Council approves $13 million Karl Brewer Community Center rebuild and nearby park upgrades

The Wichita City Council approved consent-agenda changes Tuesday to move forward with improvements at the Karl Brewer Community Center and related McAdams Park investments, with staff saying the project remains under the $13 million appropriation.

City staff said the rebuilt Karl Brewer facility will be nearly twice the size of the existing building and will add a gym, walking track, expanded programming space and upgraded technology. Current projections put the project’s total cost below the $13 million budget; staff reported an estimated project budget at about $11.7 million. A soft opening was projected for June with final completion in August.

The change order the council approved addresses storm infrastructure under the existing parking lot; staff said the change is needed for the project to proceed. Reggie (parks staff) and Gary Jansen (project staff) walked council through additional improvements at McAdams Park: pool-area upgrades tied to an aquatics master plan, new tennis-court surfacing, a new scoreboard at the Barry Sanders field paid by grant funding and new, energy-efficient lights at a baseball diamond. Staff also said a pedestrian bridge replacing the Fifteenth Street bridge over the Wichita Drainage Canal is planned for construction this year.

Council members asked about the $200,000 public-art allocation in the project. Lindsay Gonaka, director of Arts and Cultural Services, explained the city’s public-art ordinance dedicates roughly 2% of eligible capital-project budgets (subject to design-council allocation and caps) and that the public-art funds are restricted to art or integration of art into the project. Gonaka described murals, tile mosaics and portraits to be sited primarily inside the new building, including tributes to Mayor Brewer and a Black educators’ hall of fame.

Council approved the consent item 4A, including the change order, by a 7–0 vote.