A new occupant for the former Aero Plains Brewing building in Delano

There’s a new occupant for the former Aero Plains Brewing space in Delano, and though it’s not another brewery, the new owner plans to keep the bar area intact.

The Slape & Howard law firm is moving from its longtime home at 1009 S. Broadway, a few blocks south of Kellogg, to the 11,250-square-foot former brewery at 117 N. Handley.

“Who doesn’t want to be in Delano?” Phil Slape said. “To me, it kind of has a small-town, old-town feel to it.”

He said the firm’s growth necessitated larger space.

“We’re only moving because of the growth in our firm,” Slape said. “We actually appreciate our time down on South Broadway. It’s been a good office for us.”

Slape’s father, Dale, and his late partner, Garry Howard, founded the firm in 1982. Dale Slape retired in 2012, and Howard was on his way to retirement when he died in 2013. That year, Phil Slape brought in Jon Voegeli as his partner. They exclusively do workers’ compensation cases.

There are three attorneys, a nurse, three legal assistants and five support staff, including Slape’s wife, Lisa, who is the firm’s office manager and does its bookkeeping.

Phil Slape said the firm has “always been somewhat of a family firm,” with his mother and Howard’s wife once working there as well.

The move will happen in mid-to-late June after the new office is redesigned. Slape said the firm is adding windows to where the brewery used to keep its tanks and other brewing equipment. He said the high ceilings will make an ideal office.

The entrance to the building will change, too, but the bar area won’t.

“It’s kind of cool the way it is,” Slape said. “We’re not going to have beer that we create, but we’ll probably have some in there somewhere.”

He said he used to go to Aero Plains to meet other lawyers and thinks the space will be great for events with family and friends.

“We may eventually look to rent that space out, too.”

Voegeli said that “it’s still set up beautifully for events, and I think it’s just a cool space in general.”

He said there are a lot of young professionals in Delano.

“It’s a fun move for us,” Voegeli said. “This is just a place that people in Wichita want to be.”

InSite Real Estate Group’s Carl Hebert and Jake Ramstack handled the deal with Bradley Tidemann of J.P. Weigand & Sons.

Hebert and Ramstack also are listing the law firm’s 6,500-square-foot current Broadway space for sale.

The InSite office is in Delano as well, and Hebert said he’s happy to have Slape & Howard as neighbors.

Slape calls Delano “a vibrant place to have an office.”

Hebert thinks the accessibility and walkability has a lot to do with making Delano one of Wichita’s most-popular spots.

“It’s unique in the fact that it feels like a neighborhood, and we all know each other, and I think that’s what makes it so special.”