In his last official day in the office Thursday, departing Wichita Downtown Development Corp. president Ed Wolverton — a fount of creative revitalization ideas during his tenure here — revealed one of his biggest dreams for downtown: Build a new performing arts complex on the Orpheum Theatre block.
Wolverton argues the city should finish refurbishing the Orpheum (in photo, 1,300 seats), use the seriously underused and gorgeous Scottish Rite Temple theater next door (500 seats), and build a new 2,000-seat performing arts center to the north of those buildings. A parking deck could be built across the street, on the surface lot east of Topeka.
It would be a great fit for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre of Wichita and other tenants of Century II, and possibly avoid having to expand the Expo Hall to the east, as some have suggested.
“The Orpheum is such a jewel,†Wolverton said. Why not use it as the focus of a new performing arts complex?
It’s an intriguing idea.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
-
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in. -
Contact us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Mr_Kia on McCain’s surprise pick for veep
- Regular on McCain’s surprise pick for veep
- generaston on McCain’s surprise pick for veep
- Regular on Democrats hit back on patriotism
- Political_mama on Democrats hit back on patriotism
- Regular on Democrats hit back on patriotism
- HLP on Dancing with the governor
- Mr_Kia on McCain’s surprise pick for veep
- HLP on Dancing with the governor
- Regular on Democrats hit back on patriotism
27 Comments
Thankfully this man is gone from Wichita now. It will take us years to recover.
I remember going to many a cheap movie at the Orpheum back in the mid 70s. It and the Uptown both ran cheap moves and I saw movies like “The Seven Ups” at that theatre. It is a good thing that Wichita has saved both theatres.
I don’t have time now to respond to Randy Scholfield’s “praise” of outgoing Wichita Downtown hired man, Ed Wolverton … but suffice it to say he left the campfire a lot worse than he found it.
Businesses fleeing downtown Wichita.
Construction of his only real project, the $500,000,000.13 unneeded, unwanted downtown ice hockey arena about to begin.
Wasting this amount of money on an “easy come, easy go sales tax basis” is going to harm Wichita for years to come.
And now his parting shot is to describe a pie-in-the-sky arts center which he thinks Wichita should build to follow up his “legacy.”
All I can say is baloney Ed, don’t let the door hit …
Why does this project need a parking garage? The 15,000 seat arena requires none.
Mikey,Because people will actually come to the events here.
How much of my money are they going to steal to pay for this?
Ed Wolverton interested in the arts - where has he been all these years?
Brian - the Orpheum renovation is being privately funded. They hold lots of fund-raising events.
Yes, I realize the Orpheum is privately funded. However, this was talking about building another performing arts building and a parking garage.
I read where the Missouri Valley post-season basketball tourney is going to start rotating to cities other than St. Louis. Good news. Maybe the new arena will pay off someday.
No such luck. You need 18,000 seats. The new arena will be the awkward size of 15,000. To big for small events, not big enough for regional events.
Brian - valid point. Currently C-II has been break-even, largely because its expenses have been under control. I don’t know how that would work with a new facility replacing/in competition with C-II.
I wonder how the casino vote would have come out if a comprehensive plan including C-II to casino and new replacement arts center might have worked out. Some of us who were not fundamentally anti-casino might have voted differently.
outlander - also a good point. Poor Mrage, realizing that his dream is fizzling. But, even at 18,000 seats just how frequently might we get anything like that? Would it be enough to support it?
Outlander, any rotation of the MVC Men’s BB Post-Season Tournament will not occur until after 2011 at the earliest, per news reports earlier this week about a renewal in St. Louis (and, IIRC, there is at least one one-year option for 2012). Thus, even if the Arena stood a chance now (which it appears it doesn’t with the seating capacity requirement you posted), by 2011 there might be further restrictions eliminating Wichita from consideration, assuming the Albino Pachyderm would be still functioning at the time.
The Orpheum needs to be used by Wichita Grand Opera also…it has wonderful accoustics, much better than Century II. The renovations are breathtaking so far…I love going there for concerts.
“Ed Wolverton interested in the arts - where has he been all these years?”
My question is where have you been all these years … have you heard of Final Friday Art Crawls? If so, in large part is was because of WDDC and Ed Wolverton. BTW, WDDC also produced a very nice brochure on the public art in downtown. Do you attend anything at the Orpheum or have you been to the Tallgrass Film Festival? Both have been strongly supported by WDDC.
I wonder what they use all the up stair rooms for?
Yes, I am familiar with the ‘crawls’; and have alse attended numerous events at both the Orpheum and C-II. Wolverton gave some support to the crawls because that required essensially no real investment; however he was not around to help with either C-II nor the Orpheum.
