Playing for keeps: expanding KC's reach as a sports mecca city

Across the country and internationally, the Kansas City region has become known as a sports mecca, according to Chris Duke, director of sports operations and events at Paragon Star USA.

“There’s always room for growth and we don’t limit ourselves,” said Duke.

Duke and panelists Jake Farrant, CEO and owner at Mammoth Sports Construction; Darren Varner, lead landscape architect at Olsson Studio; Justin Wood, principal and sports and higher education practice director at Dimensional Innovations; and Marcia Youker, VP, client solutions at JE Dunn Construction Company, joined moderator Justin Stine, STS, senior championship sales manager at National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), at MetroWire Media KC’s 2024 Sports and Recreation Summit. The panelists showcased some of the current cutting-edge sports and recreation facilities around the metro area and their impact on the local economy and community.

For years, Kansas City’s Northland was underserved with sports projects or big complexes. In 2023, Central Bank Sporting Complex, located at the intersection of Route 152 and Platte Purchase Road, was completed. Last year, the 76-acre multi-sport complex hosted 32 tournaments. Varner said the complex is on pace to do that again this year. Sporting Kansas City operates the facility.

Wood said he believes that Kansas City has grown to become “Soccer City USA,” although some in St. Louis may disagree. He cited the extraordinary partnerships that have grown between Sporting Kansas City and the community and between the Kansas City Current and the community.

“Just being able to see the amount of community enthusiasm and backing that they have garnered is just extraordinary. . . . The outreach from professional teams down to supporting and enhancing the growth of the youth sports in this city has been unrivaled in any other city,” said Wood.

The panelists discussed the increasing importance that public and private partnerships and sponsorships have played and will continue to play to benefit sports and recreation projects and enhance the player and fan experience.

100+ attendees listen in on MetroWire Media’s 2024 Sports and Recreation Summit inside Dimensional Innovation’s stadium-like conference area. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

Wood said that AdventHealth’s partnership with the Bluhawk development is a great example of an organization that is committed to health and youth sports and that AdventHealth’s brand likely will show up more and more in youth sports.

“When we talk about partnerships and sports, ever since 2020, everything has pivoted pretty fast. . . . I mean whoever thought that the Kansas City Royals were going to have a giant red QT on their sleeve? That would have been unthinkable just a few years ago,” Farrant said.

Farrant also said that sports will be overwhelmed with marketing and advertising going forward as teams and facilities try to come up with more ways to make money.

To be successful, sports and entertainment facilities must have multi-uses and operate year-round.

“Whether it’s professional sports or a college football stadium or even youth soccer fields, you can’t build something for a few days a year or even Saturday or Sunday. These facilities have to be used 365 days a year, and there has to be revenue generation throughout,” Wood said.

Youker said youth recreation sports are now competitive sports and driving area economies.

“The days of orange slices and Gatorade at half time are over. It is now traveling and tournaments, the need for lodging and dining and retail,” said Youker.

Within walking distance of Celebration Park and Sports Complex in Gardner, Kansas, are multiple restaurants, a liquor store and a nail salon.

“That is just one area. That is just one complex. There are so many more across Kansas City that are all increasing the economy. It damages the parent’s checkbook, but it is wonderful for the economy in the metro,” Youker said.

Wood said that competitors and their families who travel to Kansas City for a tournament do not want to have to get back in their car and go somewhere else to eat, sleep or be entertained.

Jake Farrant, CEO and Founder of Mammoth Sports discusses the impact both professional and recreational sports have had on the Kansas City metropolitan area. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

“We have a captive audience. . . . If you can connect them with a bunch of familiar brands and give them something great to do, they’ll stay and spend,” he said.

“Now you’re seeing more facilities that are purchasing more land than what they need for the actual facility because they want to build around it. Once they get you there, they want you to stay there for as long as you can,” Stine said.

Varner said Scheels Overland Park Soccer Complex last year generated more than 24,000 hotel rooms, which equated to $40 million to the economy.

“Those are people coming from Oklahoma, Iowa, wherever. They weren’t going to be here necessarily other than to come to those tournaments. That brought money into our economy. They passed 1.2 million people through that facility last year. That’s a lot of people spending money through there,” he said.

