Did Rihanna and A$AP Rocky buy a house in Kansas City? This Ward Parkway area is abuzz

Walking around the Plaza Art Fair in September, Ron Jury bumped into several acquaintances who had the same question for him.

“It was a lot of, ‘How do you like your new neighbor?’” said Jury, who lives south of the Plaza, between Ward Parkway and State Line Road.

They were referring to a rumor that’s been whispered among real estate agents, local artists and blue-blood business types since late spring: that the billionaire pop star Rihanna had purchased a house in, of all places, Kansas City.

Lending credence to the gossip is an actual fact: Rihanna quietly visited Kansas City in June when rapper A$AP Rocky — her partner and father of her children — filmed a music video in the West Bottoms. Four months earlier, Rihanna had performed during the halftime show of the Chiefs’ victorious Super Bowl.

Rihanna’s handlers did not respond to questions from The Star about what designs, if any, she might have on Kansas City real estate. But the rumor mill has churned out a variety of explanations for why such a rich and famous couple would decide to buy a home here.

They had been charmed by the city during their stay. They realized they could buy a palatial estate here for a fraction of what it would cost on the coasts. KC’s a nice halfway point between their homes in Los Angeles and New York. They wanted a quiet place away from the glare of international media to take their two young children.

Or maybe it was just an investment property.

Whatever their supposed motivation, the same question is on many Kansas Citians’ lips:

Which house?

5550 Ward Parkway

Near Jury’s home, on the northwest corner of 56th Street and Ward Parkway, a sprawling, six-bedroom, eight-bathroom, Mediterranean style home sits on two gated acres.

“It’s a pretty ornate property,” said Chris Egan, the former president and CEO of two local companies — Attane and Service Management Group — who also lives nearby. “I’ve heard the rumor that they bought it, yeah. My nanny heard it from somebody at a hair salon she was at. But that’s all I know.”

5550 Ward Parkway was once the home of Mike Archer, the former CEO of Applebee’s. More recently it was owned by Daniel and Donna Thomas. Daniel is the president of Periodontal Specialists, a dental surgery practice with six locations in the metro; Donna is a pediatric dentist.

The Thomases sold the home in July, records show, to MVT Properties LLC. The registered agent of MVT Properties is Michelle Van Trump, a local real estate agent. Her lakefront home in Belton is currently on the market for $1.8 million.

Records also show that MVT Properties took out a $2.5 million loan from Country Club Bank on the home and filed an Assignment of Rents with Jackson County at the time of the purchase. An Assignment of Rents typically suggests a property will be leased. Lenders (such as Country Club Bank) often require them to secure rental income in the event the homeowner defaults on the mortgage.

Perhaps, the thinking goes, MVT Properties is just a “straw buyer” that purchased the home and has a separate, private agreement to lease or eventually sell the property to Rihanna.

But there is no publicly available evidence to support that theory. And Van Trump denies it.

“My daughter is an architect who’s starting a new firm, and we’re going to renovate it,” Van Trump said of the home. “Nobody is lined up to rent or buy it from us. We’ve had zero discussions like that.”

She said she’s aware of the rumors.

“I’m surprised it took you this long to call me,” Van Trump said. “I’ve been hearing from people for months. The listing agent even asked me, ‘Did I show the home to them?’ I said, ‘I think you’d know if you showed a home to Rihanna.’”

But a neighbor, Gary Robb, wasn’t quite so dismissive. Along with his wife, Anita, Robb runs a boutique aviation litigation firm that has worked on, among other lawsuits, the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash case. Theirs is a majestically manicured house off 55th and Ward Parkway that looks like a museum.

Asked if he’d heard that Rihanna was moving in, Robb told The Star, “I’m not supposed to comment on that. We have and always will respect people’s privacy.”

1200 W. 57th Terrace

Chris Mather thinks he knows the root of all the Rihanna/Rocky speculation. He is the listing agent for 1200 W. 57th Terrace, a 7,600-square-foot home a couple blocks down Ward Parkway from Van Trump’s property.

“I have been in the thick of this rumor mill for months now,” Mather said.

The home has been on the market since the spring (asking price: $3.5 million). It is owned by a trust controlled by the Belger family, who are known in town for their arts patronage.

Mather said he was approached by “someone in Rihanna’s crew” in June because she was looking for a place to stay for a few nights while A$AP Rocky was in Kansas City filming his music video. There was interest in the Belger house as a possible option.

“She never actually looked at houses to buy,” Mather said. “She was just interested in somewhere to stay for a few nights. Which was exciting, because there have been rumors that she has spent a lot of money per night to stay at these huge houses before. But given the privacy of the owner and the amount of amazing art in the house, the answer was unfortunately no.”

(He added that he didn’t know where she ended up staying but didn’t think it was anywhere on Ward Parkway.)

Mather thinks the rumors started there: Rihanna looking for a house to sleep in for a few nights turned into Rihanna shopping for houses.

“Every friend, colleague, and random human I know has called me about it,” Mather said. “But I do a lot of homes in this price range, and I’ve talked to just about every agent who would be involved in something like this. And I know (Michelle Van Trump). And I haven’t heard anything that makes me think this is true.”

Still, the rumor persists. Recently, the celebrity gossip Instagram account DeuxMoi, which has more than 2 million followers, published an anonymous tip from someone claiming Rihanna bought a house down the street from them in Kansas City.

Others have speculated that a different house on Jury and Egan’s block could be the one, owing to the fact that it is currently under a great deal of construction.

The house is owned by Jeff Hargroves, the founder of the pharmaceutical compliance services company ProPharma, and his wife, Amy. The Star was unable to reach them for comment. But Jury, who lives across the street, said he didn’t think so.

“They bought the side lot next to them a few years ago,” Jury said. “They’re just remodeling, moving things around.”

He added that he would be happy to welcome Rihanna, A$AP or any other celebrities to the block.

“Somebody asked me the other day if Beyonce was going to buy my house,” Jury said. “I look forward to receiving that offer.”