Barbie, Hot Wheels theme park coming to KCK is changing plans for Chiefs stadium
The $3 billion Kansas City Chiefs stadium coming to Wyandotte County has prompted a change in plans for the Mattel theme park that Epic Resort Destinations is building next door.
And although the project is still moving forward, it’ll look a little different from the initial plans presented to government officials in Bonner Springs and at the state level.
The developer for the $539 million attraction, titled Destination KCK, plans to revisit and change its site plans to make the project mesh better with the Chiefs’ incoming stadium being built just north of the theme park.
Those changes, and what they’ll look like, are still in the works.
Destination KCK, which grew from its initial $490 million proposal, is scheduled for 2030 completion with construction beginning in 2027. It’ll feature a Mattel-themed adventure park with a Barbie Beach House and Hot Wheels-themed rollercoasters, hotels and other family-friendly attractions that should be open before the Chiefs’ goal to have their stadium ready for the 2031 season.
Epic Resort Destinations plans to remove parts of the project, including an RV park that was planned for visitors to set up at, and add new elements, Megan Gilliland, the city’s economic development manager, said. The group will likely bring revised site plans to the city in the next month or so, Gilliland said.
“He’s well within (sic) timeframe to do these edits and we want solid site plans before we move any other incentives (already stated in the Development Agreement) forward,” Gilliland wrote in an email.
When completed, Destination KCK will join a neighborhood of sales tax and revenue (STAR) bond projects in western Wyandotte County. The Chiefs stadium, Kansas Speedway, American Royal’s new home and the Legends Shopping Center are all nearby where the project is set to be built.
STAR bond projects, a Kansas financing tool, use sales tax revenues generated by a given development to pay off the bonds used to build that project. Wyandotte County is home to more STAR bond projects than anywhere else in the state of Kansas.
Bonner Springs granted the Destination KCK project $221 million in tax incentives to help pay for its construction. That’s including $175 million in net sales tax and transient guest tax revenues, $15 million in tax increment financing and $31 million from a community improvement district that the city created on the project site. Epic Resort Destinations gets a 25% discount on property taxes paid to the local government.
