Pennway Point announces new opening timeline, food concepts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pennway Point is planning to open its Lumi Neon Alley Museum , a sand beach volleyball area, and a local family-owned Mexican food and dessert space in early 2025.

The timeline was pushed back a few months from a 2024 opening after finding more underground infrastructure work than anticipated beneath the 120-year-old construction site. So far, more than $15 million of improvements have been made at the location.

“The joy of development is working on a site that has served one purpose for over 120 years and reutilizing this site for what we’re doing now, you run into underground plumbing issues, or brand new infrastructure that needs to be developed, power that needs to be distributed, brand new parking and surface lots,” said 3D Development Partner Erik Wullschleger.

“So there’s always a lot more work to be done and surprises to be found.”

One of the first businesses to open will be homemade ice cream shop Palacana , which will be opening its 8th location in the metro in the shadow of the KC Wheel .

“[With] Pennway [Point], the idea is to bring families and when we think about the families, Palacana is very close to them because we offer homemade ice cream, homemade churros, homemade smoothies,” said Palacana owner Jose Luis.

“And for the families for the kids, everybody loves ice cream so this is the perfect spot for us.”

Next door, Urbana Sur by Palacana will have premium tequilas and mezcals in a sit down restaurant setting offering traditional flavors and twists.

“We started with the ice cream concept, but my own dream is to have a restaurant,” said Luis, talking about Urbana Sur by Palacana.

“And this specifically, we want to have tacos and tequila.”

The plan is to open those first pieces of the Pennway Point entertainment district in the first quarter of 2025 to join the KC Wheel that opened in December 2023. Recently, the KC Wheel and Pennway Putt mini golf course also got approval to serve food, drinks, and alcoholic beverages.

“We’ve always looked at Pennway Point as a really cool entertainment district with a blend of restaurants, dining, entertainment, with all sorts of exciting things going on for all ages,” said Wullschleger.

Other work on the site will still be needed to open the Barrel Hall and Talegate buildings, which will reuse former industrial space to house a variety of food and drink options. Those buildings will lead to an outdoor space called Talegate Park which can be used for concerts, game day experiences, yard games, and more.

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