City Council votes to block demolition permit on Crown Uptown until early August
The Wichita City Council voted Tuesday to extend the city’s interim control of the Crown Uptown Theatre building at 3207 E. Douglas until Aug. 4 — a move intended to give local preservationists more time to determine if the building should be added to the Wichita Register of Historic Places before its owner carries through with promises to tear it down.
After a lengthy and sometimes heated back-and-forth between Crown Uptown owner Mike Brown and the City Council, the council voted 6-1 to extend its control period for 180 days from the date Brown applied for a permit to demolish the theater, which was Feb. 5. He purchased the 96-year-old building in 2022.
After the vote, Brown will not be able to obtain a demolition permit from the city during that period. Should the building not be added to the local historic registry before the 180 days are up, though, Brown would be free to move forward with demolition.
During the discussion, Brown told the council that he didn’t want to tear the theater down, calling himself a preservationist. But the city has left him with no choice, he said.
He pulled the demolition permit the day after the council voted to deny his second application to increase the capacity of the theater so that he could put on bigger concerts. Brown has maintained that without the capacity increase he won’t be able to make the building profitable.
He had no idea, he said during Tuesday’s meeting, that capacity would be an issue when he purchased the building and indicated surprise that he’d had so much trouble.
The whole issue would go away, an impassioned Brown told the council, if they’d just agree to his request for the increase. He urged the council to abandon the discussion at hand and instead vote then and there to approve his request.
“I don’t want that building to go away, but as a fiduciary responsibility to myself, my partners and my family — as that building sits the way that it is restricted in use is not feasible.”
He’d be willing to compromise to a 1,750-person capacity, he told the council, and if the members would go ahead and agree to that, he said, he’d put the building on the National Registry of Historic Places himself.
“We cannot do any of that from this bench. That would be taking away from the process that is already in existence” Mayor Lily Wu told him. “So to answer your question, the answer is no.”
During the public comments portion of the meeting, two speakers pleaded with the council to extend its interim control of the theater. One was Aimee McCaffree, who along with her husband, Stephen Holt, owns the building directly west of the Crown Uptown. Last summer, Brown’s company sued Holt over parking at the buildings.
McCaffree told the council that the Crown had been cherished by generations of Wichitans and that modern-day residents had a duty to protect local landmarks such as the theater.
“It seems to me that Mr. Brown’s intent behind the demolition permit is to exert undue pressure on the council to concede to a capacity increase,” she said. “Such tactics should not influence decisions that have long-term repercussions on our community’s architectural heritage. Regardless of its formal designation, the Crown theater holds immense historical and cultural value for Wichita and more specifically, for the College Hill neighborhood.”
Another speaker defended Brown.
Local businessman Matt Jackson told the council that, although he also loved the Crown and did not want to see it go, the real issue was Wichita’s refusal to allow Brown to run his business as he saw fit.
“It is my belief that government entities and small groups of individuals should not have the power to make such a significant impact on the way an owner is allowed to conduct their business,” Jackson said. “Decisions made on the Crown today have the potential to either allow the Crown to become an even more thriving center for arts or potentially fall into disrepair.”
The only “no” vote on the 180-day extension came from council member Dalton Glasscock, who said that he also cherished the Crown but felt strongly that individual property rights had to be guarded. He ended his comments, though, by asking Brown to reconsider.
“I hope that you do not tear down the building,” Glasscock said. “It is part of the fabric of Wichita. It’s part of the history of this community. . . . However, I don’t believe that as a council person, I can direct you to save it in this capacity.”
Getting the Crown Uptown registered
To start the process of adding the Crown to the Wichita historic places registry, planning director Scott Wadle told the council, either a majority of the city council or a majority of the historic preservation board would have to nominate it.
The building also could be nominated for the Wichita register by the building’s owner, Brown. But when asked by council members during the meeting if he would consider nominating the building himself, he said he would not.
A nomination would prompt a public hearing that then would require a more in-depth application process. It would need approval from the planning commission, and then the nomination would have to go through another round of public comments before it made it back to the City Council, which would have to approve the addition by a 2/3 vote.
If that process is not completed by the time the 180 days are up, the council will not be able to extend its control period. But Wadle said he thought the process could realistically be completed within four months.
If the Crown were to be added to the local registry, the council could eventually block its demolition.
For a building to be added to the state or National Registry of Historical Places, Wadle said, the owner would have to consent.
At one point, Wu asked Brown if he’d be willing to sell the theater.
“Anything can be for sale,” he said.
Just before council members voted, Brown told them that he really saw only one way the Crown would be saved.
“The solution to this is sitting down and working with fire and planning department and letting us get to the capacity,” he said. “That’s really it. That’s the savior of the building. Beyond that, I don’t know what else to tell you.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 6:28 PM.
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