 | |
 Exterior view of venue, 2022 | |
 Interactive map of Hy-Vee Arena | |
| Former names | Kemper Arena (1974–2018) Mosaic Arena (2017) |
|---|---|
| Address | 1800 Genessee Street Kansas City, Missouri 64102 |
| Location | West Bottoms |
| Owner | Foutch Brothers LLC |
| Capacity |
|
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | July 17, 1972 (1972-07-17) |
| Opened | September 30, 1974 (1974-09-30) |
| Renovated | 1976, 1987, 1996, 2017–2018 |
| Construction cost | $23 million ($173 million in 2024 dollars[1]) |
| Architect | Helmut Jahn |
| Services engineer | HNTB |
| General contractor | J. E. Dunn Construction Group |
| Tenants | |
| Former tenants: see theHistory section | |
| Website | |
| hyveearena | |
Building details | |
| General information | |
| Groundbreaking | September 17, 2017 (2017-09-17) |
| Opened | October 5, 2018 (2018-10-05) |
| Renovation cost | $39 million |
| Renovating team | |
| Architects | Foutch Architecture and Development |
| Main contractor | McCownGordon Construction |
R. Crosby Kemper Sr. Memorial Arena | |
| Architectural style | Modern |
| NRHP reference No. | 14000160 |
| Added to NRHP | September 9, 2016 |
Hy-Vee Arena,[2] previously known asKemper Arena, is anindoor arena located inKansas City, Missouri. Prior to conversion to a youth sports and community gymnasium facility, Kemper Arena was previously a 19,500-seat professional sports arena. It has hostedNCAAFinal Fourbasketball games, professional basketball and hockey teams, professional wrestling events, the1976 Republican National Convention, concerts, and is the ongoing host of theAmerican Royal livestock show.
It was originally named forRufus Crosby Kemper Sr., a member of the powerful Kemper financial clan and who donated $3.2 million from his estate for the arena. In 2016, it was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in recognition of its revolutionary design byHelmut Jahn.[3]
Kemper Arena was built in 18 months in 1973–74 on the site of the formerKansas City Stockyards just west of downtown in theWest Bottoms to replace the 8,000-seatMunicipal Auditorium to play host to the city's professional basketball and hockey teams.
The arena was the first major project of German architectHelmut Jahn, who was to go on to become an important architect of his era.
The building was revolutionary in its simplicity and the fact it did not have interior columns obstructing views. Its roof is suspended by exterior steel trusses. The nearly windowless structure contrasts to Jahn's later signature style of providing wide-open, glass-enclosed spaces. Kemper's exterior skeleton style was to be used extensively throughout Jahn's other projects.
The building cost $22 million and was previously owned by the city of Kansas City, Missouri. Financing came from seven sources:
The arena won architectural awards in the 1970s and had these notable tenants:
On June 4, 1979, at 6:45 p.m., a major storm with 70 mph (110 km/h) winds and heavy rains caused a portion of Kemper Arena's roof to collapse.[5] Since the Arena was not in use at the time, no one was injured.
TheAmerican Institute of Architects had given the building an "Honor" award in 1976,[6] and the AIA, coincidentally, was holding its annual national conference in Kansas City half a mile away at nearbyBartle Hall. The last event in the arena had been aMemorial Day concert by theVillage People a week earlier, whileYes was scheduled to perform a show in itsTormato Tour on June 6.[7] Further, the collapse coupled with the 1978 collapse of theHartford Civic Center under heavy snow prompted architects to seriously reconsider computer models used to determine the safety of arenas. In response to that earlier incident, city architect Ken Coombs had announced that there was "very little likelihood of a disaster similar to Hartford's" occurring at Kemper Arena or Bartle Hall.[8]
The arena was one of the first major projects by influential architectHelmut Jahn who was to take over the Murphy/Jahn firm founded byCharles Murphy. Steel trusses that hung from three huge portals supported the reinforced concrete roof. Design elements had called for compensating for winds that caused the roof to swing like a pendulum. The exterior skeleton design had been considered revolutionary in its simplicity (it was built in 18 months).
Two major factors contributed to the collapse.First, the roof had been designed to gradually release rainwater to avoid overloading sewers. This caused water to pond (where water fills in as the roof sagged), adding to the weight.Second, there had been a miscalculation on the strength of the bolts on the hangers when subjected to the 70 mph (110 km/h) winds while supporting the additional rainwater weight as the roof swung back and forth. Once one of the bolts gave way there was acascading failure on the south side of the roof.
