Back in April, the Royals announced plans for a new downtown stadium at Crown Center. Details were sparse at that press conference, but this week engineering firm Olsson submitted a rezoning application with the city that sheds more light on what the proposed stadium development.
The application shows a stadium facing due north, consistent with the preliminary renderings released in April. While most Major League Baseball stadiums face east, but many also face north.
Beyond the stadium, the plans outline
a broader redevelopment of the Crown Center district. The rezoning application identifies the existing Crown Center shopping center as Area 5 and the Westin Crown Center hotel as Area 3. Buildings shown in orange represent new construction, while the remaining structures would be renovated. Altogether, the project would increase the district’s total building area from 9.1 million to 12.6 million square feet and include 8,219 parking spaces, although it remains unclear what many of the new buildings will ultimately house.
Diagram from the rezoning applications
Renderings from the April press conference
The study projects demand for approximately 9,000 vehicles on game days when there are 34,000 fans. It estimates that roughly two-thirds of attendees will drive, while the remaining fans will arrive via rideshare services, buses, or the streetcar.
According to the study, 25 percent of fans are expected to approach from the south via I-35, another 25 percent from the south on US-71, 15 percent from the north on I-35, 12.5 percent from the east on I-70, and 7.5 percent from the west on I-670.
To accommodate that traffic, the study recommends upgrades to:
- The US-71/22nd Street interchange
- The I-35/Pennway Street interchange
- The I-35 southbound off-ramp to 20th Street
The report also recommends several improvements to local streets, including narrowing Pershing Road to improve pedestrian crossings and realigning other streets to enhance traffic flow. In addition, it calls for traffic planning that accounts for the nearby Children’s Mercy hospital. The study also contemplates adding additional parking in the Crossroads to alleviation traffic pressure on the ramps near the stadium and implementing “zoned parking” that aligns parking to the purchaser’s address – basically you’d be assigned a parking lot based on where you came from to give you better access to the highway that you need.
The City Plan Commission will review the plans in August. Back in April, the City Council approved using $600 million in public funds to pay for the stadium, to be raised through tax-increment financing (TIF), where revenues from the project pay down the debt. A petition to force a public vote was submitted to the City Clerk, giving the council 60 days to act. The council has 60 days to act on the petition, although Mayor Quinton Lucas has suggested the city could finalize a stadium agreement with the Royals before that deadline, potentially rendering the petition moot.
The Royals expect to break ground in 2027 with an opening expected by Opening Day of 2030.
