Developer considering $70 million complex for Newton

If all goes according to plan, a Wichita development company could break ground on a $70 million complex in Newton later this year.

Occidental Management president Chad Stafford said Friday that a meeting this week with a Harvey County contractors association was one of the first steps in publicly bringing the potential mixed-use development forward.

The development would sit on 80 acres – south of a Walmart Supercenter and near the site of a brand-new YMCA complex expected to open this fall – that the company purchased about three years ago, Stafford said.

“We think the cycle is right – there’s a lot of interest from retailers that we’ve been talking to,” Stafford said. “We’ve been talking about that site with a lot of national retailers who are looking for expansion. We do need to work some things out with the city, but we felt like the time is right to get with the public, get some feedback, and try to get some support behind this.”

Stafford said the vision for the development includes a mix of apartments, office and retail space, adding that assisted living units could also be part of the project. Not including construction work, Stafford predicted the complex could provide as many as 350 new jobs.

“We have a number of items we’d have to work out with the city,” Stafford said. “If we could do that, though, in the next 30 to 60 days, we’d like to be in a position to break ground on the first phase later this year.”

As for how the project would be funded, Stafford said the company might pursue a tax increment financing district or industrial revenue bonds.

“We’re not surprised that there is interest in a project like this, partly because of the development of the YMCA,” said Barth Hague, Newton’s vice mayor. “This is a potentially exciting project for us. In general terms, I’m supportive of this kind of development and growth.

“The big challenge will be funding. We’ll have to look at whatever funding requests that this development organization brings to the table because we’ve not seen anything definitive from them yet.”

Stafford spoke before the contractors association Thursday night. If green-lighted, Stafford said, the development would likely go up in at least four phases.

The first phase, he said, would be retail, likely followed by office space, apartments and assisted living facilities.

“We’ll need to submit some more detailed infrastructure plans to the city,” Stafford said. “We’ll have to get their input and, hopefully, piece something together. It’s farm land now, but this is a very good commercial location.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Developer considering $70 million complex for Newton."