Is Sedgwick County buying the Envision building downtown? Here’s an update

Sedgwick County commissioners appear to want to move forward with the purchase and remodel of the Envision building at 610 N. Main for the county’s administrative offices.

Earlier this year, commissioners approved a purchase agreement for the building that allowed for a four-month inspection period to get estimates on how much renovations would cost.

Buying the building would cost $12.25 million. There is a lease-back option that would allow $300,000 to go toward the purchase so Envision, a nonprofit that serves blind and visually impaired people, could occupy the first two floors for at least a year.

Remodeling the building would bring the total cost for the offices to $26.54 million.

Commissioners saw the building as a more cost-effective option. The price tag for finding a new administrative office has grown since their search began in 2017.

The county has been searching for a new space to move nine of its departments, including the county clerk, county counselor, county manager, finance, human resources, register of deeds, county treasurer, and facilities departments.

Commissioners rejected the purchase of Murfin Plaza in 2023.

“This is the taxpayer … paying more because … we have waited to not pull the trigger,” Commission Chair Ryan Baty said. “I don’t envision that’s going to be the case this time. I think we’re going to get a deal made here pretty quick.”

Part of construction at the Envision building could include a separate new build in the lot to the north to house the county commission’s weekly meetings, at a cost of $3.29 million. Architects that worked on the initial layout for the building said the existing space didn’t have enough square footage for the meeting space.

Some commissioners questioned whether they needed the building to house its meetings, citing repeated suggestions from Wichita Mayor Lily Wu to allow the commission to use the city council chambers for their meetings.

The Wichita City Council meets on Tuesday. County commissioners meet on Wednesdays. City Hall is about a block away from the county’s potential future building.

“I thought it was known pretty publicly that the city has offered us the use of … their chamber,” Commissioner Pete Meitzner said.

The county now leases space in the Ruffin Building downtown for administrative offices. That lease is set to expire in 2028. The county can end the lease by 2027 with a 90-day notice.

The commission is likely to vote on moving forward with purchasing the building at a September meeting.

Other options for county offices

At the staff meeting Tuesday, county staff also presented two other options for the county’s future administrative building, both new builds at Third and Main.

The county has eyed a parking lot on the southwest corner of the intersection to construct a new building for its offices. That option is still available to commissioners, including a three-story or four-story option.

The four story option, at $32.3 million, would include all nine of the offices the county needs to find space for. The three-story option, at $26.7 million, excludes the treasurers office, the county clerk, and the register of deeds.

Those three offices would move into the Ronald Reagan building next door, if COMCARE and the county’s aging office could move into the new COMCARE building near the biomedical campus downtown.

The new building would also require the county to narrow Third Street and Water Street for on-street parking.

“I don’t think that these other options at Third at Main interest me, personally,” Commissioner Jim Howell said. “I think it’s been a great reminder of why we’re not doing that. And I would suggest we continue to… move on the path of the Envision building.”