A 100-year-old building is about to get a facelift.
The Wichita City Council approved a tax increment financing (TIF) district for Union Station. The issue passed 4-1.
Gary Oborny, managing partner for Union Station, said the building hasn’t been used much in the past seven years. The goal is to make the area a destination for young adults.
“Because of the way millennials, the way our culture wants to be able to live work and play, Oborny said. “We want to be able to able to offer those amenities to them. So, we’re going to have office, we’re going to have restaurants and we’re going to have entertainment.”
The project is expected to cost $54 million. The TIF would help finance $17.3 million of the project with future tax dollars. However, the agreement outlines that the money cannot be borrowed until after the initial investment is paid.
Not everyone is satisfied with how the redevelopment is partially funded.
“The seen is the beautiful Union Station building,” said resident John Todd. “The unseen is what is lost basically: Judge Riddel Boys Ranch, schools. The school funding. About one-third of that $17 million would be absorbed out of future funding.”
Todd said he supports the concept with re-opening the building, but he said he would like investors to get funding outside of tax revenue.
Bruce Rowley, with RSA Marketing Services, said he understands concerns, but believes Union Station is vital for the next generation of Wichitans. The project is important for the future, he said.
“We specifically made this decision so that we could continue to attract and retain the under 30 talent that we bring out of colleges and out of cities all over the country,” Rowley said. “You see them light up and you see them understand that they could be a part of something special and they’re in at the beginning of that.”
Oborny said in the next 30 days, the Sedgwick County Commission will have a chance to approve plans for Union Station.
If everything goes as planned, construction will start late this year — 100 years after the initial dedication of the building in 1914. He said it could take up to three years for the project to finish.