Category Archives: Downtown

Wallflower Studios to move to former Roots & Bloom space on South Laura

May 15, 20134:03 p.m.

WICHITA — Wallflower Studios isn’t a floral company, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that from its name or address — present or future.

Aaron and Christina Patton started the photography business from their home studio in March 2008 and last year moved into the former Flower Factory space at 1302 E. Waterman.

Now, they’re expanding at a new site.

“Ironically enough, we’re moving to another flower building,” Aaron Patton says.

The Pattons are moving from their current 4,000-square-foot space to more than 11,000 square feet in the former Roots & Bloom building at 151 S. Laura.

“It’s massive,” Aaron Patton says.

Roots & Bloom closed early last month when owner Chris Coburn decided to devote all his time to his job in sales at Doonan Truck & Equipment of Wichita.

Patton says he and his wife like the openness of the former Roots & Bloom space plus the extra rooms it has, which they can convert to studios, a gallery and a showroom.

There will be a 1,500-square-foot separate studio for other photographers to rent, which Patton says is more sizable than some other photography spaces for rent in the area.

“We’re just kind of hoping to offer something a little more versatile,” he says.

Their lease is up where they currently are.

“It’s been really great,” Patton says of the building. He adds, though, “We had been looking at having more of a showroom.”

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

Loony Bin deal is close to closing

May 7, 20136:00 a.m.

WICHITA — The final contract is yet to be signed, but Loony Bin co-owner Larry Marks is confident the club will open on St. Francis downtown as early as September.

“It looks like we’re rolling ahead there,” he says.

“We are due to close on it in about a couple of weeks.”

Last month, Have You Heard? reported that Marks and his partner, Jeff Jones, are interested in a 13,000-square-foot building between First and Second streets on St. Francis across from the urban park on the southeast corner of Second and St. Francis. Their Loony Bin had been at 21st and Woodlawn until it closed in late March.

They’re looking to do more than comedy in the new space.

“We may expand our entertainment format a little bit,” Marks says.

He says that could be trivia nights, improv and “even newlywed games and all kinds of stuff.”

There also will be room in the building to possibly do retail or to use the space for an office or apartments.

Marks says he and Jones are considering proposals and should make a decision on the extra space within 60 days.

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

Shear Voltage to leave the Collective for expanded space at the Garvey Center

May 1, 20134:23 p.m.

WICHITA — A salon is opening in the former Bob’s Place barber shop at the Garvey Center downtown.

Jennifer Collins and Shelby Cheatum are moving their Shear Voltage salon from a small suite at the Collective near 21st and Greenwich to the Garvey Center on July 1.

“We’re just really excited to be in the downtown area and continue to grow our business,” Collins says.

She and Cheatum have been cutting hair together for about seven years and opened their business almost two years ago. They purposely started small because they heard the first couple of years in any business are particularly rough, Collins says. She says they’ve been successful, though, and are ready to grow.

The new space is 1,512 square feet.

Adam Clements and Larry Weber of Builders Inc. handled the deal.

The expanded salon will have eight stylists and offer a range of services in addition to hair care. That includes spray tans, massage, body waxing, makeup, eyelash extensions and, eventually, manicures and pedicures.

Collins says it makes sense to move downtown now.

“I think we’re hitting it at the time that we can grow with the downtown area.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Downtown, Garvey Center, Salons | Comments

Orpheum Theatre creates OPAC Real Estate to buy space at Orpheum Office Building

April 18, 20135:00 a.m.

WICHITA — The Orpheum Theatre is now going to own a piece of the adjacent Orpheum Office Building in addition to the theater at First and Broadway.

“It’s very exciting news for the Orpheum,” says president Jennifer Wright.

The Orpheum created a separate entity, OPAC Real Estate LLC, to make the purchase. OPAC stands for Orpheum Performing Arts Center.

The group bought the approximately 6,000-square-foot third floor of the office building from a bank, which acquired it out of foreclosure.

Wright says the Orpheum leadership decided to create the LLC to protect the theater.

“We’re kind of just taking caution,” she says.

Theater staff members currently occupy a couple of suites on the first floor of the center and will move to the third floor on May 1.

“Now we’ll finally all be all together,” Wright says.