And once you can create awareness of Kansas City as a destination, visitors who come for tournaments may think about coming back for a vacation to take in some of the other area attractions, Stine said.

According to Varner, it’s important to create facilities that will last a long time.

“It’s important that we do the details right and get materials that are durable and that we use good design practices to make things sustainable,” Varner said.

According to Duke, it’s crucial to do research and make sure your facility stays ahead of the game. When it comes to technology, Duke said everybody’s looking at that next new thing.

“We have a hunger for these facilities. As soon as they open, they are going gangbusters. They are bulging at the seams and we’re ready for the next one. So, I don’t think we’ve reached our limits by any means here in Kansas City. The numbers seem to still work, and there’s still that fervor out there,” said Varner.

Farrant said that his company worked in 36 different states across the country last year, and nobody does it better than Kansas City.

“Kansas City is number one when it comes to youth sports. There is a lot to be proud of,” he said.

Header Image from L to R: Lisa Shackelford of MetroWire Media along with the 2024 Sports and Recreation Summit panelists: Justin Stine of STS, Chris Duke of Paragon Star, Justin Wood of Dimensional Innovations, Darren Varner of Olsson Studio, Marcia Youker of JE DUNN, and Jake Farrant of Mammoth Sports Construction. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

Click here to view event photo album by Arch Photo KC.

No hurdle too high for KC'S transformative mixed-use developments

“Doing any development today is really hard. Challenges on construction costs, challenges on financing. Doing mixed-use is a whole other level of hard,” said Michael VanBuskirk, SIOR, CCIM, CRE, vice chairman and principal at Newmark Zimmer.

Yet, several substantially sized and transformative mixed-use projects are underway across the Kansas City market.

VanBuskirk was joined by panelists Brandon Brensing, VP of real estate development at Ryan Companies US, Inc.; Grant Curtin, principal and VP at Curtin Property Company; Dan Horn, development manager at IAS Partners, Ltd.; Holly Rome, EVP, national retail leasing at JLL; and Scott Rosemann, P.E., F.SEI, LEED AP, COO at Rosemann & Associates, P.C. at MetroWire Media Kansas City’s Mixed-Use Masterpieces program last week. Erin Rosenthal, P.E., president at PMA Engineering, moderated.

The panelists discussed some of the current area projects as well as the challenges and insights for creating successful and visionary mixed-use projects.

Above: MWM KC Mixed-Use Masterpieces panelists (L to R): Holly Rome of JLL, Brandon Brensing of Ryan Companies US Inc., and Scott Rosemann of Rosemann & Associates P.C. discuss the challenges and timelines for mixed-use developments in KC. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

One of those projects is Bluhawk, a 277-acre mixed-use project in south Overland Park, Kansas, a large portion of which already is completed. The project includes 380 residential units, AdventHealth South Overland Park Hospital, office and retail. A 420,000 SF sports complex will open later this year.

Another is Discovery Park in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a 268-acre project.

“We’ve taken the live, work, play and we’ve added stay in there. We’ve got two hotels in our first phase . . . and then medical office was a piece of it because we looked at how close we were to all the regional hospitals, and Lee’s Summit is a medical hub. And then the entertainment piece. . . . We looked at the opportunity to make this a regional destination,” said VanBuskirk.

While Bluhawk and Discovery Park are creating new developments where there were none, some major adaptive reuse and redevelopment projects also are underway.

One is the redevelopment of the former site of the Metro North Mall in the Northland, which is a 106-acre mixed-use development called Metro North Crossing.

“For mall redevelopments in particular, in our experience, the thing we’ve had going for us from day one at Metro North is although the mall became obsolete, the real estate that it sat on is still awesome.  We are right at the corner of two highways—169 and 152—right in the middle of the Northland,” said Horn.

Another project in Overland Park is the redevelopment of the Brookridge Golf Course, a 200-acre site being developed by Curtin Property Company. According to Curtain, the project, called Meridian, will feature 2,000 units of multifamily, two million SF of office, retail, food and beverage, entertainment, several hotels and green space. Once completed, the project will retain 18 holes of golf and have a health and wellness focus.

Above: MWM KC attendees enjoy breakfast and coffee while listening in on the panel discussion moderated by Erin Rosenthal of PMA Engineering. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

Mixed-use projects help to satisfy housing demand, which remains high, Brensing said.

