Douglas County economic development leaders are putting out the bait in East Hills Business Park.

Lawrence Chamber of Commerce officials confirmed Monday that Douglas County Development Inc., the nonprofit group that manages the business park, and a group of five area lenders struck a deal to build a nearly 70,000-square-foot, $2.9 million building that would be used to lure companies to locate in the park.

“We want to jump start something out at the East Hills Business Park,” said Alicia Janesko, marketing manager for the chamber’s economic development department.

“We have the land, and we have the interest, but we haven’t had the building to show prospective tenants.”

The building will be built on “speculation,” which means it doesn’t have a tenant, but will be put on the market as a ready-to-use building for companies interested in locating in Lawrence.

Janesko said not having a building that is ready for companies to move into had put Lawrence at a disadvantage when recruiting new firms.

“About 85 percent of companies looking to expand or relocate are looking for existing buildings,” Janesko said. “They are looking to do something quickly, and if you don’t have anything available for them, they move on.”

Chamber President Bill Sepic said the building was a continuation of efforts to focus on the community’s economic development programs. The chamber recently hired Lynn Parman, a St. Joseph, Mo., economic development leader, to become the chamber’s new vice president of economic development. She starts Monday.

“We feel like this will draw some real positive attention to our economic development efforts,” Sepic said. “We have this new building coming on line, we have a new vice president of economic development starting soon, and we’re excited about our prospects.”

The building, which is expected to be completed by November, will be available for either lease or purchase by interested companies, Janesko said. Chamber officials, who will market the property, said they hoped to find a single user to occupy the building, but they could configure it for two companies to share the space.

The 67,376 square-foot building will be slightly east of the main entrance to the park and have frontage along Kansas Highway 10. Janesko said the building should be suitable for a variety of industrial, manufacturing or distribution companies.

DCDI last built a speculative building at the park in the late 1980s. It now is occupied by Progress Vanguard, which moved to the park in 1998. The building is credited by chamber officials with helping attract three other East Hills businesses that looked at the building and then decided to build their own at the park. The building originally housed Pitman-Moore, which used it as a warehouse for veterinary pharmaceuticals before being sold to Mallinckrodt Veterinary. Mallinckrodt occupied the building until March 1998.

Harris Construction will construct the building, but chamber officials declined to identify the five lenders who were financing the project.

The chamber will have a ground-breaking ceremony for the project at 10 a.m. July 9 at East Hills.