Banking on KC – Jake Fesi of Flying Truss LLC: Reviving a Historic Bridge
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Jake Fesi, the engagement manager at the Rock Island Bridge, which is an exciting new entertainment district that's set to open this summer and it's being hailed as America's first destination Landmark Bridge. Welcome, Jake.
Jake Fesi:
Thanks for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
This is such an exciting development. I interviewed Mike Zeller, one of the co-founders of this project, Flying Truss, back when it was just starting to get some momentum a few years ago. And so to see that it's evolved to the point where it's about to open is really exciting. But first, before we go into what everybody can expect, tell us about the vision behind transforming this historic railroad bridge... It's a trestle bridge, by the way, into what's being hailed as the first entertainment district of its kind over water.
Jake Fesi:
Yeah, it's come a long way for sure. And if you talked to Mike a while back, they probably referred to him as the crazy bridge guy then. He's now just the bridge guy because they're deeming that he's not as crazy as they thought. But the Rock Island Bridge started as a joke, as most great things do.
Mike was riding down the river in a boat with his kids, and his wife, and some other friends, and saw this bridge and said, "Somebody ought to buy that bridge and put a chicken shack up there and call it Chicken on a Bridge." And that was the origin, and that was a joke for a long time. Mike worked in public television and tried to convince people to do it. He's not a developer himself and didn't have an engineering or architectural background, so tried to convince somebody with the means to get it done to do it. Nobody wanted to get close to it.
So I believe it was about seven years ago, that it finally started to take shape. And Mike just said, "I'm just going to do it myself," and began this process of putting a chicken shack on a railroad bridge and actually treating a bridge like land and making the bridge the destination rather than having it be just a crossing to get from one place to another. And that was the origin. And obviously, it's evolved quite a bit. We formed a partnership with KCK.
Kelly Scanlon:
And now, it's this entertainment district. Briefly, what was the bridge historically? What did it do in its heyday prior to you all coming in?
Jake Fesi:
That bridge, the Rock Island Railroad Bridge, was really a keystone in Kansas City's local economy. And we left it for dead for a long time and didn't give it the glory that it deserves. It was built in 1905 by the Rock Island Railroad Company, hence the name. It was used for the Stockyards District, which people here today know the Stockyards District as the great string of restaurants and bars down near Hy-Vee Arena.
But back then, the Stockyards District encompassed the entirety of that area on both sides of the river. It was huge. And so, this railroad bridge effectively connected the two Kansas Cities together and ensured smooth flow of cattle via rail between the two sides of the river. It acted as that for a pretty long time. It was originally built as a two-truss bridge back in 1905. It stayed that way in 1952. After the flood of '51, they hired a company called LG Barcus to come out and build lift gates so they could lift the bridge up and down in of floodwaters.
Kelly Scanlon:
Wow.
Jake Fesi:
And so, that was the next edition. And then, the river had widened over time, so they built a third truss on the east side of it to make it reach the other side. And the last time a train actually went over, it was probably the late '70s. So it's been almost 50 years since it was actually used as a rail bridge.
Kelly Scanlon:
The project's unique not only in the fact that you're building an entertainment district over water, as you say. Instead of just something you pass over, it's going to be a destination. But it's also unique in that it blends public, private, and philanthropic funding in order to pull this off. So how do you balance those aspects to create an environment that is going to welcome so many different types of people?
Jake Fesi:
It's a P4, we like to call it, public, private, philanthropic partnership. And it's really a great way to demonstrate to the rest of the country, really, that the public and private sectors can come together and create something bigger than individually they would have. And philanthropy also played a huge role. So as I had mentioned, originally this project had private origins. It was just going to be a restaurant.
When we came onto the project, Mike found out that KC MO actually owned this bridge even though it wasn't in their state. The entire bridge is in Kansas City, Kansas. So the first step was getting KC MO to transfer ownership of the bridge to KCK so we could work with the UG. And they did that for $1, so pretty cheap purchase. And so now, the UG owns the bridge and we lease it from them. So they put forth money in the form of a CID. We've also received some State grants from the State of Kansas and economic development grants to help get it done. So that's the public portion there.
