The owner of two popular Kansas City bars plans to set up shop in downtown Shawnee next year.
A former auto garage in downtown Shawnee is being redeveloped to make way for a new bar and eatery called Hank’s Garage and Grill.
Hank’s will operate at 5801 Nieman Road
- The bar will open in a space just north of the busy intersection of Johnson Drive and Nieman Road, which has seen an influx of bars and restaurants in recent years.
- Owner Eric Flanagan aims to open Hank’s by the summer of 2024.
- As a Lenexa resident, he said he had been considering opening a Johnson County bar for a while and liked the “Western” feel of downtown Shawnee as a potential landing spot.
- “I’ve been keeping my eye on downtown Shawnee for a while,” he said. “I just like the authenticity of it, I like the historic charm.”
The bar aims for a “casual” neighborhood sports bar experience
- Flanagan is also the driving force behind King G Bar and Deli and Jim’s Alley Bar in Kansas City’s Crossroads area — which have operated since 2021 and 2022, respectively.
- He said that while the three bars will differ in aesthetics and menus (Hank’s will not feature the Italian beef sandwiches that customers enjoy at Jim’s Alley Bar, for example), the general concept of a neighborhood bar will remain the same.
- Hank’s will offer cheeseburgers, a range of beers and cocktails, and an “all-seasons” patio that Flanagan said will be the bar’s main focus.
- “At Jim’s, we do have a few TVs but it’s more of a like a cozy kind of hole-in-the-wall type place,” he said. “This is gonna be a little bit of a grander sports bar than what we’ve done before.”
The building used to house Shawnee Auto
- After the closing of the auto repair shop, the city of Shawnee approved $200,000 in economic development grant funding in 2022 to ensure the vacant gray building got some needed renovations to house another business.
- Flanagan said the design of Hank’s will incorporate the garage feel of its building, with a new canopy-covered patio and a storage container on the side of the building.
- “It’s our first bar in the suburbs, so to speak,” he said. “We’ve been really excited about the city of Shawnee, they’ve welcomed us with open arms.”
Go deeper: Vacant downtown Shawnee auto shop could become new restaurant space
