Talk about curb appeal. Union Station downtown, with its beautiful colonnaded facade, is up for sale. Like many former public buildings, this is an architectural and historical treasure that deserves not just preservation but a place at the heart of our civic life.
Steve Martens, whose real estate company is selling the property, sees a variety of possible uses for the 85,000-square-foot building, including retail, hotel and restaurant. What’s important is to find new life and a high use for such a historic building.
Originally the city’s train depot and most recently the home for Cox Communications, Union Station offers an exciting opportunity for a developer to build on the location’s proximity to the Old Town entertainment district and new arena.
This is a key piece in the downtown redevelopment puzzle. Here’s hoping someone has a vision to match the building’s great potential.Any takers out there, bloggers?
26 Comments
Like other Union Stations, I’d like to see it go commercial but parking would be a problem, and the kind of retail that has worked for other Union Stations is already well represented here on the east and west edges of town.
This is a rare opportunity to create a regional transportation hub, anchored by the proposed Northern Flyer rail link uniting Dallas, Oklahoma City, Wichita, and Kansas City.
http://www.northflyer.org/
The city and county should use their leverage to buy the property, the Kansas/ Oklahoma/ Missouri/ Texas Congressional delegations should find Federal transportation dollars to get this thing underway. Gas isn’t getting any cheaper, and people are eager for alternative transportation options.
I like Martens’ idea with one BIG modification - re-establish the train station. Think of the possibilities of returning the Station to its original uses and complementing that with supporting businesses like Martins envisions.
I would add better bus access for a number of reasons - especially connecting with rail.
Would like to see it happen.
Would like the opportunity to be annoyed by some Jayhawk fan carrying one of those large foam fingers and carrying a KU sign smacking everyone in the head while he tries to take a seat on a journey south to a basketball or football game. :D
I agree..I have so many fond memories of that place as a child…we used to take the train to Buffalo every summer to vist family. Mom would also take us on the train to Newton and we’d have a picnic in the park down the block from their station. I loved it. It would be so wonderful to have such easy access again
Well, with the return of passenger rail service to Wichita, Union Station would be a natural (being it’s next to the tracks and all) for (wait for it) a Train Station; it almost seems designed for that use. Add a few shops, restaurants and bars and it would be perfect for the job!
It’s probably the most beautiful piece of period architecture left in the area, and returning it to it’s former use and glory would make it a symbol and a memory for passengers traveling through. We could really use that; one look at the proposed arena will tell you that most travelers won’t remember it a day later!
The only real opposition would come from owners of malls and hotels and such who built far from the center of town, and are responsible for turning our city into a donut. Maybe they could supply the city with bus service out to their emporiums. We could use that too.
Regular - if you want to see some annoyed Jayhawk fans join me at Players April 7 to watch the Bruins destroy them.
;)
Yes, Restaurants, bars, shops, and of course, a couple of shoe shine stands, like used to be at each end of the great lobby…
Seems I remember that building being owned originally by ATSF… The MoPac and Rock Island had their own depots/stations over on Waco, IIRC…. across from the Broadview Hotel.
I have taken the train out of Wichita, once or twice, when I was a kid and we went to Pittsburgh to grandparents and other of dad’s relatives…
I DO hope we get rail service restored to Wichita… Could be a huge boom for Downtown business (well, Old Town at least!)
Anybody remember the HUGE coffee cup, with steam coming off of it, on the Douglas side of the Broadview, just before the bridge crossing?? I used to think that was really neat, when I was very young…. :-D
Ben, Ben, Ben, KU will be playing Texas that night. :-)
Vaughn, His Bruins are trying to kill him so we must be gentle. We can hoot and holler when the time comes…
linda … VT … cruel …
;)
You guys familiar with Players on 21st just east of Ridge?
Indeed! However, I must warn you I take KU basketball soooo seriously I find it difficult to be somewhere I can’t see and hear each play and word. Besides, crying in public makes my eye makeup run and I look horrid. In 1988 I went out as soon as the game ended!
Chas..I don’t remember the coffee cup, about what year was that? Do you remember the way Innes used to decorate their windows at Xmas? Whenever I watch “The Christmas Story”, it brings back those memories.
Mary Caruso: Speaking of Innes and other downtown department store windows decorated for Christmas … two or three years ago, I purchased a collection of old (1950’s) 8 mm movie film. One of the films was of the Christmas decorations in downtown department store windows.
Mary Knecht and gang at the old channel 49 TV station added Christmas music to the film since it was silent of course. The old channel 49 showed the film on station breaks at Christmas time at that time.
I would like to come up with a TV channel that would show it this coming Christmas. Its interesting, somewhat amateurish. The Santa’s and elves are sometimes more scary than full of Christmas cheer. It would have been better if filmed during the day. But it is a record of that Christmas in the early 50’s.
