Kansas City Royals Release New Downtown Stadium Renderings

Populous revealed six new renderings and additional information about the planned new downtown ballpark for the Kansas City Royals. The KC-based architecture firm says the Crown Center location provides the scale to build a neighborhood around the stadium and intertwine Hallmark as a key partner to the Royals.

The planned 34,000-seat, open-air ballpark expects to bring Kansas City fans closer to the field while connecting with the downtown when the venue opens in 2030. Naming Populous as the design lead ensures a local firm leads the project, all while drawing inspiration from the city’s landscape and architectural heritage.

MORE: For additional renderings, visit Stadiums by Tim Newcomb on Instagram

“We are honored to lead the design of a new ballpark for the Royals that feels unmistakably Kansas City,” says Earl Santee, senior principal and founder of Populous. “More than a ballpark, this will be a destination where memories are made, where generations of fans can celebrate the traditions they cherish and where Royals baseball connects to the heart of downtown as the team and the city begin an exciting new chapter in our hometown.”

But don’t expect the new park to erase the traditions of Kauffman Stadium. Populous says the crown, fountains and Little K will all get honored, but with a future-ready venue. The ballpark’s entrance features limestone framed by a layered screen of light-colored materials, metal and terracotta. A lightweight fabric canopy preserves the tradition of open-air baseball while helping manage the city’s summer heat by shading about 65% of seats during late-afternoon games.

In the outfield, a right-field entertainment building and left-field Royals headquarters building will connect to the ballpark through two continuous 360-degree concourses, opening the seating bowl to views of Kansas City while creating a setting for the fountains and CrownVision scoreboard. The two concourses connect to four seating decks, at least 50 fan experiences and an additional 3,000 standing-room-only spaces.

“This new neighborhood ballpark in the heart of Kansas City will lift our hometown’s profile,” says Brooks Sherman, president of real estate and development for the Royals. “We think of Populous as our hometown design team, but they are also the world’s leader in sports architecture.”

In a feel-good story befitting a Hallmark movie, the Kansas City Royals and Hallmark paired on the plans for a downtown Kansas City ballpark for the Royals surrounded by the 85-acre Crown Center. The mixed-use development will include a reimagined headquarters for Hallmark and the new stadium, all part of a $2 billion project, which the team calls the largest private infrastructure project in the city’s history.

Crown Center is already a popular shopping destination in Kansas City near museums and other attractions. The Truman Sports Complex and Kauffman Stadium sit over seven miles east of the downtown site. The development surrounding a park-like central square with fountains—a key Kansas City trademark—will be unlike any other professional sports project in the world, the Royals promise.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com