Kansas City’s next big Royals decision moved a step closer Tuesday, and the price tag is enormous.
A city committee backed three measures tied to the club’s planned downtown move to Crown Center: rezoning roughly 68 acres south of Pershing Road, west of Gillham Road, north of E. 27th Street and east of Main Street; approving the Tax Increment Financing Commission’s recommendations for a new stadium impact area policy; and authorizing about $600 million in bonds for the city’s share of the $1.9 billion ballpark.
The Royals’ broader vision stretches far beyond the stadium itself. The club also plans a roughly $1 billion mixed-use development and a reimagined Crown Center with Hallmark Cards, and that part of the project is expected to be privately funded.
“This is a long investment, a large investment, the stakes are very high,” Councilman Crispin Rea said during Tuesday’s committee meeting.
Before the city moves ahead with the $600 million in bonds through the Missouri Development Finance Board, officials want to be confident the tax stream will be enough to cover repayment over the next 30 years. The city estimates that borrowing will ultimately cost nearly $1.4 billion in principal and interest.
That financial backdrop is exactly why David Hudnall says Kansas City residents ought to be cautious about the recent analysis backing the downtown move. He points to the neat fit between the city’s expected debt service - about $1.393 billion - and the Hunden study’s projection that the project will generate almost exactly $1.4 billion in tax revenue.
Kansas City had already settled on its $600 million commitment before the Hunden analysis was completed, Hudnall notes, and the study’s result lands almost perfectly on the number needed to make the borrowing work. That, he argues, should raise eyebrows rather than confidence.
Elsewhere around the Royals conversation, Jackson County is weighing what becomes of Truman Sports Complex once the Chiefs and Royals no longer play there. And the team’s history is still showing up around town: Kansas City continues to remember Buck O’Neil, who died 20 years ago, while muralist Phil Shafer of Sike Style helped create a mural at 3rd and Broadway honoring O’Neil’s love of storytelling.
“He had a good sense of humor. He was really all about championing other people,” Shafer said.
“He was a really good connector that way. He wanted people to feel like they could come and talk to him, and he could tell his stories to them.”
Nelson said O’Neil made everyone feel at home. The Royals also kept O’Neil’s seat at Kauffman Stadium after he served the franchise as a scout.
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