Buffalo Wild Wings closes Iowa Street location in Lawrence

Lawrence’s business corridors showed how quickly momentum can turn in place: a recognizable chain restaurant on Iowa Street shut down, a downtown climbing gym set a departure date, and a rooftop venue at The Oread went dark to the public, all while a major office conversion moved ahead on Vermont Street. The combined changes pointed to a commercial landscape where rent pressure, redevelopment plans and changing customer patterns are reshaping both west Lawrence and downtown at once.

The sharpest break came at Buffalo Wild Wings, which closed its sole Lawrence location at 2624 Iowa Street, Suite A. By Monday, employees were already seen loading a U-Haul and other vehicles with fixtures and items from the building, after staff members had said the restaurant would cease operations on Sunday. The chain’s location page now shows the Lawrence store as closed. The site had long been a familiar sports bar in the 27th and Iowa retail corridor, and its exit leaves that stretch with one less traffic driver for nearby shops and restaurants.

The Lawrence Buffalo Wild Wings had not always been on Iowa Street. It previously operated downtown on Massachusetts Street before moving west, a reminder that the city’s restaurant geography has been shifting for years as different parts of town gain or lose appeal for chain operators. Company growth elsewhere may make a return possible in another format, but for now Lawrence is left without a Buffalo Wild Wings location at all.

Downtown, The Nest on Ninth at The Oread also closed to the public temporarily. General manager Logan Shinn said the rooftop bar and event space was shut because of an extensive elevator repair that affects ADA accessibility. The space is expected to reopen in the next few months, and it remains available for private rentals and for hotel guests who bring food and drinks from Rock & Hawk on the lobby level. The Oread, near the KU campus at 1200 Oread Ave., is part of Hilton’s Tapestry Collection.

Another downtown anchor, Climb Lawrence at 714 Vermont St., said it will close that location on May 27 and relocate to St. Joseph, Missouri. Monthly memberships stay active through May 27, annual passes will be prorated and refunded, and punch passes will not be reimbursed. The gym’s last new set of routes will go up May 15, which means the building’s foot traffic will fade just as a new office project prepares to move in.

Alarm.com plans to renovate 714 Vermont St. into office space and eventually move in with about 67 employees, up from roughly 37 now in Lawrence. The company had originally sought incentives for 630 Massachusetts St. before shifting to Vermont after the former printing-plant space proved unsuitable. City records show the Vermont building already has a redevelopment history, with a special use permit granted there in 2008 for a cabinet shop and limited manufacturing use. Taken together, the changes showed a city center and west-side corridor in active turnover, where familiar storefronts, rooftop venues and industrial buildings are being closed, repurposed or reimagined with little pause in between.