Downtown Development in Wichita Kansas

Downtown development in Wichita Kansas is booming! If you've been away for awhile and are back in town you'll have noticed the major makeover going on downtown and in Old Town too. Businesses are moving back in. Buildings are being refurbished and restored. New restaurants and stores are opening. Crowds are forming. The excitement of downtown development in Wichita is palatable.

It all started 20 years ago when a group of investors and city officials decided to do something about the crumbling infrastructure that was the old warehouse district now called Old Town. Downtown development in Wichita was underway. Now Old Town is a thriving place in Wichita. Old brick warehouse buildings have been restored into specialty stores, restaurants, world class hotels and themed night clubs.

Crowds of party goers, business people and shoppers fill the area that was once an eyesore. The night life is alive, well and exciting. Downtown development has been good for Wichita.

In recent years many old buildings in Old Town Wichita have been refurbished and developed into condominiums and apartments attracting young, middle-aged and elderly alike to move in downtown. The newly developed Water Walk complex is a new modern building gracing the entrance to downtown Wichita along with the new Fairfeild Inn Suites.

A new boutique hotel is planned to be put in one of the old abandoned building on the Main drag of Douglas. The old Broadway hotel at the corner of Douglas and the Arkansas river just completed a huge makeover for the downtown development plan in Wichita and is open for business. Several hotels are open for business in Old Town too.

All these rooms will be needed as the new world class Intrust Bank Arena continues to draw first class acts and concerts from around the country and indeed the world.

The old round Century II building that houses the concert hall where the Wichita Grand Opera and The Wichita Symphony orchestra preform received some much needed updates and repairs lately. The Orpheum downtown has been and continues to be developed and renewed to it's old glorious self in Wichita.

Downtown development in Wichita is moving full speed ahead with no signs of slowing down. In 2002 a corporation was formed around Wichita downtown development to keep the projects coming and make some order. Aptly named Wichita Downtown Development Corporation or WDDC.

Wichita Downtown Development Corporation works closely with the private sector and local government to stimulate new investment in downtown Wichita. Wichita Downtown Corporation's mission as they put it is to direct a comprehensive economic development program to strengthen downtown as:

• The heart of the city for all citizens.
• An active and prosperous place for business and employees.
• A center for artistic and cultural experiences.
• A vibrant urban environment for residents, workers and visitors.

Ambitious? Maybe, but Downtown development in Wichita is happening and it is exciting!