Some athletics officials from Kansas University soon will be moving their offices to a building owned by the folks who make Jayhawk Boxes.
Kansas Athletics Inc., which runs athletics programs at KU, has leased 11,000 square feet of space in an office building owned by Lawrence Paper Co. in northwest Lawrence.
The leased space, at 2901 Lakeview Road, will provide room for Kansas Athletics to temporarily relocate offices that will be displaced during upcoming renovations of Parrott Athletic Complex, the Wagnon Student Athlete Center and Allen Fieldhouse.
The work – including construction of a new basketball-only practice center adjacent to the fieldhouse – is expected to cost $45 million. Contractors’ trailers are pulling up to the area, with crews preparing to start widening concourses, upgrading concessions stands, expanding academic areas and otherwise updating the complex.
Moving to the new, temporary offices will be Kansas Athletics’ marketing employees, most of its business office staffers and everyone working with the Williams Fund. That’s a few more than 30 employees who will be displaced for a year to 18 months, all in the name of progress.
“Obviously, when you improve things, you’ve got to put up with some inconvenience while those improvements are going on,” said Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director. “It happens in everybody’s daily life; when you have your kitchen remodeled, you eat on the floor for six months. We’ll be just fine. We’re glad to find such good space, and we will look forward to moving into new and improved facilities soon.”
Lawrence Paper is plenty familiar with Jayhawks, considering that the company makes corrugated paper boxes that have been marketed for decades as Jayhawk Boxes.
Justin Hill, president of Lawrence Paper, said that the plans for having KU Jayhawks working in a company-owned building was nothing more than a coincidence – and a welcome coincidence, to be sure.
“It’s nice,” Hill said. “It’s just another commercial deal.”
The building has accommodated both office and factory operations in the past. The building – west of Lawrence Paper’s main operations – is on the south side of Lakeview, generally south of the Westar Energy power plant.
Hill said he was pleased to be able to land a solid tenant during what remains a relatively “soft” market.
Allison Vance Moore, who brokered the deal on behalf of Lawrence Paper, said the deal would serve both sides well.
“It’s a win-win for both parties,” said Moore, of Grubb & Ellis | The Winbury Group.
