LOCAL

Developer looks toward next downtown project

Morgan Chilson
morgan.chilson@cjonline.com
The northwest corner of S.E. 7th Street and Quincy will be renovated by Topeka development company AIM Strategies. While still in the planning stages, the buildings are expected to be developed into a combination of retail and residential space. [Morgan Chilson/The Capital-Journal]

A Topeka development company that has been transforming the downtown area is moving on to a new project that its leaders expect to offer a gateway into the Evergy Plaza.

AIM Strategies, the development company started by Cody Foster, owns five buildings — three on S.E. 7th Street and two on S.E. Quincy Street — that edge right up to the plaza, which is being developed in the 700 block of S. Kansas Avenue.

Foster said his team isn't entirely sure of the direction in which it will take those buildings, but it recently issued a Request for Proposals to see what ideas architects can pitch to do there.

"That will most likely be our next project," he said in an interview before the opening of his most recent project, the Cyrus Hotel. "Our goal would be some combination of retail on the ground floor and residential on the upper floors."

Seth Wagoner, CEO and CFO of AIM Strategies, said the company views those buildings as an important lead-in to the plaza area.

"The city is spending, I think, close to $20 million on this plaza,"he said. "These buildings strategically become very important, very fast. We want these buildings to be an addition to the plaza and a gateway to the plaza."

The buildings, Wagoner said, would provide the only direct retail spots that would open directly onto the plaza. In addition, residential spaces on the upper floors would overlook the plaza. 

Although plans are in the early stages, Wagoner said he has spoken with city officials who seem open to the idea of somehow connecting the buildings to the nearby city-owned parking garage at 615 S.E. Quincy.

"That would be huge," he said.

The development of that corner would also be attractive to law firms that would appreciate being closer to the Shawnee County Courthouse across the street, Wagoner said.

"It's exciting, and I'm hoping that we might be able to attract a bigger Topeka company to come down there," he added.

The three primary buildings the team is focusing on are at 112, 116 and 118 S.E. 7th St. The two buildings around the corner are at 629 and 635 S.E. Quincy St.

The 7th Street buildings were in terrible shape and disrepair, Wagoner said. He thought no one had done anything above the first floor since the early 1990s. The three buildings total just over 21,000 square feet in space, according to Shawnee County Appraiser records.

Foster said that in an ideal world, AIM will be able to move quickly enough to get any necessary demolition work done on the buildings as the plaza is being built, so it would be more convenient for everyone downtown.

AIM Strategies has developed on its own and with partners three significant projects that have opened downtown in the past year: The Pennant, 915 S. Kansas Ave.; Iron Rail Brewing, 705 S. Kansas Ave.; and the Cyrus Hotel, 920 S. Kansas Ave.

Foster said the AIM team has been working hard to make those projects happen.

"I don’t think people understand how hard it is to open a restaurant, let alone two restaurants and a hotel, in less than a 12-month period of time," he said. "There’s no doubt we want to take a little time to make sure that we're now executing everything well, so that will probably be a little bit of the focus."

Wagoner said the week of Thanksgiving in 2018 was when it really sank in for him and for Foster what was happening downtown. 

"We were all downtown, and there was a two-hour wait at Iron Rail. There was an hour wait at The Pennant. The White Linen was full that night," he said.

There were so many naysayers about what could happen downtown that on that Friday, it really sank in what the future could hold, Wagoner said.

"It's a good start to what it could become down here," he said. "We're always trying to get better."

Foster isn't finished downtown by any means. Although the corner of S.E. 7th and Quincy is the next big focus, he owns the former Wrap City Grill building at 735 S. Kansas Ave. and the building at 921 S. Kansas Ave., and plans will be made for those eventually, Foster said.

The company is currently cleaning up the 921 storefront and will be leasing the upper floor to a Topeka business, he said.

For Wagoner, the key is "continuous improvement."

"I think the overall goal is this is a great start, we should feel really proud and everything, but there's still a lot of work to do," he said. "A lot of projects that we want to do, that we're going to continue to work on. It's always continuous improvement and really wanting to work on making downtown better, not only for us to invest but for other investors to come down."