General News in the 316

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One of the most unfunny comedians I've ever experienced will be in Wichita next year.

KSN - Jerry Seinfeld to perform in Wichita in April

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is bringing his newest stand-up routine to Wichita. He will perform at Century II at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 19. Tickets go on sale next Friday, Nov. 15.

Seinfeld is known for his uncanny ability to joke about the little things in life that relate to audiences everywhere. He’s probably best known for his hit show “Seinfeld” on NBC, which aired for nine seasons and still airs in syndication. It was named the greatest television show of all time in 2009 by TV Guide.

He is still going strong with multiple projects, including “Jerry Before Seinfeld,” “23 Hours to Kill,” and “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” He’s written, produced and starred in movies and written three best-selling books.

[ShockTalk]

One of the most unfunny comedians I've ever experienced..................

I can understand that.

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WBJ - Park City progresses $5.3M senior center, townhomes for downtown district

A senior center slated for Park City's new downtown development is advancing toward construction.

Park City's City Council authorized construction last month of a $5.3 million senior center headed to Park Centre, a 48-acre mixed-use development that's a partnership between Park City and Wichita-based Lange Real Estate. The development, near the southeast corner of 61st Street North and Hydraulic Avenue, will also construct a 416-unit apartment complex, an 89-unit townhome complex and 96,000 square feet of commercial space.

On Tuesday, the City Council will receive exterior floor plans from project architect Shelden Architecture for the around 13,000 square-foot facility — which will be financed through general obligation bonds as part of the city's capital improvement program — and consider approving a contract with McCownGordon Construction as the builder.

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A generous gift...

KAKE - Sedgwick County Board approves $2.5 million gift toward zoo's 'Our Growing Herd' campaign

The Sedgwick County Zoo announced Wednesday that the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners has voted in favor of a $2.5 million gift toward the zoo’s current capital campaign.

Launched last month, the “Our Growing Herd” campaign is geared toward raising $10 million to expand the elephant exhibit. The campaign was introduced shortly after the zoo’s announcement, which said five female elephants are currently pregnant, with all five babies expected in the spring.

“Sedgwick County continues to be a valued partner of the Zoo,” said Scott Newland, President and CEO of SCZ. “It is through the support of our community that we’re able to continue to grow and strive to push beyond the standards of outstanding animal wellbeing.”

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This could be good. It's not an area of town I've spent much time in, but they've been working to improve the area and bring more to it.

WBJ - Pickleball facility in northeast Wichita set for opening this week

A pickleball concept on the northeast side of Wichita has an opening date.

TapNPaddles, a concept with pickleball courts, a restaurant and a bar from owners Mike and Kelli Ventling, is set to open later this week at 4956 E. 35th St. N. as part of the District 96 development just north of K-96 at Oliver and 35th Street.

After receiving the certificate of occupancy for the facility in late October, Mike Ventling said he hosted a small, members-only soft opening last week at the 33,000 square-foot facility, which features 12 indoor pickleball courts and a 900-square-foot event space with a full-service bar and restaurant. Since last week, Ventling has opened the doors to visitors, though a grand opening is planned for Friday with pickleball sessions, live music and other activities.

"People from outside noticed the space is open for open play pickleball and they have just kept coming in," he said.

The facility also includes a pro shop, member locker rooms, and a large covered outdoor patio. Ventling said the restaurant and bar space can host up to 140 people with indoor and outdoor patio seating. He added that the 900 square foot event space can be rented for events like birthday parties, corporate meetings and charitable events.

The restaurant will offer snack and breakfast items like nachos, eggrolls, flatbreads, burgers, fries and burritos, plus drinks in the $8-$15 price range.

District 96 also has an indoor golf simulator called ShotSuite, Another Broken Egg Cafe, and another The Kitchen concept.

TapNPaddles already has a charity pickleball event planned with my favorite local organization ICT SOS early next month.

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Another win for ICT

USA Lacrosse - USA Lacrosse's WCLA National Championship Returning to Wichita in 2025

The USA Lacrosse Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) national championship event is returning for the second straight year to the 'Heart of the Country' in Wichita, Kansas, with all games to once again be played at the Stryker Sports Complex. Dates for the 2025 championship tournament are May 7-10.

The SCHEELS Stryker Sports Complex is a state-of-the-art facility that features 11 all-sports turf fields, each with outdoor lighting, and a 112,000 square foot indoor facility. The venue plays host to local, regional, and national events and is ideally situated for tournament competition.

“We’re thrilled to be coming back to Wichita for the 2025 WCLA National Championship,” said Kristy Nutt, director of events at USA Lacrosse. “Last year, the feedback from our WCLA players was overwhelmingly positive, and the local lacrosse community truly made us feel at home. The Stryker Sports Complex was an amazing venue for the tournament, and we can't wait to give our players, coaches, and fans another incredible experience in 2025.”

