View Full Version : OK, Wichita is getting in on the act



HOT ROD
06-09-2007, 12:05 AM
And a 14-storey residential tower at that. Come on OKC!!!

http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2007/06/04/story2.html?b=1180929600^1470882


Peddling Parkstone

Sales effort under way at Loveland's E. Douglas brownstone development

Wichita Business Journal - June 1, 2007by Chris Moon

Developer Mike Loveland says construction will start on the Parkstone development near Douglas and Hillside later this summer.
View Larger The Parkstone condominium and brownstone development at Douglas and Rutan will begin a full-fledged marketing campaign this month to attract potential buyers.

Developer Mike Loveland said this week he plans to renovate at least a portion of an 8,000-square-foot building on the site that once was home to Hospice Care of Kansas, turning the building into a sales center for his project.

The building will serve as a model of sorts for prospective buyers, showing them the look and feel of various pieces -- such as bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens -- of the brownstone homes or condominiums.

Loveland says he estimates the work on the hospice building to cost between $25,000 and $50,000.

"We'll do a very nice sales office with upscale, first-class presentation so people can get a feel for what it will be like," he says.

Loveland says he also hopes this month to finalize floor plans for the first set of brownstone homes, which will be built on the northeast portion of the four-acre site. Construction will start in late summer.

The floor plans will be displayed on the development's Web site, which also will be rolled out in June. Signage for the project also will be installed this month.

"I think it's on a real nice timetable," Loveland says.
An 'anchor'
Loveland officially kicked off his project last fall after the Wichita City Council agreed to make the area a tax-increment financing district to allow city funds to go toward land acquisition and infrastructure improvement on the site.

Loveland plans to build about 50 brownstone homes and some retail development surrounding a new 14-story condominium tower.

It makes the project one of the largest mixed-use developments in the city's core and is expected to revitalize an area that has been depressed for years. Loveland's site, which is just northeast of Douglas and Hillside, is the former home of the Wichita Clinic and a state office building.

"I've always thought it would be nice to do something with that property," says architect Bill Livingston, managing principal of Gossen Livingston Associates, who designed the project. "It's the western anchor of College Hill. I've always thought it really needed to be something nice there."

Sales office

The creation of the sales office will mark the first major work done on the site. The Hospice Care building, which is two stories tall, is in good shape, having been remodeled over the years, Loveland says.

He expects it to be turned into a sales office by August. Key Construction Inc. will do the work.

"It's like a Hollywood set," Loveland says. "We'll build different pieces of what a brownstone will look like."

Already, Loveland says he's developed "a pretty good list" of prospective clients, although he wouldn't say how many inquiries he's had.

Brownstones and condominiums will run from about $250,000 to more than $400,000.

Each brownstone will be three stories tall and have its own elevator. Loveland says he hopes to install a similar elevator in the hospice building.

Construction on the condominium tower is expected to start sometime next year, after half of its units have been presold, Loveland says.

He says a "handful" of investors are providing equity for the project. And several banks have stepped up to offer financing.

"I've got a number of people who want to do the loan," he says.

Bill Landis, manager of the Hillcrest Apartments tower, says he expects Loveland's project to shine a new spotlight on the 1920s building that sits just south of Douglas.

"If there's a market out there for these kind of luxury condominiums at that level -- and I don't have any idea if there is -- I think it makes the Hillcrest an attractive option," Landis says. "I don't see anything but good coming from it."

Hillcrest operates as a cooperative where tenants own shares of the complex. Its apartment units range in price from $60,000 to $190,000.

Construction will start in late summer on Mike Loveland's Parkstone residential and retail development near Douglas and Hillside. The site will include about 50 brownstone homes and a 14-story, 84-unit condominium tower.
Here's a tentative timeline for the project:
August 2006 -- The Wichita City Council establishes a tax-increment financing district for the area.
September 2006 through April 2007 -- Several pieces of property in the area are purchased.
April 2007 -- The development is named Parkstone.
June 2007 -- Site signage and a Web site kick off marketing the development. August 2007 -- A sales center will open in the former Hospice Care of Kansas building.
Summer 2007 to spring 2008 -- Construction on the first set of brownstone homes.
Early 2008 to spring 2009 -- Construction on the condominium tower.
Late 2008 -- Construction to begin on second phase of brownstone homes, which will surround the condominium tower."

metro
06-11-2007, 07:58 AM
http://cll.bizjournals.com/story_image/85149-400-0.jpg?rev=2

jbrown84
06-11-2007, 08:02 AM
meh.

