City looking at Delano, College Hill projects worth more than $65 million

The Wichita City Council will get a chance to vote on two sizable development projects on Tuesday – one in Delano and one in College Hill – that together would total more than $65 million.

More details about the projects will be released Friday with the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The council would be the group to approve the projects, because they sit on city-owned land.

Both projects are part of an accelerating series of major projects – such as the planned Cargill headquarters downtown – that proves Wichita is revitalizing, Mayor Jeff Longwell said at a Thursday news conference.

“It’s nice to be in a position today where Wichita puts out a pair of (request for proposals) on pieces of property and have nearly nine different investors, eight formal proposals and one who simply wanted to buy the property,” Longwell said.

“And they’re saying, ‘Pick me, I want to spend millions of dollars in Wichita.’ ”

In Delano, a city-appointed committee recommended Kansas City firm EPC Real Estate for a more-than-$40 million project on McLean Boulevard, between Second and Douglas. It won a competition over three other groups to develop the site.

EPC Real Estate’s Delano project will sit on about 7 acres of city-owned land a block north of the main commercial street along Douglas.

If approved and a contract is negotiated, EPC expects to start construction in late summer and open the project in fall 2019.

The EPC project is split into two pieces, divided by Sycamore Street. On the western piece, the company plans 180 to 220 higher-end apartments in four stories built around a parking garage. On the eastern piece, which fronts McLean, the company plans a 90-room boutique hotel with retail/office/restaurant space on the bottom floor.

“It will definitely be pitched as upper level, both the apartments and the hotel,” said Mike McKeen, EPC president. “It will be more of a boutique hotel.”

A right-of-way for railroad tracks runs through the site. EPC said it expects to turn that into a 100-foot-wide greenway that will become part of a walking trail from McLean west through Delano.

It is part of a trio of major projects at Second and McLean that will mean close to $150 million in investment, along with the River Vista Apartments and the new library.

The city is also looking at building a new stadium at the Lawrence-Dumont Stadium site a short distance to the south.

The EPC development will sit next to the metal sheds and dirt roads in the area. But those may be ripe for redevelopment.

“We’re starting the resurgence,” McKeen said.

“That’s why it’s called a catalyst site,” added Austin Bradley, project manager for EPC.

At the College Hill site near Douglas and Hillside, a city-appointed committee recommended a local development group, Uptown Landing LLC.

The 4.5-acre College Hill site will have 180 apartments on four floors, plus 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of retail space facing East Douglas, said city officials. The project will be worth more than $25 million, said assistant city manager Scott Rigby.

Lead developer Mike Brand refused to comment until the council approves the contract. Others in the development group include Bob Simpson and Dave Murfin.

The land was part of an earlier city-assisted project, Parkstone at College Hill, by developer Mike Loveland. He originally envisioned a 12-story apartment tower on the site.

The city paid millions to install utilities on the site and would have been repaid by increased tax collections, but the city never saw much benefit.

Loveland built a row of townhouses on Rutan Street nearly a decade ago but didn’t sell most of them. The townhouses went through foreclosure and are being marketed by a succeeding owner.

If the council approves, the developers would likely break ground in the summer and be done in mid- to late 2019.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 1:13 PM with the headline "City looking at Delano, College Hill projects worth more than $65 million."