The Kansas City Royals’ evaluation of prospective sites for a downtown baseball stadium has long been common knowledge, but the extent of the team’s research on the real estate side remained a mystery until a few weeks ago.
Executives with sports architect Populous, a consultant for the Royals, said the team has considered 14 potential sites in or close to Downtown for a $2 billion ballpark and surrounding baseball district. The team briefly flashed a highlighted map of the sites in its presentation at a Dec. 13 community meeting.
The map includes multiple sites that have recurred in Royals stadium talks over the 20 years some urban advocates have lobbied for such a venue: the East Village; the East Crossroads, east of The Kansas City Star’s former offices; the area around the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority’s headquarters, near the 18th & Vine Jazz District; blocks east of the T-Mobile Center that include the Jackson County Detention Center; and a portion of the North Loop, near the Flashcube Luxury Apartments.
Click though the map graphic below to see approximately where the Royals have considered building a new ballpark.
Among the more intriguing revelations was the team’s consideration of a roughly two-by-three block section of North Kansas City, bounded generally by Armour Road and E. 15th Avenue from north to south, and Swift and Howell streets from west to east. The area houses several commercial buildings, including some industrial properties acquired by Dallas-based ATCAP Partners in a massive September investment sale; the shuttered AMF Pro Bowl Lanes site, owned by an Americo Life Inc. affiliate; and surface parking lots.
That location marks the lone site on the Royals’ site map outside Jackson County, where the team intends to seek an extension of the three-eighths-cent sales tax now covering stadium renovations at Truman Sports Complex. The North Kansas City site is in Clay County, so it’s unclear what, if any public financing sources the team has considered there.
A second site north of the Missouri River sits within 29.8 industrial acres east of the Heart of America Bridge, just south of Kansas City’s border with North Kansas City.
South of the river, a third as-yet unreported ballpark prospect is in the south West Bottoms, between Interstate 670 to the north and Hy-Vee Arena to the south.
The six other sites are in different corners of the Downtown Loop and Crossroads Arts District. Some are variants of previously identified locations.
A second East Crossroads location is several blocks south of the iteration east of the former Star pavilion, generally bounded by 17th Street and railroad tracks from north to south, and Cherry and Campbell streets from west to east. And while the Royals’ map does not include an old site proposal to build a baseball stadium over Washington Square Park, it does feature a nearby location that includes surface parking owned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, plus several blocks to the north.
Populous Founder Earl Santee told FOX4 that each of the 14 sites has a minimum of 14 acres for the Royals’ ballpark itself, and that the selection will have a big influence on the stadium’s architectural design, beyond staple elements in line with Kauffman Stadium’s fountains and Crown. The venue’s design and construction probably will take about four years, give or take, depending on the site, Santee said last week.
The Royals have not shared when it considered each of the sites on its map, or how many of those locations remain under active consideration. The East Village has remained the most commonly discussed baseball prospect, including by the Royals themselves, sources have said.
Brooks Sherman, the team’s chief operating officer, cited business reasons in declining to discuss site specifics at the Dec. 13 community meeting, but said that the Royals have continued due diligence on “what we believe might be the best location.”
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