Downtown Wichita is on a roll
It has been a year since a consultant first rolled out Project Downtown, the master plan to revitalize Wichita's downtown. It has been a year of successes: the Cargill Innovation Center, a flurry of...
View ArticleContract for hotel parking garage to be open for bids
The city has backed off on a plan to give a $7.5 million no-bid contract to Key Construction for a downtown parking garage.Douglas Place developers and the city have reached a tentative agreement to...
View ArticleA wiser city is ready to move ahead with Wichita hotel
The first project proposed under new rules to protect the taxpayers' investment in downtown goes before the city council Tuesday: A 117-room, $30 million hotel on the southeast corner of Douglas and...
View ArticleWichita poised to adopt tighter rules for slab construction
Betty Wiens hopes that no one in Wichita ever has to spend $80,000 to put a 5-year-old house back together.The City Council is expected to side with Wiens today, if it follows a staff recommendation to...
View ArticleInterior work begins on downtown hotel
Preliminary interior demolition has begun at downtown's first boutique hotel, and developers say the project is on target for a December 2012 opening.Demolition should ramp up in 30 to 45 days at the...
View ArticlePending home sales fall 1.2%
Wichita seems to be bucking a national slowdown in residential housing sales, according to figures from some of the city's biggest brokerages.Pending home sales slipped by 1.2 percent nationally in...
View ArticleBel Aire industrial park hopes to lure wind power, composites
The Bel Aire City Council is creating an 804-acre industrial park that will target the growing wind power and composites industries.The council has retained Wichita commercial real estate broker Marlin...
View ArticleRefinancings soar amid low mortgage rates
NEW YORK — Refinancing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages with the lowest interest rates soared as prepayments on loans with the highest rates declined, underscoring how only some homeowners can...
View ArticleParade of Homes key for sellers of new houses
The 2011 Fall Parade of Homes got off to a solid start last weekend despite the first appearance of rain this fall."So far, so good," Wess Galyon, president of the sponsoring Wichita Area Builders...
View ArticleOffice complex planned near 21st, Webb
A local developer is planning some of the city's first new Class A office space in recent years, a 60,000-square-foot, four-building complex in east Wichita named the Offices at Cranbrook.Gary Oborny's...
View ArticleMortgage rates to stay low for select buyers
There's good news going forward for potential homebuyers: Mortgage rates should remain at or near historic lows in Wichita for the next three years.Good news, with a substantial caveat, however: Bring...
View ArticleLocal housing market on slow path to health
The Wichita housing market will continue its painfully slow rebound in 2012 amid high unemployment headwinds, two economists said Friday. In his annual Kansas Housing Markets Forecast, delivered at the...
View ArticleAgents learn to pitch commercial properties
Like starting a car on a winter morning, making a real estate deal in a cold market takes some extra oomph.That's why Peter West was brought in to juice up the deal-making level for commercial real...
View ArticleFlint Hills Ranch sells for $4.5 million
An Oklahoma cattle ranching family has purchased more than 2,500 acres of Butler County land for its operation.The Chain Land & Cattle Co., a cattle ranching operation based near Canton, Okla.,...
View ArticleBusinesses to join Walmart at Marina Lakes Shopping Center
A Wichita shopping center is getting new owners.Bruce Harris and Larry Cook, two Wichita developers, closed late Monday afternoon on the purchase of the Marina Lakes Shopping Center, on the southwest...
View ArticleWichita to hear tax district request
The Wichita City Council agreed Tuesday to set a public hearing for Dec. 6 to hear a request by a developer to establish a special tax district in south Wichita.Southfork Investment, led by developer...
View ArticleDowntown Wichita on its way up
Wichita builder Ted Farha is all in for downtown Wichita. Three weeks ago, he moved his Farha Construction company to 120 E. First St. in the old Protection One building.A year ago, he invested with...
View ArticleFive questions with Troy Carlson
Troy Carlson grew up as a western Kansas farm boy.But when he grew up, his focus shifted from the farm to some of the state's highest-profile business development projects.Today, Carlson is one of the...
View ArticleHome sales slip, but up over '10
National and regional home sales slipped predictably in September as the peak summer sales period waned, according to an index by the National Association of Realtors that measures pending sales.The...
View ArticlePetition drive on boutique hotel funding needs ‘several’...
A petition drive to force a small piece of the Ambassador Hotel Wichita’s funding to a vote is still short of its 2,528-signature goal, organizers said Monday.Exactly how short isn’t clear, since...
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