Upgrades could be coming to Trolley Track Trail, Brookside shopping district

The Brookside Shops area could soon see a long-awaited improvement for trail-goers in Kansas City.

Property owners in the district — which includes businesses like Foo’s Fabulous Frozen Custard, HomeGrown restaurant, and The Roasterie coffee shop — have asked the city to approve the creation of a community improvement district for the area to fund upgrades to parts of the Trolley Track Trail and other projects.

A CID is a special entity with a board that can levy a 1% sales tax in a certain area to help cover the costs of planned improvements within those boundaries.

For Brookside, that would mean financial support for work to help beautify the area with new landscaping, signage, art, lighting and other improvements while making paths safer for pedestrians.

The plan would also establish collaboration with the city and utilize city support through public improvements funding, known as PIAC, which is broadly geared toward neighborhood needs in each City Council district.

And the district will receive grants, loans and other funds from the owners and other interested parties.

That will mean the Trolley Track Trail will be better connected through the Brookside shopping area. Currently, the trail gets cut off at 62nd Terrace and users are forced onto sidewalks or through parking lots until the trail picks back up at Meyer Boulevard.

The CID plan aims to connect the trail through the parking lot off 62nd Terrace and Brookside Plaza, meaning less of a cut off for trail users, and making parking improvements.

Renderings show a concept for a central square that would serve as a gathering space along the trail alongside other aesthetic and infrastructure improvements.

“To have them (area owners) put their money where their mouth is to create the CID and help us move that project forward is exciting to me,” Jonathan Duncan, council member for the Sixth District, said at a hearing Tuesday.

Eric Bunch, council member for the Fourth District, called the trail connection plan exciting and said the CID plan could be a model for the rest of the Trolley Trail corridor.

The City Council will have final approval on the CID plan.

This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 5:47 AM.