General News in the 316

[SubGod22]

WBJ - BREAKING: Boeing in talks to buy Wichita's Spirit AeroSystems

The Boeing Co. is in talks to buy Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A spokesperson for Spirit told WBJ the company declined to comment, as did a Boeing spokesperson.

Spirit stock started the day at $28.55 and shot up to $33.26 by 10:05 CT.

Apparently Spirit is also in talks with AirBus about their Northern Ireland plant.

[Shockm]

Here’s some irony for you. Boeing in negotiations to buy back Spirit Aerosystems

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/spir...ms-boeing.html

[SubGod22]

A list of St. Patrick's events in and around Wichita

Wichita by EB - What's going on for St. Patrick's Day in Wichita

More substantial list in the link.

Saturday, March 9
O’Malley’s Irish Pub Fake PaTTy’s Day Bash
Where: 2405 W 31.st St.
Time: Starts at 7 p.m.
Biggest Fake PaTTy’s Day party in Wichita! Green Beer, Green Beads, Irish Car Bombs! Hell, even our Walls our green! Wichita’s #1 Happy Hour from 2-7! Bagpipers at 7pm! The largest selection of Irish Whiskey in the Midwest! Best Corned Beef & Cabbage in Wichita! Shepards Pie, Bangers and Mash and lots more! Karaoke starts at 5pm! Must Be 21 to enter. Let’s get FAKED up Together!

Saturday, March 16

St. Patrick’s Day Party at Stearman Field Bar & Grill
Where: 14789 Southwest 30th Street, Benton, KS
Time: Starts at 8 a.m.
Feeling lucky??? Come down to Stearman for fake patty’s day! We’ll be serving up BIG ice cold green bears, your favorite corned beef Reubens, & partying all day long. Celebrate the Irish holiday with us! Come & go all day, Whiskey South Forty will be here later on in the day for live music vibes!

St. Patrick’s Party at O’Briens
Where: 5205 E. Kellogg Dr.
Time: Starts at 11 a.m.
Come celebrate the biggest party of the year! 1/2 Price Drinks & great food specials SATURDAY & SUNDAY! Doors open at 11:00am, so come early and enjoy the festivities!

St. Patrick’s Day Party at Spauldings
Where: 127 W. Central Ave., Andover
Time: Starts at 4 p.m.
Come join us for our St Patty’s Day Celebration! The Wichita Caledonian Pipes and Drums will come through at 5pm and the Irish Band: And So it Goes will play at 7pm.

Sunday, March 17

St Patrick’s Day at The Shamrock
Where: 1724 W. Douglas
Time: Starts at 10 a.m.
Important: Remember that the Shamrock is CASH ONLY Sat/Sun for St Pat’s Weekend! ATM available. St Patrick’s Day at the Shamrock Sun, Mar 17 – open at 10am It’s the biggest party of the year at the Shamrock! Join us for St Pat’s Day fun on Sun, Mar 17. We’re opening early and partying late – come be a part of it!

St. Patrick’s Party at O’Briens
Where: 5205 E. Kellogg Dr.
Time: Starts at 11 a.m.
Come celebrate the biggest party of the year! 1/2 Price Drinks & great food specials SATURDAY & SUNDAY! Doors open at 11:00am, so come early and enjoy the festivities!

St. Patrick’s Parade
Where: 2007 N. Arkansas Road
Time: Starts at 2 p.m.
The Parade Begins at Evergreen Library. We will process south to St. Patrick. We will have food and crafts and games at the parish.

[shocker_torero]

I’m not sure how to feel about this if Boeing did end up buying back their work. Lot of uncertainty around where work would go, commitment to the community, etc.

Boeing has never given me the warm and fuzzy that they’re all in on Wichita and the workforce there. Would hate to see Boeing buy it back just to long term plan to move all the work to Washington. If that happened, just start calling Wichita little Detroit.

WBJ - BREAKING: Boeing in talks to buy Wichita's Spirit AeroSystems



Apparently Spirit is also in talks with AirBus about their Northern Ireland plant.

[SubGod22]

MSN - 110 new jobs coming to Wellington

A company is investing $14 million in Wellington and creating 110 new jobs for the area.

