What is Washington Square Park? Get to know KC’s potential Royals stadium spot
Kansas City announced a plan Thursday afternoon that would offer Royals public funds to build a Royals stadium at Washington Square Park, Lucas confirmed to The Star.
Currently host to occasional protests, unhoused people and the Irish Festival, this centrally located park could become the site of the much-debated new baseball stadium.
The plan calls for the $1.9 billion stadium to be completed by Opening Day 2030, a year before the team’s lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex. The ordinance would still need to wind through the city’s legislative process, with a follow-up committee hearing Tuesday, before city council members vote on it.
According to the plan, $600 million of funding would come from Kansas City coffers, but Lucas said money from the recently renewed 1% earnings tax would not pay for the stadium.
Two years ago, Jackson County voters struck down a 40 year, ⅜ cents tax that would have funded construction of a Crossroads ballpark and Arrowhead Stadium renovations.
In 2004, a local architecture firm considered the park as a home for a 42,000 seat baseball stadium, according to Star archives. A ballpark in Washington Square Park would displace the unhoused people who congregate and receive free meals there.
Where is Washington Square Park?
Washington Square Park is located north of Crown Center and east of Union Station. South of downtown Kansas City, the location is close to the Crossroads, Hospital Hill and Union Hill. The KC Streetcar line runs along the park, which is owned by the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
The green space is close to the Westin and Sheraton hotels and a number of offices, including the Internal Revenue Service building.
How big is Washington Square Park?
The park, established in the 1920s, takes up 4.8 acres in the heart of Kansas City.
However, the footprint would expand to 11.6 acres with the addition of the vacant Blue Cross Blue Shield building and sunken parking lot, owned by the insurance company.
Kauffman Stadium’s lot currently takes up 18.8 acres, according to the Kansas City parcel viewer.
Plans for the rejected Crossroads ballpark and entertainment complex called for a 17.3 acre footprint, The Star reported.
What monuments are in Washington Square Park now?
In addition to numerous trees, benches and pathways, the park contains a George Washington Memorial and the Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial.
The statue of the first president at Valley Forge is a 16-foot-tall replica of a Brooklyn, New York, sculpture located near the Williamsburg Bridge. The inscription on the granite base states that 109,000 Kansas Citians donated to fund the statue, which was dedicated in 1925.
Washington Square Park is home to the Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial, which was dedicated in 2011. The memorial lists the names of the 900 Missourians who died in the 1950s conflict.
The Star’s Sam McDowell and Kacen Bayless contributed to this story.
