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

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Panel unveils plans to add sparkle to KC’s crown jewel

When it opened in 1923, Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza was the first planned regional shopping center in the United States designed with parking to accommodate shoppers who traveled by car.

For a period from about 1905 to 1919, developer J.C. Nichols was assembling the land for the Country Club District, of which the Plaza was a part, according to Kate Marshall, president and founder of Plaza District Council. Marshall said Nichols was very focused on the Country Club District being trolley-centric.

Marshall was one of the speakers at last week’s luncheon hosted by CREW Kansas City to discuss future plans for the Plaza. Marshall was joined by panelists Aaron Mesmer, chief investment officer of Block Real Estate Services, LLC, and Mark O’Briant, COO of HP Village Partners, LP. Tyler Enders, founder and owner of Made in KC, moderated.

For its first 75 years, the Plaza was owned by J.C. Nichols Company. In 1998, J.C. Nichols Company merged with Highwoods Properties, a North Carolina-based real estate investment trust.

HP Village Partners, a Texas-based company with ties to the Hunt family (owners of the Kansas City Chiefs), recently purchased the Plaza from The Macerich Company and Taubman Centers, Inc., which acquired it in 2016.

The Plaza is often called Kansas City’s “crown jewel,” but as tenants have left and crime has climbed in recent years, the jewel has lost some of its luster. HP Village Partners seeks to polish it up and make it shine again.

O’Briant said HP Village Partners has been working to acquire the Plaza since the summer of 2023 when it was approached by the property’s lender.

“I think they saw us as the right operator. They saw the tenants that we bring, how we manage properties, how we operate properties and said this is really a good marriage, a good fit. . . . The problem is that through the 10 months - 12 months [before closing], the tenants started leaving,” he said.

O’Briant said HP Village Partners are legacy owners with no plans to sell the Plaza.

“So in 10 years, we’re still here. We’re not going to come in and fix it up and sell it off. Everything we do right now is to fortify the asset for the next 15, 20, 30 years,” he said.

O’Briant said no institutional money is involved with its Plaza ownership.

The CREW KC Panelists take questions from attendees regarding the future or the Country Club Plaza. Photo credit: Marcia Charney

“What we saw was something unique to Kansas City that we’re not bringing in a Wall Street firm offering institutional money. We’re teaming up with local people - it’s important that we share things with our neighbors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much interest and excitement in buying real estate. This is not like real estate. This is truly like we’re coming into a community that wants to be involved and wants to help morph and transition this into something that’s really unique,” said O’Briant.

O’Briant said the first battle the new owners will fight is security because neither tenants nor customers will come to the Plaza until they feel safe.

He said they meet with the police regularly. There also have been meetings with the prosecutors and judges.

“You’ll start seeing now that we’re relighting the parking garages, restriping the parking garages. We’ve already started working on that. It’s brightening them up, lightening them up. Put more signs out, more cameras out,” he said.

HP Village Partners already has installed Flock Safety cameras, which are license recognition cameras, at some garage locations.

“Police can look for a certain car. If that car pulls in, it automatically notifies the police. They don’t have to look for them. They know they are in this garage,” said O’Briant.

“We need more police officers. Communication is really big. Communication with other owners in the area. . . Why are we not talking to each other, making the tenants more aware? We’ll have people come in and do personal training on how you can store your stuff or show your stuff inside your store so that it creates less of an opportunity for someone who’s just looking for an opportunity. There are little things that we can do, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to get more people to the Plaza,” he said.

O’Briant said it’s important to get more Plaza offices leased, and he has a little more than $2 million slated to create some spec suites.

“We need to get some office leasing going quickly, and that’s kind of a low-hanging fruit. We’ll start bringing in retailers. We’ll start bringing in restaurants,” he said.

With regard to the planned tenant mix, O’Briant said the new owners want local tenants who bring local flair along with a mix of national and luxury tenants. He said they’ve already met with many local chefs.

One of dozens of fountains found throughout the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Photo credit: Country Club Plaza

“We work with a lot of restaurants that are very unique places that you would drive 20 or 30 minutes to go eat at because it’s unique and different,” he said.

O’Briant said there are plans to reskin some of the buildings that don’t have the Plaza’s signature Spanish motif and to expand the sidewalks.

In addition, HP Village Partners will be tackling some capital improvements that have been neglected.

Although the improvements to the Plaza will take several years to complete, HP Village Partners plans to stick around.

“I think what you’ll see is a cleaner, nicer, healthier market, a more secure market and more vibrant market,” O’Briant said.

With plans to improve the Plaza underway, other investors will be undertaking more development in and around the Plaza.

According to Mesmer, during the last five to 10 years, it’s been harder and harder to make that investment.

“I think that today, though, what we’re seeing is that there’s a much greater level of civic support, whether it’s the mayor’s office, with the city staff helping to break down some of those barriers that make it a little more challenging to do business there than it might be in other municipalities. That’s a big change. But, really, for us, now that the Plaza has returned to someone with a long-term outlook, and someone who is going to be a generational owner of the Plaza, that is very much aligned with how we invest,” he said.

