Here’s What Might Replace Schlitterbahn Kansas City

Two former executives for Sporting KC want to redevelop the defunct Schlitterbahn water park into a multi-sport complex that would include space for football, soccer, lacrosse and baseball fields as well as facilities for water sports like paddle-boarding, dragon boat racing and kayaking.This according to an article in the Kansas City Star.

Schlitterbahn Kansas City has been closed since the end of 2018 season after a difficult existence that never met expectations because of the great recession; and an accident on the Verrückt water slide that killed a ten year old boy in 2016.

According to the Kansas City Star, Homefield LLC, run by Robb Heineman, a former CEO and current part-owner in Sporting KC, and Greg Cotton, a former chief operating officer and chief counsel for Sporting KC, want to buy the park for their multi-sport park concept.

Kansas City Business Journal outlined Homefield's overall business plan last October. "Heineman and a group of Kansas City-area investors have launched Homefield, a Kansas City-based company that plans to build out 15 to 20 high-end facilities nationwide for amateur sports over the next three years." The Journal noted that Homefield had acquired two facilities from Elite Sports in the Kansas City Area.

In addition to the sports fields the complex will include retail, office and entertainment space and infrastructure related to their business. The proposal, according to the Kansas City Star is projected to cost $330 Million Dollars and the company is looking for $130 Million Dollars in Kansas Star Bonds to help finance the project.

Developers are presenting their proposal to the economic development committee of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City, Kansas today.

Cedar Fair, owners of Worlds of Fun / Oceans of Fun, had an option to purchase the park when they bought two Schlitterbahn parks in Texas last summer, but declined the option.