KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The owners of the old Kansas City Star building at 16th and Oak streets are making another pitch to the Kansas City Royals to get them to move to the Crossroads.
Tony Privitera, of Ambassador Hospitality and Mark One Electric, owns the old Star building with his sister Rosana and brothers Carl and Joe.
Privitera showed FOX4 a new video he paid Subnation to make. The video shows the Royals new stadium actually going east of the old Star Press Pavilion as opposed to being in it.
In the Subnation video, the new boundaries of the stadium as conceptualized are Truman Road on the north, 17th Street on the south, Oak Street on the west and Cherry Street on the east.
“I’m hoping since we’re the owner of the structure, that this structure could assist in being more of an entertainment hub, a meeting spot at the beginning, during, after the game,” Privitera said in an interview with FOX4 Wednesday inside the pavilion.
“The Press Pavilion is the community experience Kansas City deserves, featuring luxury amenities, a hotel, gym, spa,” a narrator says in the 2-minute video.
In August, the Royals held a news conference at Kauffman Stadium with renderings of their two potential new stadium locations, either in the East Village or in North Kansas City.
This East Crossroads site is a two-minute drive south of the East Village one. Even though the Royals haven’t publicly addressed a Crossroads site since March, Privitera said he had a conversation with team leadership before Christmas.
On Wednesday, team officials wouldn’t comment on this site.
“I think they’re looking at it. I think we’re a force to be reckoned with. I do feel that way,” Privitera continued.
“I feel like this area is the best site because it answers a lot of questions, specifically connectivity. That connectivity is a hard word to make happen. It creates walkability between the north and the south.”
Privitera’s talking about connectivity between the Crossroads and the Power & Light District, just north of I-670. The video Subnation made does not have the cap going over I-670 near his building.
Current plans for the South Loop Link have the cap extending east to Grand Boulevard but not McGee or Oak.
However, the video showed a new pedestrian bridge going over Oak and I-670, so people could walk between P&L and the Crossroads.
“Great question,” Privitera said when asked how the Royals would go about building a stadium east of Oak when that area has a number of different property owners. “The right answer is you have a good acquisition team, and you pay people what the property’s worth.”
Privitera said he doesn’t own any property east of Oak, but he thinks some business owners could move into the old Star building if the Royals actually decided to build their stadium there as opposed to the East Village or in North Kansas City.