KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City downtown council is reviving an idea of putting a park right on top of the South Loop.
"We're very excited to have more open space adjacent to the Crossroads," David Johnson, a board member of the Crossroads Community Association, said.
Johnson has followed this conversation for nearly a decade.
The first concept in 2009 came with a price tag of $175 million.
Then last fall the Downtown Council reached out to architecture firm HNTB for a study to update the cost estimate.
The firm on Tuesday provided renderings of their revised plan that includes decking I-670 between Wyandotte St. and Grand Blvd.
The cost now, according to the firm, is $139 million.
"It's a big capital project and even though they've been able to get the price tag down, I think there's a lot of needs for basic infrastructure right now in Kansas City and so this will have to go into the mix with everything else," Johnson said.
If it's ever built, the park would feature amenities and programming similar to Klyde Warren Park in Dallas and the High Line park in New York City.
An architect who worked on the study told 41 Action News, the purpose of this concept is to make it grant-ready to search for funding.
Something that the Downtown Council will have to rally for in their ambitious plan to link the Power & Light District and the Crossroads.
