Shiloh Bar and Grill set to close in December as historic Katy Station Building faces potential redevelopment

COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ) 

A longtime Columbia staple is set to close its doors this winter.

Shiloh Bar and Grill announced on Facebook that this upcoming college football season will be its last. Owner Nic Parks later confirmed to ABC 17 News that the bar will close in December.

Parks said the closure is tied to the landlord’s plans to sell the property and alluded to a potential buyer’s plans to redevelop the historic Katy Station Building.

While Parks did not have specifics on the redevelopment plans, he said Shiloh likely would not reopen at another location.

However, he said there is a possibility the bar could eventually return as a ground-floor tenant if the new property owner is willing to work with them. He pointed to Shakespeare’s Pizza on Ninth Street as a similar example, where the restaurant operates beneath an apartment complex.

Shiloh Bar and Grill operated at a South Sixth Street location from 1998-2009 before moving to its current location on East Broadway in 2009.

The bar has operated out of the historic Katy Station Building ever since. The building was added to the Columbia Historic Register on Jan. 29, 1979. It originally served as a depot for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.

ABC 17 News attended Tuesday’s Columbia Historical Preservation Committee meeting. One of the items listed on the agenda was a demolition permit at North Fourth Street. However, at this point in the process, the committee says that no developers have come forward with a concept, and all that they have heard is “rumors” about alleged student housing. 

Despite the Katy Station Building’s historical significance, the committee told ABC 17 News that nothing currently prevents the property from being demolished. The city can impose a 45-day delay on demolition to allow for further discussion, but beyond that, there are no additional protections in place.

One way for the city to provide additional protections for a historic building is through a zoning regulation known as a historic overlay, which places specific restrictions on a property or area to preserve its historic character. However, the Historic Preservation Commission said there is no historic overlay in place for the Katy Station Building.