Kansas University has bought warehouse space in East Hills Business Park to house programs for its School of Architecture, Design and Planning.

The building, at 3813 Greenway Drive, was built “on spec” in 2002 — without a specific tenant in mind — to attract commercial warehousing or light manufacturing operations.

The 67,376-square-foot building will house several design/build projects for KU’s school, said John Gaunt, dean. Included among those will be the school’s Studio 804 program, which allows students to follow a project from design to construction.

The $2 million in funds for the building will come from differential tuition dollars paid by students in the school and designated for building expansion, Gaunt said.

He said the current space allotment on campus had capped the number of applicants the school could admit to some programs. KU and the city passed on the location as a bus terminal, Gaunt said.

“It just seemed like a really great opportunity,” he said.

Gaunt said there may be some space in the building available for other KU departments, too, should they require things like storage space.

Mike McGrew, a vice chairman of the board of Douglas County Development Inc., which manages the business park and owned the building, said that while the sale didn’t create the jobs initially hoped for with the space, it did form a new partnership with KU.

“It’s fair to say that the initial dream that the building was built for wasn’t realized, but this is a pretty good Plan B,” said McGrew, who is also the vice chairman of economic development efforts for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Beth Johnson, the chamber’s vice president of economic development, said that in light of the current economy, it was a good opportunity to help KU, the city’s largest employer.

The move also gives DCDI an influx of capital to further other goals, she said.