Prominent east-side building gets a new investor more known for its south-side work
WICHITA, Ks. – August 13, 2019 – When orthopedic surgeon Pat Do was just out of med school at age 29, he didn’t solely focus on medicine. He also got into real estate against the advice of friends and advisors.
“I thought I might need to diversify myself,” he says. “You know when you’re young, you think you have to do everything.”
Now, he’s 48 and has a new perspective.
“I’ve learned that what really makes me happy is healthcare.”
That’s partly why he and his brother, Henry, have have traded equity in their Terra-Cotta Tower at 29th and Rock Road for partnership units in Triple Crown Realty Trust.
“I like the management team, and I like their focus on developing Wichita,” Do says.
Triple Crown is known for its work developing the CrossGate District in south Wichita.
“Triple Crown has been looking to invest outside of the CrossGate District,” says Rachel Lange, director of real estate at Lange Real Estate and a managing partner in Triple Crown. “We needed to diversify outside of that.”
She says the trust has been identifying properties with existing cash flow.
Terra-Cotta has a 91 percent occupancy rate.
Lange says the five-story, 50,000-square-foot building is attractive for its “location, the building itself and the history that it has there in northeast Wichita.”
The late George Ablah built the prominent building more than three decades ago for Equicor, a health insurance company.
Former longtime Wendy’s franchisee Larry Fleming of LDF Cos.owned the building for about a decade, which is why there was a Wendy’s on the first floor. It was a bit of a nontraditional site for a fast food restaurant.
Triple Crown will remodel the former restaurant to essentially “leave it as a blank space,” Lange says. That way, people looking to possibly lease it won’t see it simply as a restaurant space.
Lange says the company has the fifth floor to lease as well.
Lange Propery Management’s Jordan Wuest and Genni Trilliwill handle leasing for the building.
Do says he appreciates “putting this into capable management hands.”
While he’s still interested in investing, Do says he’ll leave the management to others so he can keep his focus on serving patients.
“What gives me most fulfillment in life is just doing what I do best.”
Original Writer: Carrie Rengers