General News in the 316

[Veritas]

KWCH - Report: Boeing nearing deal to buyback Spirit AeroSystems



For what it's worth.

Any idea what the price per share will be? $38-40?

[JVShocker]

Bell was unable to move onto the semi-finals. He finished 2nd in his heat, but 28th overall with a time of 22.52.

He has to be disappointed as his personal best is 19.93. Although that time would have easily been the top time. Those qualifying for the final had times ranging from 21.59 to 21.89.

I watched Drayden Bell swim while he was growing up. Super nice family from all appearances. And he was quite a bit younger than my kids so I never had to root against him. He had an amazing 4 years at East High School. Those swim times you posted have no context, however. His best time in the 50 free would have been 19.93 (as you say), but that is in a pool set up of Short Course Yards (SCY) as is swam during high school season, and club swimming during the fall/winter season. Spring and summer seasons most club pools convert to meets measured in Long Course Meters (LCM) if they are able. So a 50 free in SCY you start and end at the same side of the pool, giving you a flip turn at one end and an extra wall to push off of (hence the lower time.) In LCM you start at one end of the pool and end at the opposite. So the times will always be a bit slower in LCM.

My apologies for the length, swim nerd here.

[SubGod22]

KWCH - Report: Boeing nearing deal to buyback Spirit AeroSystems

Boeing is nearing a deal to buy back Spirit AeroSystems, according to a report from Reuters.

Talks halted when another Spirit supplier, Airbus, threatened to block the deal. Spirit supplies the European aircraft manufacturer with parts for its A220 and A350 aircraft. Airbus said it didn’t want Boeing building the parts for its new planes.

Boeing and Airbus have since brokered a deal for each company to buy back portions of the Wichita-based supplier. Because Spirit provides work on other projects, the deal would include a third category to be “sold or dealt with separately,” Reuters reports.

For what it's worth.

[SubGod22]

And speaking of representing the country, or at least attempting to.

KSN - Wichita native makes Olympic trials



He'll compete Thursday in the men's 50 Free.

Bell was unable to move onto the semi-finals. He finished 2nd in his heat, but 28th overall with a time of 22.52.

He has to be disappointed as his personal best is 19.93. Although that time would have easily been the top time. Those qualifying for the final had times ranging from 21.59 to 21.89.

[SubGod22]

Prep Baseball Report - Prep Baseball Tournaments Set To Manage Operations At Wichita's New 'Champtown'

Ground broke on ‘Champtown’ on June 14 in Park City, Kan., an 160-acre project coming to the community north of Wichita in the near future, which will include an eight-field baseball complex that will be managed operationally by Prep Baseball Tournaments. While many of the project’s features won’t be ready until 2026, there’s the chance baseball can be played at Champtown as soon as next summer.

While baseball's headed to the new complex, the site will also attract visitors with an $100 million aquarium, a butterfly conservatory, a retail store, and several quick-service restaurants.

Champtown's baseball complex will feature eight fields and a stadium, promising to become a premier destination for youth and high school-aged baseball and softball events. Prep Baseball Tournaments will provide its wealth of facility and event management, in addition to its prowess as a trusted scouting service with a network of scouts that spans the country.

Prep Baseball Tournaments’ involvement ensures that Champtown will offer a premier baseball experience, drawing on the company’s successful management of other major complexes such as the 400-acre, 26-diamond Grand Park complex in Westfield, Ind., as well as the state-of-the-art LakePoint Sports destination in Emerson, Ga. Prep Baseball has also increased its presence in Kansas significantly over the past five years, as it oversees the Creekside and Homefield complexes in Kansas City.

The company’s tournaments are not limited to the aforementioned sites either, as Prep Baseball facilitates various tournaments across the entire country, with over 15,000 travel teams participating in its tournaments this summer alone.

[SubGod22]

Chick N Max making bold plans for invasion

WBJ - Next leg of Chick N Max's U.S. expansion plans includes updated restaurant prototype

Chick N Max is bringing an updated restaurant look to its next targeted region for U.S. growth.

The Wichita-based fast-casual chain announced Thursday that a new phase of national expansion will focus on the southeastern part of the country — specifically Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Chick N Max currently has seven restaurants across the central U.S., including four in Wichita, two in Texas and one in South Dakota.

"The southeast boasts a well-established fast-casual chicken restaurant market, and we’re aiming to establish a strong presence of our own and capture market share," said Jeff Frahm, Chick N Max’s vice president of franchise sales and development, in a news release. "Our focus will be on identifying high-potential areas that are currently underserved or have room for additional options."

As part of the expansion push, Chick N Max has unveiled a 2,100 square-foot restaurant prototype that seats up to 80 customers.

Early stages but the South has a lot of well established chicken restaurants.

They expect to open up to 5 restaurants this year in their current footprint here in the central US, but have more than 50 planned in Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Texas.

