Do I want to move to Wichita
 

My husband and I have an opportunity to relocate to the Wichita area for my husband's job. We are boomers, so schools are not an issue. What does Wichita and the area have to offer us? We would be interested in a loft or townhouse, is that available downtown? If not, what neighborhoods can we check out...

Thanks.

Hi --

Wichita does have some condos/lofts downtown, and more are being built. There was a newspaper article recently about people who choose to live downtown (still a relatively recent phenomenon here), and it seemed like a mix of young professionals and boomer/empty nesters.

In the past ten years or so, the city has been making a huge effort to attract people to the downtown area, and it has worked to some extent. There are quite a few restaurants now in the "Old Town" area.

I don't know where you are coming from, but usually people who move here are impressed with our low housing costs and our relative lack of traffic. Of course this all depends on your frame of reference, but you can get a very nice house for much less here than in many places. Traffic jams like the big cities get are very rare in Wichita. Of course we still have rush hour, but it isn't typically the parking-lot-on-the-freeway thing that I see in larger cities.

It's very Republican here, quite Bible-belt, and conservative, just FYI, although at the moment Kansas does have a very well-regarded Democratic governor.

Regarding travel, it is nice to be centrally located for driving somewhere. In one or two days drive, you can be about anywhere in the country, except the coasts. However, flying from Wichita is still not as convenient or inexpensive as we might hope. It is getting better, as we recently got Frontier, and we have AirTran and of course some of the bigger carriers.However, the number of flights and the number of cities you can fly nonstop to certainly does not compare to a bigger airport.

One last thing: our weather is nothing great, but that's also relative. It's often windy, and July, August, and Sept are hot and humid. But the autumn can be gorgeous and winters are mild compared to many places.

I could go on and on about more neighborhood info or shopping, dining, etc, but this might be a start for you. Good luck!

Kansasmom - what a bounty of information, thank you. My husband's office will be on airport property, what areas/towns are nearby and how far is downtown from the airport?

Do you mean Mid-Continent Airport? I'm guessing so, since that is our commercial and largest airport. (We have at least two other smaller airfields.) Anyway, it is on the west side of town, maybe 10 minutes from downtown using highway 54 (known as Kellogg in town), which is a freeway with no stoplights at all between downtown and the airport exit. Easy commute.

The northwest side of Wichita also has really built up nicely in the last few years, with lots of restaurants opening, a Borders bookstore, and other shopping of course.

Wichita has two large indoor malls (Towne East and Towne West) and at least two other big shopping areas, NewMarket Square on the west side and Bradley Fair on the east side.

Wichita does have an excellent symphony and a great professional Music Theater. People are actually amazed at how good they are, for a relatively small city.

You might go to www.visitwichita.com for more info. I think that's the website, or maybe just google it. Or ask away here, and I'll try to answer.

In case that it may help. We are baby-boomers who spent a week in Wichita last summer. We were very impressed with its new construction and energetic, young workforce. It has everything mentioned above with the addition of the college atmosphere, represented by Wichita State U. and an amazingly resilient aviation industry.Its Interstate system also gave quick access to many interesting and different parts of the country.

How funny that you posted this, Kate!

We are facing the same possibility. We do have two girls in early elementary, so I am very interested in school info from kansasmom.

Hi motor-city --

Regarding schools -- the Wichita school district is about 49,000 students, which is large, but it is well-regarded. The website is www.usd259.com

Wichita is an urban district, with a variety of ethnicities among the student body. (It's about 50% white or so overall, but that varies widely depending on the school.) There are many neighborhood schools, but also magnet schools if a certain program interests your kids.

Wichita also has a number of private and parochial schools, if that interests you.

Of course, there are a bunch of smaller towns around Wichita, including Maize, Andover, Derby, Valley Center, and more. You will want to research online about each of these districts to see where you want to live. Each of them, including Wichita, has a lot to offer in terms of fine arts, athletics, gifted programs, etc.

Maybe this will get you started a little. I'd be happy to answer more questions if I can.

Thank you so much! I am sure I will have more questions if this becomes a reality.

Take care!