KU plans to construct new 750-bed apartments for student-athletes, traditional students

By Matt Tait     Feb 1, 2016

Nick Krug
Head coach David Beaty and the Kansas University football team close their spring game by singing the KU Alma Mater. Beaty inherits a squad woefully short of numbers and one that is looking for walk-ons to fill the gaps.

For years, Jayhawker Towers has been synonymous with the on-campus home away from home for Kansas University athletes.

But that soon will change.

KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger confirmed to the Journal-World Monday evening something that KU recruits have been hearing about for the past several weeks — there are new living quarters coming and they’re going to be spectacular.

“This is really a profound moment for the University of Kansas and Kansas Athletics,” Zenger told the Journal-World. “And it is a great indicator of the relationship between the university and athletics, especially KU Student Housing and Diana Robertson, the director.”

The new apartment complex, which may have room for as many as 750 beds, is the all-sport follow-up to the state-of-the-art McCarthy Hall dorm that houses the men’s basketball team and a handful of traditional students. Like McCarthy Hall, the new facility, which will funded entirely by the university, will house far more than just athletes.

Mike Yoder
The Jayhawker Towers on the Kansas University campus are pictured on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2010.

KU has roughly 220-250 scholarship athletes during any given year and that will leave room for roughly 500 traditional students to fill the new apartments, which will sit somewhere southwest of Allen Fieldhouse.

Because of the demand for on-campus housing, Zenger said Jayhawker Towers would remain standing and become a housing complex primarily used by traditional students.

The new apartment complex, which has yet to receive a name or final price tag, recently made it through the final step in a series of approvals.

KU is hopeful that the apartments will be finished sometime in 2017. In the meantime, the promise of what Zenger said would be a facility that is second-to-none, will continue to be a tool used by KU’s coaches in recruiting across all sports.

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48167KU plans to construct new 750-bed apartments for student-athletes, traditional students

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.