[SubGod22]

Cool local story and accomplishment.

KSN - Wichita golfer Emerie Schartz competing with first U.S. Junior National Team

The USGA released the roster for it’s inaugural U.S. Junior National Team earlier this year. One player making the cut is Wichita’s own Emerie Schartz.

The 16-year-old Andover High student spends most of her time training at Crestview Country Club.

“Every day, a lot of the day,” said Schartz, “We get here pretty early in the morning and just constant practice and playing throughout the day.”

Her dedication paid off. After applying to the team, she was happy to hear she made the roster.

“I was really surprised by I was so excited. It was just so surreal to be chosen among the top players in the world,” she added,” It’s just really wonderful to learn from the girls and to have this opportunity. And just thanks to the USGA for putting this all on for us, and Coach [Chris] Zambri and the national team.”

The recognition is well-deserved. In 2023, Schartz became the youngest player to ever win the Kansas Women’s Amateur. She also claimed the 2023 Kansas Girls’ Junior title, and was one of just four players to ace during the 2023 U.S Girls’ Junior.

Sounds like little sister is pretty damn good as well.

[SubGod22]

KSN - New urban farm being installed in downtown Wichita

ICT Farms will hold a groundbreaking for a new urban farm at The Salvation Army on Friday at 9 a.m.

Thomas Montiel joined KSN News to talk about the event. Montiel said the goal is to provide a sustainable source of fresh fruits and vegetables for local residents, promote healthy eating habits, and offer educational opportunities about gardening and nutrition.

“The Salvation Army has multiple food banks and ways to distribute food and instead of just utilizing canned space, we figured it would be an amazing opportunity to grow fresh for those who are food insecure,” Montiel said

I like things like this. Can be a really big benefit to communities.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Wichita real estate company requests incentives for Phase 2 of Bel Aire industrial park

Bel Aire is set to welcome an expansion to one of its business parks.

The Bel Aire City Council unanimously approved Tuesday a letter of intent for industrial revenue bonds for Wichita-based real estate company WAM Investments to expand the footprint of Bel Aire Industrial Park on the north side of 45th Street between Rock and Webb in Bel Aire.

The expansion project is scheduled for a public hearing in a July 2 City Council meeting. If approved, WAM Investments will receive $3.7 million in IRBs in the next 10 years, with a 95% property tax exemption for the first five years and a 75% property tax abatement for the following five years. The company will build two new buildings totaling 28,000 square feet east of the current buildings.
.....
Despite the delays caused by the pandemic, Madsen said the business park leased out spaces to 11 tenants in total in the first phase, which reached max capacity by the final quarter of 2023. The tenants included a Bel Aire-based window cleaning company called Warsh My Windows, a fence company called Claxton Fence and a flooring company called Floor Coverings International.

Madsen also said the employment numbers within the industry park exceeded the predicted 10 new jobs by creating 48 job opportunities.

"I would say this is the first physical location outside their home for probably 60% of the businesses we have," Madsen said. "So, it's a neat gateway for people trying to build a new business and get it up and off the ground. This kind of business model works well for them because it's hard to find a standalone building that gives you a size that's small enough to where these people can make that all work."

Madsen said plans for Phase 2 were a strategic decision because of the local real estate market lacking smaller warehouse spaces, along with demand from current and potential tenants reaching maximum capacity and looking to expand operations in the park.

The big warehouses get a lot of publicity for obvious reasons, but it is nice to have smaller options available for small, young businesses to operate out of.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Projects in the pipeline for Wichita's 5 largest architecture firms

Tessere — No. 1


Renamed earlier this year from GLMV Architecture, Tessere is Wichita's largest firm with 24 licensed architects, according to the WBJ list. One of its larger projects in the pipeline is the design for the $101.5 million, 104-bed adult psychiatric hospital that's going to be built in southwest Wichita near Meridian and MacArthur. Sedgwick County is leading the construction effort, which also involves Pulse Design Group out of Kansas City, Mo., before turning it over to the state once it's completed in late 2026. The design phase for the hospital, which will serve individuals there by court order and those there for acute patient care, is expected to wrap this fall. A builder has not yet been announced.

LK Architecture — No. 2


No. 2 on the WBJ list with 20 licensed architects, LK Architecture is contributing to the design of a prominent downtown riverfront development. The firm was hired by the city in January to design the pedestrian walkways, landscaping and other improvements surrounding EPC Real Estate Group's vision for a $110-million mixed-use development along the west of bank of the Arkansas River. EPC's plans involve a hotel, apartment complex, retail space and parking garage just east of Riverfront Stadium. Construction is anticipated to begin in the third quarter .

