The former Jayhawk Bookstore/McLain’s Bakery building has been demolished to make way for the KU School of Business’ entrepreneurship hub, and the project team recently shared more details about what the hub will entail.

KU Endowment purchased the property, west of the Chi Omega fountain on KU’s campus, in March 2024 and plans to open an entrepreneurship hub to host programs for the KU School of Business, but in a separate space. A donor’s $10 million gift will support the new construction. 

The previous building at 1420 Crescent Road was home of the Jayhawk Bookstore for decades prior to the store closing in 2016. McLain’s operated at the location for five years before closing in 2023.

The building was demolished promptly following the Historic Resources Commission’s approval in July.

The building that will take its place needed a certificate of approval from the HRC because the site is within the historic context area of the Chi Omega House at 1345 West Campus Road. HRC members heard a presentation on the project during their Thursday meeting.

The entrepreneurship hub will include nearly 33,000 square feet of usable space across three floors, according to plans.

The first floor will be about 10,400 square feet, and the building will occupy much more of the lot than the former bookstore-turned-bakery building did.

Dan Nenonen, architect with PGAV Architects, and Monte Soukup of KU Endowment presented to the HRC about the program and how the proposed building design aims to accommodate it.

The endowment is the fundraising organization for the University of Kansas, and the privately funded project will serve the university, Soukup said.

He has said previously and reiterated Thursday that the majority of students who participate in the entrepreneurship program are actually not in the School of Business — they’re studying other fields, such as architecture, engineering or liberal arts, for instance. The goal is to house the program in a prominent spot on campus outside the business school.

“Entrepreneurs typically have four attempts at starting to build a program before they have a successful one, so part of the idea is they get one or two of those out of their way while they’re a student,” Soukup said.

Students will give “Shark Tank”-style pitches and hold forums with successful entrepreneurs in the public-facing first floor of the building, Soukup said.

The second floor will have classroom space, and the third floor will house a catalyst program, Soukup said. There will also be a terrace outside the third floor where students can sit.

The building will appear to be about two stories from the front because the third floor is set back from the front of the building, Soukup said. There are also plans for a fourth-floor penthouse space that, despite its title, will just be mechanical space for heating and cooling, but it will be set back even further from the front.

There will be a fireplace on all three floors, built into the face of a 71-foot-tall limestone tower that will be a functional chimney. The fireplaces will be “in those kind of commingling — I call it ‘cross-pollination’ — spaces that we want kids to hang out in and study and talk to each other,” Soukup said. “That’s ideation, creation space for those people … it’s one of the things that makes the program click.”

Some HRC members had concerns about the height of the tower; others thought it helped balance the bulk of the building.

“We looked at this tower as that focal point — a beacon to the education that’s occurring within the building,” Nenonen said.

Steve Cramer, principal with PGAV Architects, said they had reduced the tower “pretty significantly” from the original plans.

“I think part of what we’re trying to balance, if you look at that southwest corner — really helping it to stand proud and be visible, both from the east and from the west,” Cramer said.

HRC members had a few other questions and notes on the design, but they ultimately voted 6-0 to approve the certificate of approval application on the condition that the commission’s Architectural Review Committee approves the final design.

The project will still require other approvals, and the timeline for construction was not clear from Thursday’s discussion.

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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