Posted on Thu, Nov. 12, 2009

After seven years of fits and starts at WaterWalk, Jack DeBoer's patience ran out.

The legendary Wichita entrepreneur, 78, said he took WaterWalk over because immediate progress is essential for its future. DeBoer was a minority partner in the original management group, formed in 2002.

"I made the decision earlier this year that I wanted to be either in full tilt or out," DeBoer said.

"And both options were on the table until about six weeks ago. And then, I made another decision and we're in this thing with both feet. Arms, head, whatever," he said, throwing back his head and roaring with laughter.

"And I feel really good about that."

DeBoer announced two weeks ago that he's assumed control of the struggling east-bank development, in a deal that included no cash.

With that announcement, DeBoer's Consolidated Holdings launched a full-scale search for traffic, any kind of office, retail or entertainment business to energize the project.

Why now? DeBoer said developers — armed with $41 million in infrastructure improvements from the city — have a responsibility to taxpayers to make WaterWalk work.

"It was clear, I think, that we owed something to the city, that we owed something to the people who have a significant investment down there, as do we, and frankly, I just felt an obligation at this point to get involved," he said.

Success won't start with premature lease announcements that damage WaterWalk's credibility when they fade into the night, DeBoer indicated.

Instead, it will come from a team of experts he intends to assemble to pinpoint the best uses for "a really wonderful piece of ground down there."

"The market will tell us what we need down there," DeBoer said this week. "We're an open book at this point. We're not going to change the plan but we're very conscious of the world and what's going on around us, and therefore we're an open book."

DeBoer's open to anyone and anything at WaterWalk, from restaurants to corporations, potentially including his own Consolidated Holdings.

He admits that recruiting entertainment venues isn't one of his strengths, so he's looking and listening to experts in that field. That includes Beale Street developer John Elkington, who delivered several leases to the original WaterWalk management that haven't materialized

"Entertainment is something that we don't know a lot about," DeBoer said, "so we're going to partner with people who do. John's assembled a nice group of leases for us before, so of course we'll listen to him."

The plan

Don't look for any splashy lease announcements from the podium at City Hall, DeBoer said.

"It's important that we, as the developer, bring real players to the table who can make this thing happen," he said. "Therefore, we are not going to announce anything until we're ready to start digging.

"There's going to be a lot of discussion. I could fill your paper right now with stuff we're working on, but frankly, that's not who we are. Because, until it's done, it ain't done.

"We'll get things done. It will take time, but we'll get things done. And we'll get those things done by joining with other people who are capable of getting things done."

DeBoer plans to spend a lot of his own money in that partnership, saying he's ready to lure tenants with everything from selling land to build-to-suit projects.

The one thing he won't do is ask the city to invest more tax dollars.

"I'm not going down to City Hall with my hand out," DeBoer said. "I can't. The city has put their money in it, and I'm happy with that. We've put a lot of our own money in and that's OK. Now, time to deliver."

However, DeBoer admitted that he hopes the city will be ready to help businesses who want space at WaterWalk.

"Maybe there's a bond issue out there that has to be handled to build a major facility, or maybe there's a hotel that comes along that needs to access part of the bed tax," he said.

Wichita City Manager Robert Layton said this week that the city "will be glad" to look at the cash flow of each development opportunity at WaterWalk.

"The central issue for us, right now, is making sure that it begins to generate the revenue for the TIF," Layton said, referencing much of the city's financing for the project, to be repaid from additional tax revenues generated by development.

"I don't think that we're going to look favorably at anything that cuts into that revenue stream, such as tax abatements."

DeBoer's plan is similar to a greenfield development, said Stan Longhofer, director of Wichita State's Center for Real Estate: a project from scratch on lightly-regulated land.

The plan has a chance to succeed, Longhofer said, if it can retain flexibility that's difficult in a public-private partnership.

"The Wilson Estates property back on Webb Road is a great example," he said. "The plan for the Grene Vision site was townhomes, but they didn't sell and the demand for office took off so George Laham converted the plan to respond for demand. That's the kind of flexibility developments must have."

Moving downtown

One project DeBoer's not going to build at WaterWalk is a 20,000-square-foot monument to house Consolidated Holdings.

"I don't think the synergy of doing that is enough for what we're trying to do down there," he said.

But moving the holding company for Value Place, DeBoer's extended stay hotel chain, to WaterWalk is "definitely on the table," he said.

"We do not have a long long-term lease here," DeBoer said about his offices in Wilson Estates.

"Do I want to go down to WaterWalk and build a great big building for Consolidated Holdings? Not really.

"But if there's a deal somebody can get done for the want of another key tenant, then I want to listen. So, it's market-driven. If our doing something at WaterWalk adds more than just my building a building down there, then absolutely."

Goals

Is DeBoer daunted by the challenge of reviving a development whose slow pace has incurred the wrath of city taxpayers?

"Absolutely," he said. "I think that's what drives us, to continue the reputation that we've earned over all these years.

"We've got a reputation that we can be proud of in this business that's been hard earned, and you bet I worry about it now. Absolutely I do."

Not enough to doubt, though, that he can "create a gathering place on the river that Wichita's community can be proud of."

So WaterWalk critics can take their doubt elsewhere.

"Ah, show me what you've done in your life and then I'll listen to you," DeBoer said, chuckling.

"We're going to be proud. People are going to be proud," he said.

"Proud because the city made a good economic decision with their investment. Proud because we made a good economic decision with our past and future investments.

"Proud because the people who moved down here to join our happy little band also made good economic decisions.

"And proud because we were able in the end to keep it all together."

Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290 or bwilson@wichitaeagle.com.