Wichita City Council denies tax breaks for company’s headquarters. Here’s why (2025)

The Wichita City Council took the rare step Tuesday of unanimously denying tax breaks for a local developer.

Lange Companies asked the city to approve industrial revenue bonds to finance improvements at its corporate headquarters at the former Royal Caribbean building in south Wichita, which Lange bought last year.

In denying the incentives, council members cited concerns that giving the tax break to Lange would be unfair to the thousands of other companies headquartered in Wichita that manage to pay taxes and renovate and maintain their corporate offices. Others worried the tax breaks were not tied to any new jobs requirements.

The city does not require entities applying for IRBs to promise any new jobs.

“I am very concerned about this, and I do believe that this does set a precedent and a slippery slope for another company to come forward and say, ‘Let’s do this for my corporate headquarters,’ and I don’t think that was the intent (for IRBs),” Mayor Lily Wu said.

The IRBs would have allowed Lange not to pay an estimated $112,500 in sales taxes for a laundry list of improvements: a break room with an outdoor patio, a media and marketing room, improvements to the building’s gym, a new sign, landscaping, courtyard enhancements, a new front entry, new walking paths and an updated lobby.

A Lange representative indicated at the meeting the company planned to come back to the city later this year to ask for further tax breaks that would allow the company to pay no property taxes for at least a decade after the renovation.

Ryan Mills, development director for Lange Real Estate, pushed back on the idea put forth by multiple council members that the city has never granted incentives for corporate headquarters, pointing to a massive subsidy package approved in 2017 to pay for Cargill to relocate its local corporate headquarters from one downtown building to a new building at the former Wichita Eagle site at 825 E. Douglas.

The council did not address Mills’ comment about Cargill.

Mills said the Royal Caribbean building would serve as a headquarters for both Lange and Red Guard, a Lange-backed company that builds shipping containers and blast-resistant modular buildings that plans to expand in the future.

“This facility is not just an office for Red Guard,” Mills said. “These are the support systems that allow Red Guard manufacturing to be a worldwide leader in the petro-chem and blast-contained space as well as with the Department of Defense.”

Mills said multiple other states are courting Red Guard. The IRB proposal would be one step in a larger incentives deal that would include state subsidies aimed at keeping the company in Kansas, he said.

“That’s not me coming here giving any kind of loaded threats,” Mills said. “Wichita is home. Wichita will always be home. . . . But these types of economic incentives ensure the longevity of these companies to be able to stay in Wichita, remain in Wichita and put our best foot forward as we’re actively recruiting.”

Mills said, with or without the IRBs, Lange plans to continue pursuing economic development incentives and developing other projects in Wichita.

Council member Dalton Glasscock said he supports Lange companies but not on a project like this, which he said does not benefit taxpayers.

“There’s thousands of businesses in this community — literally thousands — that don’t make requests from this body (the city council),” Glasscock said. “Lange development in particular has had three this year.”

Other Lange requests this year have included facade improvement incentives for Lange Real Estate headquarters at Seneca and Douglas and a vacation request for 6 acres of city property near 47th and McLean that the city had planned to use for a biking trail but instead gave to Lange, under the condition that Lange designate a 30-foot easement to allow for a bike path through the property.

“I do believe that this sets precedent for other businesses, and I see no benefit to the taxpayers regarding a complete building refresh, updated landscaping, a redesigned front entry, modern landscaping to showcase the company’s culture and a dedicated media room and the existing gym facility,” Glasscock said. “I don’t think that’s a benefit to taxpayers.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 4:44 PM.