Kansas City restaurant’s multimillion-dollar makeover: Pickleball, bocce, more beer

54th Street Grill & Bar’s longtime Zona Rosa location is just a few miles from its North Kansas City headquarters.

Now the homegrown chain, with 32 locations in four states, will make that spot the flagship with a $2 million makeover that will include outdoor recreation.

When construction is completed in October, it will rebrand to 54th Street Restaurant & Drafthouse and feature 12-foot garage doors opening to a 10,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard with two pickleball courts, a dozen large-format TV screens, a regulation bocce court, lawn games, two fire pits surrounded by a dozen chairs each, eight tables for dining and an area for live music.

54th Street also will tear down its bar, relocating it next to the courtyard. It will expand its draft beer offerings from 12 to 54 beers, many from the Kansas City area. Behind glass in the center of the bar will be a state-of-the-art keg cooler with more than 100 kegs stored at 29 degrees. Alcoves will house two PGA golf simulators.

“We’re coming to the tail end of this pandemic. Our business has never been better, we are setting sales records in all of our markets,” said Michael Norsworthy, CEO. “With the entertainment, we feel like we will be able to capture additional bar business and families. A whole bunch of variety, six different recreational experiences. So there is something for everyone.”

54th Street was founded in 1989 by Norsworthy’s father, Thomas. It has 17 of the “drafthouse” concepts in Texas. It plans to remodel its Independence, Lee’s Summit and Liberty locations to the format, but there is not room at those locations for the recreation components.

The Zona Rosa location opened in 2010. Work has started on the expansion and is scheduled to be finished in October. The restaurant and bar might have to shut down for a few days during the remodeling, Norsworthy said.

Zona Rosa started a multimillion-dollar redevelopment in the fall and it is expected to be concluded this spring. The mall, which currently has dozens of vacancies, demolished the building just south of the Dillard’s department store to make way for a new green space called North Park.