Historic Johnson County castle sells at auction. Contents up for sale next
Nearly two years after chef Renee Kelly closed her farm-to-table restaurant in Shawnee, the enchantingly unique Caenen Castle has sold at auction.
And Johnson County residents can soon purchase their own piece of the 112-year-old building.
Listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places, Caenen Castle went on the market for $1.8 million after the restaurant, Renee Kelly’s Harvest, closed in October 2017. It didn’t sell, so about a year later the owners listed the property with Kansas City-based Cate’s Auction & Realty Co. Inc..
The starting bid online was $775,000. It is still uncertain if the owners have approved the bid to finalize the sale. Kelly and the other owners declined to comment.
The auction company did confirm the three-story, 6,600-square-foot castle sold. The buyer, sale price and plans for the property, at 12401 Johnson Drive, have yet to be announced. Realtor Ray Bucklew is representing the property for Cate’s Auction but did not return requests for comment.
Cate’s will hold an online auction for some of the contents of the castle Aug. 13 to 27. Auction officials said items up for sale will include restaurant supply equipment, fixtures and furniture, such as handmade wooden tables and chairs.
“Caenen Castle is an exceptionally unique property that could easily become a key Shawnee experiential restaurant or retail attraction,” said Ann Smith-Tate, president and CEO of the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce. “The site has an enormous amount of potential, and the architecture is stunningly beautiful. We would love to see this space become a destination asset for our city.”
The castle was originally home to Remigius Achille Caenen, a dairy farmer who quarried the limestone structure by hand in 1907, modeling it after Chateau Chavaniac in France. Since his death in 1949, Caenen Castle has served as a nursing home, nightclub, event space and a haunted house.
Kelly, a Shawnee native, bought the property in 2003. With the help of her parents’ Neighbors Construction Co., she renovated the interior and transformed the castle into a farm-to-table restaurant 10 years later.
Kelly and the restaurant found national fame in 2015 when she appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef.”
In 2017, she announced plans to close the restaurant and explore other career opportunities. That same fall, she made her debut as the host of “Harvest With Renee Kelly,” a TV show about Kansas chefs and farmers that aired on CW affiliate KCWE Channel 29.