And, harkening back to the Plaza’s early days when trolleys transported people to and from the Plaza, the streetcar soon will be dropping off an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people a day into the Plaza District.

“The streetcar is going to change everything,” Marshall said.

Header Image: The panelists at the CREW KC luncheon last week from left to right: Tyler Enders (moderator), Mark O'Briant, Kate Marshall and Aaron Mesmer. Photo credit to Elizabeth (Liz) Wampler. 

Shaping Kansas City: Copaken Brooks' century of real estate innovation

In its more than 100-year history as an on-going business, Copaken Brooks has changed and enhanced the commercial real estate landscape throughout the metro area.

The company’s owners and principals, Jon Copaken, Keith Copaken, Bucky Brooks and Bill Crandall, discussed their current projects and future plans as the guest speakers at last week's monthly breakfast hosted by CCIM Kansas City.

Copaken Brooks has developed 20 million SF of properties throughout its history, but they are not just developers.

“We have five million SF currently under management. We have equity interests in most of it, not all of it. We put together partnerships. The partnerships we’re involved in own anywhere from five percent of the asset to 100 percent of the asset. . . . We serve as the developer or the manager. We arrange the financing with banks,” Keith Copaken said.

Twenty years ago, the property located at the corner of 87th Street and Renner Road in Lenexa, Kansas was merely a cornfield. The city of Lenexa acquired the land and engaged Copaken Brooks to help them master plan the development which today is Lenexa City Center.

Keith Copaken said 1.6 million SF of the property has been developed, and Copaken Brooks has been involved in the development, facilitation, brokerage and everything else related to the site. The mixed-use property is zoned for two million SF. The project has public spaces, including the Lenexa Rec Center, Lenexa City Hall, Johnson County Library – Lenexa City Center, Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center and Lenexa Public Market. It also boasts residential, retail and office spaces. Kiewit Corporation occupies 650,000 SF.

SmartStorage Lenexa under construction and scheduled to open before the end of the year. Photo Credit: Strickland Construction Company

Also under development from the ground up in Lenexa is SmartStorage Lenexa, a three story climate-controlled 695-unit facility, scheduled to open in December.

Hoping to replicate the success in Lenexa, the City of Independence, Missouri has engaged Copaken Brooks to redevelop its Independence Square area with mixed-use. Crandall said he anticipates the redevelopment plan, which covers approximately eight acres, to be adopted by the end of the summer. There are still several parcels to assemble.

“When we talk to municipalities, my mantra is that you’ve got to control the real estate. I tell municipalities, you’ve got to get the real estate. You’ve got to go buy land. You’ve got to go buy buildings. . . . Until you have control, you don’t have anything. . . . Nothing happens unless you start, and the city has had the will to do this thing. The city is really owning this and trying to be a cooperative partner,” Crandall said.

Copaken Brooks wants to do infill development on the site and repopulate the Square.

“There’s lots of good tenants on the Square now. . . .We want to make it a destination,” said Crandall.

Brooks said there are development opportunities at Cambridge Business Park, another Copaken Brooks property, located along the hillside where I-35 swings west into Kansas traveling from Downtown.

According to Crandall, multifamily is probably the most robust asset class that the company is chasing currently. But, the timeframe to get new projects up and running is long.

One multifamily project under development is Third and Grand, a project that has been in the works since 2018 when the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) issued a request for proposal. Copaken Brooks entered into a development agreement in early 2019, and after 18 amendments to that agreement, it closed on the land in February 2024.

Third and Grand has been in the works since 2018 but is expected to be completed the beginning of 2026. Image credit: Klover Architects

Copaken Brooks broke ground on the 245-unit luxury apartment building with parking in April, with completion scheduled for January 2026

“It’s on probably the best TOD [transit-oriented development] site in the city. The streetcar literally runs right in front of us on Grand Boulevard. Third Street is a major east-west bus route. We’ve got automobiles, we’ve got scooters. We’ll have EV parking inside the building as well as outside the building. . . . It’s really a spectacular location,” Crandall said.

Another planned multifamily project is 1818 Main, the land for which Copaken Brooks put under contract in 2021. It will be a 16-story structure with 147 units on 13 levels atop three levels of structured parking. Jon Copaken said they expect to begin construction in September.

“When all is said and done, it will be about a five or five and one-half year endeavor. . . but that’s about how long these things take,” he said.

Copaken Brooks is an active Downtown player. Among its holdings are 1111 Main (previously known as Town Pavilion) and 1201 Walnut. Jon Copaken said the activity on those properties is “really good” even though tenants are still trying to figure out space needs to get employees back in the office.

The company also controls the two blocks directly north of the T-Mobile Center.

“Controlling two blocks within the center of the city is kind of a rare thing,” said Jon Copaken.

Keith Copaken said Copaken Brooks as a company does placemaking.

“We make places, and we make spots that people want to go to. . . . In order to make great places, you have to have time and you have to have control,” he said.

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Header image features Lenexa City Center. Image credit: Klover Architects