Developers are pushing to rezone space south of the “Triangle” bar district near KU’s campus, ultimately to demolish five buildings and construct one of the densest housing developments yet in the city.
The properties included are the two Emery Place and one Coachman Apartments buildings at 1423 and 1433 Ohio St., the apartment building at 1430 Louisiana St., and a home at 1432 Louisiana St. Altogether, the home and apartment buildings comprise 48 units.
The buildings are in the same block as The Wheel, at 507 W. 14th St., the southwesternmost bar in the three-block span that also includes Jayhawk Cafe (The Hawk) and Bullwinkles Bar (The Bull).
City staff members are recommending approval of the rezoning request.
The Historic Resources Commission agreed Thursday to direct city staff members to draft a comment to provide to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission and the Lawrence City Commission indicating that they anticipate the proposed project, which is still forthcoming, will meet the Oread neighborhood design guidelines.
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“I guess my question is, is this preparing for demolishing all of these buildings, so they can go even denser with a four-, five-, six-, seven-story apartment complex this year?” HRC member Jeanne Klein asked. Lynne Braddock Zollner, historic resources administrator for the city, said yes.
Zollner said the city had not yet had requests for R-5 zoning, which allows 33 or more units per acre. There is no maximum number of units for R-5 zoning, thus it’s the densest housing allowed under the city’s new land development code.
The area of the four properties included in the rezoning request is 1.34 acres total.
Lance Adams of Lawrence-based Adams Architects spoke to the HRC about the proposal Thursday.
“If R-5 (zoning) is going to work, I think this is a pinpoint on a good location for that to happen,” Adams said.
He said part of the goal is to avoid annexing more of Douglas County into the city and keep density near the downtown district.
There was a fire a year ago that displaced residents of two apartments in the building at 1430 Louisiana St. Adams said the folks working on the project have talked to the fire department, and that the buildings currently onsite have a lot of fire hazards.
HRC members asked whether the house could potentially stay. Demolishing it or one specific other structure on the site would require approval of the HRC down the road. Adams said it was not realistic to try to maintain the house at that location because an apartment complex would then have to be built in a U shape around it.
Parking has also been on developers’ minds.
“The developer of this area is not new to the apartment housing projects and is working very hard to make sure that we have at least enough parking spaces per bedroom that we’re considering for this area,” Adams said.
The HRC will likely have to sign off that the eventual proposed design meets Oread neighborhood design guidelines.
“There are examples across the United States where high-density developments are meeting design standards for historic areas. I think it can be done,” Zollner said. “I think it may be a challenge, but I think this architect and team are up to that challenge.”
The HRC generally meets at 6 p.m. on the third Thursdays of each month at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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