Privately, we have our own investor group that has invested into our company to try to help get it done. They'll get a return out of this, so that's our private end. And then philanthropically, the big ones are the big three, the Helzbergs, the Sunderlands, and the Dickinsons have all put forth money to help get this done. But also, the companies that are involved in building it have been very kind to us, whether that's donating equipment, donating time, cutting big portions off of their bill to help us get this across the finish line. So that's where the philanthropic piece comes in.
We created our Bridge Builder Circle, which is made up of all these companies. If you go on our website, you can see all the companies that have helped us get this across the finish line. We couldn't have done it without all those KC-proud companies. That's the one thing we've been saying, that this is Kansas City barn raising. And these Kansas City-proud companies have really come together to help us get this across the finish line and create something huge for our city.
Kelly Scanlon:
One of the things that, surely, was a challenge as you have created this destination spot for Kansas City is to maintain that historical integrity, yet make it a modern destination. So what steps have you taken to preserve its heritage? I think the term's called infrastructure renewal. Talk to us about that.
Jake Fesi:
So the goal is never to cover up the bridge. The goal is always to celebrate it. This is a cool piece of Kansas City history that was built almost 120 years ago, is still structurally sound, and is getting a new life today. That's awesome, and we don't want to hide that. We've had people ask us, are you going to paint the bridge? Somebody asked if we were going to take off the lift gates because they no longer serve a purpose. And the answer to all those questions was, no. We're not going to paint the bridge. It's a beautiful, natural brown now, and we like it the way it is. And the lift gates are such a cool piece of technology... Built in 1952 and are still operational.
A year ago, they greased up those gears and lifted the bridge four feet. That's unbelievable. And we're going to keep those. We're going to light them up, and celebrate them, and show them off. We have created a modern structure around a super historic piece of local industry and it makes it cool. I've always been saying, rustic modern is our feel.
Especially in our event space upstairs, the beams of the bridge still pierce down and break through the space and are exposed, but we have this modern, nice, shiny, steel structure and building around it. It's a cool mix of the past and the present and really incredibly trendy. You mentioned the infrastructure renewal. If you've ever been to New York City and walked on the High Line, it's an unbelievable feat. There's a green walking space through Manhattan. That's crazy to think about. And they created a network of other infrastructure renewal projects of similar mission to try to show them off. They invited us to be members of their High Line Network.
Mike Zeller actually was in Mexico City last month speaking at their global conference. It's not something that just Kansas Citians are getting excited about. This is a global thing. This is a first in the world. There's been two feasibility studies done to confirm, we can say that. This is the first of its kind in the world, and it's because we took a unique approach. We didn't take a bridge and use that idea as inspiration, and tear it down, and build something new.
We took what we already have. We got a sheet of paper in front of us, let's do something with it. And Mike likes to say that constraints force creativity. They had to be creative with how they used the space and built around it. But looking down the barrel at 90 days or 120 days or so from opening, and the product that's been created from it, I would say, was worth all the headaches.
Kelly Scanlon:
It's pretty spectacular, from what I understand. Staying with the infrastructure renewal for just a minute... Besides the High Line and besides the Rock Island Bridge, what are a few other examples here in the US of that? Because I know there aren't many.
Jake Fesi:
Yeah, I believe Navy Pier is in there. I believe the BeltLine in Atlanta is in there. Which actually, KC MO is creating the Greenline, which is modeled similarly after the BeltLine in Atlanta, a downtown, paved walking trail. So some other projects like that, that just show off what we can do with historical and no longer used industry. Definitely took a lot of inspiration from that to create something never-been-seen before.
Kelly Scanlon:
You mentioned the upper event space. You've got the upper event space that companies can come in and rent out for their special events and perhaps there's some other uses you can tell us about there, too. But what can people expect when you open and they go down there? What are they going to see and experience?
