KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City is no stranger to change, but depending on where you are, all kinds of development can be a setback or a boon.
One company that falls into the latter category is Brewery Emperial.
It is located in the unique “Goldilocks” area of Crossroads, not too close to where construction could disrupt traffic and business, but not so far away that no changes will occur at all.
“It would be great if people could walk from the ballpark to the bar,” said Rich Kasyansky, one of the brewery's owners. “You can't do that in the current ballpark. It's definitely exciting that we happen to be a few blocks from where they're talking about.”
He hopes a downtown ballpark will bring in more business on game days when people are in and out of the stadium.
Mr. Kasyansky is not simply thinking about the future in his answers.
He remembers KC Crossroads before it was developed.
“When I first moved here in 1995, it was hard to even find a place to go downtown,” he said. “And now there's a lot of activity going on, a lot of people living here, and a movement to come back downtown.”
On at least one day of the week, a major change occurred in the business.
“On a Friday night, it was like a virtual ghost town here. (Now) that's happening here. There are great bars and restaurants, lots of places to hang out and things to do.”
Kasyansky shares a hopeful outlook, but like many, he still has doubts.
“There are question marks on the construction side,” he says. “Nobody knows what it's going to look like, how long it's going to last, and what impact it's going to have on the whole region. There's a lot of questions, but where we are… It’s definitely an exciting prospect.”
