WICHITA — A daunting economy isn’t keeping Slawson Cos. from working on the next phase of the Oak Creek development on the southwest corner of 21st and Greenwich.
Slawson has hired Wichita’s Architectural Innovations to design a new mixed-use area that will include retail, restaurants and offices.
“They are working on what we are calling Oak Creek Village,” says Slawson’s Jerry Jones.
The 10-acre area will feature freestanding buildings with tile roofs and lots of masonry work.
“It’s not going to be a strip center,” Jones says. “It will be a series of buildings along a drive that meanders parallel to 21st Street.”
He calls it “kind of a cool concept.”
“It ties in with the estates that are being built in there.”
Brett Prather, president of Architectural Innovations, says there will be a lot of warmth to the development.
“It’s a European-style village concept where people will park and walk from shop to shop,” he says. “It’s a very unique concept for the Wichita area. . . . Really, it’s one of a kind.
“To us, it’s exciting enough that we . . . are entertaining the thought of moving our office to that location.”