Save Katy Station group announces plans to move Katy Station building
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Save Katy Station announced plans to move the Katy Station building from its current spot in an effort to save it from demolition.
Katy Station originally served as a depot for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The building is located at 402 E. Broadway and was added to the Columbia Historic Register on Jan. 29, 1979.
The property is currently known as Shiloh Bar and Grill, and the owner, Nic Parks, confirmed to ABC 17 News that the bar will officially close in December and implied that the landlord plans to sell the property, with a potential buyer planning to redevelop the building, according to previous reporting.
James Roark-Gruender, Organizer of Save Katy Station, said he and other preservation advocates met with the anonymous developers Thursday where they were told “everything is on the table, but the station cannot stay in its spot.”
Roark-Gruender proposed two possible new locations: Flat Branch Park or in front off the gateway to downtown. He added it is possible for the entire building to be moved, but it would be about $400,000 just to move the structure along with other costs.
Proposed Katy Station in front of gateway
Proposed Katy station at Flat Branch Park
The group plans to involve the community in all decisions about Katy Station’s future.
“When I say community, I’m talking all of us together are going to have to work together and we’re going to come up with a solution,” said Roark-Gruender. “And it’s not going to be a solution that everybody’s happy with.”
For now, donations will be made through the community, and Roark-Gruender said because the community will be giving to the building, he plans on asking for imput about what they want the building to be.
“We’re not saying we’re not going to go out to large donations, but we need the community’s buy in to make it happen, we need the community’s input, so it is what the community wants,” said Roark-Gruender. “We don’t want to do something that the community at large hates.”
Because the developers are able to move the building, Roark-Gruender said now it is just a matter of thinking outside the box to what the next steps could be.
“There’s so much wealth of knowledge in this community and so many people who think outside the box. That’s what we’re looking at. This whole thing is going to have to be an outside-the-box thinking,” said Roark-Gruender.
One Columbia resident, Lukin Murphy, said he hopes saving Katy Station will bring awareness to other historical buildings in Columbia that need preservation.
“There’s not a lot of the, like, old Columbia left. So I think it’s really important, the parts that we have that we get to keep,” said Murphy. “I also hope that the community realizes that there are probably other properties like this that are at risk of being sold and demolished and we start looking ahead and being more proactive so that we can be more protective of our resources in the future and not as reactive as this particular situation.”
Murphy said the building is better used as a space for the community, like a convention, visitors bureau, or museum, rather than more student housing.
Roark-Gruender said the property has been purchased by a student housing project, but he has not heard confirmation on what the space will be.
Pat Zenner with the city of Columbia told ABC 17 News that there has been no official application submitted for new development.
Roark-Gruender said the group has until between July and October of 2027 to figure out where and how the building will be moved.
Save Katy Station has received over 1,200 people signing up to support the efforts, according to the press release.
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