New businesses, including senior living center, coming to Andover’s Heritage development

Andover’s Heritage development is taking a big step forward with new businesses and a buyer for about three acres where a senior independent living facility is going to open.

“We’re just getting started even though we’ve been working on it for quite a while,” said developer Jerry Jones.

First came the groundwork, literally and figuratively, for the 110-acre development.

Then, construction started on the mixed-use development just northeast of Andover Road and Kellogg.

There are already two housing developments built along with Heritage Square, the city’s first 5-story building that includes apartments, public parking and commercial spaces and one office building under construction just north of it.

Heritage Plaza, a kind of a Main Street gathering spot, has been built and eventually will have restaurants and retail around it for a type of town square that’s meant to be Andover’s first downtown.

The apartments, SkyLofts at The Heritage, are about a third occupied.

Jones said construction of Heritage Square was behind for a number of reasons — weather, the supply chain, complexities of the project and building the infrastructure — but now that it’s complete, leasing is on target.

With one tenant open and two more scheduled for next year, the commercial property on the first floor under the apartments is about 50% leased with a booth-rental nail salon and aesthetic business, a dentistry office and a restaurant. There’s an optometry practice under construction to the north of Heritage Square, an area that Jones called ideal for more professional offices.

“I feel great about it,” he said of progress.

Even though he’s confident, Jones acknowledged it still takes guts to be among the first tenants at a new development.

“They’ve the bravest,” he said.

However, Jones added, “Along with being the first . . . is the excitement from the community to have new businesses opening.”

Independent and affordable

Salina housing developer Overland Property Group, which has affordable and market-rate family and senior developments across the middle part of the country, is getting close to the permitting stage for the Residence at Heritage West.

The first phase calls for 60 units of independent senior living.

“It’s progressing pretty rapidly,” said Austin Kack, director of development.

Construction likely will start in March, but that could get moved up if winter weather is mild.

Of the initial 60 units, 18 will be market rate and 42 will have an affordability requirement for people with 30% to 60% of the area’s median income.

“So it’s truly a wide slate of offering to . . . every single income,” Kack said.

He said every senior in Andover could have the chance to live there.

Prices haven’t been set yet.

The company also is working with the city of Andover on a second phase for about 45 units.

“We’ve done some larger master-planned community developments,” Kack said of other places.

The Heritage’s “overall plan was a really big driver” in attracting the company, he said.

At a holistic level, Kack said, the company likes thinking about how people live, work and play, which is the same concept as the Heritage’s overall development.

“It fit really well with our business model.”

Look for units to begin opening in early 2026.

Another challenge

Though Urban Nails owner Na Atkinson admits she’s a bit scared to be an early tenant at the Heritage, she has faced potentially difficult situations previously.

She opened her nail salon by Il Vicino in Wichita’s Crown Heights neighborhood right before the pandemic hit in 2020.

When she was forced to close for a couple of months, Atkinson said, “I’m like, oh, no, what am I going to do next?”

Then she reopened, and, “We got really busy.”

From the beginning, Atkinson knew that she wanted to have more than one salon.

“I want to grow. I don’t want to stand still. It’s just how I am.”

She worked with Street Commercial broker Stephanie Wise, and they looked at the area, deciding there was a need for both the nail salon and booth rentals. Also, Atkinson said she likes the idea of a downtown for Andover.

She’ll rent to people who offer services such as massage and lash work. There will be seven rooms available to lease when she opens, which Atkinson hopes will be around July, and the other half of the space will be the nail salon.

Though she hasn’t finalized a name for the new business, Atkinson said it likely will be a play on Urban Nails.

“Right now, I’m still . . . brainstorming”

Opportunity to improve

Since he opened Flint Hills Dental Group in 1995, dentist Aaron Huslig has been at 105 S. Andover Road.

When he learned about the Heritage, he said, “I saw an opportunity to improve my business.”

With 4,000 square feet, Huslig said he’ll have expanded space and room for more services. He and dentist Kelsie Diskin are hoping to add a third dentist as well.

Huslig said there also will be more foot traffic than the practice has now.

Like Atkinson, his soon-to-be next-door neighbor, Huslig said he, too, likes the idea of being a part of a downtown for Andover.

