Jason Van Sickle, Susayn Brandes and Marque Peer are ready to break ground on the first phase of a new 60-acre development at Ventures Business Park.
WICHITA — Great Plains Ventures president Susayn Brandes likes to joke that her need for a soda and a tank of gas is spurring a new 60-acre development at K-96 and Oliver.
“I really just wanted a QuikTrip on Oliver so I could get a Diet Coke and some gas,” she says.
What she’s actually getting is a whole lot more.
Brandes and her brother, Greats Plains Ventures vice president of development Marque Peer, and developer Jason Van Sickle and his J. Van Sickle & Co. are partnering for a multiuse development on the northeast corner of the intersection that will include apartments, a hotel, office and retail. They first announced the project a year ago but now are about to break ground.
Great Plains Ventures is the holding company for three manufacturing firms, two of which are at Ventures Business Park on the northeast corner of K-96 and Oliver.
Brandes and Peer’s father, the late Charlie Peer, purchased what was then an 80-acre property more than three decades ago to give his company room to grow. Over the years, the company sold off some lots but decided against selling more.
“It just seemed to me that we wanted to be in more control of how this developed out,” Brandes says.
She met Van Sickle at a board meeting and talked to him about doing a study of the best uses for the property.
Van Sickle then presented her with a plan that started with apartments.
“Initially, I was kind of like, ‘Really?’” Brandes says. Then she says “it really started making sense to me.”
Construction is set to start Sept. 3 with an upscale 208-unit apartment complex.
“We wanted to create more 24-hour population density out there,” Van Sickle says.
WICHITA — At a time when a lot of companies are downsizing,