the former Bravo! Italian Kitchen space near Whole Harvest Kitchen, its first location anywhere in the Kansas City metro after two spots in Arkansas and one in Germantown, Tennessee.
• LEGO targeted a summer opening next to Tecovas, the only Lego store in the Johnson County market.
• J.Crew opened near Kendra Scott and Bluemercury.
• Ruby Jean's Juicery opened its new Johnson County location on March 1 and has since gone fully cashless.
• [solidcore], the fitness studio, was announced earlier this year to open between Athleta and Gorjana.
• Coach Coffee Shop was announced to open next to EVEREVE at Town Center Crossing. It would be only the third Coach Coffee Shop in the entire country.
• Drybar was announced to move in next to Trader Joe's.

Not everything is arriving. Suitsupply, the Netherlands-based menswear chain, is leaving Town Center Crossing after five years at 4419 West 119th Street. Turnover at a shopping center this size runs in both directions, even during a growth year.

Why Now? Ask Who Bought The Plaza

The timing of all this activity traces back to a single transaction. Town Center Plaza and Town Center Crossing changed hands on July 1, 2025, when Federal Realty Investment Trust bought both properties. It was the first Midwest acquisition in the 60-year-old REIT's history. Every one of its other 103 properties sits on the East or West Coast.

Federal Realty vice president Bob Franz described the company to the Leawood City Council as a long-term holder that plans to invest in the properties it buys, not flip them. Mayor Marc Elkins told the council the shopping center was originally built to function as a downtown for Leawood, and the redevelopment pace since the sale backs that up. A new out-of-state owner with fresh capital, arriving right as two 30-year-old restaurant leases expired, explains why a plaza with high occupancy is tearing down a building anyway.

What This Means For The Next Twelve Months

If you already shop or eat at Town Center Plaza, here's the rough order of what's ahead. Local Lime and LEGO have most likely already opened based on the timelines their teams gave earlier this year, while Drybar, solidcore, and Coach Coffee Shop remain announced but unconfirmed as open. Brooksider is targeting fall 2026 in the old Hereford House building. The French Corner buildings on the Houlihan's site won't hold their first grand openings until spring 2027, with tenant names likely to surface sometime before then.

City staff have also flagged parking as a concern with the added dining density, even though developers maintain the growing restaurant lineup won't strain the lots. Residents who park near 119th and Roe on weekend evenings may notice that tension play out before any formal traffic study does.

Town Center Plaza isn't becoming a different shopping center. It's running two experiments on the same block at the same time, one that brings back something familiar and one that asks people to wait over a year to find out what's next.

If you're already watching what changes shape your corner of Leawood, that's exactly the kind of local detail Locate KC tracks. Have a question about what a project like this could mean for your street, your home's value, or your next move in the neighborhood? Reach out any time, we're happy to talk it through.