Seven new bar concepts are coming to Kansas City’s Westport Entertainment District. Longtime Westport investor Brett Allred plans to connect six of them with an existing business he owns called “Bar & Rec” where people can gamble. On Monday afternoon, Allred gave Room District Councilman Crispin Rea a tour of his adjacent buildings, which contain about 60,000 to 65,000 square feet of space. “The more customers, the more money spent, the more people passing through, the better. I think it benefits the entire district,” Rea said. There is security and police monitoring and blocking of district traffic, typically on weekend nights. But there have been problems with violence outside the district, including a mass shooting last month, one of four in the last four years. Steven Irving is manager of the “Beer Kitchen.” It’s in the middle of the entertainment district on the southeast corner of Westport and Pennsylvania. “I think everything that happens in this area seems to happen right outside the barricade that Westport security has. So I think if they were able to expand that and, like, beef up the numbers that they have, I think that would prevent a lot of that,” he said. “And hopefully, since we’re opening so many more new bars, that they will increase staffing to help keep the streets safe.” Roman Khatchaturyan owns a shoe store on the east side of Broadway, north of Westport Road, in the “You’re like an easy target here. So that’s the problem. The bars need to close early until a better solution is found because, at 3 am, nothing good happens here,” he said. different bar themes in his complex, Allred also plans to open another bar in Westport called “Q.”
Seven new bar concepts are coming to Kansas City’s Westport Entertainment District.
Longtime Westport investor Brett Allred plans to connect six of them to an existing business he owns called “Bar & Rec” where people can gamble.
On Monday afternoon, Allred gave Fourth District Councilman Crispin Rea a tour of his adjacent buildings, which contain about 60,000 to 65,000 square feet of space.
“The more customers, the more money spent, the more people passing by, the better. I think it benefits the entire district,” Rea said.
There is security and police monitoring and blocking of district traffic, typically on weekend nights.
But there have been problems with violence outside the district, including a mass shooting last month, one of four in the past four years.
Steven Irving is the manager of “Beer Kitchen”.
It’s in the middle of the entertainment district on the southeast corner of Westport and Pennsylvania.
“I think everything that happens in this area seems to happen outside the barricade that Westport security has. So I think if they were able to expand that and be able to, like, strengthen the numbers that they have, I think that would prevent a lot of that,” he said. “And I hope that as we’re opening a lot more new bars, they’ll increase that team to help keep the streets safe.”
Roman Khatchaturyan owns a shoe store on the east side of Broadway, north of Westport Road, on the outskirts of the district.
“You’re like an easy target here. So that’s the problem. Bars need to close early until they find a better solution because at 3 a.m. nothing good is happening here,” he said.
In addition to the different bar themes at his complex, Allred also plans to open another bar in Westport called “Q.”
This will serve the LGBTQ community.
Allred was an investor in Fountain Haus, a similar bar, which closed.
