Downtown developer Sudha Tokala said Jinya Ramen Bar is in danger of closing within two weeks if she can’t resolve a parking dispute with the city.
The restaurant, which she opened in April 2023, is in the old Henry’s building at William and Broadway, which is now WSU Tech’s National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education , or NICHE.
“The whole city manager’s office should be working with the people not . . . against the businesses that are trying to make it work downtown,” Tokala said.
No one with the city would discuss the ongoing issues, but city spokeswoman Megan Lovely e-mailed information about the city’s agreement with Tokala and her Spartan Downtown LLC.
Tokala e-mailed much of the same information. There appears to be a difference in interpretation.
Originally, Tokala said she had surface parking on the lot across from Jinya. She said she was asked to give that up for the new Wichita Biomedical Campus .
“I said, ‘OK, it’s good for everybody.’ ”
She said she had a seven-year lease on the lot, which she was to maintain. Tokala said she repaved it a year ago, and now the city is reimbursing her for it since she no longer has use of it.
Tokala said she was to receive access to 100 parking spots in the same city-owned garage that the Ambassador Hotel next door uses. She said the previous Henry’s owner had an agreement for those spaces that went to her when she bought the building.
However, she said, “The city hasn’t given me access to park there.”
Meanwhile, she said, “The majority of it sits empty.”
The city said that in an April e-mail to Tokala that it “reminded Ms. Tokala that the parking garage was constructed in such a manner to allow automated access/departure and tracking of the users of the stalls and informed Ms. Tokala that in the interest of public safety the following information was required for each card holder: first and last name, address, phone number and/or email address, vehicle make, model, color, plate number and the relationship to the building owner (faculty, staff, student, employee, guest, etc.). Once this information was provided to CarPark, then CarPark could activate the respective cards.”
Tokala said there are several issues with that.
“They don’t do that to the Ambassador.”
She said that the extra information about the cars that park in the garage is something she can’t provide, nor does she think she has to.
The city noted that it was in the original agreement with the prior owner.
Tokala shared a copy of the original agreement, pointing out that it did not say anything about names or license plate numbers.
She said the agreement merely said “to allow automated access/departure and tracking of the users.”
For the Ambassador, she said, that’s done through parking garage cameras.
Tokala said the whole issue is about the city wanting to charge for parking.
Tokala said a lack of parking has cost her restaurant and the student-run restaurant at Niche. The restaurants used to bring in $10,000 a day, she said, and now bring in $1,000 a day.
In a statement e-mail through a spokeswoman, WSU Tech president Sheree Utash said she’s not aware of sales being hurt.
Her statement said, in part:
“We are aware of the concerns raised regarding parking around NICHE and are continuing to collaborate closely with the city and the developer to find a long-term solution that supports the growth of the Biomedical campus and ensures accessibility for all visitors, staff, and students.”
‘Are you open?’
Tokala said there’s a simple solution to the situation. She said she wants a machine similar to the one the hotel uses to validate its guests’ parking at the garage, but she said the city won’t do it.
“Now they’re trying to twist my arm into doing something that I don’t want to do.”
Tokala said no one will come to her restaurant if they also have to pay another $6 for parking.
“They keep calling me,” she said of customers.
“Are you open? Where do you park?”
Tokala said she already pays taxes on her property and sales and for the community improvement district and the tax increment financing district in her area.
“I told the city I will not put a dollar into any of this if I don’t have control of parking . . . as per my agreement.”
Tokala, a pharmacist-turned-developer , has worked with the city on various issues for years after buying five large commercial buildings downtown. They’re all clustered in the same area where she put the Kansas Health Science Center and its Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine . She’s also working on student housing there and is opening a Marriott hotel later this year , though she said the parking issue may affect that, too.
Tokala said the city told her no one can meet with her again until Nov. 15.
“We can’t sustain $1,000 a day in sales,” she said. “If this continues, we obviously will be closing.”
Tokala said she’ll hold the city liable because it is “totally a breach of contract on their side . . . and unfair treatment.”
The city said there have been issues with Tokala losing parking cards that it has provided for the garage.
“That’s not true,” Tokala said. “They’re never given me parking cards for that garage.”
Also, Lovely’s e-mail noted that parking near NICHE is abundant, with about 135 spaces on the street within two or three blocks along with surface lots and nearby parking lots.
Tokala said that’s also not true.
She wants the garage closest to NICHE that she said is called for in her agreement.
Tokala said she can’t believe the city would want to risk losing Jinya and its revenue over parking.
“In the good of what’s happening downtown . . . I am a team player, and I would think the city would be a team player as well.”
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