Jake Fesi:
We are trying to create an environment for everybody. This is not another Westport. This is not another bar district. This is a place you can bring your family, and there's something for everybody to do. So you may come one day and there's a live band upstairs for people to go watch. You may come another day and there's a string quartet downstairs or a roaming opera singer walking the bridge and performing. You may come another day and down, underneath the bridge in the river, they're teaching kids how to catch catfish, and putting them on paddle boards, and riding down the river because the Kansas River is incredibly calm and easy going for kids.
So the goal is really something to do. We didn't want to make it very niche. And so you say, I'm looking to do this... I hear the bridge has this, let's go to the bridge. We want people to say, "Let's go down to the bridge and see what's going on." So we're going to program it. We're going to have lots of different things going on, and it's also able to be rented privately. The whole top deck is an event space. You can fit 200 people or so for a seated event, perfect for corporate events, or for weddings, or non-for-profit fundraisers. You can fit 400 people up there if there's no tables and chairs out for a dinner. So it's a vast space. And we understand that it's going to be attractive to a lot of event planners, people that are looking to book events because there's nothing like this, that you can have an event in an event space that's covered with a roof and is 60 feet over a river.
Kelly Scanlon:
I believe even your food vendors are on a rotating basis, is that right?
Jake Fesi:
The food and beverage portion has shifted as we've gone throughout the process. Originally, there was going to be a couple of local vendors up there that had stations and were going to move in and out. The problem came in with our schedule. We are going to be closed in January and February. And for a small local business to reabsorb that staff for two months of the year and then re-disperse it into the space when we opened back up in March is basically impossible.
Staffing is already tough on small businesses, and to ask that of them was too much. It just didn't work out, so we decided to go to a tenant model. We are going to have one food and beverage tenant that oversees the restaurant and bar downstairs, also does catering for the event space upstairs, and the bar upstairs as well. They will come in. They'll staff it. And they'll reabsorb their staff for the two months that we are closed. But they will be doing all the food and beverage, so everything is in one place. It's streamlined. Especially for upstairs, for catering... It's not going to be a menu you've seen anywhere else. We're creating our own menu. We're creating our own identity. And so, it's going to be something incredibly unique, not something cookie-cutter that you could find at any other restaurant.
Kelly Scanlon:
I'm excited to hear the names of the dishes that you're going to serve. I can only imagine they'll be fun.
Jake Fesi:
I can tell you... The only one I've been asking for is a chicken dish to pay homage to the chicken on a bridge. I don't know if it'll get done, but that's my hope.
Kelly Scanlon:
When you're talking about a project this big, and especially with it being over water, I'm sure that safety has been a big concern for you.
Jake Fesi:
Oh, yeah.
Kelly Scanlon:
You want to make sure that everybody does feel safe. What measures have you implemented to ensure that?
Jake Fesi:
Well, the first and largest scale one is the levee raise. The Army Corps of Engineers is raising the levee four feet to comply with a new 750-year flood plan. So our bridge was raised last year, four feet, to comply with that. So the base of our bridge is now over the levee wall. So the bridge will never take on water or flood. The whole valley would have to flood first. And I like to say, if the valley floods, I don't think anybody's coming for a beer.
Kelly Scanlon:
I was going to say, you got bigger problems. Yeah.
Jake Fesi:
If they want to ride a boat up, that's cool. So in terms of flooding, we have no issues there. Now, when it comes to on-bridge safety, that is a question a lot of people ask. What if somebody falls off?
The rails that we are putting on, the railings, are over code. They're higher than a standard code. The board that's on some of them to set a drink or a plate down on is just wide enough to fit a drink or a plate down on, but not so wide that it encourages climbing. We want to discourage that, obviously. And the railings are also... They're not open. You couldn't just roll off. They're enclosed, so you don't have to worry about kids down underneath slipping through something. We do have a super-cool proximity sensor system along the edges of the bridge that show if somebody passes a certain height or a certain point on the bridge, it will alert the nearest security guard to come to their location on the bridge and see if somebody's climbing or somebody is hanging over the edge, whatever the case may be. So we have taken a ton of measures to ensure that people feel safe up there and that we can keep the place secure and safe once we open.
