For once, things are looking up for the beleaguered 18th & Vine District

At long last, Kansas City’s perpetually floundering 18th & Vine District — which seemed to endure another setback when American Jazz Museum CEO Greg Carroll abruptly resigned in July, amid political turmoil — may be headed for something of a revival.

City, state and federal officials are working with Major League Baseball to develop a portion of Parade Park, immediately north of the 18th & Vine District, into a baseball-centric theme park of sorts. Kansas City leaders are trying to tie up loose financing ends to build what MLB calls an Urban Youth Academy in the park.

MLB’s Urban Youth Academy hosts free baseball and softball training year-round. Kansas City’s academy, if plans come to fruition, would be the sixth such facility in the United States.

The first was built in Compton, California. Since then, others have opened in Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia and, most recently, Cincinnati.

The academy would be part of a larger project adjacent to 18th & Vine that would include four baseball diamonds designed for Little League Baseball play, as well as tennis courts in Parade Park.

Planned announcements have been in the works at various points this summer, though each has been postponed because financials haven’t added up to the $13.7 million that the project is expected to cost.

City sources indicate that the project has been about $6 million short of its goal. MLB and the Kansas City Royals are expected to contribute to the Urban Youth Academy. The Missouri General Assembly set aside $2 million in its current budget for the project, and the city is expected to have some of its own skin in the game, as it often does with 18th & Vine.

Jermaine Reed, a 3rd District councilman, says he’s eager to see the 18th & Vine District — home to the American Jazz Museum and the adjoining Negro Leagues Baseball Museum — perform better than it has in the past. He tells The Pitch that backers of the idea are applying for $6 million in tax credits from the Missouri Development Finance Board. If successful, the tax credit could help close the funding gap.

The baseball project is part of a larger set of plans for the 18th & Vine District, which would include major public infrastructure improvements to the area. Reed and other city officials are tight-lipped about those plans, pending an announcement that could come later this month. It appears that 18th & Vine’s face-lift has the support of Ollie Gates and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

The timing of 18th & Vine’s potential progress is fortuitous. The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council last month approved, by a one-vote margin, a renewal plan for the East Crossroads. The plan looks to accelerate development in the East Crossroads, which is generally considered any portion of the Crossroads Arts District that’s east of Locust and west of U.S. Highway 71. The renewal plan would leverage local incentives and a combination of state and federal tax credits to encourage development.

While the East Crossroads plan is largely independent of what’s ahead for 18th & Vine, the two developments in tandem could finally make the baseball and jazz district more inviting.

Since the museums opened, almost 20 years ago, plans to further bolster the 18th & Vine area have generally not worked out. But Reed, at least, seems to believe that better days are ahead for the district.

“This really goes to the larger revamping of 18th & Vine,” Reed says.