There is “no deal” for the Royals or their affiliates to acquire the Aspiria mixed-use campus in central Overland Park, the property owner and team officials both say.
“Contrary to a report of a deal between Aspiria and the Royals Affiliate who holds the mortgage on the Aspiria campus, there is no deal,” said Sam Mellinger, vice president of communications for the Royals, in an emailed statement Wednesday.
Occidental Management, the Wichita-based owner of the 200-acre Aspiria campus, offered a similar statement, denying reports of a supposed deal.
“We continue to work together constructively toward a positive solution,” both Occidental President Chad Stafford and Mellinger said in separate emailed statements.
Both sides responded to the Post’s request for comment after Fox 4 reported Monday, citing multiple unnamed sources, that the team and Occidental had reached a deal for the Royals’ affiliate to acquire the prominent site at 119th and Nall.
The Royals continue to search for a location for their future stadium on either side of the state line. Both states have authorized possible public financing incentive packages designed to woo the Royals and the Chiefs to Kansas or keep them in Missouri.
Mellinger said that when the Royals have “something to report” on the ongoing search for a location for a future new stadium from the baseball team, “rest assured you will hear it directly from us.”
Earlier this year, an affiliate of the Royals acquired the mortgage on the Aspiria campus, seemingly confirming the team’s interest in the one-time Sprint World Headquarters site.
The Kansas City Business Journal last week reported that Occidental faced an Aug. 9 deadline to pay back the roughly $230 million loan now controlled by the Royals’ affiliate. As of Thursday, Johnson County property records showed no change in ownership at Aspiria.
Aspiria tenants remain a ‘shared concern’
Both the Royals and Occidental said discussions are ongoing, and in the meantime stressed that the existing tenants at Aspiria — formerly the Sprint World Headquarters — are top of mind.
“The Aspiria tenants are the primary shared concern of both organizations. Together, we will ensure they continue to receive the best in class service they receive today,” Stafford, Occidental’s CEO, said. That exact line was echoed by Mellinger in a separate statement.
Global engineering firm Black & Veatch has plans in the works to remake its Overland Park headquarters site that neighbors Aspiria and has also rented office space at Aspiria.
In an emailed statement, the engineering firm said it would “continue to monitor and welcome the ongoing interest in developing” this area.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with the city and potential new neighbors as plans for future development and growth of our vibrant community advance,” a spokesperson said. “We will continue to assess potential development to ensure efforts are positive for our work and employee-owners and complement the visionary project to evolve our property.”
Wisconsin-based financial technology firm Fiserv — which recently announced plans to lease out two existing buildings spanning roughly 425,000 square feet at Aspiria to set up a new regional hub — told the Post that they are “aware of potential new tenants at the Aspira [sic].”
At the time of publication, Netsmart — a health care software company with offices at Aspiria — had not returned the Post’s request for comment, nor had T-Mobile, which also leases out space on the west end of the campus.
The Jewish Community Center, a direct neighbor of Aspiria, also did not immediately return the Post’s request for comment.
‘We support our local teams’
Overland Park does not have any active development applications related to a potential stadium at the Aspiria campus.
However, in an emailed statement, Mayor Curt Skoog said the city “is supportive of our hometown teams.”
“We know the Chiefs and Royals belong in the Kansas City region and will do everything in our power to keep them here,” Skoog said.
The city of Leawood, which is adjacent to the Aspiria campus, issued a similar statement.
“We support our local sports teams and the sense of community and pride they bring to our region,” said City Administrator Diane Stoddard. “If the Royals ultimately select a site in close proximity to Leawood, we look forward to engaging with the community.”
The Royals’ current lease on Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, goes through 2031.
Current Aspiria plans emphasize retail, office, housing
Once the world headquarters of the old Sprint Corporation, the telecommunications company had wanted to someday house some 15,000 employees there on the campus, but the vision for that never fully panned out.
In 2019, Sprint sold the office park and undeveloped land to Occidental and began leasing its occupied space back. The following year, when Sprint and T-Mobile completed a merger, the latter took over the lease, and to this day, the company continues to operate some corporate offices on the western portion of the campus. Other tenants have joined T-Mobile as well, including HNTB and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Eventually, Occidental had Aspiria rezoned to Overland Park’s mixed-use district zoning designation, which allows a variety of uses, including housing, office, retail, hotels and arenas, according to the city’s Unified Development Ordinance.
Current approved plans for the campus focus exclusively on retail, offices, dining, multifamily housing and hotels. That said, plans for Aspiria have evolved over the past few years, and it remains largely made up of offices, a reportedly tough market to be in post-pandemic.
Additionally, in 2023, Occidental’s $232.5 million loan on the property was listed as a “loan of concern” and a bond rating agency put it on “downgrade” watch.
However, construction is underway on a new entertainment complex called Andretti Indoor Karting & Games. The city also signed off earlier this year on a development plan for more retail near 115th and Nall.
This story was originally published by the Johnson County Post
