Where’s Jack DeBoer planning to build the toniest office building in Wichita?
Saying he wants to set a new standard for development along the east bank of the Arkansas River, WaterWalk developer Jack DeBoer has announced plans for what he says will be one of the toniest office buildings in Wichita.
“It’s going to be as good as we can do it, that’s the bottom line,” DeBoer said. “Nobody’s really built an A-level (office) building in this area for 35 years and this building is going to be double-A. Everything we can do to make it better, we’re going to do.”
The building will have 80,000 square feet of office space, DeBoer said. He plans to take 15,000 to 20,000 for his own business offices and lease the rest to tenants.
He also plans to lease about 8,000 square feet on the ground floor for a restaurant that will feature indoor and outdoor eating space, he said.
“There’s lounge areas and there’s general meeting rooms large and small for the tenants,” he said. “We’re going to build an upscale, nothing-like-it health club for the people in the building . . . I told our people as good as it gets.”
Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring and be finished about in about a year.
DeBoer controls WaterWalk and with it roughly half the land that is part of the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan, a public-private effort aimed at replacing the Century II complex with a new convention center, performing arts center and business area.
He said he’s taken a back seat in that planning process but has encouraged the committee planning the developments to think long-term.
“I’m staying out of the fray of what I think it ought to be,” DeBoer said. “But I just want us to think about the core part of the city and do it right. Let’s not build any more temporary buildings that people get emotional about. Let’s just do it right.
“It doesn’t have to get built in the next 15 minutes, but it has to have a plan that’s (for) 50, 100 years.”
The Riverfront Legacy coalition, city of Wichita and WaterWalk residents are excited about DeBoer’s plans.
Jason Gregory, a Riverfront Legacy coalition member and executive vice president of Downtown Wichita, said DeBoer coordinated with the coalition’s consultant, Populous, to make sure the project would complement the master plan.
“(DeBoer’s) project considers the important relationship to Main Street, connectivity to adjacent uses and the community’s vision for open space,” Gregory wrote in an email. “We appreciate this effort to work together, even as plans on both projects continue to evolve.”
In the Riverfront Legacy coalition’s favored scenario for the east bank, DeBoer’s office building would neighbor a new convention center.
The city of Wichita will have to move public art for DeBoer’s building. The Paragon — a 39-foot-tall weathering steel, stainless steal and bronze sculpture built in 2003 by Albert Paley — stands on the southwest corner of Main and Waterman.
Scot Rigby, the city’s director of development services, said the city is working with DeBoer “to defray” the costs of moving Paragon.
“We’ll be working with WaterWalk about the proper relocation of that public art in close proximity to the current site. We’re working with them and with Riverfront Legacy about the proper location of that art,” Rigby said.
The new building is also expected to force parking adjustments for both the city and WaterWalk tenants, who have agreements with DeBoer to use the WaterWalk parking garage.
Right now, 350 public spaces are available at WaterWalk that could become unavailable once the office building gets up and running.
Rigby said the city is negotiating a new parking arrangement with DeBoer.
“There’ll need to be an adjustment to the amount of public parking available during the day to accommodate the new building,” Rigby said. “But I think everybody, between the condo and the building and the new building, is excited for new activity there. If you go out there today, that parking garage is vastly underutilized today.”
“A lot of people are eager to see WaterWalk move forward, and we think it’s great for the city,” Rigby said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 5:30 PM.
