The proposal for a new Kansas City Royals ballpark at Crown Center is raising questions and prompting a mixture of concern and excitement for residents living nearby.
The project, a collaboration between the Royals and hometown corporation Hallmark Cards, would plop an estimated $3 billion stadium onto 85 acres of mixed-use land at the southern edge of downtown, near Union Station — in close proximity to residential neighborhoods like Longfellow and Beacon Hill to the east and Union Hill to the south.
“I just think it's going to bring some vitality and some excitement to the neighborhood that we haven't seen before,” said Robb Traylor, who has lived in Longfellow for almost 16 years and is president of the Longfellow Community Association.
The diverse neighborhood stretches east from Gilham Road to Troost Avenue, and from 25th Street to 31st Street, right at the edge of what could become the Royals’s new ballpark.
Traylor said he hopes the development will bring more people to visit Longfellow and learn about its history, like how it was the site of a tight-knit, radical lesbain enclave in the 1990s called Womontown, now celebrated with a historic plaque.
“It may let some folks know what Longfellow is, which is a really unique, interesting, vibrant neighborhood,” Traylor said. “I think that's another thing that's exciting for us.”
Traylor said he and other residents will be paying close attention to the financing details of the ballpark, and how much will be paid for through taxpayer money.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said the project will not come with new taxes or special taxing districts. The Kansas City Council last week passed a $600 million financing plan to support a new Royals stadium “in the Washington Square Park/Crown Center area,” according to the ordinance text. And any eventual development agreements made with the Royals around the stadium will require city council approval.
To get a sense for residents’ priorities, the Longfellow Community Association is inviting feedback from neighborhood residents at its upcoming meeting in June.
Traylor said he hopes the stadium can become more of a neighborhood ballpark, where the team collaborates with the surrounding neighborhoods to contribute to the development.
‘A parking lot for the Royals’
But the possible influx of people to the surrounding neighborhoods on game days is a cause for concern.
“I doubt that even the most serious Royals fan wants our neighborhood to be serving as a parking lot for the Royals,” said Alex East, incoming president of the Union Hill Neighborhood Association.
East has lived in Union Hill, at the southern edge of the proposed ballpark development, since 2015.
“Figuring out how to deal with that, and the best course of action going forward, is sort of going to be our next step,” East said.
The Union Hill neighborhood has seen several infrastructure improvements in recent years, like the extension of the KC Streetcar line and traffic-calming measures along 31st Street. East said he hopes the ballpark development will lead to more.
“I hope that those things will be able to continue, and that the Royals stadium will encourage other improvements to the area that will connect us better to the rest of the city,” he said.
Given its vicinity to Union Station and the World War I Museum and Memorial, Union Hill is no stranger to large events. Three years ago, Liberty Memorial’s lawn hosted the NFL Draft, and this summer’s FIFA Fan Festival Kansas City will be another test of how crowds could affect the neighborhood.
“I think the main thing is to be able to maintain communication and get as much information about the plans that they have for the ballpark,” East said. “I think people will probably want traffic studies and parking studies, and will want to know the ingress, egress, the times of day when it's going to get busy.”
The ballpark location could also benefit local businesses in the Crossroads Arts District, just north of the proposed site. That neighborhood was previously favored for a downtown ballpark site in 2024, before voters shot down a tax proposal that would have funded it.
Nicholas Grunauer, president of the Crossroads Community Association and owner of Grünauer restaurant, said the Crown Center location “allows a lot of our organic, locally-owned businesses to take center stage next door to a larger stadium district.”
“I see how it could really help Crossroads maintain its Crossroads identity, without having a stadium take over the identity,” Grunauer said. “I think that's one of the many positives about this location.”
