Shopping in Kansas City’s West Bottoms feels like searching out a speakeasy.
If you drive down the 12th Street bridge into the urban core’s old industrial area, you’re surrounded by red brick warehouses painted with business names from the past, such as Kansas City Bolt, Nut and Screw Co. Streets twist and turn and depart from the comfort zone of the city’s numbered grid. Railroad tracks zigzag through a curious mix of corporate headquarters, factories and commercial haunted houses.
Adding to this diverse landscape are several of developer Bill Haw’s horses roaming the grassy acreage of the former stockyards near the Kansas River.
And when you get here, you’re often on your own. You’re uncertain if you’re in the right spot because stores don’t always have signs, and many stores keep irregular hours. But all around you is the thrill of discovery.
Inside the old buildings — often equipped with cage-like freight elevators — is a hustling, bustling mecca of resources for the home: architectural salvage, vintage furniture, artists’ studios and specialty trade centers.
This year, antiques dealer Steve Rogers moved his Prize Antiques store to a space in a warehouse at Santa Fe and 12th Street. The building, with exposed pipes and tall windows overlooking the train tracks, lured him to the area. He felt inspired by ABC Carpet & Home in New York, a store that juxtaposes high design in a raw industrial setting similar to the vibe of West Bottoms warehouses.
“I’m always intrigued when there is a second use for old buildings, and there’s a new heartbeat in this part of the city,” says Rogers, who shows European and vintage American furnishings in his space, which is open by appointment only.
Those in the know say the forgotten West Bottoms will become the next big thing.
The city is considering new zoning for the district which would allow a larger population of residents. Some artists already live and work there.
Well-respected businesses are filtering into the area. The owners of Happy Gillis, the popular Columbus Park comfort-food eatery on Gillis Street, are planning a second location at a former filling station on Genessee Street.
“It’s not going to be another Happy Gillis, it’s going to be a Happy Genessee,” says chef Todd Schulte, who with his wife, Tracy Zinn, owns Happy Gillis. The couple is firming up a concept for the West Bottoms restaurant. “Lots of restaurant owners dream about opening up in a gas station. It’s exciting because the West Bottoms is a blank canvas.”
Last year, the Dolphin, a gallery and framing business that has a loyal following from artists and designers, left the more established Crossroads Arts District for the West Bottoms. Customers called it a crazy move.
“Once people come down here, they see that it’s easy to navigate and that it’s not a scary place,” says John O’Brien, owner of Dolphin, located in a renovated metal farm-style building. “The West Bottoms can become a fascinating walkable live/work community because it has the open space for new construction. It has wonderful potential for dreaming and interpreting.”
Schulte and O’Brien say they’re enthused by the vision of Haw, the cattle rancher and developer of the nine-floor Livestock Exchange Building, which has a diverse group of tenants including artists, a winery, financial advisers and a health club. Haw wants to develop access to the river for outdoor events, among other things.
Reach Stacy Downs at sdowns@kcstar.com or 816-234-4780.
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