Unfortunately for the Union Station, that old bug-a-boo, parking is going to be the problem. For an 85,000 SF building, if used for commercial office space, the “building” should own about 4 1/2 spaces per 1,000 SF. That would be about 400 spaces (-).
For other uses, the requirement would be more or less. A large warehouse might be less. Lots of traffic, restaurants, bars, passenger train traffic, the requirement might be more.
Local building code ordinances usually contain the requirements.
Of course, here in Wichita, the new downtown arena IGNORED parking requirements and assume people who attend can park in parking lots owned by neighbors, in alleys, under nearby highway 54 overpasses, etc. Totally amateurish.
If economic conditions were such that Union Station and the railroad lines were returned to active use, parking would be required. Obviously, the best location would have been the new downtown arena site directly across the railroad tracks from Union Station.
I will say it once again, the new arena should have been designed as a convention center with acoustics and loading docks and arrangement therefore. And located along the Arkansas River to provide for direct storm water runoff to the Arkansas River. But amateurs were in charge and these ideas were vetoed by the holdover county commissioners. As it turned out, providing storm water 4′ X 8′ reinforced concrete box sewers from the arena to the Arkansas River cost millions of dollars of taxpayers money.
But the public did get to suggest colors for the interior seating.
JWink - try KCTU Channel 5 for your film. They are locally owned and locally run.
ask the minnesota boys they seem to have all the money and good ideas for Wishita and obviously pretty influential in city hall
hasn’t been a good Kansas idea in quite some time — White Castles ?? (and even they left)
Ben: Yes, your suggestion of Channel 5 TV is a good one. I know Ron and Sheryl and R.J. Dickens and members of their staff and commentators very well. They are working very hard to keep that line of communications open for Wichita. The history of small competing media outlets is tough. I wish them all the luck in the world. Their weekday evening Wichita talk shows on channel 5 TV can’t be beat. I think their local TV channel might have more viewers than most would believe.
Incidentally, Ben, et al: I suspect Wichita’s Union Station was originally built/owned/operated by a conglomerate of railroad companies with a hired manager.
I say that because that’s the way Kansas City’s Union Station was built back in the 1920’s or so. Incidentally, at one time, I was one of the few who knew where machine gun bullets chipped out the granite on Kansas City’s Union Station front fascade during the so-called Union Station massacre.
However, on the subject of Wichita’s Union Station, I believe it once contained a Fred Harvey Restaurant. It might have continued to be operated as a restaurant even after the Fred Harvey connection was discontinued. I believe some of the checkered tiled floors can still be seen and the colored glass windows on the east side of Union Station marking the location of the restaurant. I haven’t been in there for a long time because my cable company was so security minded.
Is anyone familiar with the old Fred Harvey restaurant?
The Fred Harvey lunch room is still there with the floor and windows and a couple of the inside windows with the Fred Harvey name still on it. It was the employee lunch room.
JWink - I’m sure RJ would love to do a story about the “liberation” of Union Station from the Cox monopoly/cartel. As you may know Cox will not carry local stations like KCTU.
I remember riding the Santa Fe passenger trains. I was too young to remember what station it came into Wichita.
The station was pretty large to me back then, so probably was the Union station - don’t remember.
We made a few trips on the old Santa Fe passenger service. One to Chicago and several to Dallas. The trips were all pleasurable as far as I can remember.
Mary,
“Do you remember the way Innes used to decorate their windows at Xmas?”
I remember how Innes and Buck’s (on east Douglas) got really competitive over Christmas windows- they got awfully elaborate over time. Innes had the advantage of having more windows to decorate, but Buck’s managed to get more stuff in theirs. My dad used to take us downtown for an evening of window-touring every year during the season.
Mary Caruso
Posted March 26, 2008 at 7:25 pm | Permalink
Chas..I don’t remember the coffee cup, about what year was that?
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It was still steaming there when I graduated in ‘69 — So at least up till then… I cant remember when it was taken down…
Yes, I remember Innes windows… and Buck’s…. and there were a few other windows decorated… but Innes and Bucks were the BIG ones…. Anybody remember when Sears was downtown where Jenkins Music was for years after?? William & Market, I think it was…. And there was a Woolworth’s AND a Kresge(early K-Mart) downtown as well… Many fond memories brought about by the old Union Station…
I still believe it was originally owned and run by Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF) Like I said earlier, Missouri Pacific and Rock Island had depots over on Waco, across from the Hotel…
Very helpful article, really liked it!!
…………..
Chamila
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[...] Union Station a rare opportunity Talk about curb appeal. Union Station downtown, with its beautiful colonnaded facade, is up for sale. Like many former public buildings, this is an architectural and historical treasure that deserves not just preservation but a place at the heart of our civic life. Steve Martens, whose real estate c… [...]