If there’s been a constant in the three-plus years I’ve covered real estate for the Eagle, it’s been WaterWalk and the steady drumbeat of citizen criticism of a largely inactive project.
Those critics, who largely are justified because as taxpayers they’re equity partners, have reason to be heartened by the aggressive first steps announced by the new man in charge on the east bank, veteran Wichita entrepreneur Jack DeBoer.
A very sage developer told me years ago that there are two kinds of Wichitans: The people unafraid to act, and the people paralyzed by fear, more intent on pointing fingers.
Make no mistake about it: DeBoer falls into the first category, and his decision to pursue commercial traffic at WaterWalk is a decision playing very well, even with some of the project’s harshest critics in the local development industry.
DeBoer is a unique guy: A fountain of ideas, and a man who’s willing to crank out and try a dozen of them, secure in the knowledge that one or two are going to succeed.
Add to that his decision to retain Marlin Penner, the president and managing broker of NAI John T. Arnold Associates, to market the development’s commercial property. When you cover real estate, you learn quickly – and often by the hard way – whose word is gold and whose word isn’t worth the air it occupies. I’ve known Penner for 20 years, and he most assuredly falls into the former category.
I’m not here to tell you that DeBoer will succeed. I doubt that even Jack would be that presumptuous.
But I am here to tell you that his decision to shift focus to market-driven traffic down at the WaterWalk is the development’s best chance for success.
It’s time for the finger-pointing to stop. What went wrong at WaterWalk has been rehashed enough. Let’s sit back and watch a veteran entrepreneur at work.
9 Comments
3 years covering real estate downtown isn’t long enough, because the past failures weigh heavily on developments downtown. This is about WaterWalk new direction, great. Getting people to hang out working or walking in that zone is necessary.
The wrecking ball needs to start swinging on properties downtown that have ancient group ownership. A bunch of people together in the past have helped keep 1970’s buildings still standing. The one Epic Tower reminder of 80’s deals gone awry.
Someday can we have a Boathouse on the river that rents boats to use? That was a 90’s deal left to ruin and arguing.
Century II and the soon abandoned Library, both need redevelopment interiors. Fix those costly things will vex Wichita No voters. They are a weird bunch who look at $200 Million in development cash not to be spent in Sedgwick County and smile.
I seem to remember former WaterWalk voices making a big stink not wanting Casino “IDEA” downtown. Until groups put up their Casino money, all ideas are just speculation. No to development money and WaterWalk languished for years?
Walking from WaterWalk to Intrust Arena, those sidewalks have to be clean and safe, so its possible. Many Wichitans have a fear of walking more than a block to anywhere problem.
Good luck WaterWalkers!
Remember Bill – that is almost precisely what I wrote in my unpublished letter to the Eagle. INTELLIGENT development can work. “Old Town with a ditch” was moronic from Day One. And putting a warehouse right on the river bank was also moronic.
I hope DeBoer fires Tom Johnson soon.
Bill – a comment of your sage friend. There are more than two kinds. There are also those wh will jump off a cliff without doing due diligence. That is what we saw with WaterWalk – due diligence was never done. They ignored warnings because of their over-inflated egos – Jack DeBoer included. I hope he has learned from the failures of this develop that he sponsored in the first place.
Having ‘covered’ Wichita development for over 20 years I recall well Jack DeBoer’s words that day at Council when he suckered the council members to vote 4-3 for this boondoggle.
Mrage! You are somebody I need to get in contact with. I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for several years. Shoot me an e-mail or a facebook page.
Ben! I couldn’t agree with you more. Although Jack DeBoer met a lot of resistance, especially with his plans to put his headquarters in the Boathouse spot, which I had mixed feelings about, having spent two years taking care of that place when I worked for the City of Wichita.
I do think it’s a good idea to switch gears on WaterWalk and concentrate it on office/residential/retail. Gander needs to go also. I thought that WaterWalk would have worked as an entertainment district if they placed the downtown arena on the east side of Main street. But since they chose the site where it sits today, I didn’t think that there would be a good way to link WaterWalk to the Arena then to Old Town. An Entertainment/Restaurant District has to be closer to the Arena and Old Town in my opinion.
I don’t know what they have planned for Mr. Johnson other than that he is staying put at the moment. But if he does have somebody else come in to run it, then the Peerless Tower Project will get a great shot in the arm. Tom Johnson didn’t seem too interested in the Peerless Tower as the site wasn’t in the WaterWalk district, but I think he fails to see the aesthetic contribution that the Peerless Tower will do for WaterWalk.
If they want to fill those Condos at WaterWalk Place, the Peerless Tower will do it. For right now, WaterWalk Place has no view worth mentioning, other than staring at Gander Mountain a dirt field and the Hyatt Hotel.
I plan to submit a proposal for the Peerless Tower to Consolidated Holdings soon.
Joe – I’m glad to see that you have come to agree with me. I always knew “Old Town Ditch” woul not work. It would only have served to dilute and divide our entertainment area. My approach, which I have been pushing for some time, focuses on the Douglas Corridor. That gives us a central entertainment district that is both cohesive but has plenty of variety. Historic Delano on the west; Clifton Square on the east. The entire distance is readily ’strollable’ and Q Lines would make it very effective.
I look bact to my visit to Wicked the other night. Think about parking just once … dinner in Delano … Q to C-II … then Q to Old Town for coffee … then Q back to the car. Makes for a great evening out and would also stimulate business at bars/restaurants in the area. And who knows, maybe I would walk enough to make up for that ice cream I had with my coffee.
There goes Ben talking about walking downtown again.
Can surely tell you’re not a native Wichitan, Ben.
Very true Bill. That is why I can relate to the urbanism that you and others (including me) would like to see developed here. It is also why I rely on transit to address our parking issue.
I recognize that we will not have the kind of comprehensive transit of a Chicago or NY but we do have our resources. And I limit my proposals to those resources.
You make three years time sound like it’s long enough to be a master on the subject.
Ben, the Visioneers in Chattanooga were suitably impressed by the city’s electric bus system. Can’t say I was optimistic about a transit expansion before, but I think the idea’s certainly on the table now.