Wichita State Poised For Massive Growth

[SHOCKvalue]

So, how do your shorts taste?

http://www.kansas.com/news/business/...e84339577.html

There are three buildings either planned or under construction on a ~120 acre site that was announced 2-3 years ago, everything else is developer-speak at this point.

You noticed they couldn't get any local developers to bite on this commercial stuff, right?

[im4wsu]

There are three buildings either planned or under construction on a ~120 acre site that was announced 2-3 years ago, everything else is developer-speak at this point.

You noticed they couldn't get any local developers to bite on this commercial stuff, right?

What timeframe would you have for developing 120 acres, 30-60 days?

What is your source for saying no local developers bit on or were interested in this commercial stuff? None have been successful to date, but how does that translate to interest?

[pogo]

There are three buildings either planned or under construction on a ~120 acre site that was announced 2-3 years ago, everything else is developer-speak at this point.

You noticed they couldn't get any local developers to bite on this commercial stuff, right?

I know of two local developers that were interested and my source was from one of the ones not selected.

[Veritas]

Neighborhoods get transformed all the time.
Look at Delano, Old Towne, arena district.

[shocker_torero]

There are three buildings either planned or under construction on a ~120 acre site that was announced 2-3 years ago, everything else is developer-speak at this point.

You noticed they couldn't get any local developers to bite on this commercial stuff, right?

If you are going to be a negative Nancy, you should get your facts straight at least. There are FOUR buildings currently in the planning stages to be constructed soon or under construction as I type (see the Law Enforcement Training Center, Element by Westin hotel, Airbus Americas Engineering, and the Experiential Engineering Building [Which by the way is connected to the otherwise funded Community Maker Space which one could argue is another building]). That have been pubically announced at least (I'd be willing to bet there is a 50% chance Cargill builds on Campus). Also, there is talk of yet another stand alone building (a coffee shop) coming to the innovation campus very soon. One might consider this "developer-speak" at this point, but developers typically speak about their projects before they build them. Oh, and to criticize the current progress because WSU has not been able to fill up 120 acres of land with new businesses in 2-3 years is pessimistic at best and asinine at worst. What planet do you live on? When was the last time Wichita has seen this sort of vision, and let alone had actual progress on it move forward? This IS progress. Every new building on that campus will add jobs, goods, services, and quality of life additions to the community either directly or indirectly. So to nitpick because construction isn't progressing at the speed of your ill-conceived responses to positive news, to me is ridiculous. Mark my words: WSU, Wichita, Kansas, Sedgwick County, and the Metro area will benefit from every last building constructed on the innovation campus whether construction grinds to a halt tomorrow, or Bardo's vision is ultimately fulfilled. Whether that takes 20 years (like Bardo so wisely publicly announced it might) or 5.

[Ta Town Shocker]

Not trying to be pessimistic but my guess is Cargill will build elsewhere.

[MoValley John]

I have no dog in this fight, but anyone that has seen what UNO has done with the Aksarben land would be excited to see what Wichita State is doing now. That said, it takes years to get a project like this done, what is really nice about Aksarben Village is you don't know where the school ends and the private development begins. You have the Kiewitt Institute, a coffee shop, a conference center, dorms, apartments, a health club, bars and restaurants. There are concerts in the summer, along with a farmer's market, all wrapped around UNO classrooms and joint ventures between UNO and private business. It is impossible to know if you are on campus, or in a hip entertainment district.

Wichita State's innovation campus will have all of this, and more, but if you think this gets done in two, or even five years, you're kidding yourself. Give it time, grasshopper.

[MoValley John]

Also, the UNO project has been ongoing for a decade and the 80 some acres on the north side of Center Street is not yet complete. The close to 100 acres on the south side of Center Street has been untouched except for their new arena. I guess a pessimist could call this a failure, but really, these kind of projects are very long term.

[Veritas]

Good News!
$12m Koch Arena fundraising goal hits 50%
Suites are not part of the initial plan

http://foundation.wichita.edu/horizon/july-2016/2016-july-e-horizon--charles-koch-arena-expansion-fundraising-reaches-halfway-mark?srctid=1&erid=3195349&trid=46eef958-4f0e-45b4-b0ee-481013ec0f4c

[60Shock]

I fully agree that the expansion of the study hall and office space are most worthwhile projects along with the new suites which will be added eventually.

My question is that within this planned $12 million expansion of Koch arena, is there any plan to expand the total seating capacity for BB games other than the suites? And,if so, is there any indication as to what the total seating capacity will be?

[Shocker-maniac]

Wichita State . . . Becoming the Innovation University

https://vimeo.com/174879340

[RoyalShock]

A NYTimes article on the Innovation Campus trend at several universities, including WSU.

[Ta town]

No one has mentioned yet that DFW metro residents are now eligible for in state tuition. That adds another 7 million person base to recruit students from.

http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/stories/story.asp?si=3344

So from a pool of 2.9 million to 12.2 million (KS, OKC, Tulsa, DFW) eligible for in-state tuition.

[Dave Stalwart]

No one has mentioned yet that DFW metro residents are now eligible for in state tuition. That adds another 7 million person base to recruit students from.

http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/stories/story.asp?si=3344

So from a pool of 2.9 million to 12.2 million (KS, OKC, Tulsa, DFW) eligible for in-state tuition.

That's going to have to spike enrollment. I forgot all about that. Very interesting

[Shocker-maniac]

Wichita State rolling out a non-traditional approach to internships.

"The new program was beta tested with engineering students last year and the results were outstanding. According to business partners, newly graduated engineers can take years to contribute to the bottom line due to the time it takes to integrate them into the work environment. Traditional internships and co-op placements help reduce that time, but this new WSU program dropped the expected time to contribution to only a few months. From the student perspective, working in the field while learning adds to both technical knowledge and soft skill development. In the beta test, 35 percent of participants were hired upon graduation by the participating business; a few went to graduate school; and all of the remainder received job offers--primarily in the Wichita area."

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wichita-states-education-business-partnership-program-john-bardo