Rock Island Bridge is hosting local events ahead of grand opening. See the views
Editor’s note: Photo captions in this story were corrected at 11:25 a.m. to reflect that the Rock Island Bridge spans over the Kansas River.
Kansas City area business leaders got their first peek at the soon-to-be open Rock Island Bridge during a Wednesday afternoon luncheon.
Their meeting came a week before the long-awaited Rock Island Bridge is formally due to open for public use. The former shuttered railroad line that runs between the West Bottoms and Kansas City, Kansas, over the Kansas River was originally built in the early 1900s.
It has since, under the leadership of Mike Zeller of Flying Truss, LLC, been redeveloped into a highly anticipated 35,000-square-foot entertainment space with restaurants, spots to sit and enjoy the view and event spaces for public and community events like farmers markets. People can also reserve parts of the bridge for private gatherings.
The bridge will be available for public use on April 1, a few years after Zeller initially wanted to finish the project. The private-, public- and philanthropy-funded redevelopment required multiple levels of collaboration with vendors, local governments and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
About 50 people attended the lunch hosted at the bridge by the Armourdale Renewal Association. The group, which supports business owners and residents in Kansas City Kansas’ Armourdale neighborhood, holds a series of educational and outreach events throughout the year.
Jeremy Hill, a regional economist and assistant vice president and regional executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, delivered the Armourdale Renewal Association’s keynote.
He told attendees about how energy costs, inflation and tariffs are affecting housing affordability, employment trends and product pricing and quality.
“We can’t really build our way out of where the demand is versus where the supply is,” Hill said of housing access and affordability.
Hill noted that smaller businesses are acutely feeling the effects of tariffs imposed by the federal government on goods and products.
The Armourdale neighborhood, which sits on the north bank of the Kansas River, is home to much of the city’s Latino-owned local restaurants and stores, as well as manufacturing and other industrial operations.
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 5:48 AM.
