Comments on: Bass Pro: Doomed in Wichita?

By: bth

bth — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:07:51 +0000

The ill-fated WaterWalk was a half-baked idea from the beginning. I was at the Council meeting where it was initially approved – plans were nebulous at best. It was to be the great netertainment district where “east meets west” and all of Wichita would frequent. Of course, I remember all of that being said about Old Town which has not lived up to expectations (see today’s Eagle about TIFs).

WaterWalk today looks nothing like what was sold to the Council. Over-priced condos and a sub-market sporting goods store – hardly the glitz presented long ago. As for Gander Mountain check out its financials at http://www.morningstar.com. Hardly impresssive.

It is sad to see the Boathouse in such derelict condition. Assuning it doesn’t get torched I expect it to be declared an eyesore and demolished … so the prime real estate can be given away for a dollar a year.

By: shockball

shockball — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:35:49 +0000

Carlos reneged on a contract that the city had signed for the Waterwalk development. It scared off Bass Pro.

By: JWink

JWink — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:48:17 +0000

Ben: You are correct, others fouled up the River Walk project around the Boathouse and it’s still fouled up. But Carlos Mayans took the black eye. Carlos, where are you now that we need you back in city government?

By: JWink

JWink — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:43:01 +0000

It should be clear Wichita doesn’t need more government subsidized FISHING AND HUNTING SPORTING GOODS STORES.

First, Gander Mountain in Wichita has been a collosal failure even though it’s the Wal-Mart of hunting and fishing retail stores.

Two, Wichita already has a number of privately owned sporting goods stores selling hunting and fishing equipment. We don’t need local government meddling in this fragile business.

Three, Wichita is definitely not a fishing destination unless you like to stand on the Harry and Lincoln street bridges casting out into the polluted Arkansas River when it is actually running some water after a rain. I suspect Carp are the main fish caught there.

Hunting in the Flint Hills northeast of Wichita and in the Gyp Hills southeast of Wichita has some potential mostly for ducks and pheasants. We used to hunt jack rabbits out in the fields of Pratt County near Preston and Cullison but I suspect the jack rabbit population is much diminished from those days. In fact, jack rabbits might be extinct.

Most likely the wild game left in Kansas, like our “wild geese,” will run up begging for food unless camoflaged hunters manage to shoot them first.

By: bth

bth — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:40:58 +0000

The whole BassPro/WaterWalk fiasco is a tremendous black eye for the entire WaterWalk project and everyone involved in that project. Mayans makes a very convenient scapegoat for those who deserve the real blame – the boosters and developers of WaterWalk.

By: ictBest

ictBest — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:25:51 +0000

There could be some hope. It might be awhile though.

There is still that one developer who wants to put a massive shopping center on 47th and I-135, pending that KDOT gets the funding to redo the 47th exits and bridge (which I assume they will.)

With the Harrah’s Casino going in to Mulvane, I suspect that 47th St. to Mulvane could be a great corridor for shopping and a Bass Pro-Shop.

By: mcs7584

mcs7584 — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:55:37 +0000

That’s too bad because that would have been and would have brought some more much needed retail development on Wichita’s south side. In fact, there’s very little visible retail of any kind anywhere along the I-235 corridor, unless you consider west Kellogg.

That, and that mobile home park has clearly never recovered from the storm that hit nearly 10 years ago.