“I’ve got gear from all of them, so I didn’t know which one to wear.”
– Rotary Club of Wichita president Chris Goebel, who has apparel from most Kansas colleges but played it safe and didn’t wear any for the group’s Hoopapalooza party with nine college head basketball coaches this week
WICHITA — Indian Hills Shopping Center owner Larry Burke is working on rezoning part of his property at 13th and Meridian for future development.
Burke, who used to own the Copper Oven Cafe & Bakery at the center, says he has about 72,000 square feet of parking behind the Indian Hills Ace Hardware he’d like to do something with.
“It’s worth the money spent so I can get it zoned so I can think about a development,” he says. “I’ve got several ideas.”
That could be a mixed-use development with retail and office space.
“It will enhance Indian Hills,” Burke says. “It will enhance the area.”
Burke says he’s already done a lot of enhancements to the center — including new lighting, a new roof and upgraded heating and air systems — and would like to generate some revenue on the parking lot.
Some of that area is zoned for multiunit housing. Burke is seeking limited commercial zoning.
“There’s nothing in concrete until I have the zoning in my pocket,” he says. “I couldn’t even plan anything until I could figure out if … I could get it zoned so I could do a development.”
Burke says if a potential development does have retail, it would have to be destination retail since visibility isn’t as good on Meridian as the rest of the center on 13th Street.
“It is going to be hidden in a way.”
He says Ace likely would use some of the space.
WICHITA — QuikTrip looks like it’s building something new at Broadway and Murdock, but that’s not the case — yet.
The company purchased a house or two behind its property on the southeast corner and is now leveling that area.
“We’re not ready to do anything right now,” says Tim Heuback, director of operations. “It’s just a timing opportunity that we just didn’t want to waste.”
Heuback echoes what most anyone who has been to that QuikTrip can tell you: It can be a tight squeeze.
So why not expand now?
“We’re just not ready.”
He adds, though, “We obviously wouldn’t be buying property just to tear down houses.”
Heuback can’t say if the extra space would be for more parking or if QuikTrip would build a new store on it.
“You just don’t want to talk about everything until it’s buttoned up,” he says. “So right now, the story really is we’re not doing anything.”