Royals Move Across River Threatens Downtown Kansas City Momentum

This Sunday morning we share a warning and a truism that's open to discussion . . .

ROYALS MOVING TO NICE SIDE OF THE BRIDGE WOULD DEVASTATE INVESTOR CONFIDENCE IN DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY!!!

Online there is chatter & propaganda that claims this won't happen because real estate shell companies connected to the home team have purchased a few buildings near the East Village.

Make no mistake . . . It CAN happens and insiders say it's likely.

We won't go through the whole thing again but for these reasons and several more . . . A potential Royals move to NKC is much more than a bargaining chip . . . It's a viable option we're going to have to confront. 

Why the Royals might move: 

- Better highway & mass transit access

- Better Public Safety & lower crime stats for fans & families. 

- More enthusiasm from state lawmakers & residents. 

Those are just a few reasons the move makes sense . . . 

Now, we take a moment here at www.TonysKansasCity.com to look at the impact . . . 

ROYALS DITCHING DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY WOULD DESTROY CONFIDENCE IN THE ECONOMIC FUTURE INSIDE THE LOOP!!!

So far taxpayers have plunked down BILLIONS of bucks over a decade but COVID turned the tables on cramped urban life and Downtown is no longer the fastest growing "neighborhood" in the metro. 

Momentum has shifted to the Northland.

Without a stadium anchor to lure suckers fans into the downtown area . . . There isn't much hope on the horizon to keep people coming to a district that's now mostly for b-list concerts and overpriced restaurants. 

Like it or not . . .

Without the Royals, Downtown might be headed toward yet another downturn. 

Now we move beyond opinion and check recent data from June 2023 in the nation's financial paper of record: 

Wall Street Sours on America’s Downtowns

Here's the word . . . 

Downtowns have been a mother lode for American cities over the years, providing billions of dollars in tax revenue along with their distinctive skylines. In turn, investors who bet on downtown office towers, or on the trains and buses delivering workers to them, could generally trust they held a winning hand.

Now, with white-collar workers spending more time in their home offices, a phenomenon that shows few signs of ending, investments linked to downtowns are trading at falling prices in volatile markets.

“You could see this as a slow-motion change or as the beginning of a slow-moving train wreck,” said Richard Ciccarone, president emeritus of Merritt Research Services, a municipal credit-analysis firm. “I hope it’s not a train wreck, but it could be.”

The big picture . . . 

Office buildings are only about 50% as full as before Covid-19 across 10 major metro areas, according to keycard tracking by Kastle Systems, a building-security company. Federal transit data show public-transportation ridership at less than 70% of pre-Covid levels in major metro areas.

President Biden said more than a year ago it was time for America to get back to work “and fill our great downtowns again.” Yet even in the federal workforce, more than half of employees worked remotely at least one day a week last year, according to one survey.

And so . . . 

We're not posting this to share panic but merely to prepare KCMO residents for the tough reality that, if the Royals leave, so much money invested inside the loop was all for naught given that long-term "density" and economic opportunity imagined by politicos never really materialized.

Developing . . .