The Caribbean feel of this large Wichita building likely is going away with new ownership

In 2021, Royal Caribbean announced that it would not be returning to its south Wichita offices as its cruise call center workers continued working from home, and the 75,000-square-foot building has sat empty since then.

On Friday, Lange Cos. purchased the building on more than seven acres at 4729 S. Palisade for its many companies, which will take more than half the building.

“We’re looking at consolidating the Lange offices from all of the different companies . . . and renting out the rest of it,” said brand manager Joe Robertson.

That includes Lange’s modular and agricultural businesses among other companies.

Robertson said there are a number of companies, “And so this building came up, and it was the opportunity to bring everybody into one space.”

Not quite everyone, actually. It won’t include the firm’s Lange Real Estate.

Previously, the company announced it was moving its real estate business to the southwest corner of Douglas and Seneca across from QuikTrip in Delano.

“Kind of the funny thing about this is we had purchased the space in Delano last year, and that was more of a push to get in an up-and-coming part of town and to be more visible,” Robertson said.

With the new south-side property, he said the question became, “What (do we) do with the Delano building?”

Though the former Royal Caribbean building is well-known for a colorful, Caribbean vibe on its exterior, Robertson said, “It doesn’t have the street presence that Delano is going to have for the real estate office.”

That 5,000-square-foot property is undergoing remodeling now for both the firm and what it hopes will be space for a title company.

“The ultimate decision is we want to have the real estate office in Delano now and see where that takes us,” Robertson said.

He said there’s a lot of traffic and visibility in Delano, which also has a central location and quick highway access.

With room for a title office, Robertson said, “That gives us another unique opportunity there.”

Currently, the real estate office is at Lange’s Saddlecreek Crossing center at 47th and Broadway. When the company moves this fall, it will lease that space at the shopping center.

Lange also has some offices on West Street that will consolidate into the new space.

That West Street property backs up to Lange’s Paddock industrial and retail development and will become a part of it.

Robertson said the former Royal Caribbean building still looks pretty much as it did when the company was there.

“It looks like they just walked out of there one day.”

There is a fitness center and locker facilities, and outside there are patios, a courtyard and a walking path.

Lange Real Estate’s Jeff Lowrance is marketing more than 30,000 square feet that’s available to lease at the property.

Robertson said the extra space Lange isn’t using could easily remain a call center. There are available workstations and chairs and backup generators.

“It’s wide open spaces,” Robertson said. “It has a very Caribbean feel to it, especially the way they have it painted right now.”

Though Lange has no plans for large structural changes, Robertson said the building and its varying Caribbean shades likely will be repainted a single color with less of a Caribbean feel.

“We’ll try to make it more of a unified space.”

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