TOGETHER WITH

Good morning, Wichita!

In about a billion years, the sun will burn out.

That will be unfortunate for Wichita,

as they’ll have to finish Kellogg in the dark.

Let's get to it!

- Landon Huslig

Together with Meritrust Credit Union

⚾Take me out to the ballgame...with Meritrust! ⚾ 

Meritrust Credit Union is proud to sponsor this year’s Guadalupe Clinic Baseball Fundraiser on Friday, August 8th at Equity Bank Ballpark. Come cheer on the Wichita Wind Surge and support free healthcare for uninsured members of our community.

Your $10 ticket includes:

• Admission to the game with a reserved seat (not the berm — no upgrade needed)

• A donation to Guadalupe Clinic’s mission

It’s a night of baseball, food, and giving back — bring the whole crew and help make a difference.

Get your tickets here » guadalupeclinic.org/ballgame

The Epic Off-Center

Wichita’s Tallest Tower and the Dream That Shrunk Mid-Construction

If you’ve looked at the skyline of Wichita and saw the funky looking, not so square, angled building at 2nd and Main, then you were probably looking at the Epic Center (301 N Main St).

At 385 feet (to the tip) and 22 stories above ground level, it is the highest point in not only Wichita, but also in all of Kansas (surprising, right?).

Since its completion in 1987, it has loomed over the downtown skyline, not just as a building, but as a symbol of Wichita’s 1980s-era dreams and ambition.

But this tower has a secret: it was supposed to have a twin.

A glimpse at the confidence Wichita used to have:

Can we once again get some of our swagger back?

The Skyscraper That Almost Wasn’t

Construction began in 1985, a time when Wichita was hungry to evolve from a prairie city into a modern metropolis. The Epic Center was pitched as a transformational force - part office space, part civic statement, and all BDE (big downtown energy).

The original plan?

Two matching towers that would redefine the city skyline. But in a twist that feels quintessentially Wichita… reality intervened.

Wichita’s economy in the mid-80s was turbulent. Between the farm crisis, energy dips, and aircraft layoffs, confidence in downtown occupancy rates began to slide. Developers got a little spooked and feared not being able to meet the capacity of two full buildings so they scrapped the twin-tower concept and settled on one. That move gave rise to a tongue-in-cheek nickname that still lives in whispers today: “The Epic Off-Center.” It was originally set to be the “The Landmark for Wichita.”

It wasn’t just a comment on urban planning symmetry, it was a reflection of Wichita’s sometimes shaky relationship with thinking big.

By 1983, the twin 20 story tower design was scrapped for four 10-story buildings:

The Big City Mirage

By the time it opened in 1987, the Epic Center was Kansas’ tallest building, and still is, nearly 40 years later. It is 60 ft taller than the downtown Holiday Inn and 21 ft taller than the state capitol dome in Topeka.

For a city where most structures hover around three stories and a drive-thru, it brought a whiff of that “big city” feel.

As the big, new building, it was meant to be a magnet for high-end tenants and a shot of adrenaline for downtown.

The design itself is classic late-20th century:

a black-glass monolith with subdued 1980s swagger

From a distance, it looks like it could belong in Dallas or Denver.

Up close, it's unmistakably Wichita, grounded, practical, and surrounded by plenty of parking.

See a 2019 Chung Report article on The History of Wichita’s Skyline and why Skylines matter.

Pre-Epic Center Skyline in 1970-ish:

Ownership Changes and Dollar Signs

After its early buzz, the Epic Center quietly did what most large office buildings do: it aged, changed hands, and waited out economic cycles. In 2007, it was swept up in a $1.4 billion real estate transaction when Behringer Harvard acquired IPC US REIT, a move that included not just the Epic Center but dozens of other properties nationwide.

Then came 2015, when Vegas-based billionaire Phil Ruffin (does that name sound familiar?), purchased the Epic Center for $11.5 million. That's a fraction of what the building probably cost to construct, and a reminder that skyscrapers, like cities, don’t always rise on straight lines.

What It Represents Today

Today, the Epic Center remains an oddity in the Wichita skyline. It's iconic, but isolated.

It is nearly 300k sq-ft (298,000 sq-ft to be exact) and its largest tenants are Fleeson Gooing Law Firm LLC, accounting firm Allen, Gibbs & Houlik LC and the North American headquarters of manufacturing firm Viega NA Inc.

It towers above downtown and is the backdrop in wedding photos, drone reels, and tourist brochures, but ask the average Wichitan if they’ve ever been inside and most will shrug.

It’s less a bustling hub and more a reflective monument to a version of Wichita that never fully materialized.

More Symbol Than Space?

Here’s the thing: Wichita doesn’t always do “epic” the way other cities do. We lean pragmatic.

We build what we need, not what dazzles.

The Epic Center was an exception, a stretch toward skyscraper status in a city where most ambition happens horizontally, not vertically.

And yet, there’s something undeniably endearing about it.

The Epic Center is a little like Wichita itself: often underestimated, sometimes misunderstood, and always surprising if you take the time to really look.

Will We Ever Build Taller?

Probably not.

Kansas isn’t exactly clamoring for skyscrapers, and most developers today are focused on density, walkability, and mixed-use over verticality.

But that doesn’t mean the Epic Center’s time is up.

There’s potential for reinvention, whether that’s coworking spaces, events on top floors overlooking our city or even residential conversion. The building still stands tall (literally and metaphorically), waiting for a new chapter in Wichita’s downtown story.

Until then, it’s a 385-foot reminder of a time when we dreamed big, maybe a little off-center, but big all the same.

How big is the Wichita building in relation to SpaceX Starship vs Kansas buildings:

So, it has been years and yet the “Secret Twin” has remained that, a secret, to many Wichitans.

What other secrets does our city hold?

Only time will tell.

What do you want to see us go deep on in a future deep dive?

Let us know!

Together with YOU!

We are looking for a couple local small businesses to work with.

You know how you're reading this right now? So are thousands of other people.

Wouldn't it be awesome to get your business or event in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people right here in Wichita? Then we need to talk.

All you have to do to get started is hit that button below to shoot me an email that you're interested in partnering up with us.

Talk to you soon!

Quick Event Rundown

• The Basketball Tournament (TBT) - Final Four | Koch Arena | 7/31

• NBC World Series | WSU | 7/24 - 8/2

• Forgetting the Titans | Mosley Street Melodrama | 7/25 - 9/6

• Nate Bargatze | Intrust Bank Arena | 12/10 (rescheduled from September)