Interactive: How two potential sites for Royals stadium fit into downtown Kansas City
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A downtown KC Royals stadium could be coming soon
Major League Baseball is very likely coming to downtown Kansas City — and, if voters approve, that new ballpark could be opening sooner than you might have imagined.
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Wherever the Royals choose to build their new downtown stadium, civic leaders have high hopes that the project will prove transformational by bringing in new jobs, housing and amenities.
This interactive map shows some of the properties around two of the sites being considered by the team: One in the East Village, the other near the 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District.
Geographically speaking, the sites are just over a mile apart. But they might as well be worlds apart.
While underdeveloped, the East Village site is near major institutions like City Hall, the Jackson County Courthouse and Kansas City Police Department headquarters. About six blocks away sits the Power & Light District with its bars, restaurants, apartments and hotels.
The other site, currently home to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, sits just east of Troost Avenue, the historic yet persisting racial dividing line. The KCATA headquarters could be combined with Manual Career and Technical Center to give the MLB franchise enough room for a new stadium.
Supporters of this site believe a stadium there, and the anticipated ancillary development, could boost the fortunes of East Side neighborhoods. That site could also bridge the 18th and Vine district to the East Crossroads and the rest of downtown.
Sitting inside the North Loop, the East Village is already near the heart of downtown. But the Royals have envisioned a development across U.S. 71 that would connect the East Village to the Paseo West neighborhood.
That idea isn’t exactly novel: Architecture students at the University of California-Berkeley contemplated an East Village ballpark paired with a pedestrian crossing into the Paseo West neighborhood during a design competition last year.
The Urban Land Institute chose Kansas City’s East Village for its annual urban design competition among North American graduate-level students.
Alice An led a four-person team whose concept was one of the four finalists. The Berkeley proposal and one other incorporated a ballpark into their East Village plans.
While neither won the competition, An was happy to learn from a Star reporter that some of her team’s concepts were similar to those being considered by the Royals as the team plans for a possible stadium in that neighborhood.
Most notable is the 10th Street pedestrian bridge that was central to the Berkeley team’s idea of a walkable connection between the East Village and Paseo West. The architecture students also envisioned high-rise towers for a mix of retail, housing and hotel space, along with new green space in the area.
Now an urban designer at a San Francisco design firm, An said none of her team has heard from the Royals.
Of course, possibilities such as those in the students’ plan exist at any site the team considers.
In the jazz district, civic leaders envision a new streetcar line accompanying a potential stadium there. It would run along Truman Road or 18th Street, finally extending the North-South line to Kansas City’s East Side.
In addition to making that part of town feel more connected to downtown and the Crossroads Arts District, boosters of that site believe a new stadium would deliver new foot traffic and development to the 18th and Vine district.
New bars, restaurants and housing could surround a stadium there, adding more density and vibrancy to the area.
This story was originally published May 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
