First tenant signs deal for remodeled Food for Thought space on East Central

Following a bit of a delay due to the pandemic, developer Beau Hudson now has his first tenant for the remodeled Food for Thought space at 2929 E. Central.

Focus Respiratory is moving its northeast Wichita office from 2020 N. Woodlawn to the new center, which is a couple of blocks west of Hillside.

“Our goal for the move is to become more centralized for our patients,” said branch manager Jacque Moore. “I’m excited to be closer to Wesley Medical Center to hopefully cater to their patients a little quicker.”

Wesley is part of what interested Hudson, a broker at Landmark Commercial Real Estate, in the East Central space. He said he’s seen a lot of progress along Central between Hillside and Grove.

“A lot of that is driven by the fact that Wesley is there.”

Hudson said he’s open to a mix of tenants for the 15,000-square-foot center, which once was best known as the home of the Larcher’s market.

“It’s almost a blank canvas,” he said. “There are just so many different directions we thought we could take it. We’ve talked to some restaurants pretty seriously. We’ve talked to retailers (and) service businesses.”

Hudson said he particularly likes medical uses because those tenants often are more stable.

The Focus Respiratory move comes in a year of changes for the company.

The national Quipt Home Medical purchased Focus in January, “which has been a fabulous acquisition for us,” Moore said. “They’ve been in the industry for many, many years. They know the industry. They know the operations and just the work flow. . . . It’s been a positive change.”

Focus has seven sites in the region and serves Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

“We primarily cater to patients’ respiratory needs,” Moore said.

However, she said, “We do intend on expanding our retail floor with some additional equipment to maybe better help our patients in their therapy.”

That includes having items such as wheelchairs, walkers and shower chairs available.

“So that’s an exciting additive.”

Moore said the new space, where Focus will move by Dec. 1, will have easier access than its existing one and be closer to west-side patients.

Focus is taking about 2,600 square feet.

Hudson said there are lots of options for the size of tenant spaces.

He is handling leasing with Bradley Tidemann and Brett Gehrer of J.P. Weigand & Sons.

Hudson first announced he was redeveloping the site in 2020. During the pandemic, he said he held off finishing the exterior of the center because labor and materials cost so much. Now that the exterior is done, he said he can get tenants in within 60 to 90 days.

He said he’s seeing a lot more leasing activity. Hudson said the need for space continues in a number of directions in that area.

“It’s just a little stretch of town . . . we believe in.”