“My mechanic told me, ‘I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I gave you a louder horn.’ That’s what we’re getting from our federal government right now.”
— J.P. Weigand & Sons’ Herb Krumsick, commenting on federal financial policy at Weigand’s ninth annual commercial real estate forum
WICHITA — After the close of business Saturday, the Firkin and Bull at NewMarket Square will close for good.
“Two years of trying is two years enough,” owner Paul Russell says. “No matter what advertising we’ve done, we haven’t been able to bring the people in, so it’s time just to move on.”
While the economy is a factor, Russell says, “A big part of it is the misconception of what a pub is.”
He says other than his place, there are no true pubs here.
“They are listed as that. They say they are. They are sports bars, and that’s what people expect when they see that here in Wichita.”
So when people came to Firkin, Russell says, they “were expecting the American sports bar.”
“We were more family-oriented, which is what a pub is.”
Russell says a lot of people never gave his place a chance.
“Unfortunately . . . the economy forces people to go with what they know whether it’s a good value or not.”
WICHITA — Late last year, Have You Heard? reported that European Car Co. owner David Leivian is leaving his almost 10,000-square-foot building at 1510 E. Second St.
At the time, he couldn’t say what would be moving into the space.
It’s Child Start, which will lease the building.
Jeff Englert, Scott Salome and Grant Glasgow with Grubb & Ellis/Martens Commercial Group handled the deal.
Leivian hasn’t announced where he’s moving yet.
Almost $2.5 million in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are helping Child Start expand.
“We’re going to use this building for the very first of our Head Start centers that serve children zero up to five,” says Child Start executive director Teresa Rupp.
Currently, there are centers for preschoolers and other centers for infants and toddlers.
Rupp says it makes it a lot easier for parents who have more than one child to have children in the same place.
“It just made sense to do it,” Rupp says. “When this Recovery Act money came along, we said, ‘Oh, here’s our chance.’ ”