Kansas City's Soccer Complex
Project Overview
The 9th and Van Brunt Soccer Complex in Kansas City, MO, brought new energy to an underserved area with a championship-quality facility designed for year-round use.
The completed project featured a 195-foot by 290-foot synthetic turf field, laser-graded to a 0.75% slope for optimal play. The field was also striped to accommodate two smaller U-10 regulation fields, maximizing versatility. Built with a rock subbase, underdrain system and concrete curbing, the field was paired with 90-foot-tall Musco lighting poles to ensure consistent illumination for evening matches.
Project amenities included a new curved locker room building designed to wrap around the existing amphitheater. The building includes a locker room for both teams, restrooms, showers, and wooden bench seating. A cantilevered overhang provided shade and weather protection above the entrances. A 10-foot-wide walkway with adjacent site drainage and pedestrian-scale lighting links the facility to the new bleachers, seating more than 500 spectators. An elevated prefabricated press box with a rooftop video deck supports competitive play and event coverage.
All improvements were designed to meet Parks Standard Details, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) requirements, ensuring accessibility and long-term functionality.
Challenges and Innovative Solutions
Delivering a $3 million project with such a broad scope required creative solutions. The curved design of the locker room, chosen to complement the amphitheater and concession building, introduced complex construction challenges, particularly in configuring the interior spaces.
Later in the design process, the team discovered that the site was once an environmental cleanup zone. More than two decades earlier, contaminated soils had been capped with an 18-inch clay layer, which extended beyond the original field. This discovery required the use of shallow footings to maintain the integrity of the cap.
Additional challenges included shallow sanitary sewer lines, insufficient power supply and substandard soils, all requiring careful coordination with Hartline Construction and their partners to stay on schedule and within budget.
Community Impact
The soccer complex immediately became a hub of activity, with heavy usage seven days a week and a growing waitlist for practice and game reservations. As the only soccer park of its kind in this part of Kansas City, it created new opportunities for recreation and athletic development.
Kansas City Parks & Recreation’s investment in this area brought much-needed amenities and fostered a stronger sense of community just proving that when a high-quality facility is built, teams and events follow. Future plans for the park include a futsal field and additional practice fields, further expanding recreational opportunities.
GBA and I-Solutions Involvement
GBA served as the lead designer and project manager, providing comprehensive design services including surveying, architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, MEP and structural engineering. The project was delivered through a design-build partnership with Hartline Construction and GBA affiliate I-Solutions, who performed the infrastructure construction and concrete work for the soccer complex. This collaboration brought together a full spectrum of expertise, creating a facility that met performance standards while reflecting the character of the community it serves.