What’s next for Crown Uptown: City Council to discuss historical significance

The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission has teed up a vote for the Wichita City Council to consider whether the 96-year-old Crown Uptown Theatre should be placed on the city’s historical registry.

The city nominated the theater’s building for the registry after its owner threatened to demolish it, citing multiple failed attempts to increase the building’s capacity.

“For nearly a century the Crown Uptown Theatre … has remained a visible and active presence in WIchita’s cultural landscape,” Robin Gibson, an architect who talked to the board about the theater’s history, said. “Its adaptability and sustained operation across generations demonstrate the long term visibility of historic structures within a changing urban context.”

The theater is not listed on the state or national register of historical places.

Not all members of the planning commission were supportive of moving the case forward, citing issues with property rights.

The owner of the theater, Tulsa businessman Mike Brown, did not ask for the theater to be placed on the city’s historical registry.

“It seems odd that all of the sudden that there’s such a major push to get this on the register because the property owner in the past public meetings here has said that he was going to tear it down,” MAPC Vice Chair Bob Aldrich said.

That same argument is likely to come up at the City Council’s July 15 meeting, as it did when the council approved initiating the nomination process.

Mayor Lily Wu and council members Dalton Glasscock and J.V. Johnston were no votes on initiating the process earlier this year.

“I believe in the value of the Crown Uptown and its historic presence and part of our Wichita history. However, I’m very concerned when we are taking away a property owner’s right to say whether they do or do not consent to have something done to their property,” Wu said at the April meeting.

The council nominated the theater to be placed on the registry by a 4-3 vote. The building would need at least that same vote at the council to be placed on the registry, unless the building owner objects. If Brown were to object to the placement in person or in writing, it would require five yes votes for passage.

Brown would not comment on whether he’d object to the building being placed on the registry.

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

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