KC property containing Ferris wheel and stalled Pennway Point sold. Future uncertain
The 3-acre property that is home to Kansas City’s 150-foot Ferris wheel and which, for four years, has been the proposed location of the much-ballyhooed but stalled Pennway Point entertainment district, has been sold.
The purchase price has not been released. But, according to Jackson County real estate records, Safranda Mo, LLC, transferred title of the property — tucked alongside Interstate 35 and southwest of Union Station — to ZAGS 26, LLC a Delaware limited liability corporation that provides its address as Essential Properties Realty Trust of Princeton, N.J.
The KC Wheel, which began spinning in 2023, is to maintain its ground lease.
Questions over Lumi Neon Museum, bars, restaurants
The sale, which took place on June 8 and was recorded on June 12, raises greater uncertainty regarding the future of Pennway Point, a proposed entertainment district of bars and eateries that since 2022 has been promised to take up residence in what were to be transformed industrial buildings from the 1900s.
Kansas City developer Vince Bryant, a principal with 3D Development, the force behind Pennway Point, originally said the project might be finished as early as 2023. As touted, the district at 2485 Jefferson St. was to include music venues and yard games, beach volleyball and winter skating in the shadow of the Ferris wheel run by ICON Experience of Maryland.
The old Funkhouser Machinery Co. building had been planned to be a 30,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor venue called Talegate Park with a Beef & Bottle restaurant, bars, two kitchen kiosks, an indoor/outdoor beer garden and a mezzanine Funk House club with VIP seating.
The former 6,000-square-foot Pennway Oil Building , with its wood-barreled roof, had been envisioned as Barrel Hall, featuring a Boulevard Brewery bar and tasting experience, a Chef J. BBQ, a whiskey bar and Würstl (a Viennese sausage stand).
Pennway Point was also to be the home of The Lumi Neon Museum, an outdoor museum featuring some 70 neon signs from the city’s past. Nick Vedros, the founder of the nonprofit museum, could not be reached for immediate comment.
None has come to pass.
Serious headwinds
Last July, months after construction at the site ceased, giving way to 4-foot-tall weeds, Bryant said that although the company had raised $9 million from investors, the project ran into serious headwinds.
At that point, Bryant said, Pennway Point was in need of approximately $2 million more to settle outstanding debts and continue.
Bryant did not respond Wednesday to The Star’s texts or calls.
“3D Development.” he told The Kansas City Business Journal, “undertook a creative and challenging project at a difficult time. We have made considerable investment and effort but have come up short thus far.
“We cannot comment on the transaction or future of the project at this time. We have a great passion for the Pennway Point recreational hospitality concept and hope that comes to fruition.”
‘Incredibly proud … Extremely disappointed’
Bryant is also partner with cofounder Dante Passantino of DaVinci KC, a company tasked with creating Pennway’s concepts and recruiting tenants and partners. As of Wednesday, Pennway Point remained on the company’s website as one of its projects.
“I was incredibly proud to help create and assemble the unique collection of concepts and operators that signed on to operate Pennway Point,” Passantino texted to The Star. “Three years ago, I was extremely excited about the opportunity to bring the project to life and worked hard to develop a strong lineup of locally owned food, beverage and entertainment concepts alongside some of Kansas City’s most respected operators.
“Because of that, I am extremely disappointed that the project did not ultimately materialize as envisioned … Like many others involved, I share the disappointment that the vision for the project was never fully realized.”
Passantino made a point to say, “I was not involved in the site’s development, construction, financing, or the challenges that ultimately impacted the project’s delivery. Those aspects were outside of my control.”
DaVinci KC company also continues to list David J. Belfonte as a partner, but Belfonte said he has not been part of the company for at least a year. Belfonte is also listed by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office as the registered agent for Safranda MO, LLC, the company that sold the property to its new owner, Essential Properties Realty Trust.
Company owns Chicken N Pickle
Attempts to contact representatives of Essential Properties Realty Trust to discuss possible development plans for the site were not immediately returned.
According to its website, the company primarily acquires, owns and manages single-tenant properties and leases them to businesses that focus on service and entertainment offerings.
In 2022, Essential Properties Realty Trust bought six locations from North Kansas City-based Chicken N Pickle that included its locations in North Kansas City and Overland Park.
