Billions in development: Royals are just one player behind Downtown KC’s rally, advocates say
October 9, 2026 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
Brooks Sherman, president of real estate development for the Kansas City Royals, speaks during a State of Downtown event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
The next chapter of Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, isn’t being shaped like just one project, Pat Contreras told a crowd this week, noting a handful of massive projects tell a much bigger story of what momentum looks like when investments connect.
“Transportation, entertainment, healthcare, the Riverfront, major civic institutions, neighborhoods — the opportunity now is to make sure the whole becomes bigger than the sum of its parts,” explained Contreras during this week’s State of Downtown update event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Pat Contreras, vice president at McCownGordon, discusses ongoing projects in Downtown Kansas City during a State of Downtown event; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
A Royals baseball stadium and ballpark district at Crown Center, the CPKC Stadium expansion and Current Landing development along the Missouri River, the KC Streetcar extension, and a new Children’s Mercy Hospital Tower signal an extension of momentum that’s been building for decades, Contreras, vice president at McCownGordon, and other downtown officials said.
Since 2000, $10.3 billion of development has been completed in downtown; $2.3 billion of development is under construction; and $9.8 billion is planned, according to the Downtown Council of Kansas City, which hosted the update event.
“We are a long way from stopping by the Main Street Morgue and Gigi’s Wigs, for those of you who have been around for a while and know what I’m talking about,” said Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. “We are a long way from all the fancy restaurants being on the Plaza and no one coming downtown. We are a long way from saying we turned our back to the river, we turned our back to our vital institutions and hospitals, and instead say, this is the center of it all.”
“And I see the Kansas City Royals’ investment as a clear sign of that,” he added.
Core leaders behind such momentum-building projects took the stage at the event, including Brooks Sherman, president of real estate development for the Royals; Mukul Sharma, managing director and portfolio manager for Palmer Square Capital Management; Tom Gerand, executive director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority; and Dr. Alejandro Quiroga, president and CEO of Children’s Mercy.
Brooks Sherman, president of real estate development for the Kansas City Royals, talks about the baseball club’s plans for a new Crown Center stadium during a State of Downtown event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Crown Center — the center of the city — is the perfect place for the new Royals Stadium and ballpark district, Sherman said, a $3 billion project with $1 billion in public funding and $2 billion in private funds.
RELATED: Kansas City will tap 30 years of tax growth to repay Royals stadium construction
“You will get a great view of the skyline that will sit right alongside the streetcar,” Sherman noted. We’ve got great neighbors to our east. We’ve got great views, the World War I Memorial and Union Station. The way this stadium is situated is great for us. If you have ever been to Dodger Stadium, it’s much like that. We’ll be nestled in the hillside there.”
The economic impact of the project will be tremendous for Kansas City, he continued, using San Diego’s downtown Petco Field ballpark — built in the early 2000s — as an example.
“For every $1 of public money invested in that stadium, there’s been $5 of organic, private money invested around the state,” Sherman explained. “And that’s not the team. Those organic, third-party investors are drawn to these sports-anchored developments. So with that kind of private investment coming in, we think ours will be even more.”
Mukul Sharma, managing director and portfolio manager for Palmer Square Capital Management, shares details about the Current Landing development on the riverfront during a State of Downtown gathering; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
The Riverfront is already seeing the economic impact of sports as the home of the Kansas City Current and CPKC Stadium and now with the Current Landing development, Sharma shared.
“Four years later, we have a riverfront that hosts about 50 full-scale events every single year,” he explained. “We have a neighborhood that is growing right before our eyes.
Owners and developers have invested about $350 million of private capital into the Riverfront and are looking to invest $1.4 billion over the next 10 years into the 30 acres, Sharma said.
RELATED: KC adds another big project to the scoreboard, backing Current’s $1.4B riverfront expansion
“We wanted Kansas City to return back to where this city was founded,” he continued. “Kansas City, Missouri, was founded on this waterfront, and in the decades and the centuries since it was founded, we turned our backs to that waterfront for a wide variety of reasons. CPKC Stadium, the efforts of the Port Authority, the efforts of Kansas City, Missouri, at the city level, it’s the next step in bringing our city back to this waterfront and having a vibrant waterfront that is on par with the best waterfront in all of the entire United States.”
Tom Gerand, executive director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, discusses KC Streetcar achievements, as well as where transit could head next in Kansas City; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
The KC Streetcar has made great progress, Gerand told the crowd, noting recent extensions to the Riverfront and the Country Club Plaza.
“The results, obviously, over the course of the last year have been phenomenal with what that connectivity has meant,” he explained. “We see that transformation already happening, the impacts that we see downtown extending the benefits of the ridership, the public response, the power of connectivity to link our neighborhoods and our communities together.”
But there’s still more work to be done, he noted.
“Why not 18th and Vine?” he continued. “Why not north of the river?”
“Transportation doesn’t just move people,” Contreras added, “but it also changes where people live, where investment takes shape, and how our city grows.”
ICYMI: Early feedback: KC wants east-west streetcar line to 18th & Vine, transit leaders report
Dr. Alejandro Quiroga, president and CEO of Children’s Mercy, offers an update on a new Children’s Mercy tower planned for downtown Kansas City; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
As for Children’s Mercy, the hospital is building a 10-story tower that will improve its capacity up to 30 percent, Quiroga shared.
“We’ve grown to almost 400 beds,” he noted. “And that growth has been special, tremendous, but unfortunately, today, we’re at capacity. We receive patients from every state of the U.S. and from 30 different countries who come and seek care. We cannot be at capacity. We have to have beds for any critical ill, any sick kid that comes to our community.”
“When we talk about investment downtown, we’re not just talking about buildings,” Contreras added. “We’re talking about families, talent, people, growth, and the institutions that make Kansas City stronger.”
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