Kansas.com: Carrie Rengers

Hartman digs idea for amphitheater

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:43 CDT

Wink Hartman Sr. is considering building an amphitheater next to his arena, which is under construction in Park City. "We've got a lot of dirt sitting around," he says.

He's pondering what to do with it, and an amphitheater is one of the ideas.

"It's really that simple," Hartman says.

The reason he has so much dirt is because Hartman is building the floor of the arena in the ground for energy conservation.

"Everybody else builds up," he says.

Dean & Deluca high on Wichita

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:41 CDT

Wichita native and Standard Beverage Corp. owner Leslie Rudd has always maintained close ties with the city. Now his Dean & Deluca officially has headquarters here as well.

"You know, we're comfortable there," says Rudd, whose home is now in California where he has a winery, among other things.

Locating everything but Dean & Deluca's merchandising operations (which are still in New York) here was something new chief executive Mark Daley insisted on before taking the job in March.

He says that previously, the company tested a lot of different business models, including a decentralized model that gave a lot of autonomy to individual stores, with "not as much focus on the brand that we're developing at Dean & Deluca."

"Every element of the brand has to be consistent," he says. "Our structure wasn't positioning us enough."

Willowbend golf course could get new owners

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:43 CDT

The owners of Echo Hills Golf Club in Park City are considering purchasing Willowbend Golf Club.

As Have You Heard? reported in April, Echo Hills owners Bert and Eloise Henderson are most likely selling their club so developer Mike Loveland can use the land for a new commercial project in Park City.

The Hendersons' daughter, Cheryl Greiving, now confirms that. She says the family still wants to be in the golf business, which is why it's considering Willowbend.

"Several weeks ago Bert was playing out there and just mentioned that he was looking to maybe buy another golf course," Greiving says. "They expressed an interest in selling, and so Bert said, 'Let's take a look at it.' "

Rick Nuckolls, who owns Willowbend with his brother, Rod, says, "We didn't have the course on the market.

Paperwork holding up Parkstone

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:39 CDT

Just about the only dirt that's been turned at Parkstone at College Hill so far is the ceremonial kind that various civic leaders shoveled at the development's April 3 groundbreaking.

"Groundbreakings don't mean the very next day you're breaking ground," says developer Mike Loveland.

He adds, though, "Yes, we wish we would have been going a few weeks ago."

He says financing of the $80 million project near Douglas and Hillside hasn't been the issue.

"Actually, getting the appraisal done has been the holdup," Loveland says.

Dunn Bros. closing shop at Old Town Marriott

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:38 CDT

Hotelier Jim Korroch is making what he calls a "prudent" business decision and closing Dunn Bros. Coffee at his Courtyard by Marriott at Old Town.

"Certainly, in any business I go into, I expect a certain rate of return," Korroch says. "It just wasn't getting it, and I didn't see it anytime in the future.

"The main thing was to stop the bleeding."

That's not the only reason, though.

Marriott is extending its breakfast offerings by upgrading its coffee line and adding "grab-and-go" items like Danishes. That means if Dunn Bros. had stayed open, Korroch says, "(we could) basically be competing with ourselves in a much bigger way than we're doing right now."

Chamber takes new tack for speaker

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:41 CDT

After considering the usual politicians, news anchors, generals and even comedians, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce decided on a slightly unusual choice for this year's annual dinner:

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Chamber president and chief executive Bryan Derreberry says he and the selection committee "probably scratched our heads just a little bit longer" on this year's decision.

But it wasn't because of what happened last year when the Chamber had to cancel former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who didn't prove a popular choice, and bring in former White House spokesman Tony Snow instead.

Derreberry says that it's more "that it's time to present a new speaker with a new type of viewpoint."

No Home Depot, but TIF money to be repaid

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:41 CDT

The Home Depot that was planned for 47th South and Broadway isn't going to happen but -- perhaps surprisingly -- no one will be out the $2.4 million in TIF money associated with the project.

As Have You Heard? reported last month, Home Depot is closing 15 stores and not moving ahead with plans for 50 new ones because of the struggling economy.