Elite Harness plans to refurbish an existing facility at 1515 North A Street on the north side of town. The goal is to make it into a 50,000-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing plant.

“We have a sister company that is located in Tulsa, so we considered building there, but the State of Kansas and Sumner County really stepped up to the plate and made Wellington a wise choice for us,” Elite Harness President Nathan Smith said in a news release.

The company will make wiring harnesses and custom cables used in the automotive, industrial, agricultural, and aerospace industries and any others needing electrical connections.

Sounds like a nice get for Wellington and the people of Sumner County.

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KAKE - Interact with stingrays and small sharks at the Sedgwick County Zoo

The Sedgwick County Zoo is reopening an exhibit designed to let guests get up close and hands-on with a variety of stingrays and small sharks.

Stingray Cove opens Friday, March 8. The cost is $5 per person for nonmembers and $4 per person for members. Children ages 2 and under are free.

The zoo said guests can also upgrade their experience by feeding the stingrays for $2 per cup of food.

The exhibit will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will close for the winter in October.

[Kung Wu]

The Sedgwick County Zoo is reopening an exhibit designed to let guests get up close and hands-on with a variety of stingrays and small sharks.

Public service announcement: Reminder this is how Steve Irwin died. They still have the little mini goats you can feed instead.

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WBJ - Wichita developers acquire 3 prominent downtown buildings with ideas for new uses

As groundbreaking approaches on a highly-anticipated biomedical center, three nearby buildings that have been a part of downtown Wichita's fabric since the 1920s are back under local ownership.

Longtime local real estate developer Marv Schellenberg and his Schellenberg Development Co. partnered with another Wichita developer, Graham Crain, to recently purchase the Petroleum Building, Kress Energy Center and the old McClellan Hotel Building, also known as the O'Rourke Title Building.

The eight-story Petroleum Building, at 221 S. Broadway, and five-story McClellan property, at 229 E. William, are located across the street from the site of the planned 471,000 square‑foot, $300-million biomedical campus, while the Kress building, at six stories, is a block north on the northwest corner of Douglas and Broadway.

Prime real estate

"We've been getting a lot of calls," said Jesse Schellenberg, the project manager.

The Schellenbergs said most interest so far has been specific to medical and professional office, but apartments are a possibility.

They envision diverse dining options on the ground floor of the Petroleum and McClellan buildings.

"We'd like to see this area have a nice cafe that has a nice breakfast, lunch and dinner," said Marv Schellenberg, adding they're also looking into more of a fast-casual concept that would serve students.

Wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see more medical related business end up nearby. Having reasonable food options nearby would also be a benefit to the area.

Renovations on the Petroleum building should begin soon and they target all three buildings to be completed before the 2026 opening of the BioMed campus.

I think it's likely that at least one of these buildings ends up with apartments. It's a definite need for the area, but office space is also going to be in demand for those that can utilize and benefit from being near the new campus.

Exciting times.

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WBJ - Developer may reduce size of downtown luxury apartment project due to city parking agreement

On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council voted 6-1 to approve a letter of intent to issue up to $95 million in industrial revenue bonds to help finance the construction of a Class A apartment building at the northwest corner of Washington and Waterman.

However, as part of that vote — in a move that was requested by Vantage Point Properties CEO Paul Jackson, the Wichita-based developer behind the project — the Council indefinitely tabled a related parking lease agreement that would have allowed Vantage Point to use up to 185 parking spaces located in a nearby city-owned lot for tenant parking.

As a result, the likelihood has increased that Jackson will scale back plans for a $90 million, 370-unit building to a 258-unit effort that would not be reliant on leasing parking from the city.

I don't know all of what goes into these things and understand the developers need for parking nearby for the luxury prices they'll be charging. This had already been pushed back a couple of weeks ago and now it's looking like the lease agreement isn't going to happen and we'll lose over 100 units. 258 is still a much needed boost though.

Also sounds like the student discount they were planning for a number of units may not happen now with the reduction of units available.

This isn't a done deal yet, but Vantage Point wants to begin this summer so they can be open before the BioMed campus opens. So there's still a chance for the larger structure, but I'm not sure it looks promising right now.