“It will also enable the theater to save money long term. It is no longer going to be paying rent every month,” she says. “We really feel like this will benefit the theater in the long run.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , Filed under Downtown, Orpheum Office Building, Real estate | Comments

All federal agencies at the 271 Building downtown will by gone by September

April 17, 20135:37 p.m.

WICHITA — By the end of August, all of the federal agencies in the 271 Building at 271 W. Third St. downtown will be gone.

Have You Heard? has written about several of the departures already. What follows is a complete list.

“This was originally an IRS lease at this building, but they returned some of the space, and then we backfilled it with other agencies … which is kind of why everyone is leaving at once,” says Angela Brees, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration.

The IRS has about 33,000 square feet of the 95,000-square-foot building.

Typically, whenever a federal agency’s lease is up, there has to be a bidding process for new space.

The IRS office and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office are moving to 555 N. Woodlawn. They’re taking about 40,000 square feet there, and there’s another 23,000 square feet available to lease.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration office and the Health and Human Services Inspector General are moving to Phil Ruffin’s Bank of America Center at Broadway and Douglas.

The Small Business Administration is moving to the Page Court Building at the Garvey Center at 220 E. Douglas.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency are moving to the Lux building at First and Market.

The Railroad Retirement Board has already moved to the Cambridge Office Park south of 21st and Webb Road, and the Citizenship and Immigration Services office has already moved to Ruffin’s building at 550 W. Douglas in Delano.

The status of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense Inspector General offices is still unclear.

All of the agencies need to be out of the 271 Building by the end of August when the lease is up.

“We’re still dealing with them on that,” says Trey Ayers, executive vice president of Guthrie, Okla.-based Dominion Properties, which owns the building.

Dominion is seeking new tenants outside of federal agencies.

“We like Wichita, and we like what it’s about,” Ayers says. “Hopefully we can help some other local folks move into the property.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under Delano, Downtown, East side, Federal government, Real estate | Comments

Roots & Bloom to close on Tuesday

March 27, 201310:55 a.m.

WICHITA — This time last year, Roots & Bloom owner Chris Coburn restructured his business by expanding to showcase other businesses within a collective at his downtown shop at 151 S. Laura.

Now, he’s closing the business on Tuesday.

In July, Coburn took a job in sales at Doonan Truck & Equipment of Wichita.

“The offer … turned my head,” he says.

It was too much to do that and run his company, though.

“Trying to ride two ponies isn’t working too well,” Coburn says.

Two years ago, Coburn created Roots & Bloom out of Wichita Wholesale Florists to attract retail customers in addition to the floral shops the company sold to for decades.

Last year he invited other businesses to have a presence at Roots & Bloom, including ACI Design Studio, Overhead Door, Hong’s Landscape & Nursery and the OnionTree.

OnionTree owner Bridgit Yinger last month told Coburn she decided to leave.

“That was part of the catalyst that started this conversation,” he says.

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

County files foreclosure suit against Kress Building owner over small parcel of land

March 25, 20135:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Sedgwick County has filed a tax foreclosure suit against Kress Building LLC, the owner of the Kress Building at 224 E. Douglas.

The taxes aren’t for the building but for a small piece of vacant land adjacent to it.

“I think what has happened is that has just escaped payment,” says Chris McElgunn, the attorney representing the county.

He says the amount is somewhere between $6,000 and $7,000.

The building owner couldn’t be reached for comment.

McElgunn says it’s a common accounting error when a property owner doesn’t realize that one piece of a property may be listed separately on the tax rolls.

“They’ve got to make arrangements to come in and pay the taxes,” he says. “It’s my understanding that the property manager is making arrangements.”

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

Cero’s Candies to leave downtown for a less sunny spot in College Hill

March 22, 20133:13 p.m.

Cero’s Candies owners Pam (left) and Darcy Bishop in front of the future College Hill home of the business.

WICHITA — Ed Cero has been gone from his family’s Cero’s Candies for more than a decade, but his advice lives on.

“Ed Cero had actually written little notes,” says Pam Bishop, who has owned the business with her daughter, Darcy, for two years.

They inherited the notes that Cero left for the previous owner.

“One of his notes was, ‘Never put a candy shop on the north side of the street,’” Pam Bishop says.

