Save Westport? Assessing the neighborhood’s recent parking-lot controversy

Late last week, The Kansas City Star reported that Doug Weltner, who owns the parking lot on Westport Road between Pennsylvania Avenue and Mill Street (north of Buzzard Beach, west of Harry’s Bar and Tables), has plans to construct two new retail buildings on his property. Those buildings would house a Qdoba Mexican Grill (fast-casual Tex-Mex), a Pickleman’s Gourmet Cafe (sandwiches) and an Insomnia Cookies (hot cookies, brownies, assorted treats).

The announcement has sparked social-media outrage among the Westport faithful and some local business owners, including an online petition to stop the development. Why? Let’s review.

PARKING

Until recently, the Westport Community Improvement District (CID) paid Weltner a monthly fee to lease the 78 parking spots in the centrally located lot. The rates went up every year, and the lease was revocable at any time by Weltner. In November, Weltner sent notice to the CID informing it that the lease would expire in January. Over the years, Weltner had discussed both selling the lot (he had claimed its value to be as high as $2 million, multiple members of the CID tell The Pitch) and developing the lot on his own. By terminating the lease, Weltner was indicating that he was planning to make a move of some kind on the property.

“At that point we got serious about buying the lot from him,” says Bill Nigro, a Westport property owner who leases space to Buzzard Beach and Westport Saloon. “We met with the city to figure out a way to finance the purchase. Through our CIDs — we have two in Westport, a sales-tax CID and a property-tax CID — we take in a combined $1.3 million a year. The idea was that the city would issue a bond, loan us the money, we’d buy the lot and pay the city back over time. The city seemed into it, the CID was into it — all we needed was for Doug to come to us with a price.

“Then on Friday, we get a call from the Star asking for comment about Doug’s new development,” Nigro continues. “That’s a hell of a way to find out we won’t have parking in Westport anymore.” (Neither Weltner nor the city has returned our calls for comment. We will update this post if they do.)

The new buildings are expected to eliminate only 30 spaces, but the remaining 48 are likely to be reserved for the new retail operations. That’s not a huge number, but other popular additions to the district (Ale House, Port Fonda, Char Bar, Julep, Ça Va, Local Pig) have made Westport an increasingly difficult place to park. That’s a good problem to have — business is good — but this will only make parking harder. Nigro’s businesses will be most affected, he says. Bands playing Westport Saloon, who now use the lot to load in and out, will no longer have that option, and the view of Buzzard Beach from Westport Road will be obscured.

Jody Hendrix, who books the Westport Saloon and runs a record label called Little Class Records that operates above the venue, has been leading some of the Facebook activism in reaction to Weltner’s plan.

“My thing is that the music community is really thriving at the Saloon,” Hendrix tells The Pitch. “To essentially block us off, and confine us to an alley with chain restaurants, is wrong. Throw in the loss of our already-limited parking into the mix, and it’s even more of a blow. The city agreed to buy that lot and sell it back to the merchants, but the seller won’t respond. Someone with rank needs to step up to the plate and halt the project and let local business owners have a say.”

Nigro adds: “Doug has been coming to Westport meetings for decades now. We’re always talking about parking. It’s always been an issue — how do we improve it, how do we get employees not to park where customers could park, etc. Then he goes and does this. He’s sticking it to everybody.”

CHAINS

Weltner has a long history in Westport. He bought Westport Square (Harpo’s to Broadway Cafe, Beer Kitchen to Peachwave), Harry’s Bar & Tables and the above-discussed parking lot about 30 years ago. Over time, Weltner has sold off his property, piece by piece. He now owns only the parking lot. Even Nigro and others allow that he was previously a conscientious landlord.

“In the past, he did great things,” Nigro says. “He was instrumental in building up security and stability in Westport. He was involved in the merchants association. He even led the charge on parking issues.”

Weltner’s plans for his development offer little to indicate that he cares much about existing dynamics in the neighborhood, though. Some bemoan that he is installing three national chains into his new buildings. But Westport, home to a Peachwave, a Panera and an Ernie Biggs’ Dueling Piano Bar, is not exactly chainless. More objectionable are Weltner’s specific choices of chains. Within a baseball’s toss of his new development, there exist already a Mexican-food competitor of Qdoba (Freebirds World Burrito) and a sandwich competitor of Pickleman’s (Which Wich).

“He doesn’t care who his tenants are,” Nigro says. “He’s going to build these properties, get long-term tenants, sell them off, then take his big wad of money and leave Westport. He doesn’t care that he’s selling our neighborhood down the river in the process.” 

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Eh, it’s a parking lot. A new storefront for a fast-casual burrito joint might take away some of Westport’s remaining 19th-century charm, but the damage was done decades ago. And there’s no way it could look worse than the new cellphone store next to Gusto:

As of yesterday, there’s a tall chain-link fence encircling Weltner’s lot (though you can still park there, for now). And Weltner has obtained the necessary permits for his development. That leaves those opposed to his project with virtually no recourse. 

James Westphal, who owns McCoy’s, the Foundry, Char Bar and Beer Kitchen (the latter of which was a former tenant of Weltner’s), said yesterday that he was only vaguely aware of Weltner’s intentions for the lot, but didn’t consider it cause for major concern for his businesses. 

“None of our businesses border that lot, so it’s less of an issue for us,” he said. “In terms of parking availability, yeah, it sucks. But if you look at it in terms of economic benefit to the neighborhood, you now have three more businesses that will generate revenue and sales tax that will go into the CID and improve security and streetscapes. So I can see it as good and bad.” 

He continued: “I think you have to look at it from Doug’s point of view. What would you do if you owned a piece of property like that? It’s a better long-term investment if you develop it.” 

Weltner is acting, in other words, like a developer. We shouldn’t be surprised that he’s putting his own financial interests ahead of everything else. 

“I just wish he would have come to us with an offer first,” Nigro says. “We could have bought it and invested in the long-term good of the neighborhood. He didn’t even give us that opportunity.”