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A well-known rooftop bar in Kansas City, Missouri's, Waldo neighborhood is closing its doors, for now.
The Well is KCMO's first rooftop bar; there’s no skyline or beach view, but it does have its own view of beautiful downtown Waldo.
The bar owners let KSHB 41 News reporter Megan Abundis in on their big plans for Waldo’s future and a look back to its memorable past.
“I just want to express our feelings — it’s kind of bittersweet,” said Chris and Andy Lewellen, brothers and co-owners of The Well.
The Lewellen brothers say they’re ready to take two steps back in hopes for 10 steps forward.
15 years ago, they purchased the empty building near west 75th Street and Wornall Road.
“It was abandoned; nobody wanted it, it was kind of a very ugly duckling,” Chris Lewellen said.
But they had a vision for a rooftop plan.
“We saw the view up here, and that’s when we looked up here and we looked at each other and knew it was going to be a home run,” Andy Lewellen said.
They say it was a bartender's idea to add tiki torches to the rooftop.
“Our architect and our engineer said, ‘The fire department will never let you put open flames,'" the brothers said. “We just put it in the plans as kind of a joke, and we thought we would get denied, and that was one of the first things that was approved and now it’s iconic for the way we do things.”
It turned into a busy rooftop restaurant, packed full of people and memories.
“We have won awards — best rooftop in KC, number one rooftop in the state of Missouri and we were actually nationally ranked for one of the best rooftops,” Chris Lewellen said.
The Lewellen’s recall nights of World Series runs, Sunday brunches, Waldo Crawldo, Irish Fests, HopFest’s and holiday lights.
They even convinced huge, 2,000-pound icons to come to The Well.
“We knew at that time we made it — we got the Budweiser Clydesdale’s to come to Waldo in front of our restaurant," Chris Lewellen said.
The brothers reflected on pulling it off.
“How Andy and I got them to come to Waldo, I don’t know,” they said. “We even got them to let Andy and I ride shotgun in the carriage, which they never let do.”
They remembered Jason Sudeikis, Olivia Wilde, Ralph Sampson, Jim Harbaugh, Bill Self and many other local sports players stopping in.
But closing time is coming, for now.
The brothers have $90 million privately funded plans to renovate the block from Broadway to Wyandotte, purchasing most of the other land parcels on the block.
Austin Bradley, the executive vice president for EPC Real Estate Program, said the project includes 280 apartment units, a structured parking garage, more than 15,000 square feet of commercial space for restaurants and some retail use, too.
“This is a project that’s going to introduce much-needed density to the Waldo area,” Bradley said. “It will go a long way to supporting local businesses, providing a new lifestyle offering in Waldo that really doesn’t exist today.”
The stand-alone parcel that will stay intact on the southeast corner did not want to provide their name, but had high hopes for the project saying, “It will be good for the area. Personally, I think it’s too big. But it is a pretty blighted area back there and the businesses have been empty for some time.”
“We think to support the businesses in the future, we need additional growth here,” the brothers said. “We’ve seen some of the areas of KC growing in density and we hadn’t seen that growth here in Waldo.”
Bradley noted that he changed some design aspects to match the existing Waldo look.
“With Waldo, there is a very diverse group of design and architecture,” he said. “So we took those rich, historical nice materials into this project. Look for a lot of brick, masonry and also modern contemporary forms to give it a fresh new look.”
The brothers also weighed in on what the development could mean for Waldo.
“We think this will spur a lot of new development here in Waldo,” the Lewellen’s said. “Waldo is a great place; it’s got a lot of great businesses, a lot of great neighborhoods, a lot of great citizens, but there are some empty storefronts up and down Waldo. We need some growth. We need something to spur future development and we think this will be a catalyst for the next 10 years.”
The official closing time is Sunday morning at 1:30 a.m.
They say demolition will start this winter and they plan to be completed by late 2025.
The Lewellen's say staff who work at The Well have an opportunity to be hired at other Lewellen restaurants.
There’s an opportunity for Waldo residents to get questions answered for this project on Saturday at the Waldo Tower Neighborhood Association meeting at 10 a.m. in the Kansas City Waldo Branch Public Library.
They will discuss this project and the 75th Wornall improvement project.
Customers are invited to celebrate the last night of The Well at "The End of the Well as We Know It" party set for Saturday, Sept. 9, from 6 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Starting at 9 p.m., local band Big People will entertain with classic to modern rock covers, and The Well's full grill and cocktail menus will be available.