Incidentally, as you notice I mentioned above that the Orpheum renovation is being done with private money. My family has been a source for some of that.
“Currently C-II has been break-even, largely because its expenses have been under control. I don’t know how that would work with a new facility replacing/in competition with C-II.”
Since when were public facilities suppose to make money? Do we expect our libraries to make money? How about our park facilities? Are they suppose to be big money-makers? Do you not think art is important to a community?
Wiseman - i think a lot of them are offices.
Ben, how do you know it wasn’t a “real investment?” Did you attend FF 5 years ago? 3 years ago? FF has been around for over 10 years, yet it wasn’t until Wolverton’s group got involved that the community at large became aware of the event. As far as the Orpheum is concerned, not all support comes in the way of big dollars. Wolverton has been one of the performance venues biggest supporters in terms of marquee advertising and spreading the word about upcoming shows.
not - I agree with you on that. However I do think that we should strive for something approaching ‘break-even’ for venues like C-II, Arena, golf, etc. I attend Music Theater and other events there and believe that my ticket prices should be enough to help do that.
Of course, Music Theater and the rest would be impossible were it not for the generosity of so many corporations and individuals who contribute so much. I always peruse the program to see the names of them and try to patronize them.
Same thing is true with the zoo by the way. I kile to think that my membership helps continue its excellent first-class operation.
Too bad, the Orpheum building reminds me of some of the nice hotels in Manhattan, NY.
I don’t think the utilities would support hotel use wiseman. It would be nice though.
I’ve never been inside the Scottish Rite Temple. Using the Orpheum more has issues with parking. It is nice to have. Something like is better than being in Century II, some ambiance and history.
Why are ideas for civic progression damned by idiots who believe their inaction is valid.
Wichita has to try because the obvious is for years, there wasn’t combined intentions to improve civic programs in this city.
Hold on folks, we should get an 18,000 seat Arena, no matter where that plan is today. It will bid for the MVC tourney.
We’re getting to the core of events being brought here talking about the MVC tourney after 2011.
It is failure of local corporations driving the marketing possibilities of the arena. Regional corporations not doing anything yet to support the Arena.
We have a timid County government not used to playing in the regional event game on level that exists today. KC, OKC, Omaha, Tulsa all have newer Arenas.
It’s okay County created a smaller Arena to fit the cost of the tax, they imagined community would “agree” with it. Majority to did agree.
Now its up to corporations, general business forces to combine efforts and increase seats in the Arena. A little larger capacity.
The redraw will cost Millions! But its necessary. Opening day will be pushed back.
In the end, we can’t let an over $200 Million Arena be too small by 2010.
It has to be the minimum size required by some events today, 18,000 floor seats.
It must be that size. It must bid for events like the MVC to come here. Bid for the Big 12 tournament. It matters if our Arena and we’re better off the Arena group keep trying.
Getting KU to play one or two games downtown is part of that. KU needs to play basketball on occasion in Wichita. WSU and KSU can play downtown occasionally, arena with more seats.
Century II is an ugly building that has outlived its functional use. It should be demolished and something else built there. Too bad it could not have been a casino and hotel.
“Using the Orpheum more has issues with parking.” - AND YOUR ARENA DOESNT?
Actually, I have never had difficulty parking for Orpheum events - the numbers are much smaller.
“Now its up to corporations, general business forces to combine efforts and increase seats in the Arena. A little larger capacity.” THEN DO IT! YOU HAVE FAILED MISERABLY SO FAR!
“The redraw will cost Millions! But its necessary. Opening day will be pushed back.” HAHAHAHAHA!!! THAN HOLD A BAKE SALE TO PAY FOR IT!
“Getting KU to play one or two games downtown is part of that. KU needs to play basketball on occasion in Wichita. WSU and KSU can play downtown occasionally, arena with more seats.” MORE HAHAHA!
“It has to be the minimum size required by some events today, 18,000 floor seats.” BETTER GET BUSY THEN, YOU HAVE WORK TO DO!
HAHAHAHAHA!
Wiseman,
The upper floors are office space for doctors and other businesses.
Kev,
I saw the Wichita premeiers of “A Hard Days Night” and “Help!” at the Orpheum. Stood outside in line for hours for both.
The Orpheum was one of the main theaters where we went to the movies as kids. With one admission ticket, you could stay and watch the movie over and over. Long, long before that, it hosted live theater. It’s good that they’re bring “live” back to it.
The Bar does their show at the Orpheum as a fund-raiser - the shows are always hilarious. Gridiron is also a lot of fun.
The Orpheum rocks!