KANSAS CITY, Mo. — New restaurants could be coming to the Country Club Plaza, but there is pushback from neighbors of the proposed building.

Since 1942, the Seventh Church of Christ Scientist has been at the corner of West 47th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

But now there are plans to tear it down and turn it into Cocina47, a three-story building with restaurants on each floor.

“It’s something that’s not here in Kansas City, and it really kind of helps redefine dining on the Plaza area,” Matt Penington, president of Drake Development, said.

Pennington said the project has been in the works for about a year and is still in the early process, but there is some push back from people who live nearby.

Neighbors told FOX4 development is needed, but preservation is just as important.

“Well this a beautiful structure,” Robert Martin, president of the Plaza Westport Neighborhood, said. “It seems to me that it wouldn’t be that difficult to put some other structure that merges out of this building that’s within the plaza area plan.”

Martin said Cocina47 exceeds the Plaza Bowl Overlay height limit of 45 feet.

“We don’t want very tall buildings in this commercial shopping residential eating district,” Martin said.

The Plaza Bowl Overlay ordinance governs how high buildings can be. Thirty-percent of the third floor in Cocina47 would be over that 45-foot threshold.

Martin also said neighbors have a problem with parking not being included in the project.

Historic Kansas City, Friends of the Plaza, Plaza Neighborhoods, and Midtown Neighborhoods are launching a campaign to stop the church from being demolished.

Councilman Eric Bunch said parking is not a problem to him, but he believes in preserving the history of the building.

Pennington said he is willing to continue working with people, but also must keep tenants in mind.

A plan hasn’t been sent in yet, but it would require city council approval and special approval to go over the 45-foot limit.