Kelly Scanlon:
All this work, all of the efforts that's been put into it, all the funding... When is it going to open? You said 90 days, 120 days... That's vague. Do you have a definite date or is it going to be a rolling opening?
Jake Fesi:
That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? We don't have a date set. We're not setting a date because we don't want to tell you something that we're not 100% sure is going to happen. We are 100% confident we're going to open this bridge this summer. That's not a question anymore. But to put an exact date on it...
Especially because once we open, we are going to do a soft-launch period. It's not going to be day one, free-for-all, anybody come to the bridge. It has a 1,905-person capacity. So if we just allow every single person that's interested in the bridge to show up, people are going to be mad. People are going to have to be held off the bridge, so it will be a soft launch. We don't want to overwhelm our kitchens. We want to make sure they know what they're doing and can get a hold of things. We want to make sure we know what we're doing. And so for that soft-launch period, we're going to solicit a lot of feedback. We're going to ask people what they thought, ask them if they thought we did anything extra well, if we thought we did anything poorly, and really make sure that we have the intent of the customer and the user in mind. So that period, I would say, will be sometime in summer... I'm going to say June or July, sometime in that period.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay, so not too far off. We've talked a lot about what people will experience on the bridge, but how do you see the Rock Island Bridge contributing to the local community, to the area around it, and to the larger Kansas City economy?
Jake Fesi:
This is a win for everybody. This is a win for the community because the folks of Wyandotte County have one-twenty-seventh of the amount of trails per person that the folks of Johnson County have, a huge inequity on the trail side. And similar to the BeltLine in Atlanta that they said, once it opened up, completely changed the dynamic. This is a similar thing in that this bridge is going to give them a place to go to build community. This is largely beneficial in the health and wellness world for the local community. The people downtown have not had an outdoor recreational area, and we're providing that.
And economically, this is a huge win because it's a publicly-owned bridge. KCK and the city that owns the bridge is going to make money on this. The CID that we received funding from will be paid back and they'll make money. I believe almost every single one of our private investors is based locally here in Kansas City, so the money that's profited on this project is going to stay here. It's going to be working back in the Kansas City economy. So it really is a huge win, health and wellness and on the economic side. But also, a last one... It's an emotional win.
This is a connector of the two Kansas Cities. And we are really playing a connecting role in bringing the two together and saying, "Hey, we're both Kansas City. This is one thing. And if we wrap our arms around each other, we can get a lot done." I don't know if you've heard, but there's this large soccer tournament coming here in two years-
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, yeah.
Jake Fesi:
... The World Cup. And they've said Kansas City is a host city. And all the information that I have seen so far alludes to teams using both Children's Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium, both sides. They don't see that divide. It's an invisible line that we, frankly, made up. And we are trying to bridge that gap, no pun intended, and bring the people of the city together and give them something they can all wrap their arms around.
Kelly Scanlon:
And just going back a little bit to the trails and the economic development... I believe there's going to be 17 miles of trails once those are all connected?
Jake Fesi:
Yeah, around 11 or so on the Missouri side, once the Greenline is complete, and then six on the other side of the river, on the west side.
Kelly Scanlon:
And what about spurring other development in that area along the river? I believe there's already a kayaking group that's interested, perhaps?
Jake Fesi:
The Kansas City Boat Club, their dock was near where the bridge is. The levee raise construction forced them to move it, but they're coming back and will have their dock set up there. There's a crew rowing club in Kansas City, most people don't know that, and they will be in very close proximity to the bridge for people to be able to use their services and get involved there. Also, a ton of development. I like to say the bridge is really the first domino to fall in a large-scale development down in the West Bottoms area. Obviously, SomeraRoad is a huge project that is coming to the West Bottoms and revamping buildings and creating retail.
