Daily Archives: Nov. 2, 2010

You don’t say

Nov. 2, 20104:55 p.m.

“I don’t go in the field looking for them.”

— WSU spokesman Joe Kleinsasser, who has had several run-ins with deer in recent years, on how they seem to come into the streets looking for him

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Filed under Wichita State University, You don't say | Comments Off

Marquee Motorcars building is on the market

Nov. 2, 20104:29 p.m.

WICHITA — A historic Wichita property is back on the market.

The art deco Marquee Motorcars building on East Douglas just west of Hillside is listed for $525,000 with Grant Glasgow of Grubb & Ellis/Martens Commercial Group.

The building first was home to Allen Grocery in 1930.

In 2005, businessman Jim Collins bought the building for his Marquee Motorcars, which sold premium pre-owned vehicles and vintage cars.

At the time, Collins told Have You Heard? he’d had his eye on the building for years hoping to display cars there.

“I know it may sound a little hokey, but it’s the truth,” he said.

Before his 2008 death, Collins succeeded in getting the building on state and national historic registries.

“It was his baby,” says Collins’ widow, Jane. “He loved the labor of meticulously redoing and restoring the building.”

Mechanic Johnathan Goodwin, who is best known for converting singer Neil Young’s 1959 Lincoln Continental into an electric car, had been leasing space at the building and this spring said he had plans to return.

“It’s just not in my cards right now,” says Goodwin, who now operates out of two facilities in El Dorado.

Jane Collins says she doesn’t want to be in the property management business, nor does she have another use for the building.

“I have a job I love, and I don’t have the entrepreneurial spirit that Jim had,” she says.

Glasgow says the Marquee building, with its large windows and plentiful light, would be a great home for designers or something art related.

“It’s a great showroom for a lot of different things,” he says.

“Anybody who really likes nostalgia and just cool buildings, this is it.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Real estate | Comments Off

World Poker Tour Amateur Poker League to move offices and open retail space

Nov. 2, 20105:39 a.m.

WICHITA — The World Poker Tour Amateur Poker League is moving its headquarters to Eastgate Plaza near Kellogg and Rock and opening its first retail space next door.

“We want it to be open before Black Friday,” president Kurt McPhail says of the World Poker Tour Store.

His group hosts poker tournaments in five countries.

“Because of our buying power, we get such great deals on our poker-playing supplies,” McPhail says. “We decided to pass that on to everybody.”

The store, which will be in about 750 square feet, will sell poker gear and custom poker tables. Customers also will be able to book poker cruises from there.

Most of what the store will sell will be the kind of supplies the company already is buying for league owners within its organization.

The company’s office, which currently is in 600 square feet at 144 N. Oliver, will be in 1,100 square feet at Eastgate.

McPhail says there will be a rewards discount club where members can pay $69 a year and have access to about 20,000 everyday products — not just poker supplies — at wholesale prices.

There will be kiosks at the store to purchase those products or customers can shop online at www.wptapl.com.

The World Poker Tour hosts 30,000 poker tournaments annually.

McPhail and his partners, who used to have the Highlands Gastropub and Cardroom on North Rock Road, are still appealing a ruling saying that their Kandu Challenge card game is illegal.

The group also is negotiating with the IRS on interest payments on more than $435,000 it paid in back taxes. McPhail expects it to be resolved by the end of the year.

“You know, things are getting better every day,” he says.

He likes Eastgate for exposure for the headquarters and the retail space.

“I don’t think many people knew we were still in Wichita.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under East side, Eastgate Plaza, Leases, Real estate, Retail | Comments