Shaefer Architecture — No. 3


With a dozen licensed architects, Shaefer Architecture is third on the WBJ's list of largest architecture firms. It has several projects that have been in the news lately, including the recently reopened Andover YMCA, a Credit Union of America expansion in northwest Wichita, and a downtown expansion for Professional Engineering Consultants. Schaefer is also involved in the design team behind Exploration Place's outdoor Destination Playscape, which also involves Monstrum, a global play manufacturer out of Denmark, Dondlinger Construction and the Kansas City-based Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects.

Alloy Architecture — No. 4


Alloy Architecture lands fourth on the ranking of largest firms with 11 licensed architects. Among its prominent recent projects is the design of a 28,000 square-foot expansion for Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics. The Wichita aerospace supplier plans to add manufacturing laboratories, a research and development test lab, inspection area, offices and shipping and receiving space at its northeast Wichita headquarters. Another Alloy project is the design for a new collaborative education hub called Learning Lab Wichita that's expected to open in August at Union Station.

SPT Architecture — No. 5


Fifth on the WBJ's architecture firms list with 10 architects, SPT Architecture is leading the design Phil Ruffin's highly anticipated Golden Circle Casino in Park City. Set for a September 2025 opening, the renovation of the former Wichita Greyhound Park adds historic horse-racing machines, a Golden Circle Sports Bar and a Gilley's Saloon, Dance Hall & Bar-B-Que inspired by the one inside Ruffin's Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Other recent SPT-designed projects in Wichita include First Tee Greater Wichita's new $1.8-million learning center, The National apartment complex at 1st Street and Main, and a renovation of a Delano District office building at 2nd and McLean.

Just a snapshot of a few large projects in the works.

I'm really excited about the movement at Exploration Place as well as the Riverfront area. Really excited to see how that plays out.

[SubGod22]

Interesting that SE and SW Wichita are both areas that have slow growth.
Derby is growing but drawing a line between Derby and Andover and Haysville and Godard appears to be mainly farms.
OTOH, a line between Andover and Park City and Park City to Goddard are exploding in growth.

Extension of K96 connecting Kellogg going slightly south of Derby connecting to 35 would certainly create growth IMO

I've often thought about how nice it would be if K96 kept going towards Derby/Rose Hill area. Just like it'll be nice when it eventually ties into Kellogg out near Goddard.

[Veritas]

Interesting that SE and SW Wichita are both areas that have slow growth.
Derby is growing but drawing a line between Derby and Andover and Haysville and Godard appears to be mainly farms.
OTOH, a line between Andover and Park City and Park City to Goddard are exploding in growth.

Extension of K96 connecting Kellogg going slightly south of Derby connecting to 35 would certainly create growth IMO

[SubGod22]

More housing on the way.

WBJ - Southwest Wichita mixed-use development gets zone change approval

A project in southwest Wichita from a prominent real estate developer has advanced.

Paul Kelsey, owner of real estate company Kick "N" Development Corp., received approval June 11 from the Wichita City Council on a zone change for his 161-acre mixed-use development called Yellowstone Addition.

Thirty acres of the Yellowstone Addition, located on the southeast corner of Pawnee and 119th Street, were approved for a zone change from single-family residential to limited commercial. The development was also approved to establish a community unit plan, which is required for a commercial development greater than 6 acres.

Yellowstone will include 240 single-family homes, 85 duplexes and 176,500 square feet of commercial space, according to a February City Council report.

According to a Metropolitan Area Planning Commission agenda report from earlier this month, the CUP will have 12 parcels of land, with parcels 1 and 2 being approximately 10 acres located interior to the site. Parcels 3 through 12 will range from 0.75 to 1.5 acres and will be located around street frontages.

The zoning approval comes after the development was annexed into Wichita and approved for infrastructure and utilities in February. Kelsey said the District Advisory Board approved Yellowstone in May. Since then, he said plans for the development have been in the works.

Not overly familiar with this area.

[SubGod22]

OG Towne West tenant is leaving and headed to New Market Square.

That tenant is Helzberg Diamonds.

[SubGod22]

This could be some good info for some on here or people you may know.

Wichita by EB - A guide to free family activities in Wichita

Families are always looking for activities to keep their children entertained during the summer. Many of them cost money and that can add up over time. So why not sprinkle in some of the free family activities available in the Wichita area?

I’ve put together a guide of free family activities covering things to do in Wichita that are the low price of FREE.

More info in the link.

The basics

Sunflower Summer App - Over 200 attractions that I believe are free or at least discounted for children.

Wichita Public Library Experience Passes - Passes will get you into some museum and zoo options.

Old Cowtown Museum

OG Pizza Hut Museum

Wichita Art Museum

Wichita Sedgwick Co. Historical Museum

Ulrich Museum of Art - Wichita State

Bradley Fair Summer Concert Series

KEYN Summer Concert Series

Great Plains Nature Center

Kansas Wildlife Exhibit

Keeper of the Plains Lighting

Various City Parks

Kids Bowl Free

Splash Pads