Mike Elwell is cranking up his new First Serve Tennis Center inside the former Sport 2 Sport building in southwest Lawrence, and he’s bankrolling it by selling the home to one of the city’s largest live-music venues.

Elwell recently sold The Granada building, 1020 Mass., so that he could buy Sport 2 Sport and turn it into a home court for Kansas University’s tennis team, and for dozens of Lawrence residents weary from traveling to Topeka or Overland Park for tennis.

He also plans to expand the building and use the extra space for what Sport 2 Sport had been known for: youth volleyball, basketball and soccer. Elwell previously had intended to use the entire building solely for tennis, but started making additional plans once he took stock of swelling demand for other indoor sports space.

No timeline for the expansion has been set, and he’s still not sure whether he’ll be offering basketball leagues or just “free play” opportunities.

“The idea is to give back a little of what we took away,” Elwell said Tuesday, as work crews were grinding away at concrete floors at First Serve, 5200 Clinton Parkway. “If it stands a chance of paying for itself, that’s great. : The facility will be back in play and available to the public, as well as have a tie-in to the tennis center.”

Scott Elwell, left, University of Iowa junior from Lawrence and son of First Serve Tennis Center owner Mike Elwell, and Matt Johnson, Kansas University junior from Lawrence, patch cracks at the tennis center, 5200 Clinton Parkway. Mike Elwell sold The Granada building, 1020 Mass., so he could buy Sport 2 Sport and turn it into a tennis center. He now plans to expand the tennis center building and add services.

To finance the entire project, Elwell sold The Granada building to an investment group led by Consolidated Properties LLC, a partnership of Lawrence developer and businessman Doug Compton and a Compton friend, NBA coach Larry Brown.

Compton, president of First Management Inc., and Brown, a former KU coach who now leads the New York Knicks, own 90 percent of the investment and now have controlling interest in more than a dozen downtown properties, including the former Masonic Temple. Among their other recent acquisitions is 807 Vt., home to Great Harvest Bread Co.

Both The Granada and Great Harvest will continue operations under the businesses’ current owners, who continue to have long-term leases.

“It’s strictly an investment for us. We’ve got great tenants, and we’re committed to them,” Compton said. “This falls within our portfolio of trying to buy unique properties : and it furthers our involvement in downtown Lawrence.”

Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed, although Elwell acknowledged that the buyers of The Granada paid more than the $479,900 value assigned to the property by the Douglas County Appraiser’s Office.

• 6News video: New tennis center to make room for youth sports

Compton is putting together a proposal for moving the Lawrence Public Library to Ninth and New Hampshire streets. He hopes to have his plan ready for review within 30 days; other groups also are vying to accommodate the library’s intention to expand – either on its current site at 707 Vt., or by relocating – in downtown Lawrence.

“I think our intentions and our investments downtown will continue,” Compton said.

Jared Soares/Journal-World Photo In order to fund the First Serve Tennis Center Mike Elwell recently sold The Granada one of the city's largest live music venues.

Elwell, meanwhile, plans to open his tennis center Feb. 1. The KU tennis team already has signed up to use the center as its home court for matches and practice, and Elwell is busy lining up members to join his new club.

Elwell recently hired Stuart Waters, a professional tennis player and former No. 1 player at the University of Iowa, as the center’s director of tennis. Waters will offer lessons, run programming and otherwise meet the needs of tennis enthusiasts and members.

Elwell said that the tennis center would open with three courts Feb. 1, and add a fourth by September. Plans also are in the works for a balcony, which would accommodate spectators and a players lounge.

Club members – monthly rates range from $25 for college students to $90 for families – will have priority in scheduling court times, and will pay reduced rates for use, Elwell said. The general public will be able to pay to use courts when members aren’t using them.