David Christie of DJ Christie Inc. in Overland Park confirms that the Wichita store is one that won't happen.

"I'm not happy with their decision, but I don't run their company," he says.

Christie lost two restaurant deals he had planned in front of the store "because the deal cratered."

DigitalBrand will move to new location in Old Town

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:42 CDT

Ten-year-old DigitalBrand Communications is doubling its space by taking 1,400 square feet on the ground floor of the Grant TelegraphCentre in the heart of Old Town.

"We wanted to have a little more visibility," says owner and president Eric Zoller. "It'll be pretty cool."

The company has been on the fifth floor of the Kress Energy Center at Broadway and Douglas, which Zoller says is great space but not quite as big or visible as he needed.

The video production company will have office, studio and post-production space at Grant Telegraph.

DigitalBrand's Jacque Waite also will use the new space for portrait photography.

No Kansas hands on this guide

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:38 CDT

The official Kansas visitors guide is no longer going to have any Kansans working on it. A couple of years back, the state switched from Callahan Creek, a Lawrence company, to the Iowa-based Midwest Living to publish the guide.

But the state continued to use Topeka-based Peterson Publications Inc. to sell advertising for the guide, as it has for about eight years.

Midwest Living is now going to handle the advertising sales, too.

"They've taken even that part away from us, which was certainly, you know, very disappointing," says president Jeff Peterson. "It was a significant account for our company because we are a small publishing business."

The 12-person company publishes the Wichita visitors guide.

Hartman opts out of bidding on Wild West

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:38 CDT

Sources say Wink Hartman Sr. has withdrawn his bid for the Wild West World property in Park City.

That's what Mayor Dee Stuart hears, too.

"I didn't hear a reason," she says.

She speculates that Hartman "was willing to pay $2 million and figure out what he was going to do with it after the fact."

But now others are vying for the space -- and driving up the price.

Industrial space to go up near airport

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:41 CDT

Waterfront developers Steve Clark and Johnny Stevens are building two 64,000-square-foot Class A warehouses on Hoover Road near I-235 and Kellogg by Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

"The city has been saying for years that we need more quality industrial space in Wichita to attract business, and we're responding to that request," Clark says.

The buildings will have 28-foot ceilings, loading docks and storefronts to accommodate industrial and office tenants.

"These are speculative buildings," Clark says. "Johnny and I will own the project as a long-term investment."

They own other buildings together, such as the Golf Warehouse space on the east side of Wichita.

One less Italian eatery in Wichita

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:40 CDT

Not quite a year after opening, Bella Donna has closed. "We just couldn't get over the hump," says Wink Hartman, who opened the restaurant with his Chester's Chophouse partner Bobby Lane.

Hartman says the restaurant broke even fairly quickly, but he expected better.

"Of all the companies that I own, I anticipate that each of them will make a certain return on investment," he says.

Hartman says there were several issues that caused the restaurant not to do as well as projected.

"Some of it was the staggering amount of competition," he says.

Sports grill joins the lineup at 21st, Webb

Thu, 29 May 2008 01:40 CDT

A sister restaurant to Redrock Canyon at Bradley Fair is opening in Cambridge Market at 21st and Webb.

Louie's is something of an upscale sports grill that will take the 5,500 square feet Illuminations Lighting and Home Specialties used to occupy.

The Hal Smith Restaurant Group of Norman, Okla., operates Louie's and Redrock along with several other restaurant chains.

There are seven Louie's restaurants in Oklahoma.

One employee at the corporate headquarters, who doesn't want to be named, describes Louie's as "a sports grill with really good food instead of bar food."

Next big tenant for NewMarket: Best Buy?

Sun, 25 May 2008 01:39 CDT

Slawson Cos. is preparing for its next phase of development at NewMarket Square, and it looks like the company has landed a major anchor tenant for the area: Best Buy.

Several sources confirm the deal, but no one is talking about it publicly yet. No one with Best Buy returned a call to comment.

Currently, Best Buy has a store on the west side at 6910 W. Kellogg Dr. It also has a store at 2111 N. Rock Road.

