There are plenty of ideas to redevelop the Truman Sports Complex and fill the hole left by the Chiefs and Royals from their upcoming respective moves to Kansas and downtown Kansas City.
A transit hub, hotels, trails, a convention center, housing and even an F1-style race circuit are all part of a report Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota released Tuesday. But he won’t be in office long enough to guide any of the ideas to completion.
“It's so important that we do something sooner rather than later,” LeVota said. “It is four years till the teams leave, but that's going to fly by, and we can't wait till they walk out the door. The new legislature, the new county executive, are going to have a lot of things on their plate when they get here. I want this to be something that's already set up for them.”
The ideas are endless. The path to execute them has yet to be determined.
The report, released by the Truman Sports Complex Redevelopment Task Force that LeVota convened in the spring, lists many disparate ideas to anchor a year-round district that would replace the complex when the teams leave in 2031. It splits the development of the area into four phases, though it doesn’t include any tentative dates for when that development may begin.
LeVota said the task force created ideas for what could come to the area by envisioning anything that could be possible. He said he wants most of the development to be privately funded by developers, not taxpayers, which would further determine what is built. The study calls for the county to “leverage its land, infrastructure and existing assets” to attract private investment.
There isn’t time for LeVota to create a firm plan at this stage in his tenure as county executive, which ends in January. He said he wants this study to be a blueprint for what is to come, and to prevent the complex from languishing or turning into something the public does not want.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Jackson County, we’ve got to think big,” LeVota said. “It could be bigger and better than Arrowhead and Kauffman. It could be one of the highlights of Jackson County. Something has to go there for sure, but it can't just be anything. It has to be something where we're thinking big.”
Donna Peyton serves as chair of the legislature and is up for reelection in her position as 2nd District At-Large legislator. She was a part of the advisory committee for the task force. Peyton said she’s optimistic about the potential redevelopment, and said the future of the complex will rest with how well the next legislature and county executive work together.
“These are initial plans giving us something to envision as we move forward,” Peyton said. “Where we need to stay focused right now, and as soon as we can after January, is to bring in our taxpayers, our public, the task force and the advisory committee emphasize taxpayer protection. We need to focus on what is going to be best for the community and we need to have the community involved in those decisions.”
Peyton said the legislature needs to create a committee that will focus on the complex’s redevelopment and work with the new county executive. She wants to set up informational listening sessions to hear about what the public wants from the 400 acres that housed the Chiefs and Royals for so long.
LeVota said he hopes the task force and its study have set up the next executive and legislature to hit the ground running on the redevelopment when they assume office early next year. If they don’t make it a priority, he said he’s concerned the area could languish as a stain on Jackson County.
“I'm very concerned that we don't do something and that place sits in disrepair and is just an empty 400 acres in the heart of Jackson County,” LeVota said. “We can't let that happen. Doing nothing is not an option.”
