Some 25 years ago, Kansas City’s downtown was a mega-cluster of abandoned buildings and surface parking lots, said Bill Dietrich, president and CEO of the Downtown Council of Kansas City. 

The imagery was so stark that Irish rock band U2 staged a music video in K.C. for its post-apocalyptic song, “Last Night on Earth.” 

“They didn’t even have to pull strings to make (the video) because there was nobody here,” Dietrich said. 

Fast forward to 2026, and Kansas City is a municipality buoyed by decades of achievement and hellbent on continued achievement. In the last 20 years, the city has, among other things:  

• Erected a $276 million sports arena in 2007 

• Built the $850 million Power and Light District, a mixed-use development that opened in 2008. 

• Established a $100 million streetcar starter line in 2016 

• Hosted six FIFA World Cup matches in 2026 

• Made plans for a new downtown Major League Baseball stadium, which is scheduled for completion in 2030 

“Big things always start small, and usually with groups much smaller than the one in this room,” John Moncke, president of the Power & Light District, told a Tulsa Regional Chamber audience of about 130 people last week. “The fact that you all are aligned enough to come up to Kansas City to see if there are any key learnings to take back to Tulsa says a lot about what you’ll be able to accomplish.” 

Moncke was a member of a panel discussion at the Chamber’s 2026 Intercity Visit in Kansas City. He spoke during an afternoon session that included speakers Tom Gerend, executive director of the K.C. Streetcar Authority; Ann Holliday, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Downtown Council of Kansas City; and Derek Byrne, director of content strategy for Visit K.C. 

The city’s Downtown Community Improvement District, deployed in 2003, helped spark the turnaround, Holliday said. 

“That brought the private sector and public sector to the table together with funding to make downtown clean and safe,” she said. “That was the platform that we needed for the Power & Light District, for transit, for residential.” 

That foundation also led to key infrastructure such as a billion-dollar-plus airport upgrade and a free-to-ride streetcar, as well as national and international events such as the NFL Draft (2023) and FIFA World Cup matches. 

Today’s K.C. downtown contains 32 percent of the city’s jobs and generates 20 percent of its revenue.  In addition, the downtown employee population (roughly 125,000) has nearly doubled since 2002. 

All these factors have created a surge of momentum the city is eager to maintain. 

 “You will have people who are representative of the status quo,” Moncke said. “The status quo is strong and will want to hold you back. The big vision has to be very big because once you start to have some sense of accomplishment along the way, many people will say, `See, that’s enough.’” 

This article covered programming from the Tulsa Regional Chamber Intercity Visit to Kansas City, Mo. Each fall, the Chamber leads a three-day Intercity Visit during which leaders gain peer insights on best practices, potential opportunities and navigated challenges. Topics often include development, infrastructure and workforce.