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ESS hopes history can stop demolition of its building

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

Episcopal Social Services is pinning some of its hopes for the future on the work of the Wichita Historic Preservation Board as it seeks to save its building from demolition.

There is a chance the board will declare the building to be of enough historic value to stop it from being torn down to make way for a proposed sports arena to be built on the site by Sedgwick County.

The ESS building, along with 16 other properties in the arena district, could have ties strong enough to the East Douglas Avenue Historic District that they could be saved from the wrecking ball.

That determination may come in a Dec. 11 meeting at which property owners and county commissioners will state their cases.

The county had asked the historic board to give permission for the buildings’ destruction in a November meeting, but the board questioned how they could grant demolition authority for property the county didn’t yet own and when property owners hadn’t had a chance to be heard on the matter. They delayed consideration until Dec. 11.

The board at that time could seek additional assistance from the State Historic Preservation Office, or it could make its ruling, which then could be appealed by either party to the Wichita City Council.

Sandra Lyon, ESS executive director, said the agency’s board of directors has authorized her to apply for official historic designation by the State of Kansas, but she hasn’t begun that process yet. She said such an avenue would be “questionable, but a possibility.”

ESS is trying this rather unusual route because the price it has been offered for its building by the county is far below what it will take to relocate, Lyon said.

The county has offered $500,000; ESS says it will take close to $2 million to purchase and refurbish a building for its needs, if it can even find one close enough to downtown to serve its low-income clients.

Appraisal still in doubt
ESS also is preparing for another prong in what is turning into a multifaceted effort to save the building — a hearing before three real estate appraisers who will determine the fair market value of the property.

The agency, along with several other property owners in the area who believe they haven’t been offered a fair price, will make their case in hearings to be scheduled sometime in December.

The county laid out its arguments for the cost of the ESS building in an appearance before the panel Nov. 17.

Because owners and the county couldn’t agree on a price, the process involving the three-member appraisal panel began. Even then, the decision of that body can be appealed to the courts.

Lyon acknowledged that ESS is fighting on several fronts — city, county and state — to save the building it has occupied since 1988.

“Plan A is to save the building and stay,” she said. “Plan B is to find a new place to lease, raise $1 million if the county gives us $1 million, and build.”