Print edition: 
If you've got a business idea for WaterWalk, Jack DeBoer's ready to talk to you.
DeBoer's taking his sales pitch for downtown ground national, listing nine parcels on LoopNet, a national Internet clearinghouse for commercial property.
National marketing is just one step in DeBoer's plan to bring WaterWalk opportunities to a broad cross-section of developers, said Doug Rupe, manager of the project.
"LoopNet is just another tool that we may use to expand our reach and communicate our message to potential commercial users and their brokers," Rupe said.
The tracts range from 5,700 to almost 90,000 square feet, priced from a little more than $188,000 to almost $3 million. Square footage prices range between $30 and $35.
DeBoer controls the land development rights at WaterWalk through a 99-year, $1 annual lease with the city of Wichita.
No land is being sold; DeBoer is selling development rights for the balance of the city lease.
A 34,000-square-foot tract at the corner of Main and Dewey, valued in the offering at almost $1.2 million, has been conveyed to Wichita hotel developer Jim Korroch. He plans a $12 million, 130-room Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel on the site.
However, Korroch is paying $725,000 for the proposed hotel site, according to city documents, almost $500,000 less than the asking price.
The Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved the use of $2.5 million in city bed tax revenues for the project. The city will bond the $2.5 million, then retire the bond over 20 years with the bed taxes, largely paid by out-of-town guests at Korroch's hotel.
DeBoer, a minority founding partner, took control of the WaterWalk project in November in a no-cash transaction with partners Dave Burk and Dave Wells.
The national marketing approach is the centerpiece of DeBoer's new market-driven strategy for the development: He's bringing in developers, brokers and architects to view the property and propose projects.
Currently, Rupe said he and Marlin Penner, president of NAI John T. Arnold Associates, are refining project marketing.
The new-homes division at J.P. Weigand & Sons is marketing WaterWalk Place condos.
Penner said Friday that the Korroch hotel "is already proving to be a major asset" in commercial recruitment at WaterWalk.
Steve Martens, a commercial broker at Grubb & Ellis/Martens Commercial Group, said DeBoer's team is aggressively marketing the property.
He said the Marriott hotel deal "is a traffic generator and certainly the type of development down there that should have a positive impact on the other vacant parcels."
