After years of speculation, it’s been settled—the Kansas City Royals are getting a new home in a Royal remake.
But this is more than just a stadium. It’s a development home run.
The new Royals stadium will be part of a $3 billion, 85-acre mixed used business and entertainment district using $2.4 billion in private funds from the Royals organization and Hallmark Cards, with an additional $600 million coming from the city. The deal marks the largest private investment in the city’s history, and a world-recognized jewel. “The development surrounding a park-like central square with fountains has little if any precedent worldwide for a professional sports project,” according to a press release on the stadium by Major League Baseball.
Royals owner John Sherman, Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, announced the public/private deal Wednesday near Hallmark headquarters. “Our founder Ewing Kauffman wanted the Royals to be Kansas City’s forever, and he wanted the team to benefit his hometown as much as possible,” Royals CEO and Chairman John Sherman was quoted in an MLB press release about the announcement. “Joining Hallmark with this project achieves both and extends the Hall family’s critical legacy of helping Kansas City grow.”
The Royals expect to break ground in 2027 with a target date of opening for the 2030 season. The $1.9 billion stadium will be built in the first phase of a multi-phase development.
The master plan is yet to be finalized but an artist rendering is making the rounds. Parking is expected to be available within the existing Crown Center infrastructure, including 9,000 parking spaces and the Kansas City streetcar stops along Main Street, according to MLB.
The announcement ended years of speculation that the stadium would be built in Washington Square Park, just north of Crown Center hotel, among other proposed locations.
Instead that park reportedly will be retained and upgraded, according to city officials, with the stadium now just east and south of the park, taking the space of the Hallmark Cards corporate offices which will be bulldozed.
Hallmark will build a new corporate headquarters within the Crown Center area.
Just a week ago, the Kansas City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the next phase of work on a proposed downtown stadium project for the Kansas City Royals “in and around Washington Square Park” and Crown Center.
The ordinance also appropriates funding for professional services related to the project, including legal, financial, engineering, planning, and design support “needed to evaluate and negotiate the proposed development.”
It requires public engagement related to the lease and development agreement, including consultation with existing businesses in the area on issues such as parking, access, and operations. City officials have yet to outline when those actions will be undertaken.
Now the nitty gritty begins. The announcement was just the beginning. Additional legislative steps related to funding, zoning, permitting, tax increment financing, and other required approvals still need to come before the city council, according to the ordinance.