Nearly 150 non-varsity collegiate teams comprise the WCLA and compete under the USA Lacrosse umbrella. The annual Division I and Division II National Championships showcase the WCLA’s premier teams, featuring 16 Division I clubs and 12 Division II teams vying for titles.

“We are honored to once again welcome USA Lacrosse back to the Heart of the Country. Visit Wichita proudly hosted the organization’s 2024 Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates National Championship and is looking forward to another successful competition in 2025,” said Josh Howell, vice president of sports development for Visit Wichita. “Locals can experience the fast-paced, exciting sport of lacrosse and the athletes and those traveling to Wichita will enjoy an exceptional venue, SCHEELS Stryker Sports Complex, and all of the other wonderful amenities Wichita has to offer.”

Visit Wichita is definitely doing something right.

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Sedgwick County Zoo has another new addition.

KWCH - Sedgwick County Zoo welcomes gorilla from San Diego Zoo

Mandaazi, a western lowland gorilla, arrived at the Sedgwick County Zoo last month. His transfer from San Diego was a recommendation by the Species Survival Plan, which the SCZ said will ensure his role in the conservation of his species.

Zoo staff said that in the short time that Mandaazi has been in Wichita, he has become an enthusiastic participant in its training program and easily picks up new behaviors. His favorite activities have been to flirt with all the gorilla girls or just to kick back and relax.

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A staple of Wichita

KSN - Illuminations at Botanica returns

Illuminations at Botanica is returning for a new season.

The annual holiday event will kick off on Nov. 29 at Wichita’s botanical gardens. Light displays will fill the gardens throughout November and December in what has become an annual tradition.

It started in 1990, when luminaries, weighted paper bags with lit candles inside, were adorned along the gardens’ walkways. A few years later, the decision was made to install Christmas lights throughout Botanica.

Over the years the number of lights and displays has grown to include light shows synced to music and even video displays created with Christmas lights. Illuminations was ranked 4th in USA Today’s 10Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights in 2023.

Illuminations at Botanica is again in the running for 10Best in 2024. You can vote for it by clicking here.

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WBJ - Wichita startup with soft skills game app reaches $1M in funding, sets goal for year end

A Wichita tech startup will soon reach its previously set capital goal for the year and it's not done yet.

CEO Robert Feeney said that Knowledge as a Service Inc., a startup with an office in the Garvey Center that invented the Ringorang habit formation software, has reached $1 million in funding and has extended its funding goal to $1.25 million for its second pre-series-A investor round.

KaaS's second round of funding was led by Indianapolis-based Unbroken Investing, which has members across the U.S. and searches for investment opportunities focused on passive cash flow.

"Many startups try to sell you on their concept and what it could become someday. KaaS is executing," Steve Lawson, founder of Unbroken Investing, said in email to the WBJ. "It has served clients such as IBM, Verizon, Goodwill and the U.S. Air Force among others. We saw their growth as something that is happening rather than something that could happen.”

Feeney said the original plan for the pre-series-A funding was to develop a vertical market in education with a game app version of Ringorang called Future Ready. The game, launched in January, takes skills valued by an employer — including time management, communication, conflict resolution, dependability, mental health and innovation — and makes them into a teachable game.

It's great to see a young tech startup finding and maintaining success. They're looking to expand their sphere of influence into other industries.

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WBJ - Textron Aviation Defense continues progress on nine-figure Navy contract

Work on a huge U.S. Navy contract keeps rolling for Textron Aviation — while bringing in big dollars for the Wichita-based company's defense segment.

The Department of Defense announced Thursday that Textron Aviation Defense had been awarded a $276.8 million modification to a contract the Naval Air Systems Command awarded the company back in 2023.

The contract for the Multi-Engine Training System (METS) program involves Textron Aviation providing up to 64 Beechcraft King Air 260 twin-engine turboprops for the Navy. All told, the work has a projected total value of $677 million.

This latest modification includes production and delivery of 26 of the 64 T-54A aircraft, which is a military variant of the King Air 260.

DoD said the contract modification also involves "associated aircraft and engine spare parts and peculiar support equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard to support the mission of Chief Naval Air Training to produce aviators and flight officers in sufficient quantity to support Naval Air Forces tasking."

Nearly all the work will be done in Wichita.

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Could we end up losing Crown Uptown Theatre?

WBJ - Crown Uptown owner in occupancy tangle looks for City Council support, with demolition an alternative

The owner of Crown Uptown Theatre in Wichita said he might rethink the future of the 100-year-old venue — including thoughts of demolition — if he can't increase its occupancy.