The Bishops agree – too much of their chocolate is melting due to the winter sun – and are moving the store from the north side of Douglas downtown to the south side of Douglas at Happiness Plaza in College Hill.

“We’re constantly shifting candy around,” Pam Bishop says.

“The sun beats in and melts the chocolate no matter how cold we keep the room,” Darcy Bishop says.

Instead of holding chocolate right now, one of the store’s cases instead has a big sugar Easter egg Ed Cero made in 1982.

The business, which opened in 1885, has been at a variety of addresses mostly along Douglas on the north and south sides.

Pam Bishop says the store’s current space is a little big for its needs.

Cero’s will move from 2,800 square feet at 1108 E. Douglas to 1,600 square feet at 3429 E. Douglas most likely on Memorial Day weekend.

“It’s got more usable space than we have now,” Darcy Bishop says of the new space.

For instance, a dessert cafe the Bishops tried in a side room at the current space didn’t work out.

“It was a little awkward, so we stopped doing it,” Pam Bishop says.

At the new space, which is a former house where the Bag Ladies used to be, there will be room in the front of the store for tables and chairs. There also will be WiFi.

The Bishops added ice cream sales in summer months after they bought the store. With the move into the College Hill neighborhood, Pam Bishop expects those sales to do better.

“That’s going to be a bigger draw there than it is here.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under College Hill, Downtown, East side, Real estate, Restaurants, Retail | Comments Off

J.R. Koontz Flowers behind in state taxes

March 13, 20132:35 p.m.

WICHITA — Another longtime Wichita business is struggling and behind on taxes because of the economy.

J.R. Koontz Flowers owes $23,559 in state sales tax.

“We’re trying to get that resolved right now,” says owner J.R. Koontz. “It’s not only embarrassing, but it’s just very difficult.”

He says he suspected there was a problem, but not to this extent.

“I was just kind of blown away,” Koontz says. “I thought, truthfully, it wouldn’t go this far.”

He says contributing to the issue is his purchase of the 10,000-square-foot building at 633 N. Broadway where he moved the business a decade ago.

“Quite honestly, this facility is a dream come true, and I’m glad I did it,” Koontz says. “Regretfully, it probably wasn’t the smartest business move.”

Though he may be good with flowers, Koontz says running a business isn’t his specialty.

“I’m probably one of the worst business people there is when it comes to paying attention to handling those business things.”

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

Tony Utter surprises fellow brokers as the Wichita Executive Centre’s new listing agent

Feb. 28, 20135:00 a.m.

Other brokers may question what he’s doing, but Tony Utter is confident in the future of the Wichita Executive Centre.

UPDATED — Some of Tony Utter’s fellow commercial brokers have had a recurring question for him since learning he’s taken over the listing for Real Development’s Wichita Executive Centre.

“Basically, was I out of my mind?”

Utter, who owns Utter Commercial Real Estate, acknowledges financial and other issues the Minnesota Guys and the building at 125 N. Market have faced in recent years.

“It’s been a topic of conversation quite a bit lately,” he says.

Calvin Klaassen, who works with Utter, will be helping him with the leasing.

“We did a lot of research before we agreed to it,” Utter says. “It was only after we were satisfied and reached … a high comfort level that we agreed to do this.”

Maintenance and other issues at the building aren’t all that had Utter concerned.

“We wanted to be very careful, very cautious before we agreed to take on a building of this size,” he says.

The 19-story, more than 300,000-square-foot building has about 80,000 vacant square feet of office space and about 100,000 vacant square feet of former hotel space. Utter says it’s the second-tallest office building in the state next to the neighboring Epic Center.

“This is the most complicated office building that I’ve ever been involved with,” Utter says. “It has a long history in Wichita.”

He’s had some history there already himself.

Utter was the leasing agent for the building for eight months before Real Development purchased it in 2007.

“So I’m back,” he says.

There are a few reasons Utter agreed to get involved.

No. 1, he is confident that his firm and any vendors will get paid.

“The good thing is that the lender is heavily involved,” Utter says of Security National Capital of Salt Lake City.

“We’re expecting a lot of assistance from other real estate brokers, and they want assurances that they’re going to be paid,” Utter says. “We depend heavily on working with other brokers. We consider them as part of our team.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under Downtown, Real estate, Wichita Executive Centre | Comments Off