Written By Lexx Thornton
At one of the busiest corners in Kansas City’s Westport entertainment district, local civil rights leaders stood this week with two men who’ve launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the Westport Community Improvement District and its members, claiming they were barred from owning a business in the district after revealing their business concept — a nightclub intended to appeal to Black clientele.
In front of Holy Brunch KC, at 4128 Broadway Boulevard, which previously housed Westport Ale House and now sits on the verge of closure as well, representatives of the city’s Urban Council — a coalition of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, NAACP–Missouri State Conference, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City, and the Urban Summit — surrounded business owners Christopher Lee and D’Mario Gray, who are Black, at a news conference announcing the organization’s intent, along with the National Urban League, to file an amicus brief in the case.
Traffic whizzed by the shady corner of Boulevard and Archibald Avenue on the cold Monday afternoon. A few bystanders, including Jackson County prosecutor Melesa Johnson, watched as Gwen Grant, president and CEO of Kansas City’s Urban League, led the news conference, pleading for government officials to evaluate the CID and hold them accountable for alleged racism.
“It would really be uplifting to those of us in the Black community if we didn’t have to come out here in the freezing cold,” Grant said, her breath visible in the 34-degree weather. “The news on this racist situation came out over a month ago … when you see something is wrong, you’re supposed to say something. And the city has been silent.”
City Manager Mario Vasquez met with the Urban League on Monday, according to press secretary Sherae Honeycutt. The city is also working to provide them with the Westport CID documents at their request, she said. In a federal RICO lawsuit where plaintiffs are seeking $70 million, the owners of three separate businesses allege that landlords pulled out of deals after the owners revealed concepts for restaurants and clubs that would cater to young Black customers.
The lawsuit originated last October over a lease dispute at the former Westport Ale House. After the bar and restaurant closed last year because of its history of fights and shootings, Christopher Lee pitched a restaurant and cocktail concept called Euphoric Bar and Lounge. But Lee later held a hiring fair promoting the concept as Ale House West, which seemed to be a continuation of the same nightclub atmosphere that landlord Hal Brody, who is white, believed caused problems at the original Westport Ale House, according to court documents.
Lee and Euphoric co-owner Damion Johnson, along with Brody, signed a 10-year lease for the space, the lawsuit says. The Euphoric owners allege Brody, former Westport Regional Business League executive director Franklin Kimbrough, and CID board member Brett Allred then refused to let them access the building. The suit alleged Brody broke a binding agreement on the advice of Allred and other business owners in the district, acting out of racial prejudice against a Black-owned business, allegedly because Westport business owners feared violence that comes with crowds that listened to hip hop music.
Two other businesses, The Sourze, LLC, and UniKC LLC, allege similar incidents in 2020 and 2021. The lawsuit escalated when a complaint of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, was added. While the federal crime is widely associated with mobsters and organized crime, the law is designed to target any enterprise that engages in a pattern of illegal activity as part of a coordinated scheme. Due to the racial prejudice alleged in this case, local civil rights organizations are showing their interest by filing an amicus brief: a legal document submitted by non-parties to a case to offer arguments and help guide the court’s decision. Grant said the brief is planned to be filed in the next two weeks.
“It’s important that these community leaders are here behind us, throwing in their support and letting the court know that… everyone here cares about this issue, and the Greater Kansas City cares about this issue,” attorney Stephen Williams, who is representing the Black business owners, said.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Lee said during the news conference. “I have a business that I run. It’s impacting my business. This lawsuit takes up all my day, so it’s extremely stressful.” Tensions over the lawsuit have risen so high that Holy Brunch closed its doors two days after the press conference, stating the restaurant was “collateral damage” in the controversy and “created an environment of harassment, intimidation, vandalism and fear…. to our business, to our homes and to our personal lives”, according to the eatery’s statement on Facebook.
Allred, who owns several businesses in the district, denied allegations in a lengthy Facebook post in October. The Westport CID has denied all allegations to The Star and in the lawsuit. The civil rights leaders at the news conference said they aren’t surprised by the allegations, given the history of redlining and racism in Kansas City. But they urge city leaders to “clean their house” before the city hosts the FIFA 2026 World Cup in six months.
At the news conference, Grant read a list of demands for the city, which included terminating the street agreement with the Westport CID that gave control of Westport streets to the CID, having the Civil Rights of Equal Opportunity Department monitor all CIDs, amending the CID regulations and requiring the CIDs certify compliance with nondiscrimination and equitable access requirements, and face suspension or dissolution if they fail to do so. “We believe that now is the time for all of us to come together based upon the fact that the World Cup is coming,” President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater KC, Dr. Vernon Howard, said. “We don’t want to show ourselves as a city that is that segregates ourselves, that is not together. So I’m calling on the city of Kansas City as we also call on our community to rally against racism.”
