This new Riverside development likely will include a bike path upgrade, too

There’s a new development coming to Riverside, and because most of the developers involved are cyclists, part of the bike path along the river is likely going to get an upgrade as well.

The more than seven-acre site is where Booth Memorial Hospital used to be at 11th and Amidon, which is just west of the Castle Inn Riverside between the Arkansas River and the Little Arkansas River.

The first phase will be what Jerry Jones of Jones Commercial Development describes as 22 luxury twin homes — better known as duplexes in their more basic form.

“These are going to be really nice,” Jones says. “They’ll each have a patio looking out over Sim Golf Course.”

The units will be around 1,200 to 1,400 square feet each with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

“It’s an opportunity for people who would like to rent but not own and have a lot of amenities nearby and be in a nice neighborhood,” Jones says.

He says amenities include the golf course, Botanica, the Wichita Art Museum, the bike path and that the property is close to downtown.

Jones says he can see it being more popular with empty nesters.

The homes will take up about a fourth of the property.

“We haven’t determined yet what future phases will entail,” Jones says.

The hospital will be razed over the next several months.

The developers also are in the process of trying to create a tax increment financing district that would put money toward lighting and other improvements along the bike path east of the Arkansas River.

“The property runs alongside that bike path and the river there,” Jones says. “And, of course, we’re all cyclists so we spend quite a bit of time riding along there and have gotten to know a lot of people in that neighborhood.”

He says they’ve learned that lighting along the path is a particular issue.

“That’s been a concern for quite a while.”

The working name of the development is Riverside Park Villas, and Jones says that’s likely to be the permanent name as well.

His partners on the project are Old Town developer Dave Burk, Dave Wells of Key Construction, Cory Shackelford of Shackelford Construction, Erik Maybee of Maybee Property Inspection and his wife, Bree Maybee of J.P. Weigand & Sons.

The developers are still platting the property. Jones says they hope to be under construction this spring.

“We think there’s a good market for it.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM.