Kansas City’s plan to build a Royals downtown ballpark in Crown Center is moving through a report that paints the area’s target buildings as anything but ready for a fresh start.
A recent evaluation by Partner Valuation Advisors found that the historic Hallmark headquarters building, the site where the new stadium is expected to rise, sits into a hillside in a way that has caused “chronic heaving and collapsing” deterioration that threatens the structure. The report also identified nine blighted buildings among the 35 in the proposed redevelopment area, with conditions severe enough to raise public safety concerns and make them unsuitable for conversion into housing.
Ken Jagger, managing director for Partner Valuation Advisors, pointed to more than just visible wear and tear. “There’s also an unsafe and insanitary condition of asbestos within one of the larger buildings,” he said.
The study described uneven floors, problems in utility corridors carrying heating, cooling and plumbing lines, and broader damage to the area’s infrastructure, including broken sidewalks and crumbling retaining walls.
The report was prepared for a tax increment financing application, or TIF, tied to the $1.9 billion stadium project. Under Missouri law, properties must qualify as “blight” or “conservation” to use TIF incentives for redevelopment. Jagger told the city’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday that the conditions in Crown Center meet those statutory standards.
Kansas City has already committed $600 million in bond financing toward construction of the stadium. Under the proposed TIF structure, tax revenue would be redirected to help cover much of those bond payments, which could reach about $1.39 billion over 30 years.
The city’s plan would funnel economic activity tax revenue from around the future stadium site - including food and beverage taxes, hotel taxes, public safety sales taxes and parks sales taxes - over the next three decades to help pay down the bonds and interest. The proposal also expects state support, while private investment is projected to total about $2 billion.
Crown Center is not just a construction site on paper; it remains a busy destination, including for major events such as the Hallmark Christmas Experience, which drew 40,000 people to the area on the Saturday before Christmas last year.
Crown Center officials had not responded immediately to a request for comment.
Royals chairman John Sherman recently said demolition of the Hallmark building for the ballpark could begin in early 2027. The new stadium is planned to open for the 2030 season and is part of a larger development effort aimed at turning Crown Center into a sports and entertainment district and a “live-work-play neighborhood,” with new housing, retail and more.
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