[SubGod22]

KSN - Major League Table Tennis event coming to Wichita

Major League Table Tennis is coming to Wichita.

Visit Wichita and Wichita State University are hosting the event April 5-7 at Charles Koch Arena. Four teams in the West Division of the league will face off all three days.

The West Division consists of the Bay Area Blasters, Portland Paddlers, Seattle Spinners, and Texas Smash. The Wichita event is the last before the East and West Division meet in Chicago for the Championship, where they will compete for the $100,000 grand prize.

Link to tickets in the article.

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KWCH - LIVE: Exploration Place breaks ground on new amphitheater

Exploration Place is breaking ground today on its new riverfront amphitheater.

The Wichita Foundation Amphitheater will showcase the nightly Ring of Fire show at Wichita’s iconic Keeper of the Plains sculpture. It will also provide a venue for live performances, free family movie nights and other community events.

The amphitheater will be a blend of art, architecture and nature and will open in September 2024, featuring uninhibited sightlines across the Arkansas River to the Keeper of the Plains. The 1,500-capacity amphitheater also includes a mixed-use space designed to promote a vibrant, bustling atmosphere along the river, where pedestrians and cyclists can gather safely.

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WBJ - Established developer approved for expansion project in Newton

Lou Robelli, developer and CEO of family-owned business Air Capitol Investments LLC, was approved by the Newton City Commission on Feb. 27 to build a 38,000-square-foot warehouse and storage facility in Newton's Industrial Park.

The building, located on the corner of 9th and Industrial Road, is expected to cost around $3.6 million and the project is expected to create 28 new jobs in its first five years, according to an agenda report.

Robelli, who has led many large-scale warehouse projects in Park City along I-135, said the expansion to Newton came because he wanted to get closer to his customers in the area instead of just working in Park City.

Robelli has had property in Newton Industrial Park and bought the property about a year ago. He expects to break ground in the next 30 days and completion by the end of this year.

The report said the tenant — an established warehouse and delivery company, the name of which was undisclosed in the report — will use the facility for the storage of building materials, food items and other goods.

Always good to see something positive happening up in Newton

[SubGod22]

Yahoo! - City of Wichita donates $1.3 million of downtown land to two universities, Here's why

Wichita has donated 1.9 acres of downtown land valued at $1.3 million to Wichita State and the University of Kansas for the construction of a biomedical campus.

The City Council voted earlier this week to transfer two properties now used for surface parking at 214 S. Topeka and 200 S. Broadway to the universities free of charge.

Crews could break ground on phase one, an eight-story, approximately 350,000-square foot center, as early as this month, WSU Government Relations Director Andy Schlapp said. The center will house progams for WSU and WSU Tech’s college of health professions and KU’s schools of medicine and pharmacy.

Sedgwick County records show the Topeka property is valued at $1,167,600 and the Broadway property is valued at $175,300.

Last August, the council entered a memorandum of understanding with the universities, committing to transfer the properties “for a mutually agreeable price” or to enter into a long-term lease.

The prospect of charging for the properties was not discussed during Tuesday’s meeting.

“The mutually agreeable price in the first agenda was a land donation,” city spokesperson Megan Lovely said in an email response to The Eagle.

“It’s worth noting that this will result in not only infill and vibrancy, but roughly $300 million of investment downtown,” Lovely said.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - $300-million biomedical campus remains on track, as city donates land for Phase 1

According to city-county records, the total appraised value of the six parcels donated is $848,290.

City officials indicated — during the meeting and later in the day at a Wichita Business Journal Emerging Leaders event — that the decision to donate the property, at the request of KU and WSU, was not hard.

In addition to several thousand students and 200 faculty and staff arriving in the city's core, the center will also support nearly 1,600 new jobs, assistant city manager Troy Anderson noted in a Council presentation.

Some different numbers on value of the land in this article compared to the Yahoo/Eagle article previously posted.

Later on Tuesday, during a local government leaders panel at the Kansas Leadership Center, Sedgwick County manager Tom Stolz and city manager Robert Layton highlighted their collaboration with each other and the leaders of KU and WSU on the massive project.

