The Wichita City Council votes Sept. 8 on terminating the Boathouse's 99-year lease. The decision could lead to demolition, repair or a new tenant for the city-owned riverfront building.

City Manager Dennis Marstall will ask the council to end the $1-a-year lease with Bill Koch's America3 Foundation, the Wichita Eagle reported. The foundation refused to pay $476,504 in deferred maintenance on the building at 515 S. Wichita St. and told the city it wanted out. The lease, signed in 2009, has no financial penalty for early termination.

Marstall will also present three paths forward, according to the city's agenda report:

• Issue a request for proposals to find a new tenant for the Boathouse.
• Spend $303,504 on deferred maintenance to preserve the building, then seek a public-private partnership for reuse.
• Raze the Boathouse and redevelop the riverfront site through a sale or economic development agreement.

The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, which has operated a museum and event venue inside the Boathouse since 2009, told the city on Aug. 6 that it can no longer afford to stay. The hall of fame set Oct. 31 as its exit date, though it has events booked through December.

Richard Konzem, executive director of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, said the all-volunteer organization has no paid staff and has not been open to the public daily since 2020. He said the nonprofit lacks the funds to cover the building's maintenance and has been paying only basic utilities and services to keep the venue running for scheduled events.

The city offered the hall of fame a six-month lease this summer, but the deal would have required the organization to cover major repairs. Konzem said it could not afford that. The short-term plan, he said, is to move artifacts and archives into storage and work with the State of Kansas to find a new location and funding.

Konzem and the city's agenda report disagreed on one point. The agenda report stated the hall of fame recommended the city contract with its event operator, Xclusive Event Services, to manage and cost-share events through December. Konzem disputed that, saying the organization only "discussed with the City the possibility of reaching out and working with the event operator for the last two months of the year."

The fate of The Jayhawk, an America's Cup racing yacht owned by Koch's foundation and displayed outside the Boathouse, is also unresolved. The city's agreement with America3 bars the city from selling, transferring or removing the boat. According to the agenda report, the sailboat can stay on display until the council decides whether to incorporate it into a new use or require America3 to remove it.

Koch's foundation approached Marstall in May and said it had "no more use" for the property, according to earlier Eagle reporting. The roof and soffit need critical repairs, and no building permits have been pulled on the property since 2016, according to city records cited by the Eagle.

The council considered terminating the lease on Aug. 22 but voted unanimously to defer. Mayor Lily Wu had pulled the item from the consent agenda, where it would have passed without discussion. "Had it not been for me pulling it, we would not be discussing this," Wu said at the council's Aug. 22 meeting.

The council will choose among the three options for the Boathouse's future after voting on the lease termination.