In a new interview, Mayor Quinton Lucas addressed sites and potential city ownership for a Royals ballpark in Downtown, as well as the improvements that could follow the Country Club Plaza's planned sale.

Block & Co. Realtors Inc. recently sold an approximately 1.2-acre infill property between Brookside and the Country Club Plaza. The buyer looks to finish a renovation by midsummer.

In early December, Google secured city planners' conditional approval for a 315.3-acre data center campus in the Northland. A few weeks later, the search engine giant bought an even larger site for a data center several miles to the northwest.

Kansas City planners this week disagreed with the PIEA's finding that a half-block in the Crossroads Arts District last occupied by a commercial tenant about a year ago should be deemed blighted so future bank offices would be eligible for incentives.

Community benefits, public financing sources and ownership of a new ballpark remain open questions, as Jackson County lawmakers prepare to consider an April ballot question on the Royals and Chiefs' existing sales tax.

Thomas "Buzz" Willard, who for years led Tower Properties, retired from the company at the end of 2023. He hopes Kansas City officials will continue building on the urban core revitalization he and other downtown advocates worked to advance.