"We were not going to take the lead role, the institutions were," Layton said. "But they made it clear that they needed a site that would allow them not just to accommodate this initial facility, but allow them to grow ... and the mayor and Council were willing to let that be a big part of what we're doing as our contribution."

An additional 1.6 acres at 214 S. Topeka, which is slated for future phases and is just to the east of the Phase 1 site, was not included in the donation but is anticipated to be transferred to KU and WSU in the future, per the memorandum of understanding.

That land is where the Wichita Transit Center — which is set to move to the Delano District — is located.

I'm excited

Due to an error in legislation last year, Schlapp said there is currently a $41 million shortfall.

However, he said the state legislature is working to resolve the issue this year through the appropriations process, and he is not concerned with that funding coming through to get the total to $205 million.

"We're going to start construction where we are today with $164 (million)," Schlapp told the Council. "I think we'll be breaking ground ... it could be as early as this month. We don't see any issues with the state. The governor is in support, the (House) speaker is in support, the president of the Senate is in support. Really, it was just an interpretation of a law. The money's already been allocated. So it's not like they have to find new money, they just have to create the vehicle for that money to come to Wichita State and to KU."

As campus groundbreaking approaches, real estate momentum has picked up in the city's core, with developers citing growth from the biomedical center as a key factor in their moves.

Breaking ground as soon as this month? That would be huge. Getting started and seeing progress should only help the rest of the area in regards to revitalization and growth of business.

At the Tuesday WBJ event, Layton said that between the biomedical center, Integra Technologies' planned $1.8-billion semiconductor facility in Bel Aire, and the area's strides with the cybersecurity industry, "this is the most exciting time in Wichita probably in the last 25 to 30 years."

He said that's because diversification the city has long sought, on top of the city's long-established aerospace industry, is progressing.

"That doesn't downplay the importance of aviation to us by any means, but it's really exciting to finally see it strategically move forward," Layton said.

Layton said now the challenge is to keep medical students that will be at the biomedical campus and the neighboring Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine in the city after graduation.

That's where Layton said development around the campus comes into play.

"I think you'll see what we're hoping is a lot of medical offices, medical research that will lead to employment after medical school," he said.

We've long talked about diversification and how Wichita needed to get away from being so aerospace dependent. It's been nice to see some of that happening over the years. The medical field has been huge for Wichita and along with the new campus is going to become an even bigger part of the local economy. Cybersecurity continues to grow and if Integra ever gets their federal funding that will be massive as well.

I still always wished that maybe we had figured out a way to get a car manufacturing plant into Wichita which could help offset some of the aerospace labor issues when they have their ups and downs, and vice-versa. But Wichita is definitely moving in the right direction.

Now we just need to figure out how to better use the damned river.

[shocker_torero]

Thanks for summarizing and posting this.

The fact that the city manager is still talking like the Integra project is in play is a positive sign given the radio silence and delays on the funding front. We need to remember this project absolutely will not happen without government support through the CHIPs act, and we’re still not guaranteed to get any, or all, of what was requested. This funding is also dependent of state funding, which, if I remember correctly has a sunset window in April. That will either need to be pushed back by the KS legislature, renewed, etc.

Still crossing my fingers, but not overly optimistic. Integra expanding to that degree would be huge.

WBJ - $300-million biomedical campus remains on track, as city donates land for Phase 1



Some different numbers on value of the land in this article compared to the Yahoo/Eagle article previously posted.



I'm excited



Breaking ground as soon as this month? That would be huge. Getting started and seeing progress should only help the rest of the area in regards to revitalization and growth of business.



We've long talked about diversification and how Wichita needed to get away from being so aerospace dependent. It's been nice to see some of that happening over the years. The medical field has been huge for Wichita and along with the new campus is going to become an even bigger part of the local economy. Cybersecurity continues to grow and if Integra ever gets their federal funding that will be massive as well.

I still always wished that maybe we had figured out a way to get a car manufacturing plant into Wichita which could help offset some of the aerospace labor issues when they have their ups and downs, and vice-versa. But Wichita is definitely moving in the right direction.

Now we just need to figure out how to better use the damned river.