Brooks Brothers to leave Wichita

March 2, 20124:58 p.m.

WICHITA — It appears Brooks Brothers is going to be leaving Wichita as quietly as it entered the market.

“I can confirm that our Wichita store will close at the end of this month as we have decided not to renew our lease,” e-mailed Arthur Wayne, vice president of global public relations, in response to a phone call.

He declined a follow-up e-mail request for an interview to elaborate on the decision.

Have You Heard? first reported Brooks Brothers would be coming to the Waterfront development at 13th and Webb in February 2006.

No one with the company confirmed it until a couple of days before the store opened.

The chain, which calls itself the “country’s oldest clothing retailer,” was the Waterfront’s first national retail tenant. It took the development’s prominent domed retail space with 7,651 square feet.

The broker who handled the deal said the company initially planned a Brooks Brothers 346, which isn’t quite as upscale as a traditional Brooks Brothers store. That was before top executives visited the city and decided Wichita has the right demographics for the traditional store.

Waterfront developers Johnny Stevens and Steve Clark expected similar national retail tenants to follow, but they didn’t.

Neither Stevens nor Clark returned calls to discuss the Brooks Brothers departure.

 

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , Filed under East side, Retail, Waterfront | Comments Off

Fairchild Interiors and Design to reopen, this time in Augusta

Oct. 7, 201110:51 a.m.

WICHITA — Sisters Jan Colvin and Sue Jones are reopening their Fairchild Interiors and Design in a couple of weeks, this time in their native Augusta.

Last month, the two closed their shop at the Waterfront, where Colvin and her husband now plan DiTullio’s Piano Bar.

“Being in Augusta, our overhead is going to be much less,” Jones says.

They intend to pass the savings on to customers with 40 percent off retail for custom furniture orders.

“Which no one in the Wichita area can even begin to offer,” Jones says.

She says there may be an occasional sale with those prices at other shops, but Jones says, “We are going to do it every day for all customers.”

The new shop will be in a 110-year-old building at 110 E. Fifth Ave. in downtown Augusta.

The store will be about 1,000 square feet, which is substantially less than the 4,200 square feet Fairchild had at the Waterfront. It’s about the size of the store’s former custom design space.

“We condensed it a little,” Colvin says.

There will still be lamps, art and accessories, but there won’t be room for furniture except for a sample sofa.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , Filed under Augusta, Retail | Comments Off

DiTullio’s Piano Bar to open at the Waterfront

Oct. 5, 20118:41 p.m.

WICHITA — Jan Colvin has closed her Fairchild Interiors and Design at the Waterfront, but since she still has three years left on her lease, she’s now planning a new business there.

“You’re going to just die when I tell you what we’re up to,” Colvin says.

“We’re opening up a piano bar in that space.”

Details aren’t firm yet, but Colvin and her husband, Bob, are creating a venue that will be home to singer Steve DiTullio and naming it for him.

DiTullio’s Piano Bar will open in 2,100 square feet of the main floor of Colvin’s former shop.

The Colvins conceived the idea with DiTullio one night at the Candle Club.

“I said, ‘Oh, geez, I would love to do something like this,’ ” Jan Colvin says.

She says she’d originally planned to sublease her space but likes this idea better.

“When you get done at dinner at a lot of these places out east, what do you do afterwards?” Colvin says.

She thinks Wichita could use more live music — especially DiTullio’s kind.

“He sounds like Frank Sinatra,” Colvin says. “He’s a crooner.”

Other musicians will play the venue as well.

Colvin thinks it will help other businesses at the Waterfront.

“I think it will activate window shopping.”

Although she’s still finalizing a lot of the plans, Colvin expects to be open before the holidays.

“This looks like it’s a go.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , Filed under Bars, East side, New business, Waterfront | Comments Off

Developer Casey Bachrodt faces lawsuit on Waterfront property

Sept. 14, 20112:58 p.m.

WICHITA — Simmons First National Bank has filed a lawsuit against developer Casey Bachrodt to foreclose on property he owns at the Waterfront.

“Well, it will not get to that stage, I will promise you that,” Bachrodt says.

The suit, filed this week in Sedgwick County District Court, also names Waterfront Office Park Development LLC, Bric Waterfront LLC and Andover State Bank.

Bachrodt has eight buildings in his Executive at the Waterfront within the Waterfront development at 13th and Webb Road.

He says the lawsuit is related to a few acres next to those buildings.

“We’re just taking care of a different type of financing on the property,” Bachrodt says.

He doesn’t want to go into details.

“It’s just not worth discussing at this time,” he says. “We’re getting it resolved.”

Bachrodt says he still plans to build on the property in the future.

“Yes, definitely.”

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

Ciao Italian Kitchen to open in former Press space at the Waterfront

Sept. 7, 20113:15 p.m.

WICHITA — After almost 30 years of working in the restaurant business for others, Guillermo Perez-Munoz is opening his own place in the former Press space at the Waterfront.

“Why not?” he says, not allowing the previous failures of Piztros, Sabor and Press to deter him.

