The Center of Ward Parkway

Photo by Izzy Zanone

Graphics by Robbie Veglahn

Ward Parkway Center is preparing to open 3 new restaurants in their $16 million pavilion. The restaurants will include MidiCi, The Neapolitan Pizza Company,
Smitty’s Garage and Charleston’s. The pavilion will be on the lot that used to be Dillard’s department store, on 89th Street between Ward Parkway and State Line Road.

The official ribbon cutting for the new restaurant pavilion will be Oct. 26. At the ribbon cutting, Legacy Development will be announcing the thre additional restaurants that will eventually occupy the six space restaurant center.

There will be weekend performers on Fridays and Saturdays throughout October, so visitors can come dine outside and listen to music. The genre of the performers will change weekly from Jonathan Ramsey, an Irish singer, one week to Casey Brett, a country singer, the next. The festivities will on end on Nov. 17 with a tree lighting and performance from the Big Rick Soul band.

Senior Frank Opelka, who lives at 85th and State Line, will be one of many students visiting the new restaurant pavillion.

“I’m excited because it’s going to be really close to my house, and we need some new restaurants in the area,” Opelka said.

The three restaurants will all bring different types of cuisines and flavors. Smitty’s Garage will be the first to open on Oct. 9. Smitty’s garage is a retro themed “burger joint on steroids” that specializes in burgers, tacos and crinkle cut fries.

Following the opening of Smitty’s Garage, MidiCi, The Neapolitan Pizza Company will open. MidiCi Pizza is set to have a mid-October opening and is a California-based pizza chain that focuses on Neapolitan pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven in the middle of the restaurant.  

The last of the three to open will be Charleston’s, an upbeat restaurant serving traditional American dishes such as steaks, burgers and sandwiches. Charleston’s will open the last week of October prior to the pavilion’s ribbon cutting.

Dave Claflin, the media representative for Legacy Development, stated that the opening of the restaurants was originally planned for summer of 2017. There has been some delay with opening because these new to market restaurants haven’t opened in this area before.

These restaurants were picked by Legacy Development because they wanted to bring new restaurants to the KC trade area that locals haven’t seen before.

“Obviously you go up and down State Line and there is a bunch of fast food. You can get Chinese, you can get Culver’s burgers, a bunch of different things but there are not that many places nearby that you can sit down and order some food and maybe for adults order a cocktail,” Claflin said.

The restaurant’s saw the hole in the market for their types of restaurants as well so they were “fairly eager” to buy into the pavilion and liked the idea of adding sit down restaurants to State Line.

The pavilion is owned by Cornerstone Real Estate, an investment group out of Chicago. Cornerstone Real Estate company spent millions of dollars and 18 months on the tearing down and l
easing of the four-story Dillard’s building that used to be on the South end of the Ward Parkway center.

“[The investment group] has seen the benefit to doing things right and so they have invested way more than they had originally anticipated,” Claflin said.

The pavilion will have a structure plex awning over the whole complex with artificial turf underneath for kids to cartwheel on and parents to sit in lawn chairs. Each of the restaurants will have patios with railings outside. Within the patio spaces if the restaurant has liquor license then they will be able to serve liquor outside. The pavilion will also have built in sound systems, lighting, fountains and fire pits to add to the overall experience.

“This area is going to serve a need that is not currently being met,” Claflin said.

The hope is that this pavilion fixes the “sit down restaurant” market hole from 119th street to 83rd street and provides new places for people in the area to dine in at.