Because the Wichita metropolitan market has not shown the demand for significant multi-family housing construction (in part due to the volume of construction in the early 1980s), the production of single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes, or even condominiums may hold the most opportunity for success.
However, because vacancy rates in downtown apartments fell from 11.9% to 3.1% between January of 1996 and July of 1998, there appears to be new demand for rental units in the center city. Most new downtown apartments rent well above the city-wide average indicating a need for more moderately-priced units.
| Market Rate Apartment Rents |
| Size |
Wichita Average |
Downtown High & Low |
| 1 Bedroom |
$357-$394 |
$200-$960 |
|
| 2 Bedrooms |
$460-$501 |
$300-$1,200 |
|
| Wichita average rental rates provided by City of Wichita from the Eaton Square Market Study prepared by Savage, Inc.; high and low downtown rates provided from DCI interviews with rental property managers and developers. | |
Downtown Wichita is experiencing the first large-scale residential development in many years. Innes Station and Mosley Street Apartments in Old Town have converted warehouse space into nearly 200 rehabbed residential units. Innes Station contains 80 units with 64 market-rate units with a rent range of $525 to $1,050 for one- and two-bedroom units. The income-restricted units have a rent range of $410 to $485. Both projects have been successful and indicate a market for near-downtown living.
The Eaton Block at 500 E. Douglas will contain 80 market rate and 40 income-restricted apartments in renovated and newly constructed space with market-rate rents between $549 and $839 and income-restricted rents between $351 and $454.
The Center City Neighborhood should be able to use the renewed interest in downtown to its advantage. The neighborhood could draw homeowners from a variety of markets: urban pioneers who want to live in older, urban neighborhoods near the central business district, new immigrants who are attracted by the lower housing costs, employees of the many nearby businesses, and people who already live in the neighborhood but currently pay rent.
Even though the Center City Neighborhood contains less wealth than other Wichita neighborhoods, it does contain many residents that, with the appropriate housing product and financial programs, could be candidates for homeownership in the neighborhood. Many may be ready to "step-up" to homeownership responsibilities, particularly if a support network is provided through an organization like C.O.R.E. According to the 1997 census projections, the area within an approximately 1.5 mile radius of the intersection of Waco and 10th Streets contains 3,413