When Flint Hills opens in early March, expanded services will include facial aesthetics such as Botox and dermal fillers as well as other treatments to reduce the signs of aging.

Huslig said those kinds of services make sense with a dentistry business. He said the first thing people notice on others is their smiles, quickly followed by their eyes.

“It’s just kind of a natural fit for us.”

Walkability

Optometrist Matt Boswell once was a patient of Andover Family Optometry when Bill Holman started it in 2002.

Cory Lindenman joined in 2004, and then Holman retired in 2020. Boswell joined shortly after.

He and Lindenman have two practices. One is at 215 S. Andover Road in Andover, and the other is Winfield Family Optometry in Winfield.

They’re moving their Andover office, which they’ve outgrown, to their own building just north of Heritage Square.

Boswell said it’s a more visible spot, and he said they like the walkability aspect of the development.

“We’re excited about the other people coming in,” he said of nearby businesses.

He said he also likes the idea of being “just kind of intertwined with Andover in the long run.”

The optometrists treat all ages for glasses and contacts, but Boswell said they also do a lot of managed medical care with treatments for macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts and care before and after LASIK surgery. There’s also a dry eye clinic.

“We’ve had a lot of great support,” Boswell said of Andover and east Wichita patients.

“We just are looking forward to our future in our new spot.”

The new space should be ready in May, he said.

“Definitely, that’s a great place to be.”

‘A little more whole’

Of all the business owners moving to the Heritage — either excitedly or with some trepidation — you’d probably have to call Melissa Livingston Atkinson — sister-in-law to Na Atkinson — the gutsiest.

She opened her Livingston’s Cafe in early October — the lone commercial tenant open at Heritage Square so far.

“I’ve known there is a need for a breakfast place in Andover for a long time,” Livingston Atkinson said.

She was trying to find the perfect spot, she said, when she learned of what she called the exciting plans for the overall Heritage development.

“I know how much Andover is growing.”

As the tallest building in Andover, Heritage Square is prominent.

Still, Livingston Atkinson said, her restaurant is “kind of tucked back there, so people have to kind of, like, find you.”

Andover Mayor Ronnie Price said customers have been finding the cafe, which he said is more of a gathering place than a typical restaurant.

“It’s just what I dreamed of,” he said. “A cafe where you see your neighbors. . . . To see people sitting at the counter talking, it’s quite a deal.’

Livingston Atkinson also owns the Livingston’s Cafe at Douglas and Oliver.

She said she’s still working out some kinks in Andover and appreciates how welcoming and patient diners have been.

Though she could have opened a patio from the first day, Livingston Atkinson said she purposely has waited to get everything running smoothly first. It should be coming this spring.

Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

Like her customers, Livingston Atkinson said she’s also being patient waiting on other businesses to open at the Heritage.

“I know it will eventually happen,” she said. “I’m just excited to be in that area.”

Price said that “it makes the town feel a little more whole.”

Jones, the developer, said he’s working on other restaurants as well, including ones that would be open for dinner.

“We’re working on a deal right now that I hope we’ll be able to announce sometime soon.”

What’s next?

There are about eight sites left, depending on how they’re divided, along the highway within the Heritage development.

Dutch Bros Coffee already is open along Kellogg east of Heritage Square and across from the YMCA., and QuikTrip has purchased a lot there as well.

There’s no set opening for QuikTrip.

The Tulsa company is juggling options for stores along Kellogg.

That includes the eventual closure of the QuikTrip at Kellogg and 143rd Street, where road construction is planned.

The project has been pushed back, and so has the store’s closure. It likely will remain open until at least February.

Plans there, and possibly further west of there along Kellogg, are affecting what happens in Andover.

Along with highway outparcels, there’s also a potential hotel site at the Heritage, though there’s no deal yet.

There also are spots for more restaurants and retail around Heritage Plaza.

Wise, the broker who handed the Urban Nails deal, also worked on the transactions for Livingston’s and the senior center and now is working on other potential deals at the development.

Though there’s much left to go, it’s still relatively early, as Jones said.

“I’m very optimistic about the prospects for Andover,” he said.

“I just think the community is really ready to grow.”