The Freight House is a historic railroad building just north of

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

in the

Crossroads Arts District Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. The renovated

Freight House A freight house is a building owned and operated by a railroad for receiving, loading, unloading, and temporary storage of less-than-car load (LCL) freight. Having a protected area for temporary freight storage improves efficiency by allowing ...

is now home to three award-winning restaurants:

Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue is a small chain of barbecue restaurants, catering, private dining facilities, and nationwide shipper of barbecue located in the metropolitan area of Kansas City, Missouri. Early history Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbe ...

, Grunauer (German and Austrian food) and Lidia's. The building is located immediately east of the

Stuart Hall Building The Stuart Hall Building is located at 2121 Central Street in the Crossroads Arts District neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. The former commercial building is known as the Freight House Lofts or Stuart Hall Lofts. History The seven-story bui ...

, and it is connected via pedestrian bridge to Union Station. The pedestrian bridge was added in 2003, and its main component is an 1892 railroad span that had been sitting unused on the river bluffs until it was moved to its new location. The Freight House was originally constructed in 1887. The building housed freight unloaded from the trains until merchants picked up the freight and transported it to the numerous warehouses nearby.

Redevelopment

Over the years, the structure fell into severe disrepair until it was purchased by a group of investors in 1995. The long and wide Freight House would probably have been demolished, but the group of investors, led by Dan Clothier, envisioned developing three restaurants on the property. The first restaurant to open at the Freight House was Lidia’s Kansas City. Lidia's is an Italian restaurant that was opened by celebrity chef

Lidia Bastianich Lidia Giuliana Matticchio Bastianich (; born February 21, 1947) is an Italian-American celebrity chef, television host, author, and restaurateur. Specializing in Italian and Italian-American cuisine, Bastianich has been a regular contributor to ...

in October 1998. The interior of the restaurant was designed by architect and designer

David Rockwell David Rockwell (born July 25, 1956) is an American architect and designer. He is the founder and president of Rockwell Group, a 250-person cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice based in New York City with satellite offices in Madrid ...

was the second restaurant to open in the Freight House. It opened its third location at the west end of the building in Fall 2000, and it continues to occupy that location. City Tavern opened in 2002 in the middle of the three Freight House restaurant spaces, and enjoyed success over the years until it closed in April 2010. Following the closing of City Tavern, acclaimed Austrian-born chef Peter Grunauer opened a

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

restaurant in May 2010 in the space formerly occupied by City Tavern. The restaurant, known as Grunauer, is operated by Peter, his daughter Elisabeth, and his son Nicholas. Other relatives of the Grunauer family also operate a restaurant of the same name in the artsy

Neubau Neubau (; Central Bavarian: ''Neibau'') is the seventh district of Vienna (german: 7. Bezirk). It is located near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Neubau is a heavily populated urban area, ...

district of

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

References

{{coord, 39.0875, -94.5853, type:landmark_region:US-MO, display=title Railway stations in the United States opened in 1887 Rail infrastructure in Missouri Restaurants in Kansas City, Missouri Railway freight houses Crossroads, Kansas City 1887 establishments in Missouri