A meeting of the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corp. on Thursday became a sometimes-contentious exchange over Sikes Senter — the mall property now branded as University Town Center.
The city, through the EDC, purchased the property for $27.5 million in October 2025 with the announced intention of selling it to a developer for demolition and redevelopment.
While the item on the agenda was payment of $400,000 to the Effectus Group of Fort Worth to act as “owner’s representative” during transactions, discussion quickly turned to the city’s financial involvement in the property and its transparency related to it.
Ron Kitchens, CEO of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce at the time the project was announced, said then that the city would recoup all the money it paid.
But Leo Lane, chair of the EDC, said the price will actually depend on what the market will allow and that other benefits to Wichita Falls should be factored in.
“Right now there’s a lot of sales tax dollars leaving the community, and we’re going to recapture those sales tax dollars. So it’s not just about do we make a profit on the sale,” Lane said.
Mayor Tim Short agreed.
“We don’t know what the market will be, and I don’t know if there will be a loss. I don’t know there wouldn’t be,” Short, a City Council liaison to the EDC Board, said at the meeting. “The ultimate goal of the thing is that this will be a $150 to $200 million development, and we will way more than recoup our costs.”
When Lane asked if anyone at the meeting had questions, Kevin Hunter, a mayoral candidate in 2020, was among those who responded.
Hunter said Short told a meeting of the Wichita Falls Tea Party the city would incur a $3 million loss on the project.
“I did not. I said a $3 million loss?” Short said.
“You said it at the time,” Hunter said.
“Damn, but I don’t remember,” Short said.
Scott Poenitzsch, who has designated a campaign treasurer in a bid to become mayor, asked why no developer was assigned to the project before the closing of the sale.
“Now we’re using taxpayer dollars to fund this project for several months, maybe a year or two,” Poenitzsch said.
Lane said it was important to first develop a master plan to relay to developers “and then let them kind of compete for it.”
He said the EDC pays $100,000 a month in interest on the loans.
“It’s a pretty tough pill to swallow. That’s why we’re really moving so quickly,” Lane said.
Poenitzsch said Short promised that financial reports on the project would be available at the meeting, but they were not.
“Well, if I posted that, I was wrong,” Short said.
Wichita Falls resident John Richoux also complained about what he sees as a lack of transparency from the city.
“How are we, the public, supposed to know what these decisions that are being made will do if they’re being made without us being aware of them?” he said.
EDC Board member Reno Gustafson said, “We’re trying to make a difference here, and all the information we have is public.”
“It is not, sir,” Richoux said. “We have requested public documents, and they were denied.”
Richoux called the city’s response “a disgrace.”
Then he stormed out of the room.
Moriah Williams, CEO of the nonprofit Forward Wichita Falls, said her group is having ongoing conversations with interested developers and hopes to have a master plan for the property by mid-July.
“Every day we have people coming to us,” Williams said. “We’ll narrow down a development partner and continue in negotiations for the sale. The goal is by the end of 2026, we will have an agreement signed.”
Forward Wichita Falls took over the city’s economic development function from the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce in October 2025. Short is also a Forward Wichita Falls Board member.
Williams said after the meeting she would provide financial documents pertaining to Sikes Senter to the Times Record News.
The EDC Board voted Thursday to grant the $400,000 to pay the Effectus Group, but the City Council will have the final say.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls EDC meeting gets heated over Sikes Senter mall project
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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