ArenaPointe has new tenants, one of which is going to start the party before moving in

In late 2020, marketer Bruce Rowley and partners in the ArenaPointe building at the southeast corner of Waterman and Emporia announced they planned to transform “a warehouse that is essentially invisible to something that tips its hat to the arena.”

The building is ready now, and three new tenants are in varying stages of occupancy there.

That includes the national architecture firm Galloway & Co., which will open there early this summer; Rowley’s RSM Marketing, which has mostly moved in; and the new Solly & Jude’s bar and restaurant, which will open in late spring.

Prior to the restaurant’s opening, Solly & Jude’s will host some beer gardens in the parking lot before events at Intrust Bank Arena.

The Arena District, as Rowley has dubbed the area, is part of the attraction for Galloway selecting that part of downtown to make its footprint.

“This is the place you want to be,” said Chris Carlson, an architect who also is Galloway’s regional manager. “This is Wichita.”

He said when out-of-state clients visit and want to see Wichita, it’s downtown that he shows them.

“Being in the Arena District, we can just go for a walk, and its fantastic.”

In December 2021, Galloway opened with a small space at Rowley’s FireWorx co-working building at 500 S. Topeka. There were three employees, including Carlson.

“Now we’re at 13 people,” he said.

The company started in the Denver area in 1982 and now has 10 offices nationally with more than 300 employees.

“They’ve always been focused on the west,” Carlson said.

Previously, he said that meant from the Colorado Rockies to the west.

Now, the company is looking eastward and trying to get national exposure.

“That was part of bringing me on board,” Carlson said.

He has relationships with large retailers and commercial clients nationally.

Ron Ryan of Ryan International Airlines recruited Carlson to run an engineering department at one of his firms 17 years ago. He then spent 15 years with LK Architecture.

Carlson said when he left LK, that’s when Galloway contacted him.

“I’m probably the reason that we have a Wichita office.”

He said Wichita makes sense on a number of levels.

“We can go anywhere in the country within five hours from here,” Carlson said. “We need convenience.”

Also, he said the cost of doing business here is equitable.

Galloway does mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and civil engineering.

“We’re a one-stop shop firm,” Carlson said. “We can do everything a developer or an owner needs for a commercial site.”

The firm is taking 2,800 square feet initially but will have room to grow if it needs it.

Carlson said he’s looking to hire another 10 to 15 people.

“We are growing quickly.”

He said FireWorx has been good temporary space, but he said the firm wants its own space and a presence downtown so people can start learning what it is and what it provides.

“We want a good place to call our own.”

On the move

In the 13 years RSM Marketing has been open, the ArenaPointe building makes its fifth office. Rowley said he’s prepared to move again, too, if Galloway ends up needing extra space.

The firm had a prominent spot just south of the arena at 400 S. Commerce but left during the pandemic “because everyone had gone home to work,” he said.

Benefit Management moved into the space. When RSM employees wanted to start meeting again in person, they got a few tables at FireWorx.

“People were more anxious to go to the office more regularly,” Rowley said.

That’s why the firm now is back in a traditional office setting, though it’s smaller than what it previously had since people still work from home about half the time “because they can, and they like to.”

With both RSM and Galloway leaving FireWorx, Rowley said, “I was a little worried about it, but it’s been really interesting.”

By the time the firm moved out, all of its dedicated tables had already been rented again.

“I’ve been really lucky in that regard,” Rowley said. “At the moment, we don’t have any available space in the building, so that’s kind of crazy. There certainly seems to be an uptick in demand.”

RSM staff members don’t mind a peripatetic existence, Rowley said.

“It’s kind of fun,” he said of the regular change. “It’s creative people. Everyone loves that.”

‘The biggest hurdle’

The partners behind Solly & Jude’s — Rowley, Alex Thomas, Paul Drace and Justin Brown — had hoped to open by March. Thomas said May is looking more likely due to material and contractor delays.

“Just everyone’s schedule is still packed,” Thomas said. “That’s the biggest hurdle right now.”

He called contractor coordination insane.

“I never thought it would be that complex, but it sure is.”

For instance, it takes five subcontractors to install a hood.

Thomas has a number of bars around Wichita, but this is his first restaurant, and it’s been a challenge.

“I always like a challenge.”

He said he could say he’s never going to do a restaurant again, “but I’d be lying.”

Thomas said he knows himself, and it’s more likely going to become “a new obsession.”

With the addition of Solly & Jude’s and events at the new Hudson St. Francis venue nearby, Rowley said a true Arena District is taking shape.

At the old Kansas Coliseum where shows used to be, Rowley said, “The experience was really just a singular experience of going to the show as opposed to something more lively.”

Now, he said, “We’re getting finally to that point where people can make going to the arena more of an experience.”

Rowley said he’s happy to see more retail opportunities coming around the arena, which he called “the best proof of what is coming down there.”

“There are other people that see this opportunity . . . and developing things alongside us, and that is most exciting for me.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 4:47 AM.