Hometown Developer
Laham Development sets the pace for retail in Wichita, Kansas.
Susan H. Fishman

George Laham knows Wichita, Kansas. Born and raised in Wichita, Laham has kept his real estate business close to home, developing all 35 of his retail, restaurant and entertainment projects within the Wichita area.

Wichita has a population market of 500,000 people and a trade area of approximately 860,000 people.

“There are a lot of surrounding communities that call Wichita downtown,” says Laham, president of Laham Development. “So with the success of our restaurants and specialty retail tenants, we're seeing a lot more retailers and restaurants wanting to be in markets the size of Wichita, as opposed to going into areas like suburban Chicago or Dallas.”

Bradley Fair, Wichita, Kansas.

“We opened Bradley Fair because there had been a couple of attempts at doing a specialty retail center in the area, but no one had been able to get one off the ground,” says Laham. “Lifestyle centers were somewhat of a new concept at the time, and all of the major retailers were in the malls. Most of the local specialty retailers were fragmented throughout the market, so I thought maybe the way to start a retail center is to bring all of these people to one location.”

Laham initially bought 3.5 acres of land at Rock Road and 21st Street from the Wilson Family, who owned a 320-acre horse farm in Northeast Wichita, and developed 28,000 square feet, the first phase of Bradley Fair, which included mainly local tenants. But development didn't come easy. After 77 meetings in 1 year with neighbors, planning commissioners, city planning staff and city council members, Laham finally got the zoning for the project. Today, the Wilson Estates site is one of the largest master plans ever approved by the City of Wichita.

When Laham officially founded his company in 1995, he approached the Wilsons about developing the remaining 310 acres of Wilson Estates.

“At the time it was built, 21st and Rock Road was still kind of out on the edge of growth,” says Laham. “The market was really turning around, and we had a lot of interest from other retailers who wanted to be in the area. And the residential growth in Northeast Wichita was really starting to take off. So I convinced the Wilsons to sell the remaining acreage and then I master-planned the whole 320 acres.”

Today's Bradley Fair encompasses 260,000 square feet, nearly 10 times the size of the original center. It's a blend of local, regional and national concepts that includes 11 restaurants and 40 stores. Talbots was the real pioneer, says Laham.

“They believed in the project and that it was the future of retail for Wichita,” he says. “I originally picked Rock Road because of the demographics. Tallgrass Country Club is across the street; there's a lot of high-end housing in the area; and it's Main and Main of all the Northeast Wichita growth.”

Banana Republic at Laham's Bradley Fair.

Bradley Fair is also a public meeting place with a scenic open-air plaza, a year-round fountain, island waterfalls and a lake. The plaza hosts community and charitable events, including fundraisers, fireworks and even the elaborately staged operatic production, Carmen.

While Webb Road on the eastern edge of Wilson Estates has emerged as the new medical and office corridor, and Greenwich Road is attracting big box retail, industrial development and hotel concepts, Rock Road remains the city's core for specialty retail and restaurants.

Talbots at Bradley Fair, Wichita, Kansas.

Laham has developed several other retail centers in the area. His most recent projects include Regency Lakes, a 500,000-square-foot shopping center on Greenwich Road between Highway K-96, which has spurred a lot of the growth in Northeast Wichita, and 21st Street North. The center is anchored by Super Target, which opened in October 2004. He's also working on Plazzio, a retail and entertainment center located on 13th Street between Highway K-96 and Greenwich Road. The center will offer 347,000 square feet of retail space anchored by Warren Theatre's Premier 12-screen luxury movie theatre, which has plans for an eight-screen expansion to open later this year. The Alley Indoor Entertainment & Bowling Center opened in November 2004 and construction is underway on a 91-room Residence Inn. B.G. Bolton's Restaurant and Sumo Japanese Grill are set for completion later this year.

In addition to those projects, Laham Development has additional inventory of land farther east that it will be developing over the next few years. The company also has considered primary markets outside Kansas — such as Orange County, California, and Dallas — for future development.

“We try to pick sites that are 3 to 5 years out and develop them as the market's ready,” says Laham.

Laham Development continues its affiliation with J.P. Weigand, who represents in all of the company's leasing and brokerage transactions, and manages its centers through a third-party management company outside of Wichita, called Weigand Omega, an affiliate of J.P. Weigand.