Beech Lake sale closes; Murfin Inc. president shares possible development plans

WICHITA — Webb & 13th Real Estate LLC, which is wholly owned by Murfin Inc., has closed on its purchase of the Beech Lake property on the southeast corner of 13th and Webb.

Hawker Beechcraft sold two-thirds of the property for an undisclosed amount.

“We plan ultimately to develop the property with some plans to move our office headquarters out there,” says Bob Young, Murfin Inc. president.

The company primarily is an oil and gas and heavy equipment business and isn’t focused on real estate development.

“That was just a good deal,” Young says of the property. “That just seemed like an opportunity we couldn’t let go by.”

He calls it “probably the best piece of development property in town.”

Young says he’s spoken with developers about possibilities for the property, but there are no set plans or specific concepts.

“Right now, it’s a buy-and-hold situation.”

Nothing will happen until the market is stronger.

A development similar to the popular Waterfront across the street is a possibility one day.

“It’ll be a first-class development,” Young says. “Whatever goes up there will be world class.”

  • maris22

    What a shame. As an ex-Beech employee. So much for the Old Beechcraft Softball Leauges and the fishing at the Old Beech Lakes.

  • beaconmike

    The dollar rules………….so much for the little man/woman……..softball and fishing mean little to those that can make money………

    While sad, I wonder if maris22 would not do the same thing were someone to offer him more money than he could have hoped for on something that was only a piece of nostalgia for others?

  • wwichita67208

    Frank Hedrick is turning over in his grave. While president of Beech, he loved the lakesite and often he and his wife, Betty, would show up for games… from softball, junior baseball, and even skeet shooting, and alway golf practice. With the current Hawker-Beechcraft situation, I’m sure Walter and Olive Ann are turnng in their graves too

  • Cicero

    If you think this property was valuable, wait till they sell off the square mile.

  • gocats

    And the beat goes on…the rich get richer and the rest get less!!!!!

  • cyberspider

    Don’t sell Murfin short .. homegrown Kansans who seem to care about Wichita. They were a driving force behind the new Humane Society .. can’t be all bad.

    HBC could have traded it to China / Mexico as part of their outsourcing deals.

    Lots worse owners of this property. Not all doom & gloom w/Murfin.

  • iphill

    “They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot”

  • fish

    “That was just a good deal,” Young says of the property. “That just seemed like an opportunity we couldn’t let go by.”

    Of course it was a good deal. HBC didn’t have to pay a dime for the property, they just stole it from the employees. I don’t recall hearing how the employees were compensated for the loss of land that Walter Beech gave them, legally, decades ago. I know my mom didn’t receive any check, and she worked at Beechcraft for 42 years!

  • thunderkwb

    fish
    Posted August 13, 2010 at 9:55 am | Permalink
    “I don’t recall hearing how the employees were compensated for the loss of land that Walter Beech gave them, legally, decades ago. I know my mom didn’t receive any check, and she worked at Beechcraft for 42 years!”

    Show me how a company could sell property that was not theirs in the first place. It is a business not a community service, capital that is needed to keep jobs in Wichita is not raised on sentimental value. Be more worried about the land on Central and Webb being sold, there are a number of lakes and parks to go to.

  • http://www.GrupedZn.com/dZn_EPSTEIN.html JEwk446

    Progress must go on. You cannot exepect open land to remain under-utilized if you are interested in generating and growing the community. And you would be hard pressed to find a more responsible visionary than Murfin. I am only sad that I am not a part of this … yet.

  • Phinatic

    Hopefully it will be another shopping mall. We need more places to shop.

    NOT.

  • fish

    Underutilized? Have you ever been there? I’ve fished in both lakes THOUSANDS of times. Used to be every single day but that was a decade ago. That property is not in any way shape or form underutilized. It is a park and was purchased by the Beech’s to be used as nothing more than park, in perpetuity. If you don’t know what a park is, please let me know and I will educate you. When Raytheon purchased Beechcraft they specifically promised the employees that the land would remain in a trust, to be used by employees and their families, exactly as Walter and Olive Beech intended. HBC made no such promise, specifically because they do not care about their employees. We’re all going to find out just how much they don’t care about their employees here in 18 months.

  • MadintheUSA

    Schuster and Boisture sold it to pay for those penile implants they had put in their heads!! I’m surprised with all the crap HBC has been doing lately with its employees that some of the crazy dudes I’ve worked with out there haven’t gone and done something crazy and made a news story for CNN! Arthur, Dave, Jim….if you do go nuts be sure to go after management and not the helpless employees!!

  • Photooo7

    If this dosen’t show Hawker leaving , you are blind . Any company wanting to ever get bigger isn’t going to get rid of the land around them.

  • bmchu97161

    Business is business. Timing was right to sell. Right time and the right price! Good move!