Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday agreed to a settlement for the city to acquire the Riverfront building for $325,000, and SpringHill Suites will vacate the property by April 5, 2027.
The settlement will also release the city from liability in an ongoing lawsuit and end the current Riverfront owners’ long-term leases on the city-owned land where the building sits. The hotel’s lease is up in April 2027.
“At the point in time that the hotel vacates the premises, the Riverfront building will be surrendered over to the city, and the city will obtain ownership of that structure,” Tyler Hibler, partner with Husch Blackwell Kansas City, told commissioners on Tuesday. “And the city currently owns the ground that that building sits on anyway.”
What will come of the building and land is not yet clear, and commissioners did not yet get into discussions about future plans.
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However, “Removal of the Building, for example, may grant the community unparalleled access to the Kansas River for use by the residents of Lawrence for recreation purposes, for civic purposes, for a nature park, or the like; all of which would allow for revitalization and reimagining of the northern portion of our beautiful Downtown,” the memo in the commission’s meeting agenda stated. “The City looks forward to exploring those possibilities with the community.”
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Former City Commissioner Courtney Shipley spoke during public comment. She said the land, which on the open market would be “platinum,” had been leased to the property owners for $1. She asked current commissioners to “Let this be our great lesson of how to actually steward the assets the taxpayer owns.”
Vice Mayor Mike Courtney said the land was “a major key to rejuvenating downtown and remembering who we are as a community.”
“I enthusiastically look forward to the future discussion about what this can be for our city and our community,” Courtney said.
Commissioner Kristine Polian said it was a great opportunity, and the land could be a great potential location for the Lawrence Farmers Market.
Commissioner Mike Dever said the area was a great access that could allow people to give people access to parts of the community that they haven’t seen. Mayor Brad Finkeldei agreed with the other commissioners and thanked the city’s legal counsel for their help.
Commissioners approved the agreement 4-0. Commissioner Amber Sellers was not present for the meeting.
Lawsuit background
Riverfront originally opened in 1990 as a 150,000-square-foot outlet mall. The building’s owners filed a lawsuit in February 2024 alleging that construction of an access road on the south bank of the river compromised the integrity of the land, causing cosmetic and structural damage to the buildings’ foundation.
Plaintiffs on the lawsuit include La Posada Group LLC, BC Lynd Hospitality LLC and Riverfront LLC, which is registered to Dolph C. Simons III Revocable Trust and Dan C. Simons. In addition to the City of Lawrence, defendants listed in the suit are TSP Environmental Inc.; R.D. Johnson Excavating Company LLC; Dondlinger & Sons Construction Company Inc.; and Recreation Engineering & Planning Inc.
The defendants denied the allegations, and the city asserted crossclaims against the other defendants. The insurers of the contractors who installed and used the access road have paid the city’s legal fees in the case, according to the memo to the commission.
Under the settlement, all the other defendants will pay the plaintiffs $2.175 million within 30 days of the final party signing the agreement. The city will pay $325,000 within 30 days of the hotel vacating the building.
City Attorney Toni Wheeler told commissioners that in the memo in their meeting agenda, she had written that staff recommended that the $325,000 be paid with funds that the city has set aside for city hall renovations.
However, “The city hall renovation project is a debt funded project, and there are certain limitations and restrictions, and since publishing the agenda, I’ve learned that there are additional administrative steps required for bond funding,” Wheeler said on Tuesday. “But since our payment is not due under the settlement agreement until 2027, we have sufficient time to evaluate and put into place the proper funding, and of course, the commission will be approving that at the appropriate time.”
Note: A misspelled name in this post has been corrected.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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