Two east-side business offices to move

April 24, 20135:00 a.m.

WICHITA — A couple of businessmen are moving their east-side offices, but not far.

Bud Gates is moving his Easygates office from the Tallgrass Executive Park at 22nd and Rock Road to the Polo Club Office Park near 13th and Rock Road.

“We just ran out of space,” Gates says. “We’ve got people in closets over here.”

He says he had been looking to lease another space. In the process, he came across a Tallgrass building to buy.

The Easygates office currently is about 2,900 square feet and is moving to about 4,600 square feet next month. Gates says the new office will offer a lot more storage room in addition to more office space.

Gates is the master franchisor for Easyhome lease-to-own stores in 36 states. He says there are 38 stores under his umbrella – 17 stores that he operates and 21 that are franchises.

“We’re just kind of clicking along,” Gates says. “We probably would like to grow 10 stores per year.”

He says he’ll lease about 900 square feet of his new building to a tenant.

“I can’t reveal that one yet.”

Further east, Paul Jackson is moving his Vantage Point Properties within the Waterfront.

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

Clark Investment Group to build new 5,500-square-foot office at the Waterfront

July 4, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — There’s a more personal element to the new 4.3 acre development that developers Steve Clark and Johnny Stevens are bringing to the Waterfront at 13th and Webb Road.

In addition to the new 2-story office building that will be between Andover State Bank and Chester’s Chophouse & Wine Bar, along with a new restaurant pad site just north of Chester’s, Clark is building a new office for himself.

His Clark Investment Group headquarters currently is in 2,500 square feet near 13th and Rock Road in the Polo Club Office Park, which Clark and Stevens built in 1990.

“We’ve been here a long time,” Clark says. “Our space is not adequate for us these days.”

His new office will be a 5,500-square-foot, single-story building that will be north of where the new 2-story building will be.

“It’ll have a nice patio in the back that kind of runs right up to the lake,” says Clark’s son, Stephen Clark II, who is managing the development of the 4.3 acres.

Spangenberg Phillips Tice Architecture designed the building along with the 24,000-square-foot 2-story building.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under East side, Polo Club Office Park, Real estate, Waterfront | Comments Off

Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches coming to 21st and Maize Road area

Dec. 28, 20116:18 p.m.

WICHITA — At long last, the west side is getting its own Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches restaurant.

“We wish we had a location on the west open two years ago,” says franchisee Matt Brane.

He’s president of Bushwood Investments, a partnership of three Wichitans who own 29 Jimmy John’s restaurants in Kansas and Texas.

So far, the group has three Jimmy John’s here, including two North Rock Road sites and one just north of Central and Hillside.

Now, the group has a contract on space next to Applebee’s on 21st Street just west of Maize Road. The deal hasn’t closed yet, but it’s expected to soon, and the new restaurant should be open by late spring.

Finding west-side space has been a challenge, Brane says, but not due to a lack of space.

“There’s tons of in-line space available on the west side,” he says. “We’re selective about where we go.”

Brane says, “Our mission is to develop Class A real estate with freestanding drive-through locations. Those are more difficult to find.”

The Central and Hillside Jimmy John’s and the one at 340 N. Rock Road have drive-throughs. The one at 3300 N. Rock Road does not.

Brane says his group is looking for another west-side site for a second restaurant there along with one downtown. Nothing is close yet.

The west-side Jimmy John’s site isn’t the only real estate deal Bushwood Investments has been working on.

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