Second Light

$2M

Verified savings across Second Light and Park Landing

THE OPPORTUNITY

The City of Wichita set a goal of making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring. Meeting it meant one place where shelter, health care, case management and housing navigation work side by side, instead of being scattered across the city.

Under a 2023 Master Development Agreement, the City selected PETRA as its Development Partner to plan and deliver that place.

THE CHALLENGE

There was no site. The funding carried strict federal rules. Neighbors had real questions about what a shelter would mean for their community.

And once a building was chosen, it had to keep sheltering people while it was rebuilt. Closing for construction was not an option.

WHAT WE DID

Planned with the community. PETRA led stakeholder engagement and a public hearing with project partners, and its recommendations went to City leadership and the City Council.

Found the right site. PETRA ranked candidate locations and ran full due diligence on the top three, which identified the former Park Elementary School.

Renovated without closing. PETRA managed a phased renovation of about 30,000 square feet: code updates, fire suppression, mechanical upgrades, security and kitchen improvements, all while the shelter stayed open.

Accounted for every public dollar. Budget and schedule were managed against City-approved figures throughout.

THE OUTCOME

Second Light is complete and operating as a 24/7 shelter and service hub. It also laid the groundwork for permanent supportive housing on the same campus, now under construction as Park Landing.

Across both projects, the program delivered $2M in verified savings, which the City is reinvesting in another City project.

WHY IT MATTERS

The hardest part of a public project is often the work before construction: finding the site, earning the community's trust and structuring the funding. Second Light shows PETRA carrying that discipline all the way through to a building that now serves people every day and every night.

PROJECT TEAM

PETRA (Development Partner) · Parker Communities · HFG Architecture · McCownGordon (General Contractor) · Homebase · Julia Orlando Consulting

Figures provided for informational purposes only.