Tulsa developer Mike Brown, who bought the dinner theater 14 months ago, says he is considering alternatives for the theater if the City Council denies his application to increase maximum occupancy from 850 to 2,066 people.

“We feel that we've got a strong piece of property there in a great market and neighborhood,” Brown said in an interview with the WBJ, “and if the City Council elects that they don't think that that building should be allowed to have 2,000 people in, then that building will be developed into whatever is allowed in that zoning code."

Brown, who owns live entertainment venues in four states, said an occupancy restriction associated with a Planned Unit Development on the site prevents the building from reaching its “highest and best use” as a concert and entertainment venue and makes it unprofitable.

“For us to be able to cover the increase in inflation, taxes, insurance, labor, the cost of talent at 850 people," he said, "you can’t put enough volume through that building to use it to its maximum capabilities, it’s just not profitable.”

College Hill is known to fight virtually anything that changes anything about the area.

It appears that if the Council doesn't approve the increase, the building will be sold or demolished. If demolished, the property will be turned into something else. Hotel, apartments, public storage, or retail appear to be the options.

I would think that a number of the area businesses would love the increase in capacity. There are a number of restaurants and such in the area that could benefit before or after from those numbers. I can't imagine the increase would really create any additional noise pollution (one of the complaints).

Harry's Uptown
Margaritas
FioRito
Vora
College Hill Deli
Frost
The Belmont
Ziggy's
Papa's
Flight 1868
Dempsey's

Those are just the eateries I can think of in the immediate area. It would give visitors to the area a variety of options and boost business.

I know not everyone in College Hill is vocal about opposing everything, but it does seem like they fight any and every change that comes to the area. Personally, I'd hate to see Crown Uptown demolished, but I also understand that it probably isn't profitable in its current state. The owner has seemed to have done a great job in turning the Scottish Rite Center into TempleLive. I'd really like to see what they could do with Crown Uptown if given the chance.

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Just took a peek at the live feed of the Bio-Med campus construction and we know longer have just a flat surface. It doesn't look like anyone is working right now, but I would say it looks like things are soon to get going with visual progress.

https://www.bigview.ai/wichitabiomedicalcampusliveview

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Here's some big news for the Ballpark District!

WBJ - Developer says construction should ramp up soon on $110M project next to ballpark

EPC Real Estate Group's $110 million, mixed-used project next to Wichita's Riverfront Stadium remains on track to start construction by year's end and wrap in 2026, a company executive told the WBJ on Wednesday.

The highly-anticipated Ballpark District development — with a hotel, luxury apartments, retail space and parking garage — is going through the permitting process with the city but should see work ramp up soon, said Austin Bradley, executive vice president at the Overland Park-based EPC.

"The project's in a great spot... We're still very bullish and optimistic on the market," he said.

That assessment may come as welcome news to a city that saw promised ballpark-area development off of the Arkansas River's west bank fail to become reality when the land was owned by Wichita Riverfront Limited Partnership, the development group involving the Wichita Wind Surge's previous owners.

The hotel will have about 8 fewer rooms as originally planned, but they plan to use the top floor for banquet/event space. Dream Hotel is still on board. High-end restaurant still planned on the north end of the hotel, open to the public. Will have a large patio overlooking the river.

A rooftop cocktail lounge will also be open to the public.

Across the street, behind right field, will be the 181 unit luxury apartments. It will also have 10k square feet of retail space.

The parking garage will have 300 stalls.

Sounds like there's been a lot of good and positive communication between this group, Diamond (who owns the team and some land near the ballpark), Laham (who is planning a development north of the stadium, and LK who is doing work along the river. I don't know what Diamond has planned for their portion, but I'm excited to see what Laham finally decides and when they decide to start. I believe their development would be a larger area and they've floated mixed-use development with a lot of retail space on the ground level with more apartments or office space above.

Seeing some progress around here will go a long way and the Ballpark District and Delano as a whole could really see some improvements and it could benefit the whole community drawing more people to the area.

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Do they always do this? I'm not sure I recall seeing anything on it before.

KFDI - Holiday event to light up Wichita's Union Station

Wichita’s Union Station will be lit up for the Christmas holiday in a special event Thursday evening.

Merry and Bright will feature the lighting of Union Station, photos with Santa, carriage rides, hot cocoa and cookies, and the lighting of the Great Plains Transportation Museum Train. There will also be a performance by Ballet Wichita and an appearance by the Wichita Police Department’s Mounted Unit, along with a fireworks show by Victory Pyrotechnics.

A toy drive will be held to benefit the Wichita Children’s Home and people are encouraged to bring an unwrapped gift as a donation.

The event is free and open to the public, and it runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

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For at least the ninth time this year, Towne West has been shut off by Evergy.