Approximately one acre, or 200 ft (61 m) × 215 ft (66 m) of roof collapsed. The air pressure, increased by the rapidly falling roof caused some of the walls to blow out. However, the portals remained undamaged.
The collapse forced the Kansas City Kings to play most of their home games during the1979–80 season atMunicipal Auditorium, which had been the team's primary venue before Kemper Arena was built. The arena's new roof was welded together instead of bolted, and it featured a state-of-the-art network of sensors intended to detect weaknesses in the structure.[9] The arena reopened on February 20, 1980, with the Kings hosting theSeattle SuperSonics.[10]
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In the 1980s the arena became famed for its basketball tournaments including:
TheKansas Jayhawks also played at least one men's basketball game a year in Kemper Arena as an outreach to its fanbase in Kansas City, the last such game being against theToledo Rockets in the 2006–07 season; since then the Jayhawks have played one regular season game a year in the newT-Mobile Center.
The Kemper Arena hostedProfessional wrestling from 1984 until 2008. Promotions such asCentral States Wrestling,WWE,National Wrestling Alliance,Universal Wrestling Federation, andWorld Championship Wrestling all held events there.[11]
On May 23, 1999, theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) hosted theOver the Edge pay-per-view event at Kemper Arena. During the event,Owen Hart, wrestling under his Blue Blazergimmick, was to make a superhero-likering entrance, which would have seen him descend from thearena rafters into thering. He was, however, released prematurely when theharness line malfunctioned, andfell more than 70 feet (21 m) into the ring and later died at nearbyTruman Medical Center-Hospital Hill.[12][13] After the incident, the event was halted for 15 minutes, untilVince McMahon and other WWF Corporate officials made the decision to continue the event.[14] Criticism later arose over the WWF's decision to continue the show after the accident.[15] In court, his widowMartha, children, and parents sued theorganization, contending that poor planning of the dangerous stunt caused Owen's death.[16] WWFsettled the case out of court, payingUS$18 million to his widow, children, and parents.[17] Due to the accident and controversy surrounding the event, the Over the Edge name was retired.[18] The event was also not released for home video viewing until the launch of theWWE Network in 2014, where an edited version of the show that displays a tribute to Hart at the beginning but otherwise removes any mention of his involvement was released.[19][20] In October 1999, Owen's brother,Bret Hart and longtime Hart family friendChris Benoit had a tribute match in honor of Owen at Kemper Arena onWCW Monday Nitro.[21]
Additional American Royal livestock buildings were built adjoining Kemper in 1991–92 at a cost of $33.4 million (the City of Kansas City built the original American Royal Arena in 1922 nearby for about $650,000)
In 1997, a $23 million expansion made significant changes to the original Jahn design—most notably a glass-enclosed east lobby. Other changes include: 2,000 more seats, upgraded lower-level seating, four restrooms, and a handicapped entrance to the arena.
In 2017–18, the arena underwent a $29 million renovation by Foutch Architecture and Development LLC to be converted into a youth sports facility.[22] The renovated arena features 12 mixed-use hardwood basketball courts, four on the lower level and eight on the new upper level, and a 350-meter indoor running track.[23] Each level also has spaces for retail services and commercial office space. The renovated arena was previously set to be known as Mosaic Arena as a result of a naming rights sponsorship byMosaic Life Care; however, Mosaic Life Care released its naming rights sponsorship in December 2017.[24][25][26] On May 17, 2018, Midwestern grocery store chainHy-Vee secured the naming rights, making the arena's official name Hy-Vee Arena.[27]
TheAmerican Royal Association formerly hosted livestock events at Kemper starting when it was first constructed. The Royal also helped pay for the original building. Its offices were located in the building along with the American Royal Museum. The Royal moved to a new complex that includesHale Arena.
| Events and tenants | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Home of the Kansas City Kings 1974–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of the Republican National Convention 1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | NCAAMen's Division I Basketball tournament Finals Venue 1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Kansas City Scouts 1974–1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Kansas City Brigade 2006–2007 | Succeeded by |
39°5′31″N94°36′21″W / 39.09194°N 94.60583°W /39.09194; -94.60583