NewMarket first opened at 21st and Maize Road in 2001 and has had major anchor tenants like a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the first phase and a SuperTarget in the next phase along with a host of other retail outlets and restaurants.

About five new businesses -- some of them sizable -- should eventually join Best Buy.

Little guys end up on top in Pratt gas lawsuit

Thu, 22 May 2008 01:39 CDT

Lawyers have to do their homework before taking on any case, of course. But Jeff Carmichael of Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy says when you're taking on one of the world's richest men -- namely Warren Buffett -- you take extra stock "to make sure you can hold on for the fight."

He did just that and won a case this week for a Pratt couple whose business, Nash Oil & Gas Inc., was sued by one of Buffett's companies, Northern Natural Gas Co.

Nash has a gas well 4 ½ miles north of a storage field Northern owns.

In 1999, Northern says its facility began to leak, and the company accused Nash of producing and selling the gas that migrated from Northern into its well.

Northern filed suit in 2004 claiming conversion -- which is taking something that belongs to another -- and unjust enrichment.

Hawker plans kitting facility on south side

Tue, 20 May 2008 07:08 CDT

Sometimes spending money actually helps you save money, and it looks like that's what Hawker Beechcraft is doing.

The aircraft manufacturer is spending almost $4.5 million in an effort to be leaner. It has hired Dondlinger & Sons Construction to build a new kitting facility at 303 S. Greenwich.

Kitting is a manufacturing technique where all of a worker's parts and tools are combined in one kit so everything he needs is at his fingertips.

"This is a new initiative... to go more lean," says spokesman Andrew Broom.

He says the new facility is part of Hawker's goal of having a "manufacturing facility of tomorrow" by making things more efficient.

Kirby's Beer Store back in business

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:40 CDT

To the relief of many, Kirby's Beer Store has reopened. The popular bar across from Wichita State University closed after owner Steve Schroeder died May 1.

"I had to close it because I wasn't allowed to use his liquor license to sell alcohol," says Schroeder's sister, Nancy Haas.

Haas has approval now, and Kirby's reopened Thursday.

"It was very busy," says bartender Christina Goold. "All the old regulars were here.... The word got around really quick."

Teri Mott, who has been going to Kirby's since 1978, had to work Thursday night and couldn't make it, but she planned to be there "the second" she got off work Friday.

Hartman planning for hotel at arena

Thu, 15 May 2008 01:39 CDT

A new arena isn't all Wink Hartman plans to build in Park City. He and his son, Ink Commercial Contractors co-owner Wink Hartman II, will build a hotel and restaurant in front of the arena as well.

"It's just a matter of who we do the deal with," the senior Hartman says.

They are in talks with a hotel group.

"If we can't finalize something with this group in the next 30 days, we're going to move on and find someone else," Hartman says.

Hartman, who owns Chester's Chophouse and Bella Donna in Wichita, is doing a more casual sports bar and grill by the arena.

Twin Lakes owners are talking to big tenants

Tue, 13 May 2008 01:38 CDT

Brad Barber and his father, David, have been silent partners in the renovation of Twin LakesShopping Center but have now taken over management of the project.

"It was in quite a bit of a mess," says Colorado-based Brad Barber, who owns TWD Properties with his father.

"I had to make a lot of phone calls and calm some people down," Barber says. "We had to do a few months of damage control."

That was after a couple-month halt to renovations over the winter.

"The whole deal basically had to be restructured," Barber says.

Willie C's closes; new steakhouse to move in

Sun, 11 May 2008 01:38 CDT

After 24 years in business, the last Willie C's Cafe & Bar has closed. Bill Rowe gave up his search for a new location, closed the restaurant and bought Red Bean's Bayou Grill instead.

An Arkansas-based steakhouse called Rowdy Beaver Restaurant & Tavern is opening in the former Willie C's space at 656 S. West St.

Closing Willie C's "is sad for me because it's been a huge part of my life for a long time -- and (for) a lot of people for that matter," Rowe says.

But he says he couldn't find another location that would work, and he liked the idea of buying Red Bean's.

"It's a phenomenal restaurant," he says.