Wichita officials poised to take first step in preventing theater’s demolition

The Wichita City Council will begin taking steps to prevent the demolition of the Crown Uptown Theatre.

The theater’s owner, Mike Brown, has applied for a demolition permit after multiple failed attempts to increase the theater’s capacity. He has said he can’t make the building profitable without putting on bigger concerts.

The council will decide at its meeting Tuesday whether to begin putting the theater at 3207 E. Douglas on Wichita’s Register of Historical Places.

“This is to start the process,” City Manager Bob Layton told council members during their agenda review meeting Friday. “If there’s a recommendation to place it on the register, then it will come to you for final approval.”

Placing the theater on Wichita’s registry would set several bureaucratic guardrails before the demolition could be approved, including going through the historic preservation board and the city council.

If approved by the council Tuesday, the nomination would have to go through a series of meetings before final approval, including several public hearings at the Historic Preservation Board, the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, and back to the city council.

Those hearings would likely take place later this spring and through the summer.

City code allows the council to nominate a building for placement on the city’s historic registry.

Although the owner has applied for a demolition permit, the council has taken over interim control of the building to temporarily prevent its demolition and the theater to move through the historical registry process.

If the theater isn’t placed on the registry before Aug. 4, when the council’s control period ends, the building owner can move forward with the demolition.

Brown said Friday he had no comment about the move to place the theater on the registry.

Earlier, at the March 4 council meeting where the council voted to extend interim control for 180 days, he said he didn’t want to tear the theater down but the city had left him no choice by refusing to increase its capacity.

“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.”

Tuesday’s city council meeting starts at 9 a.m. at City Hall. Those interested can speak during public comment on the item.

Contributing: Denise Neil of The Eagle