A new use for the former Dillons space at 13th and Waco, and there’s a business twist

Wichita Public Schools is getting ready to do something new with the former Dillons building it purchased a decade ago at 13th and Waco.

The District, which bought the building in 2010 for $2 million, plans a new type of lab there called the Future Ready Center.

“We have a space so that we can be creative and innovative with business partners as we work on preparing our kids for opportunities for college, for career, for whatever may . . . come ahead of them,” said spokeswoman Wendy Johnson.

“It’s an opportunity for our students and business partners to work together and collaborate,” she said. “How they benefit college and careers will evolve as the partnerships and opportunities evolve.”

The center won’t be specific to one business. However, there is one partnership so far, which the district will announce before the start of the school year.

“There is the first of what we hope will be numerous business partnerships,” Johnson said.

The school board on Monday voted 7-0 to hire Key Construction to renovate the building. The project is expected to cost about $990,000 and will be financed with capital outlay funds.

In 2018, the district began allowing Project Teacher to use about 8,000 square feet of the 43,000-square-foot building for office and warehouse space.

The group, which distributes classroom supplies to teachers, will continue to be in the space when the Future Ready Center opens, Johnson said.

“It is our hope that as the facility evolves that there will be all kinds of really terrific creative things that happen there.”

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 2:47 PM.