Sedgwick County opens Ronald Reagan Building

Wichita and Sedgwick County leaders celebrated the opening of the Ronald Reagan Building downtown on Tuesday.

The former IRS building at 271 W. Third St. will house the city’s planning department, the joint city-county building and construction department and the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

“This is a one-stop shop now for our community,” said Jim Howell, county commission chairman. “They can come here and get a lot of business done.”

Builders can submit building plans on the first floor, which houses the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department. Two organizations, the Metropolitan Area Planning Department and Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, are on the second floor. And the construction department’s inspectors will work on the third floor.

“By pooling our resources, we are better equipped for our future growth,” Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell said.

“This consolidation was done right and it can serve as a model for other government entities in the region,” Wichita Area Builders Association president Wess Galyon added.

The county bought the building in 2014 for $4.9 million. Commissioners Jim Skelton, Dave Unruh and Tim Norton voted for the purchase. Commissioner Karl Peterjohn and Richard Ranzau voted against it.

Starting in 2015, a new commission majority featuring Howell criticized the purchase and said renovating the building would cost too much. The county looked for other buildings for its departments and was open to trading the building at one point.

Peterjohn, Norton and Unruh voted last November to accept a staff recommendation to decline all other bids the county received, clearing the way for the move into the building. Ranzau and Howell voted against that staff recommendation.

Howell said commissioners’ quest for efficiency and thriftiness cut costs for the building in half compared to what was considered back in 2014.

“County commissioners did question a few things along the way and we did make some changes,” Howell said. “(But) it looks like a brand new building.”

The commission unanimously voted in September to name it the Ronald Reagan Building. It was long known as the 271 Building because of its address.

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County opens Ronald Reagan Building."