“Kansas City has fared fairly well when it comes to rents, absorption, vacancies and those kinds of standpoints. We’ve seen about a 2.9 percent year over year rent increase. With a limited amount of supply coming onboard, we expect that number to increase through the remainder of the year and potentially into 2025.. . . And we’re going to continue to see a lot of growth not only in class A, but also the class B multifamily,” said Brensing.

VanBuskirk said Kansas City’s retail market is very strong. And although office vacancy in Kansas City is pushing 18 percent, office is doing well in mixed-use projects, he said.

“As we do these projects, we incorporate office into it as a very important critical component to have success,” said VanBuskirk.

The panelists discussed the importance of placemaking in mixed-use projects.

“What it does is it creates an authenticity. It creates a connection to the community. And, it creates a vibrancy in the development. And it’s not just one thing that makes that place that you want to go to. It’s everything that’s put together. It’s the architecture. It’s the landscaping. It’s what retailers you put in there. . . . So, it’s very purposeful and intentional,” Rome said.

“Placemaking is huge. There’s no doubt about it. And the thing that we caution all our developers is placemaking happens, whether you mean for it to or not. Every development is making your place whether you know it or not,” Rosemann said.

According to Horn, another critical element to the success of a mixed-use project is understanding up front what the specific community in which a developer is putting a project wants and what the community is missing.

“Every trade area in Kansas City is a little bit different,” Horn said.

“Talk with your city officials. Understand what they are looking for,” said Brensing.

Above (L to R): Deb Blaylock, Karen Saper and Jason Osborne network at MWM KC’s Mixed-Use event. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

Mixed-use projects present financing challenges, and although lenders and financing sources are less leery of these projects than they once were, many mixed-use projects would not happen without including a public private partnership component, Curtain said.

“It’s really difficult to make financial sense without the public’s side of investment in the project, whether it be property tax abatement or sales tax incentives and things of that nature,” said Horn.

According to Rosemann, it is important to include current architecture and design trends in mixed-use projects because that’s what tenants and shoppers expect. Design trends today include pet-friendly amenities and places on site to create an “Instagram moment.”

Rosemann also said being nimble and flexible in designing mixed-use spaces is crucial.

“If there’s one thing COVID and everybody being forced to go home taught us, it is that we end up using our spaces in the life of a building in ways that we really, really can’t envision now. So how do we give some thought to a space that can be used multiple ways, whether that’s today or five or 10 years from now,” he said.

“We’re really getting creative with these developments to get people to work there, live there, play there,” Rosenthal said.

Kansas City’s mixed-use market is faring well.

“I would say the fact that we have everyone here at the table talking about the size of the projects we’re talking about tells you how Kansas City is doing. And, that’s very well,” said VanBuskirk.

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Feature photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

View the complete event photo album by Arch Photo KC here

T.J. Maxx, Saltgrass Steak House, Cactus Grill and more say 'Yes' to Bluhawk

T.J. Maxx, Saltgrass Steak House, Cactus Grill, AT&T, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ and Panera Bread are among the most recent tenant additions at Bluhawk's development in Overland Park, Kansas.

The strong list of tenant commitments follows the recent award of $66 million in STAR bond funding from the Kansas Department of Commerce.

“This key STAR bonds approval and the wave of tenant commitments to Bluhawk represent a critical mass of achievements as we move forward with this highly-sustainable and desirable destination-anchored site,” said Bart Lowen, Price Brothers vice president of development.

T.J. Maxx will be located in the Marketplace Neighborhood of Bluhawk and is scheduled to open in spring 2020. Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ, Cactus Grill, AT&T, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers are also planning Spring 2020 openings. Saltgrass Steak House anticipates opening in fall 2020 and Panera Bread will open at the end of this year.

“Bluhawk is now in its next phase of progress and we are tremendously excited about its growth. We are thankful to the State of Kansas, the City of Overland Park and its residents for being so supportive of our vision for the property,” Lowen said.

Other areas of the site continue to move forward including AdventHealth’s South Overland Park ER expansion into a full-service hospital in 2021 and state-of-the-art apartment homes, The Residences at Bluhawk, which are open now and available for leasing.