Two of the men behind Wichita’s mysterious $1.5 billion downtown riverfront proposal have been identified, according to a report from the Wichita Eagle.
For well over the past 18 months, the identity of who is spearheading Penumbra International’s redevelopment efforts has been a mystery to local politicians and residents. But now, the Wichita Eagle has identified two Penumbra partners, Eric Branstad and George Schultz.
Branstad is known for the work he did as a high-level campaign and commerce adviser to former President Donald Trump. More recently Branstad started working for a lobbying firm that advocated for overturning U.S. sanctions on behalf of a Chinese state-owned tech giant, ZTE, while Branstad’s father was the U.S. ambassador to China.
ZTE had violated export controls by selling to North Korea and Iran.
Schultz is a Wichita businessman and the former superintendent of World of Life Traditional School. He is also part of Penumbra’s development efforts, according to the Eagle.
Branstad reportedly pitched influential Wichitans at a May 7 Campbell Castle event. The event allowed him to go over Penumbra’s plans for downtown Wichita. The event also honored his father, Terry Branstad, who served 22 years as governor of Iowa before he became the nation’s top diplomat in Beijing.
The current plan for the downtown development would include an air and space museum, an aquarium, a new convention center, a performing arts center, a Legoland and a 700-room hotel, as well as a rollercoaster and open-air gondola rides over the Arkansas River.
The plan originally launched by Penumbra in February of 2020 did not attract serious attention at first as questions about funding and the vagueness of the plan left many perplexed.
“The Penumbra plan was never taken seriously from the beginning, both because it seemed amateurish and unappealing to most people, and because it posed a challenge to the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan, which was backed by some of the city’s most powerful players,” Chase Billingham, a Wichita State University professor of sociology who closely follows development in the city, said.
Many have remained skeptical as Mayor Brandon Whipple pointed out the history of Wichitans being promised something only to have it not pan out.
“When we talk about doing big and great stuff in Wichita, one of the things that we have to do as a city is earn back the trust of the public, who in the past has been promised the world and then either city government or developers hasn’t delivered,” Whipple said.
Penumbra has decided not to name the investors in the project. This has caused growing speculation around where the $1.5 billion for the project would come from, especially after the group insisted that there wouldn’t be a penny of taxpayer money used on the development.
According to the Eagle, a former Penumbra spokesperson said the money had already been committed to the project but that until the city officials approve the proposal the investors would remain anonymous.
While the investor group continues to push forward their plans for the development many are being left skeptical of it can really be done. But the effort seen by some local officials has them thinking that maybe the group is serious.
“You have a lot of skepticism and a lot of concern and a lot of doubt. Can this really happen? But then you get connected people that are legitimate, like Branstad and some of the other names that have shown up at some of these events,” City Council member Bryan Frye said.