SpectralMourning
06-11-2007, 10:02 AM
More than we're getting, though...

CuatrodeMayo
06-11-2007, 10:07 AM
Kinda looks like something we already have:

http://e.yimg.com/tr.us.o.yimg.com/imgs/U/U37455/U37455_EXT_01_E.jpg

jbrown84
06-11-2007, 10:44 AM
More than we're getting, though...

Not really. We're getting brownstones that look a whole lot better than that, and there's a condo tower going in at Lake Hefner. We have far more urban housing going in than Wichita.

SpectralMourning
06-11-2007, 02:24 PM
True. I was just referring to the fact that it's in action and everything. We need a new tower!!

What's up with the tower at Lake Hefner anyway?

jbrown84
06-11-2007, 02:38 PM
It's called the Lighthouse. 12-14 stories I believe.

SpectralMourning
06-11-2007, 02:39 PM
I remember that, but I didn't know if there was new information on that or not. Are there renderings yet?

BDP
06-11-2007, 02:48 PM
Does a tower a Lake Hefner count as urban housing? I'm not discounting the project, but I'm not sure that height alone makes something urban.

jbrown84
06-11-2007, 04:04 PM
Urban = dense

Urban = mixed use

both apply, despite the location.

Kerry
06-11-2007, 04:07 PM
I actually like the fact the OKC is converting all of its vacant office space before building new towers. By using the old class C property it takes office space off the market that drives up the occupancy rate and at the same time gets rid of space that might discourage people from moving downtown.

Pretty soon we will be out of old buildings and developers will be forced to build new high and mid-rise buildings.

jbrown84
06-11-2007, 04:19 PM
Speaking of, I've been looking at the downtown buildings, and I think a lot of the historical ones would make great residential.

Robinson Renaissance
First National tower
City Place
Court Plaza
100 Park (part of FNC, SW corner of Park & Bway)
Hightower Building
Pioneer Building/AT&T
City Center (BancFirst)
EK Gaylord Building

metro
06-11-2007, 08:59 PM
It's called the Lighthouse. 12-14 stories I believe.

I'm pretty sure this is all speculation and has to go before the city council before approval. I know just a month or two back it was first mentioned but was only in the exploratory stages.

jbrown84
06-11-2007, 11:00 PM
I believe it has already gone before the council.

metro
06-12-2007, 08:23 AM
I know it went before the council, but I think as a discussion, not a vote of approval. I could be wrong though but I usually stay on top of these things.

BDP
06-12-2007, 10:20 AM
Urban = dense

Urban = mixed use

both apply, despite the location.

I guess I'm not familar with the area. Is it dense? Lots of pedestrian access to services?

I guess one could say a devlopment is urban, even if the setting is not...??

jbrown84
06-12-2007, 12:06 PM
I guess one could say a devlopment is urban, even if the setting is not...??

I would say so.

BDP
06-12-2007, 02:10 PM
Maybe that's what Oklahoma City will be known for:

Urban devlopments in suburban settings and suburban developments in urban settings.

:)

trison
06-12-2007, 02:16 PM
I think that the Physicians and Surgeons Building at 11th and Shartel would be the perfect conversion to residential. Last time I was in the building it looked like it was about empty.

Midtowner
06-12-2007, 02:48 PM
More development at Lake Hefner??? I thought that I heard someone promise that the recent expansion of the restaurant area was "it."

I guess where there's a profit to be made, the powers that be can be made to change their minds...

jbrown84
06-12-2007, 03:05 PM
It's across the parkway from the lake, Malibu.