Development in downtown Wichita is on a roll.
The Greater Wichita Partnership has announced an array of projects over the last several months. Right now, there is about $700 million worth of development either planned or underway downtown.
The most notable project is a biomedical campus that Wichita State University, WSU Tech and the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita will build together near Broadway and William.
Jeff Fluhr is president of the Greater Wichita Partnership. He talked with Tom Shine and The Range about the momentum downtown, the challenges ahead and how the biomedical campus could help transform all of Wichita, not just downtown.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
Tom Shine: The Wichita State and KU biomedical campus is a huge project just in and of itself. But can you explain its potential wider impact on downtown?
Jeff Fluhr: It's one of those things where it's just remarkable … for what it's going to do for our community.
You think about health care, and research and development. We're always going to need that. In fact, we're going to need more of it as … our community ages, but also as we grow. So with the biomedical campus – if you look at Phoenix, if you look at the Texas Medical Center – these are incredible industry depth creators, if you will.
So for the biomedical, if you look at the numbers, it's over $300 million worth of investment, 3,000 medical students, 200 faculty and staff, 1,600 support jobs that will be around the initial part of the campus.
We could see upwards of 12,000 people over time as part of this biomedical campus because it's not just the initial buildings, it’s a whole corridor.
I read that there's about a half a billion dollars in projects either underway or planned for downtown Wichita. What's behind this sudden surge in activity?
Since 2010, there's been a master plan development, Project Downtown. And this is a plan that the community came together in 2009 … to create a community vision about what we wanted to see happen over the next 15 years.
In that period of time, you had some incredible things happening with Old Town: You had the new arena under construction that we all enjoy today, you had certain elements that had been constructed along our riverfront …
So this plan was really setting out to build upon those assets, to really make a very cohesive, vibrant downtown. So, what's been transpiring over the last, let's say 13 or so years, has been the implementation of this plan to where now it has cultivated an environment … that is fostering incredible development.
Key Centrix is renovating an old building … for its new headquarters. Several businesses have moved downtown over the last few years. What's the attraction for businesses to come downtown?
One of the things we're seeing … across the country is that talent really has a connection to downtowns.
So as you look at talent, and companies that are trying to both retain and recruit talent, they know that being in the downtown is a critical part of that campaign … for their talent development.
The Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine opened last year, and WSU Tech's culinary school opened this year. What have those projects brought to downtown?
What it's bringing are students. As you look at the combination of what the osteopathic school has done, about 80% of their students are living in the core.
But what's going to be beautiful about all this is that as you see more of the osteopathic school, what NICHE (National Institute of Culinary & Hospitality Education) is doing, with the new biomedical campus, we're going to see multiples of thousands of students in our downtown, which again, is a whole new industry development.
The National, I believe, is opening up this month. And there are several other housing projects underway downtown. What continues to drive the demand for downtown housing?
So going back, again, to what talent is wanting. They want to live either in downtown or within three miles of it, for a large part. So that's one of the drivers.
We know that there is a percentage of employees when these companies come (downtown) … that individuals elect to live in the core. So all those things are driving the base of residential development.
Now, the one thing that we've got to make sure we do is that as we have this development is that we create options. So, affordability is going to be important; housing that accommodates families.
The city released an updated $400 million plan for Riverfront development earlier this year. How important is figuring out the Riverfront development piece in the broader downtown context?
It's extremely critical. We're a river city. You know, we're in a special class of cities, if you want to look at it that way.
But it's really important that we embrace our riverfront because, again, it is a distinctive fabric characteristic of ours. And we should celebrate that.
So the city's action to say, ‘How is it that we solve the convention center, the performing arts? How is it that we get an incredible reuse of the previous library?’ Very critical steps in our future.
What are the challenges out there that still concern you?
We have to still be very diligent about the safety of our downtown. The affordability as far as housing, the parking management. With all the people coming into our downtown, how do we manage those assets well, so that again, you generate revenue to take care of the garages. You take care of the lighting, the cleaning, the streetscapes, all those are really important details.
Homelessness in our city. We're not atypical. Every city is working through how is it that you really take care of the homeless population? We're working through that right now on the county level, on the city level. All those things are really critical as we continue to move forward.
What do you say to people who don't live or work downtown, who don't spend much time here. Why is having a strong downtown important to them?
If we just look at the economics … of having a vibrant downtown, the density of our area is very strong. It's getting stronger every day. If you look at the property tax that is generated within the core itself, it's large. And so … certainly some of that goes back into the downtown area, but not all of it. That which doesn't goes into all the surrounding districts of our city.
It's important that we have a vibrant not only a core, but a vibrant suburban market, first- ring neighborhoods. So … by having a strong downtown, it's an investment not only in the core itself, but citywide.
The great white whale for downtown has been a grocery store for a number of years. Might all this latest development, including the biomed campus especially, make that a reality?
In short, yes. And that's probably the shortest answer I've ever given.
You know, part of having a grocery store, an urban grocery store, is density. And for Wichita, one of the challenges we've had is … just a thing of who we are. We have a very large downtown footprint. So for us to get to the density has just been a little bit longer journey.
So, we're at that tipping point. We want to see it soon. Because everyone asks me that question. And I cannot wait to show them the renderings and saying, ‘Here it is. And it's going to start construction on this date. I need to see you in there on this date supporting it.’
So it's coming though.
Anything else you want to mention that I haven't asked you about?
Wichita is in a position over the next two to five years, maybe even sooner than five, just to be one of those destination cities that we often talk about. Whether it's Austin, or Nashville or Charlotte. You look at the magnitude of investment that has been made, which since 2010 has been about $1.6 billion … that is significant.
If you're here, do not leave. I mean because you're actually going to be upset with yourself.
For those who may be looking at us through the lens of do I want to move there? The answer is yes … because you're going to be very glad you did.
