A west Lawrence bar poised near a retirement community, professional offices and medical research labs is making a play for an even more pervasive demographic: Kansas University students.

“I assume my target audience is the students here, so I’m lowering a lot of drink prices,” said John Klein, manager for Tanner’s Bar & Grill, which reopens under new ownership Wednesday at 1540 Wakarusa Drive. “(The previous owner) wasn’t very good at giving drink specials to these kids, which I will be.”

Klein – with 18 years of experience owning and operating bars in Westport and elsewhere in the Kansas City area – already has hired 30 waitresses, six bartenders and eight cooks to cater to students and others at the place that has been closed since July.

Tom Hayes, a former Kansas University football assistant coach, had been searching for a buyer for months, after accepting a coaching job at Stanford University.

The new owners are from the Kansas City area: Chad Lipplegoos, a mortgage loan officer, KU alum and Klein’s brother-in-law; and Bryan Neundorf, a certified public accountant who owns 20 Pizza Huts and five Ruby Tuesdays in the Dallas area.