With the Royals’ Crown Center stadium plan now more firmly in place, one Crossroads business owner is looking past the ballpark and straight at what could happen around it.
Nicholas Grunauer, who owns the Austrian restaurant that bears his name north of the tracks and serves as president of the Crossroads Community Association, doesn’t expect the stadium to be some kind of instant cure-all for nearby businesses. He said it’s not the sort of project where every spot in the area suddenly starts doubling revenue on game days.
But that’s not how he’s framing the upside. For Grunauer, the bigger story is the signal the project sends.
“I think where we all win is the investment and the signal to the market that a multi-billion-dollar investment can show that this is a place worthy of that investment, and investment begets more investment,” Grunauer said.
The City Council finalized the funding plan for the stadium project last week, clearing the way for a project that could begin construction early next year. The team and Hallmark are envisioning more than a stadium, too - they want to remake the historic Crown Center area into a sports entertainment district and a “live-work-play neighborhood.”
City leaders are banking on the same idea Grunauer is. They expect the project to pull in visitors, spending and new development in the urban core.
The financing package includes $615 million in bonds to help cover construction costs for the stadium, team offices and related infrastructure. The city plans to use economic activity revenue from the stadium, along with increased sales tax revenue in an “impact area” around it, to help pay those bonds back.
Not everyone buys that argument. Some economic and policy analysts who study stadium deals say these plans often just move spending from one part of town to another and don’t deliver enough public payoff for the cost.
Grunauer, though, sees the Royals project as a major spark for the urban core. He said the neighborhood has already made progress on a number of fronts, and he believes a lot of that is tied to economic activity. He also pointed to shared interests between businesses, residents and the team.
“They want to protect their investment and want to have a safe, nice, attractive neighborhood to protect their investment,” he said. “That’s what we as business owners also want too, and residents.”
In his view, the stadium could set off a chain reaction. More development.
More people. More businesses.
More foot traffic. More workers.
More life in the neighborhood.
And because the area still has plenty of lots left to build on, he thinks growth would also widen the tax base, which could help the city with other problems, too.
“Once you get more density, I think a lot of positive things start happening,” he said, adding that a healthy urban core helps the whole region.
Grunauer said he already sees a buzz around KC Current game days, even with that stadium sitting farther away on the riverfront. He thinks baseball could create that kind of energy “on steroids.”
And beyond the games themselves, he believes the surrounding investment could keep the neighborhood moving every day of the year.
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