$330M development planned on Schlitterbahn water park site

 

August 30, 2020



KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Two former soccer club executives are hoping to help fund a planned $330 million redevelopment of the shuttered Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, with sales tax funds.

Robb Heineman, Sporting KC's former CEO, and Greg Cotton, its former chief operating officer and chief counsel, have proposed building a multisport complex on the site, which was sold in June last year.

Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City officials say the redevelopment would "remove (the) blight and political stigma" that has tainted the park since 2016 when a 10-year-old boy was decapitated while on a ride billed as the world's tallest waterslide.

Heineman and Cotton were pitching their plans Monday to the economic development committee of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City, The Kansas City Star reported.

The developers are seeking $130 million in Kansas STAR bonds — originally designed to fund attractions that bring in tourists — to boost the project. STAR bonds are among the most powerful incentives available to developers.

The new complex would include indoor and outdoor amenities, retail, office and entertainment space with soccer, football, baseball and lacrosse fields, as well as water sports such as paddleboarding, dragon boat racing and kayaking.

Tom Burroughs, who chairs the Economic Development and Finance Standing Committee, indicated that he thought it was a suitable redevelopment plan.

"Having that sports mecca there, it just plays right in with the development we have in western Wyandotte County," Burroughs said. "I like to call it leisure-tainment."

Katherine Carttar, the local economic development director, said the county has no plans to offer property tax abatements, and that developers won't receive a penny in incentives until they build the first phase of the project in Wyandotte County.

 

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