Crown Uptown lawsuit holds up plans at Douglas and Hillside: ‘It’s shocking to us’

There have been questions about the question marks adorning the College Hill building at the southeast corner of Douglas and Hillside since Stephen Holt first talked about transforming the space last summer.

A big part of the holdup for unveiling new plans at the building is a parking dispute with the new owner of the Crown Uptown Theatre next door.

“We have tried about three or four different attempts to be neighborly,” Holt said. “I especially am a very big College Hill advocate. It’s the entire reason I bought the building.”

Holt said he knew College Hill has a parking problem, and he didn’t want to see someone buy the building on the corner and tear it down for parking.

“We own the parking lot that is directly south of our building, but there is about an 8-foot area in between the Crown theater and where our parking lot starts,” Holt said.

He said that’s where loading happens for concerts at the venue.

“They have eliminated the theater component and have turned it into a pure concert venue,” Holt said.

Owner Mike Brown would not comment on the theater or his plans for it when he purchased it last year, and he refused to talk about the lawsuit this month.

Brown may be known to some Wichitans from when TempleLive Wichita purchased the Scottish Rite Center in 2019. He was vice president of operations for TempleLive at the time.

Holt said large trucks, trailers and RVs have been unloading at the Crown, “refusing to move, so they’re there for eight, 10, 16 hours blocking both driveways.”

He said theater representatives are saying “they can use the parking lot whenever they want, however they want.”

His existing tenants have been blocked in, Holt said, and he said he can’t bring in new tenants until the situation is resolved.

Holt said he’s offered to restripe his parking lot to eliminate any stalls in front of the Crown’s side of the building.

He said he’s also offered a reasonable time for acts to load and unload at the space as long as long they don’t stay parked there.

The response? Not fit for print, he said.

Then came the lawsuit, which Dive Inn Properties LLC and Kismet Koncerts Wichita LLC filed June 27 in Sedgwick County District Court against Holt’s Crown Plaza LLC.

“They are claiming they should be granted an easement out of necessity,” Holt said.

According to the suit, which details how the theater has used parking in the past, “the owners of the Crown Uptown Theatre have used the Parking Lot in the manner described above without impairment for nearly 100 years.”

Holt said that’s not the case. He said with previous theatrical shows that were held there, there weren’t huge trucks and lots of gear to unload. Instead, there were “normal vehicles that would only be there for a few minutes.”

He said the real issue is artists and their crews get upset if they can’t keep their vehicles where they unload.

The suit said without being able to use the parking as described, “it would be altogether impracticable to conduct the established business of the Crown Uptown Theatre.” That includes, the suit said, using the parking lot “as the ‘safe dispersal area’ for the Crown Uptown Theatre’s fire exits.”

The first hearing is July 11.

Holt said even though it’s not his responsibility, he’s trying to facilitate the loading and unloading. He said it’s weird that’s he’s the one trying to make this work when it’s his property and he doesn’t have to do it.

“We feel like we’ve tried to be very neighborly and reasonable.”

For Brown not to offer any solutions other than a lawsuit, Holt said, “It’s shocking to us.”