Highwoods Properties with two buys and a sell

There is now a for sale sign outside the Country Club Plaza.

Just three days after sun-drenched throngs roamed through the annual Plaza Art Fair, Highwoods Properties announced late Wednesday that it would put the 90-year-old urban shopping district on the market. It has faced criticism for raising rents and driving out local businesses while bringing in chains.

The city passed a curfew as a result of brawls, fights and shootings but the brutal beating of an Army captain earlier this month outside a Mexican restaurant by a group of young men has made a few patrons again uncomfortable about venturing to the shopping district at night. Spanning 1.4 million square feet of office and retail space over 14 square blocks or so, the Plaza has evolved rather constantly under Highwoods’ ownership by focusing on big and boutique brand names and a regional customer base.

And a new master plan for the Midtown area recently approved by the city planning commission could make it harder than ever to get permission to construct structures too different from the Plaza’s iconic Spanish Baroque-themed architecture.

“This is an opportune time for us to monetize our retail-dominated assets in Kansas City”, Highwoods President and CEO Ed Fritsch stated in the release.

Highwoods Properties intends to use the proceeds from the sale of Plaza assets to repay the debt it incurred to acquire Monarch Centre (Atlanta) and SunTrust Financial Centre (Tampa).

In addition to the SunTrust building, Highwoods announced the purchase of two office buildings in Atlanta’s Buckhead area for $303 million. Nearly 95 percent of the space is leased out.