New west-side retail center may include national businesses not yet in Wichita

After holding onto land in front of the Sam’s Club at the northeast corner of 29th and Maize Road for about seven years, a group called M29 Development is ready to develop it.

“It’s consistent with our focus on . . . acquiring and developing fundamentally good real estate in the path of growth to take advantage of real estate investment opportunities as they evolve,” said Dan Unruh, a partner at M29 and InSite Real Estate Group.

“What we tried to do is let the market mature so we weren’t out on the fringe.”

Now, he said, there are more than 28,000 cars a day that drive by there, and the market is ready to take advantage of the services potential retailers at the center will offer.

He said the probability of tenants succeeding now is much better instead of building too early and hoping they survive long enough waiting for demand to catch up.

The 10,500-square-foot retail center, with spaces as small as 1,400 square feet, will be just north of the Sam’s gas station on the corner.

Unruh said he’s in “fairly significant negotiations” with potential tenants, including some national companies that may expand to this market.

“We fully expect this property to be very well received by the retail community.”

There are eight possible spaces.

“We should have construction underway in the next two weeks,” Unruh said.

The center should be ready for tenants to begin opening by March of next year.

There’s room for a drive-through on the north end of the building.

Unruh said there are a lot of things to make the center attractive to tenants, such as its accessibility and parking, but he said it was still a challenge to plan.

That’s because rising construction costs and taxes make everything pricier. Unruh said it’s difficult for developers to get a reasonable rate of return while also helping tenants be able to make a profit.

“It’s just a fact,” he said. “We really had to work hard to design the center and create the right formula for a successful project.”

M29 also built and developed the fully occupied center to the east of gas station that’s anchored by Denver Mattress and Marketplace Dentistry.

Unruh said the new tenants M29 brings will be a good match for “the established and growing northwest Wichita community,” including “one of the hottest intersections in Wichita.”