“We can analyze them — all of them,” Perez-Munoz says of why those businesses didn’t work.

The key, he says, is keeping his focus on food.

“In this area, it’s about families.”

So he’s opening Ciao Italian Kitchen, a 130-seat restaurant that will feature what Perez-Munoz calls the ultimate comfort food.

“We are an Italian kitchen first and foremost,” he says. “Every home is designed around the kitchen, so that’s what we’re doing.”

An extensive menu will include Italian favorites such as pizza, calzone and lasagna along with items such as surf-and-turf dishes.

Perez-Munoz isn’t planning any dishes from his native Puerto Rico, but he says as the business progresses he’ll probably “put some flare into it and bring some crazy pastas.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under East side, Leases, New business, Real estate, Restaurants, Waterfront | Comments Off

Press to close at the Waterfront; new business to open in its place

July 26, 20117:06 a.m.

WICHITA — If you’re one of the people who purchased a Groupon from Press, you’d better use it soon.

Aug. 6 is the Waterfront bar’s last day in business.

“As of August sixth . . . something is going to happen there,” owner Melad Stephan says.

He has three offers for the space — two are local, one isn’t. The potential owners have three different ideas: One wants a restaurant, one wants a bistro-style business and one wants a combination bar and restaurant.

Stephan isn’t sure which one he — or his landlords — will accept. He’s hoping to get out of his lease, which still has four and a half years.

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

Wink Hartman Sr. plans new restaurant for former Bella Donna space

July 14, 201111:12 a.m.

WICHITA — Wink Hartman Sr. is contemplating putting a new restaurant concept in his former Bella Donna space, which sits back from Webb Road just south of 21st Street.

“I will not deny that,” Hartman says.

“We’re working on the concept. It’s one of those things I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s a typical Wink Hartman deal.”

So, you don’t know what you’re doing. Sure you want to say that in print?

“I don’t care. I’m not running for office anymore.”

And it’s not like the former congressional candidate is saying it will be an amateur attempt.

“Whatever it’s going to be, it’ll be the best.”

He says it won’t compete with his Chester’s Chophouse at the Waterfront.

“Chester’s is the best restaurant in the Midwest.”

Garozzo’s Ristorante was the first restaurant in the space and was open from 2003 to 2007.

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

Fairchild Interiors and Design at the Waterfront to close

June 20, 20115:23 a.m.

UPDATED — Designer Jan Colvin opened her Fairchild Interiors and Design at the Waterfront 18 months ago with retail on the bottom of her 4,200-square-foot space and design services on the top.

For a while, she’s been contemplating a store in her native Augusta, too, but that’s not the news she’s sharing today.

“Now here’s the sad story: We’re closing the retail section,” Colvin says of her shop. “It’s just not carrying its weight.”

A friend told Colvin she opened at the exact worst time because of the economy, but she was still surprised her concept of being a “purveyor of gracious living” didn’t work.

“I thought it would absolutely set Wichita on its ear because we did something . . . so incredibly charming,” Colvin says.

She has what she calls five vignettes of living spaces, each with its own theme, on the main floor.

“I really dove deep into the European lifestyle,” Colvin says of layering pieces with history to them.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under East side, Retail, Waterfront | Comments Off

Two more Peachwave Self Serve Frozen Yogurt stores coming to Wichita

May 10, 201111:11 a.m.

WICHITA — At first we were kind of joking about the weekly yogurt report, but it looks like that’s the reality.

Yes, there are another couple of yogurt franchises coming to town.

Hong’s Landscape & Nursery owner Ilsik Hong and his brother, Jaesik, are opening a Peachwave Self Serve Frozen Yogurt at 2404 N. Maize Road.

That’s across from NewMarket Square in the same building where AT&T and Frozen In Time, A Scrapbook Boutique are.

“I happen to know the people who (are) distributing this yogurt franchise,” Ilsik Hong says.

His brother, who also works at the nursery, will own the yogurt business, but they’ll both operate it.

“He wants to have a side business, so I’m working with him,” Ilsik Hong says.

The nursery is on 31st Street South between Rock and Webb, which Hong says he realizes is a long way from the Peachwave that will be “way out west.”

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

Peachwave Self Serve Frozen Yogurt to open June 1 at the Waterfront

April 6, 201110:44 a.m.

UPDATED — Doc Green’s franchisees Tammi and Scott Kuthan considered opening another restaurant, this time in Lawrence, but decided on a new franchise instead.

On June 1, they’re opening their first Peachwave Self Serve Frozen Yogurt next to their Doc Green’s at the Waterfront at 13th and Webb.

“I love it personally because it’s just a healthy alternative to dessert,” Tammi Kuthan says.

“We just think it’s the wave of the future.”

Like the other yogurt shops that continue to open across the Wichita area, Peachwave will have a range of yogurt and toppings customers can select to build their own dessert.

There are 45 yogurt flavors, 16 of which will be served daily, 10 fruit toppings and about 25 nut and candy toppings.

“It is so good,” Tammi Kuthan says.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under East side, Leases, NewMarket Square, Real estate, Restaurants, Waterfront, West side | Comments Off