City of Wichita donates $1.3 million of downtown land to two universities. Here’s why

Wichita has donated 1.9 acres of downtown land valued at $1.3 million to Wichita State and the University of Kansas for the construction of a biomedical campus.

The City Council voted earlier this week to transfer two properties now used for surface parking at 214 S. Topeka and 200 S. Broadway to the universities free of charge.

Crews could break ground on phase one, an eight-story, approximately 350,000-square foot center, as early as this month, WSU Government Relations Director Andy Schlapp said. The center will house progams for WSU and WSU Tech’s college of health professions and KU’s schools of medicine and pharmacy.

Sedgwick County records show the Topeka property is valued at $1,167,600 and the Broadway property is valued at $175,300.

Last August, the council entered a memorandum of understanding with the universities, committing to transfer the properties “for a mutually agreeable price” or to enter into a long-term lease.

The prospect of charging for the properties was not discussed during Tuesday’s meeting.

“The mutually agreeable price in the first agenda was a land donation,” city spokesperson Megan Lovely said in an email response to The Eagle.

“It’s worth noting that this will result in not only infill and vibrancy, but roughly $300 million of investment downtown,” Lovely said.

The $205 million campus, mostly funded through federal stimulus money from the pandemic, is expected to support more than 3,000 students and 200 faculty. The target date for completion of phase one is in 2026.

In last year’s memorandum, the city also committed to building a parking structure to support the project.

“We are still planning on building a parking structure and will have more details as we finalize them,” Lovely said.