In KC’s Westport, a popular live music venue hits a sour note with neighbors
On the docket at the Kansas City Council meeting Thursday afternoon was a proposed resolution aimed at advancing the city’s music economy.
Sounds great, in theory. In practice, live music often involves a lot of civic friction. Most people like the idea of living in a city with abundant live music. They just don’t necessarily want to live near the live music.
Which brings us to Warehouse on Broadway, the Westport venue that Neill Smith and J.C. Cirese opened this spring at 3951 Broadway, the building previously home to Jukebox Heroes, a cover-band concept, and before that Komatsu, a ramen restaurant. The owners have solid local music credentials. Smith was the longtime booker at the now-shuttered Riot Room. Cirese is a former emo-hardcore tour manager and the owner of the neighboring weed shop, Dr. Smoke.
Since opening seven months ago, Warehouse on Broadway has helped plug a live-music gap in Westport left by the post-pandemic closings of Riot Room and Westport Saloon. The new venue has also landed an impressive run of national acts, among them Big Freedia, Panda Bear, Santigold and Destroyer.
Unfortunately, none of those shows were technically … legal.
Warehouse on Broadway’s current zoning only allows for the site to be a restaurant. There is a restaurant inside, Sound Bite, but the space is also a 650-person capacity entertainment venue.
Nobody seemed to notice this when Jukebox Heroes was hosting live music in the space, most likely because the business came and went quietly, a five-month experiment few showed up for.
Warehouse on Broadway, on the other hand, has been successful. It hosts shows about five nights per week. Which has meant big crowds. Which turned into parking issues in the neighborhood. Which turned into frustrated homeowners and business owners making complaints to the city. Which turned into the city realizing that, by law, Warehouse on Broadway isn’t zoned for live music and is required to have 164 parking spots available for its guests.
It has about 30.
That shortage has led concertgoers to park everywhere imaginable nearby on show nights: on Broadway, in the alley behind the venue, along the residential block of 3900 Central. To deal with the growing problem, Warehouse on Broadway brought in some bulldozers this summer and cleared the weeds out of a large dirt lot on the 3900 block of Central, opening up additional parking for guests.
Unfortunately, it does not appear that was lawful, either: The venue doesn’t own or lease the lot. It is owned by Wichita West Hospitality, an investor group that planned to build a hotel on the property but abandoned the project during the pandemic.
Westport neighbor complaints
Moustafa Shabayek, who owns the Sahara Sheesha hookah lounge next door to Warehouse on Broadway, said his sales have been down since the venue opened because his customers can no longer reliably park outside the business. He said the city has mostly brushed off his complaints.
“This business has been operating illegally since day one and is still operating illegally as we speak right now,” Shabayek said. “They don’t have the right permit, they don’t have anywhere near enough parking, and they have no contract or agreement of any kind for that dirt lot.”
“Imagine you own a lot and somebody comes in and clears it out without your permission and tells people to start parking on it. How is that legal? But the city hasn’t done anything about it.”
For his part, Smith said he and Cirese tried to get a lease for the lot from the owner, who sent over terms but then “completely disappeared.” He said they cleared the lot because a tent in a homeless camp there caught fire over the summer, and they were concerned that future fires could spread to Warehouse on Broadway.
“We haven’t done anything to improve the lot,” Smith said. “It’s a flat, empty lot behind our building that people can park in, but we’re not directing them there.”
Sheryl Windsor, the secretary of the Heart of Westport Neighborhood Association, finds that hard to believe. A longtime resident of the 3900 Central block, she says she watches the lot fill up with as many as 70 cars several times a week on show nights.
“It’s guerrilla parking,” Windsor said. “They don’t own the lot, and on top of that, a dirt lot is not a legal surface for a parking lot in Kansas City.”
James Duddy, who works in compliance in the city’s planning department, confirmed that the lot is “non-conforming” and said it will be investigated. If it’s being improperly used, his office will send a notice of violation to Wichita West Hospitality.
“It’s the responsibility of the property owner to keep people from parking illegally on their lot,” Duddy said.
Windsor said the lot is far from the only issue she and her neighbors are dealing with. Street parking, once easy to find, has dried up. And concertgoers are loud leaving the venue late at night — shouting, dumping trash, driving the wrong way down the one-way street, and causing occasional fights.
“We’re in Westport, but we actually have always had a pretty quiet neighborhood over here on the east side of Broadway,” Windsor said. “Broadway has served as a nice buffer between us and the entertainment district. Now there’s this big beast that has come in and overwhelmed the neighborhood at the expense of the people living here and doing business here.”
Solutions to Westport parking problem?
Smith said Warehouse on Broadway has been actively working with the Main Street Community Improvement District to mitigate noise and trash issues. He also said the venue has proposed that the city make parking on the two residential streets east of the venue — Central and Wyandotte — only available to those with residential parking permits.
“They did that in the Volker neighborhood because KU Med employees were taking up all the spots,” Smith said. “I think that would work just as well over here.”
The good news for live music fans is that the city appears to be going to great lengths to accommodate Warehouse on Broadway.
The City Plan Commission earlier this month recommended the approval of the venue’s August application to have the property rezoned to B3-2, which allows for live music venues, and for a special use permit for a large entertainment venue. Warehouse on Broadway’s request for a parking variance — from the 164 spots required (one per four person capacity) to just 30 — was also recommended for approval.
“Staff believes alternative methods of transportation can help reduce parking concerns, such as the streetcar extension and rideshare,” said Jordan Berger with the City Planning and Development office. (The Main Street extension of the streetcar line opened Friday and is three blocks east of Warehouse on Broadway.)
Berger also noted that other live music venues — The Truman would be one example — operate with little to no parking requirements, although many aren’t located adjacent to residential neighborhoods like Warehouse on Broadway.
The city council hasn’t yet set a date to hear the rezoning request, which must be approved before the Board of Zoning Adjustment hears the request for the special use permit on Nov. 12. But both are likely to pass, given the planning commission’s recommendation.
Shabayek, who also owns the building next door to Sahara where Wings Cafe operates, said he’s concerned that Wings Cafe will move out due to declining sales.
“It’s been a horrible experience,” he said. “There’s just nowhere for our customers to park anymore. And on top of that, in the last few weeks, (Warehouse on Broadway) turned three or four of the parking spaces they do actually have into a patio in their parking lot. So there’s even less now.”
Smith said he wishes their neighbors would work with Warehouse on Broadway rather than against it.
“I understand why people are upset about parking, but this is an entertainment district,” he said. “Most places in urban cores are going to have limited parking. This is a Westport problem, not just a Warehouse on Broadway problem.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
