How the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is leading KC’s 18th & Vine restoration
Baseball legend Reggie Jackson has more connections to Kansas City than some may know.
The Baseball Hall of Famer is known for his record-breaking seasons with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees. But he made his major league debut at Municipal Stadium for the Kansas City Athletics in 1967.
Jackson was just 21 years old when he briefly lived in Kansas City before the A’s moved to Oakland.
He doesn’t have many memories from Kansas City, but he does remember struggling to find housing. He was one of the most notable tenants of Parade Park homes, one of the first Black-owned housing co-ops in the nation.
When asked why, his answer was simple and pointed out the redlining that was commonplace in the era of the Civil Rights movement.
“I was Black, in 1967,” Jackson said matter-of-factly after a news conference Wednesday.
Last year, when Major League Baseball played a game at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Jackson shook the baseball world with his detailed accounts of the racism he endured when he played for the Birmingham A’s in the minor leagues.
“All those places were racially separated and segregated,” Jackson said about his time in the minors. “[It] was difficult and uncomfortable memories and talking about them is uncomfortable.”
Hearing that story is what encouraged Michael Collins, CEO of real estate development firm Grayson Capital, to partner with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on its next venture — building a hotel adjacent to the new museum officials are raising money to make happen.
“There was no reason for us to not try to reach out,” Collins said during a news conference Wednesday.
The new museum will be built adjacent to the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center, located in the former Paseo YMCA, two blocks from the current museum. The museum is currently holding a $35 million capital campaign to raise money for the 30,000-square-foot expansion.
Grayson Capital is leading the development of a 132-room Marriott hotel in the historic 18th & Vine District. The hotel, which will be officially named at a later date, will be a part of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio Hotels. Tribute Portfolio Hotels is a chain of independent hotels under the Marriott umbrella.
This development will also be the first majority Black-owned hotel in Kansas City since the Street Hotel, according to a news release, which once stood at 18th & Paseo and served as a hub for Black travelers, performers and athletes.
It will also feature a restaurant dedicated to Reuben and Ella Street, proprietors of their namesake hotel, a rooftop bar, and partnerships with area museums and professional sports teams to offer curated packages featuring museum tours and sporting events.
The city’s website has the project listed at a $30 million cost, also stating major construction is expected in the fall.
The hotel will encompass a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Campus featuring the expanded museum, the hotel, the Paseo YMCA, where the Negro Leagues were created in 1920, and a housing development from Grayson Capital. Museum president Bob Kendrick compared the venture to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, which is connected to the Higgins Hotel and Conference Center.
Jackson has signed on to be a partner and cultural ambassador for the project. Jackson has fond memories of Negro League Baseball because of his father, Martinez Jackson, who played for the Newark Eagles of the Negro leagues.
With this partnership, he aims to pay homage to Black baseball players and help upgrade the 18th and Vine District, which is already undergoing the construction of several projects.
“So I understand what the community... was thought of years ago, and I think the fact that they’re going to come in and do a kind of a restoration... beautify the place,” Jackson said.
Museum officials first reached out to Collins about getting access to a parcel of land. The conversations evolved into a full-blown partnership with the firm, with a top-tier baseball name as another partner.
“I‘m looking forward to being a part of it,” Jackson said. “It gives unity in the community. And so I think that’s a way of saying that, socially, it’s going to benefit everybody.”
How it came to be
The idea for a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum hotel gradually came to fruition.
Grayson Capital owned development rights near museum-owned land at the Paseo YMCA, Kendrick said. As the museum board planned to build, they had a vision of controlling the whole block from East 19th Street and Paseo to East 18th and Paseo.
Grayson Capital is planning to build multi-family housing on 18th and Lydia Avenue on top of and around the city-owned garage at 1819 Lydia Avenue. The housing includes 150 luxury apartments and retail, and its name will pay homage to the Negro Leagues.
It will be among several construction projects in the 18th and Vine District, which are currently causing East 18th Street to be closed.
“I don’t think the garage would have happened necessarily at the timing which it did, if we weren’t committed to what we’re already doing,” Kendrick said.
The garage will have 470 spaces on what is currently a surface parking lot. It will be funded through $20 million in bond funds, according to city documents.
Kansas City has long attempted and failed to revitalize the 18th and Vine District. But Kendrick is excited because of the ongoing development and future plans to continue to upgrade the jazz district.
During the news conference for the partnership, the walking historian explained how Negro Leagues teams had a positive economic impact on urban communities. He hopes this is the beginning of a new era for the district that is looking to reignite its glory days.
“I hope people understand the commitment, which is a $35 million commitment from a museum our size, which is quite substantial,” Kendrick said. “I hope it fortifies our commitment to the district. We’re never leaving.”
“This is an opportunity to create economic vitality in an area that deserves this,” Collins said. “Because this is American history.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 5:11 PM.
