Hy-Vee Arena

Formerly known as Kemper Arena, this iconic arena hosted a variety of sporting events and concerts since 1973. However, with the opening of the Sprint Center in 2007, the historic arena saw a decline in usage and events. In 2017, through a partnership between the developers and the Kansas City Council, a new plan was devised to reactivate the arena and the surrounding Stockyard District of Kansas City. By 2018, the historic Kemper Arena reopened as Hy-Vee Arena, offering new life as the nation’s first multi-level amateur sports and entertainment complex.

The conversion repurposed the venue into a first-of-its-kind space with 12 full-sized hardwood courts and a 350-metter track, along with fitness, training, retail shopping, dining, gaming, and recovery spaces all under one roof. To achieve the revolutionary vision for the space, the renovated space needed to accommodate more people on competition courts than it was originally designed to hold. This was made possible thanks to the addition of a complete second floor that was inserted at the previous upper deck level of the arena. This new addition required an innovative building systems design to ensure athlete and spectator comfort on both levels. 

To stay on budget, great measures were designed to split the bowl into a two-story sports complex. Henderson’s code consulting team successfully attained a code modification which saved $1 million dollars in costs and kept the project schedule.