Liberty’s Rock & Run Brewery and Pub reopens next door

Liberty’s the Bedinger Building was just weeks away from debuting its new renovation when it collapsed in early May.

Now at least one tenant is moving on.

Rock & Run Brewery and Pub, which opened in late 2013 at 110 E. Kansas St., had planned to expand into the Bedinger Building by fall. It currently shares a wall with Bedinger so it had to shut down after the collapse.

“The wall is compromised. It is going to have to be rebuilt. That we just found out in the last couple of days,” said Dan Hatcher, partner in Rock & Run Brewery and Pub with Gene DeClue.

Rock & Run has reopened in a space to the east, at 114 E. Kansas St., former home of The Bell restaurant and bar, which closed right after the Kansas City Royals’ World Series win.

Once the Rock & Run owners can get their old space back, they will combine the two spots into one 3,000-square-foot restaurant, bar and brewery on the first floor, as well as a second floor event space, and more than double their seating to 225 people.

The owners have also ordered new signage and awnings with the Rock & Run brand.

“I think people still perceive us as closed. They even try to come in and order what they ordered at The Bell. So we are working on the branding,” Hatcher said.

They also hope to start brewing again by the end of the month.

Liberty jeweler Nickel & Suede also planned to open its first storefront in the Bedinger Building in June and had already started using 104 E. Kansas as its address. The company makes leather earrings, bracelets, and chokers that are sold through its website and at specialty stores in the metro and in shops in about a dozen other states.

On Saturday, it opened in a temporary space at 111 N. Water St. But owners Soren and Kilee Nickels still plan to open a permanent Nickel & Suede shop in the Bedinger Building.

The Bedinger Building — also known as the Ethan Allen building — is at the corner of Kansas and Water streets on the southeast side of the historic downtown Liberty Square. The redevelopers couldn’t be reached for comment but they had planned five or six tenants, including the locally owned Hammerhand Coffee.

Hammerhand Coffee also is close to signing a lease for a temporary spot on the square but it still wants to open in the rebuilt Bedinger Building.

This story was originally published June 15, 2016 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Liberty’s Rock & Run Brewery and Pub reopens next door."