There are a number of apartment complexes right next to the bridge. Right now, they're almost done with the first one. They're looking to build a third. So we may have 900 apartment units within two blocks of the bridge. So all of those are being built... Obviously, the Rock Island Bridge being a huge portion of filling those apartments and bringing people down there. That's the key. If you want to show off this area of the city, the West Bottoms.... We've been wrapping our arms around it lately. If we really want to show it off, we got to give people reason to come down there. And the bridge is going to be that reason.
And once they're down there, they can say, "Oh, Lemonade Park. That's a pretty cool idea. Maybe we should pop over there and catch a show." Or, "Oh, Stockyards Brewing. Man, they make a good beer. Let's go over there and hang out." So there's a lot of other things down there for them to see once they get to the bridge.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, it all feeds on each other. What are your long-term goals for the Rock Island Bridge? And once you do open this summer, how do you plan to keep the momentum going?
Jake Fesi:
Long-term for the Rock Island Bridge, it'll keep evolving. There's other opportunities on the bridge to do things, to build more additions, and to activate different parts of it. Obviously, I can't speak entirely for them, but Mike Zeller and Mike Laddin, the founders behind this, I think that they do have a desire to see and lend a helping hand to other cities that may have a desire to do something similar. And there's a lot of old railroad bridges in this country that are probably built like fortresses, just like this one. So I think that they could pose a huge helping hand to a lot of other cities trying to do this. But as for here locally in KC, it's just going to keep growing. And we're going to keep getting active in the community and seeing how we can use our bridge to benefit those around us.
Kelly Scanlon:
I know you said you've only been involved in the project since October, so about six months perhaps. Despite the short-term tenure you have with the project, what's been your most exciting or most fulfilling aspect so far?
Jake Fesi:
I would say the warm welcome from the community. I'm from St. Louis originally, and I've always known Kansas City to be a friendly place. And to be a part of this and to be a part of something so much bigger than myself... And I get to be that face. I get to be, when I go to events, the Rock Island Bridge guy. And people say, "Go talk to Jake. He's with the Rock Island Bridge." And just people coming up to me and saying, "We're excited to hear about the things that you're doing, and we're so excited for it to open." And I always respond with, "We're excited that you're excited." Because without the excitement of the community, we get nothing. That's the whole point of this project.
Kelly Scanlon:
It sounds so exciting. We can't wait for the opportunity to go down there ourselves and check it out in person. In the meantime, for people who maybe want a little bit more detail, what's the website? Where can they go and find that information?
Jake Fesi:
It is rockislandkc.com. Pretty much everything you'll need to know is somewhere in that site. Obviously, the big things right now... If you want to book the event space privately, feel free to reach out to me. My contact is on there, as well. And also corporately, if there's any Kansas City area companies that are still interested in becoming a part of this and cementing their company's name in a huge, historical project, we are still open to corporate sponsorship. So if you think your company may have a reason to get involved... If you do become a corporate sponsor, you get a free event in the event space. There's lots of ways to get involved and see what we're up to now if you just check out our website.
Kelly Scanlon:
So rockislandkc.com. Go out there and you can find out even more information, and I'm sure there'll be updates about the opening this summer. Jake, thanks so much for being with us on this episode of Banking on KC. It's been really fun to learn more about this new entertainment district, this new connector, as you say, that's almost ready to open. Thank you.
Jake Fesi:
Absolutely. I've had a blast. Thanks for having me.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Jake Fesi, the engagement manager at Rock Island Bridge, for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. The Rock Island Bridge Project and historic railroad bridge that has been transformed into America's first destination Landmark Bridge is a testament to vision, resilience, and community collaboration, embodying the spirit of innovation for which Kansas City is known. What began as a simple joke over a chicken dinner became a ground-breaking entertainment district, bringing together public, private, and philanthropic sectors.
The Rock Island Bridge endeavor not only preserves a piece of our local heritage, but also sets a new standard for infrastructure renewal and community engagement. Country Club Bank embraces the innovation and community spirit that has made this project possible in Kansas City, and we hope it stands as a model for similar projects across the country. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, member FDIC.