Downtown Wichita is building toward tomorrow | Commentary

I’ve worked downtown for nearly my entire career except for a short stint in an office on North Woodlawn. My first job was in Sutton Place, which then had a TWA office on the first floor. For those reading unfamiliar with TWA, it’s the iconic airline which stopped flights 20 years ago.

I’ve seen four decades of change in downtown Wichita. Like other cities, Wichita has experienced national and local cultural, business and economic trends that changed downtowns. I personally remember how much the oil and gas industry’s national crash in the early 80s affected downtown.

While I could tell stories about downtown Wichita in the past, what’s important is what’s happening today and how we’re continuing to build toward tomorrow.

I’m serving as the volunteer chair of Downtown Wichita, the organization that has helped ensure downtown’s growth. It’s the organization that helped guide the development of downtown’s master plan from community engagement to adoption by the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County in 2010.

We recently celebrated the 100th project in downtown Wichita since that adoption with 101 projects now completed. Those projects now are close to $1.5 billion dollars in investment in our downtown. And there are seven more projects under construction and 10 more in planning. Because of our ability to leverage resources, we are able to continuously do more and create paths to new levels of opportunity.

Results like these are built on a strategic vision and a solid plan. They also take a lot of energy, collaboration and dedication from everyone across the years. I’d especially like to applaud and thank the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County because their current and previous elected leaders and staff recognized how important downtown was for our region’s future. Their leadership, commitment and work with our staff and volunteer board have resulted in those 100 plus projects that are literally changing the landscape of our community with each project creating additional opportunities.

That master plan and its implementation through Downtown Wichita has received multiple top honors from the International Downtown Association.

But maybe the most important recognition is the new investment like cybersecurity company Novacoast that moved into the top two floors of the Epic Center. One of the reasons they chose Wichita for its expansion location was our community’s investment in our downtown.

It is well-documented that vibrant downtowns are important to keeping and attracting the young talent that every city wants and needs for continued growth. I’ve also seen how important it is to our city’s and our region’s identity. It is so important for our future that we can’t slow down — so here’s to growing our region, believing in ourselves and to the next 100 projects.

This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 2:07 AM.