Two of the four acres the city sold for $1 a piece just sold again — for $2.2 million

Two of the four acres the city sold for $1 each to the former Wind Surge owners have sold again — for $2.2 million.

Wichita Riverfront Limited Partnership had owned the 1.7 acres at 100 S. Sycamore, just north of Riverfront Stadium.

A new deed that was filed with Sedgwick County earlier this month shows that WRLP sold the acreage to DRE Wichita Propco LLC, a Delaware-based entity that formed the day before the sale.

On Thursday, a representative with Diamond Baseball Holdings — the current Wind Surge owner — confirmed “that an entity related to Diamond Baseball Holdings purchased the property that you are referencing.”

Previously, Diamond issued a statement to The Eagle confirming only that it had purchased land adjacent to the ballpark without saying specifically where.

“As indicated when we acquired the Wind Surge, DBH is fully dedicated to building and enriching the meaningful connection between the Wind Surge and the Wichita community. The opportunity presented itself to further invest in the area surrounding Riverfront Stadium and aligns with our commitment to engage fans and contribute to the vibrancy of downtown.”

DRE Wichita Propco also purchased 0.17 acres on McLean near the northeast corner of the stadium.

A number of Wichita developers were interested in the 1.7-acre property, which currently is a parking lot, but told The Eagle their bids were not successful.

At least one of those potential buyers wanted to keep the property for parking, which is a major issue for a number of businesses in the area and something they say that Lou Schwechheimer, the late team founder, had promised them.

“Of course, when Lou was trying to get the plan through City Council regarding the baseball team, he reached far and wide to find friends to help make it happen,” said “Hatman” Jack Kellogg, whose Hatman Jack’s Wichita Hat Works is at the clock tower just north of the ballpark and parking lot.

“I got Lou to promise at least 75 ground-level parking spaces for us in the Delano neighborhood,” Kellogg said. “It was an agreement. It was stated very clearly and agreed to in front of City Council.”

He said he fears with Schwechheimer’s death and the sale of the property, “The court of public opinion is probably all we really have.”

Kellogg and other business owners further are concerned the city’s new multimodal transit parking center won’t be adequate for the area, in part because a lot of women are worried about using parking garages, others won’t want to walk as far and some vehicles may not fit, such as the heavy-duty trucks like the ranchers drive to shop with Kellogg.

“I want to be clear: It’s not just about my business,” Kellogg said.

He said it’s about all the smaller businesses that made Delano what it is.

“Collectively, we’ve made Delano a destination, and this destination without a place for our supporters to park could be severely jeopardized.”

Property’s fate talked about in Delano

The fate of the parking lot and who purchased it has been a hot topic in Delano for weeks.

Some business owners don’t want to talk on the record about it because they still have to deal with the city on other matters.

“There’s so much emotion around a parking lot that was given away and then sold,” one businessman said.

“The city’s got to stop doing this, right? I mean, in the bigger picture of things, wouldn’t it be nice if we stopped handing stuff away?”

Others don’t want to talk because the district is in such flux at the moment, and they’re not sure what to think.

Will the parking lot go away and be replaced by future development?

That’s not clear.

However, business owners report that Diamond has shown interest in acquiring property for future development.

Specifically, it already has put out feelers to some West Douglas properties from the clock tower east to the Metropolitan Baptist Church, which Laham Development and Birds Eye Holdings purchased and where they plan to eventually do a mixed-use development.

Still others are excited about the potential for redevelopment in the area.

“It’s going to be a really positive advancement of the market down here,” said Dan Unruh, whose InSite Real Estate Group has an office near the clock tower.

He said “good solid civic planning has gone into” the area, such as the previous streetscaping that created angled parking and narrowed the streets from four lanes to two. He said the addition of the roundabout and the clock tower created an iconic landmark that celebrates the history of the area.

He said those things have created “a distinction for Delano that is separate and unique from everything else in Wichita.”

“It’s laid the groundwork for future development opportunities.”

Even though Diamond’s interest in acquiring more properties is well known to businesses in the area, Unruh said, “It’s premature to suggest they would make those buildings go away. We don’t know.”

Development all around in Wichita

This potential redevelopment news comes as Overland Park-based EPC Real Estate Group is preparing to begin construction in a few months on another couple of acres the city of Wichita sold to the New Orleans Baby Cakes in an effort to lure a Minor League Baseball team to Wichita.

Last year, the city bought back those acres for the original $1 a piece and resold them for $1 a piece to EPC, which already had been in the mix as a potential development partner for WRLP.

There was a public uproar from the time the city said it would sell acres at a nominal price in exchange for the team’s guarantee to do development around the stadium, and there was a more muted outcry when it repurchased and resold two of the acres.

At that time last September, Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson said in exchange the city was getting the benefits of job creation, economic growth, a broadened tax base and an overall investment in the city.

“We’re getting a return on our investment that is so much greater than just getting market value.”

According to the city’s original 2019 development agreement and an updated 2022 version, WRLP and EPC had to start construction on an initial phase of development by July 7, 2022, and finish by July 7, 2024.

Under the new deal, EPC will have multifamily residential, a hotel and parking garage for a total project price tag north of $100 million.

Another part of the new deal revised the financial terms of an agreement that gives WRLP first rights to buy property just north of the Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview (WRLP still does have to pay $1 million to buy it but does not have to pay $25,000 a year on a set timeline for that option).

This is the last property that the original WRLP group has an interest in connected to the ballpark.

The group is allowed to transfer the option to buy the property to another party, or it can execute its option to buy the property for $1 million and then resell it at whatever price it wants.

WRLP CEO Jordan Kobritz, who hasn’t spoken to The Eagle since it broke news that his group would sell the team to Diamond, didn’t return calls to comment.