City Council approves K-96 STAR bond agreement — with one key change

With a unanimous vote Tuesday, including one key change, you might say the Wichita City Council struck a figurative match to the new Ignite at K-96 project.

Only one person voiced concerns over the STAR bond project at K-96 and Greenwich, which the state already had approved.

The Council approved an agreement with Family Destination Development to start the district’s third and final phase, which will include immersive mini golf, go-kart racing, a surf wave, a baseball facility, an ice rink and an NCAA tennis complex in conjunction with Wichita State University. There also will be a family entertainment center and a 150-room family resort-style hotel.

“This is one of the few STAR bonds across the state that is actually paying off,” said council member Mike Hoheisel.

He said he would have had a hard time voting to start a new district, but he said the success of what’s already happened in this district made it easy to support the new development.

“This truly checks all the boxes for the STAR bonds,” said developer Marty Cornejo.

Sales tax and revenue bonds are a tool the state uses to increase tourism throughout Kansas with entertainment and commercial projects. The state works with cities to issue bonds, which developers pay off with the tax revenue their projects generate.

Cornejo and his partners, who include his brother, Ron, businessman Dave Murfin and Cozine Memorial Group president and funeral director Ashley Cozine, will pay almost $120 million toward the development. The rest — $73 million — would come from the STAR bonds.

The one change from the initial plans the developers submitted to the council is the timing of the project.

Originally, all of the development would have been ready in 2027.

“Everything got pushed out about a year,” Cornejo said. “We’ll probably get started quicker.”

He said it’s a massive undertaking, and the city “allowed me a little grace,” so he took it.

Still, he expects construction on infrastructure, the tennis facility and some of the entertainment features to start in 2026.

Mayor Lily Wu told Cornejo that one of the most frequent criticisms related to these kinds of projects is when developers don’t hit deadlines.

“The most important thing we do is hit deadlines,” he said.

Cornejo repeatedly has said there’s no risk to the city on the project, and Tuesday he noted that he and his partners would be hurting themselves if they don’t hit their goals.

According to the agreement, all construction will begin sometime in 2027, depending on the project, and be completed at various points in 2028.

There have been two phases so far at the approximately 423-acre district, which is north and south of K-96 and on both sides of Greenwich.

The first centered on the Wichita Sports Forum and the Greenwich Place shopping center at K-96 and Greenwich, and the second focused on the Scheels Stryker Sports Complex and Topgolf just north of there on both sides of Greenwich.

Cozine and his family own land south of Greenwich Place and south and west of K-96, which is where Ignite will go.

In addition to bringing thousands of direct and indirect jobs, developers expect more than $239 million in annual retail sales after the third phase is complete.

Roughly $185 million would come from the first two phases, and about $62 million would come from phase three.

Developers also expect to add 250,650 more visitors to the district, with more than 72,000 of those coming from outside of Kansas once it’s completed in 2027. With those unique visitors, they expect 996,000 total visits.

According to the city, the district had more than 7.7 million visitors in the last year.

Ignite will be next to the Cozine family’s Kensington Gardens cemetery.

A young man named Grant Daily said his father is buried there, and it’s an important place for him to connect with his father. He said he has concerns about noise and traffic, and Daily said he knows of others who feel the same way.

Cozine’s son, Hillard, who also is in the family business, said his grandfather is buried there.

“This is also personal,” Hillard Cozine said. “I understand how meaningful that space is.”

He said there will be tree barriers, fencing and berms to mitigate noise.

Also, the gates will be locked each evening to ensure no one enters.

Cornejo told Daily he appreciated his concerns.

“I don’t think you’ll be disappointed — or your father.”

For people at Ignite, Cornejo said he hopes there will be noise.

“I hope there’s a lot of screaming and yelling. That means they’re having fun and spending money and paying (those) sales taxes back — in a good way.”