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More bio-med corridor news. This one may end up 'upsetting' some people.
WBJ - How a downtown demolition ties into Lange's larger vision within biomedical corridor
Lange has a lot of property down around St. Francis and believes there's a lot of potential for housing, restaurant, and retail down there much like there is at Central and Hillside around Wesley.
Apparently the buildings to be demoed aren't on the historical register but the area is? But the cost to fix the problems with the current buildings far exceed the appraised value of them, which I think was a little over $20K.
The bio-med area as a whole is going to see a lot of improvements and upgrades and honestly I think this is probably a good plan forward. I'm not sure if people have any issues with Lange, but they've been doing a lot of fairly aggressive and positive things in recent years all over the metro area and I think we're going to be better for it. There's definitely a need for housing down there. More office space is going to be needed at some point as the Bio-Med corridor grows and more businesses and research and such flock to the area. The growth of all of that, as well as the thousands of students who are going to go to school and many live down there, there's going to be demand for more shopping, dining, and entertainment options in the area.
Letting old building just rot away because they're old isn't the answer. I'm all for salvaging what can be salvaged in old structures, and there's a lot of that going on with a number of properties down there. But an old, falling apart death trap that's relatively small to begin with isn't worth saving if you ask me.
I'll be curious to see what comes to this property, and the area as a whole over the next couple of years.
Exciting times for the core.
WBJ - How a downtown demolition ties into Lange's larger vision within biomedical corridor
A developer's plans for one part of its growing downtown property portfolio south of Ascension Via Christi St. Francis hospital have cleared a key hurdle.
On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council approved Equisset LLC's request for it to override the Wichita Historic Preservation Board's denial of a demolition permit for the two-story property the Lange subsidiary owns at 632 N. Topeka Ave.
Equisset purchased the vacant apartment building in late 2023 as part of a string of property acquisitions by Lange-owned entities in the northern portion of an envisioned biomedical corridor spurred by the under-construction, $300-million Wichita Biomedical Campus. Those moves have included Equisset working with developers Philip Bundy and Casey Bachrodt in 2024 to acquire a series of parcels from Ascension located just south of St. Francis hospital, north of Pine Street and between St. Francis Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue.
At Tuesday's meeting, Equisset general manager Stratton Lange said no concrete plans are in place for the to-be-demolished property, but that new housing — something local leaders have repeatedly emphasized as a need downtown — was one possibility.
On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council approved Equisset LLC's request for it to override the Wichita Historic Preservation Board's denial of a demolition permit for the two-story property the Lange subsidiary owns at 632 N. Topeka Ave.
Equisset purchased the vacant apartment building in late 2023 as part of a string of property acquisitions by Lange-owned entities in the northern portion of an envisioned biomedical corridor spurred by the under-construction, $300-million Wichita Biomedical Campus. Those moves have included Equisset working with developers Philip Bundy and Casey Bachrodt in 2024 to acquire a series of parcels from Ascension located just south of St. Francis hospital, north of Pine Street and between St. Francis Avenue and Santa Fe Avenue.
At Tuesday's meeting, Equisset general manager Stratton Lange said no concrete plans are in place for the to-be-demolished property, but that new housing — something local leaders have repeatedly emphasized as a need downtown — was one possibility.
Apparently the buildings to be demoed aren't on the historical register but the area is? But the cost to fix the problems with the current buildings far exceed the appraised value of them, which I think was a little over $20K.
The bio-med area as a whole is going to see a lot of improvements and upgrades and honestly I think this is probably a good plan forward. I'm not sure if people have any issues with Lange, but they've been doing a lot of fairly aggressive and positive things in recent years all over the metro area and I think we're going to be better for it. There's definitely a need for housing down there. More office space is going to be needed at some point as the Bio-Med corridor grows and more businesses and research and such flock to the area. The growth of all of that, as well as the thousands of students who are going to go to school and many live down there, there's going to be demand for more shopping, dining, and entertainment options in the area.
Letting old building just rot away because they're old isn't the answer. I'm all for salvaging what can be salvaged in old structures, and there's a lot of that going on with a number of properties down there. But an old, falling apart death trap that's relatively small to begin with isn't worth saving if you ask me.
I'll be curious to see what comes to this property, and the area as a whole over the next couple of years.
Exciting times for the core.
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