27 Jul Walton’s Inc. moving to larger facility in northeast Wichita

Walton’s Inc. moving to larger facility in northeast Wichita

Wichita Business Journal by John Stearns, Reporter

Wichita meat processing equipment and supply company Walton’s Inc. has purchased a 32,000-square-foot building in northeast Wichita from Comotara Partners LLC and plans to expand the building by 15,000 square feet.

The transaction was a simultaneous exchange in which Walton’s current 25,000-square-foot building at 430 N. Mosley was traded to Comotara Partners, according to Ted Branson, industrial division director for Landmark Commercial Real Estate Inc., who represented Comotara in the deal.

Todd Woodburn of Coldwell Banker Plaza Real Estate Inc.’s commercial division represented Walton’s.

With the addition, Walton’s will nearly double its space. It plans to open there by Aug. 13.

Owner Brett Walton said the company had outgrown its Mosley location, where it has been for seven years.

“We just looked around and looked around for the last year trying to find someplace that would give us the right mix of office and warehouse,” he says.

The new building sits on 5 acres at 3639 N. Comotara, near 37th Street North and Rock Road. The building previously has been home to a Best Western call center, Vatterott College and Wichita Area Technical College.

It had been vacant since WATC’s move to the National Center for Aviation Training in June 2010.

Walton says the lot’s size will allow additional future growth if necessary. The upcoming expansion, of 15,000 square feet, will occur in 2013, he says.

The new location will allow a larger retail store, too.

“We’ll have a much larger showroom,” including additional lines of grills and accessories, Walton says.

Branson calls the new location first-class.

“It’s an institutional quality building,” he says.

Walton’s, formerly Mid-Western Research & Supply Inc., had been looking at land to build a new site before picking the Comotara location, according to Branson and Walton.

Nick Esterline, a partner in Comotara Partners, called Walton’s “a great group to work with.”