K9 Garden, the membership-based dog park and social venue that took over the former Bar K site in Botanical Heights, will close permanently on Saturday, Oct. 31. The announcement comes less than ten months after the business opened, even as it grew a loyal following of thousands of members and their dogs across St. Louis.
The venue opened Jan. 16, 2026, at 4565 McRee Ave., according to Sauce Magazine, and had grown to more than 4,600 members and 5,700 registered dogs by the time it announced its closure. K9 Garden said the cost of operating the venue had consistently exceeded its revenue, despite that strong community support, per the same report. KSDK similarly reported that K9 Garden served over 4,000 owners and 5,700 dogs before representatives blamed financial issues for the shutdown.
Chuck Schoene, K9 Garden's director of operations and events, put it plainly in a statement to Sauce Magazine: “we can't keep operating at a loss.” Schoene also told First Alert 4 that the community had shown up for the venue in a big way, saying, “Members showed up in numbers this place had never seen before.” The station reported that the park's revenue simply did not cover its operating costs.
What Happens To Memberships And Events
K9 Garden says it will maintain regular hours and honor all scheduled events through its final day on Oct. 31. Annual members will receive credit for their remaining prepaid membership time, and the business says it has already notified members of the closure and will provide additional information about accessing those prepaid amounts. K9 Garden also says it will close out and pay all outstanding vendor accounts before shutting its doors.
Before K9 Garden, the Botanical Heights property belonged to Bar K, a similar membership-based dog park and restaurant concept. Bar K closed all three of its locations — Oklahoma City, Kansas City and St. Louis — in July 2025, five months before K9 Garden took over the space, according to the stlmag.com report. Bar K later filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 4, 2025, as previously reported by a Hoodline report on the former OKC site.
A Familiar Business Model Hits A Wall Again
Bar K had attributed its own sudden collapse to severe economic headwinds, according to KFOR, including inflationary costs, a difficult labor market, and sharply reduced consumer spending. The company said at the time that each of its three locations — Oklahoma City, Kansas City and St. Louis — faced its own distinct set of difficulties, per the same report.
K9 Garden itself was built as a large, membership-based indoor/outdoor dog park that let dogs run off leash while owners relaxed at an on-site restaurant and bars, according to St. Louis Magazine. The venue had an overall capacity of 500 people and 200 dogs, and it is owned by Seneca CRE, which also owns 9 Mile Garden and the retail center where the property sits. At the time it opened, St. Louis Magazine reported K9 Garden already had 700 members enrolled and a steady calendar of live music, pop-ups and dog-centered programming planned for 2026.
With the closure set for Halloween, K9 Garden becomes the second dog-park-and-bar concept to fold at the McRee Avenue address in about 15 months. Whether another operator will eventually take over the Botanical Heights site remains unknown for now.
