Wichita commercial real estate set for strong year led by downtown

Commercial real estate in 2017 looks to be the strongest year in a decade, as projects started in 2015 or 2016 open and many new ones are launched.

However, much of the development is seen as catch-up from the slow years after the recession, and the upside on potential growth is capped by the slow growth in the overall Wichita economy.

The redevelopment of downtown continues with a list of projects opening including the Douglas Apartments, the Hilton Garden Inn at 401 E. Douglas, an office/restaurant at 701 E. Second, the former Finney State Office Building and the Sterling building at William and Market.

The list of projects for 2017 for outside of downtown is also robust with strong new retail development, particularly around K-96 and Greenwich and the North Maize Road areas; about 500 units of apartments; at least five new hotels; and hundreds of thousands of square feet of warehousing and industrial buildings.

Breaking ground downtown in 2017 will be the new Cargill headquarters and parking garage at 825 E. Douglas, EPC Real Estate’s apartment/hotel/office project in Delano, the Uptown Landing apartments and retail project in College Hill, Union Station’s second phase, and the move of Meritrust Credit Union into the former Cargill building at 151 N. Main, among many others.

In a commercial real estate forecast released in October, Martens Commercial reported that while there is plenty of leasing going on for downtown office space, it really hasn’t cut the vacancy rate, which means rents have stayed about the same as in 2008. But in far northeast Wichita, rents are going up.

Overall, the company foresees vacancies and rental rates staying the same in 2017.

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Wichita commercial real estate set for strong year led by downtown."