25 years ago: Disappointed tenants vacate riverfront buildings

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Aug. 6, 1988:

  • Plans for a new 150,000-square-foot factory outlet shopping center on the Kansas River were being greeted with popular acclaim in Lawrence, but not by everyone. Several tenants of the old Bowersock buildings were struggling with the change as they pulled up stakes and prepared to move out of their locations. Artist Stephen Addiss, who for a year had been enjoying a studio in one of the former factory buildings on the south bank of the Kaw, spoke of his disappointment today, saying, “Art studios are hard to find — especially ones with eagles flying outside the window.” Others displaced by the move included a chocolatier, a canopy-maker, and a T-shirt printer. All 17 tenants were being ordered to vacate the former paper company and grain mill buildings by Sept. 1 so that work could start on the shopping center, which was expected to be open by June 1989.
  • In what was being called a “very severe warning” to employers, officials from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service were fining a Lawrence restaurant more than $9,000 for employing illegal immigrants and for keeping inadequate records. The INS had fined the Magic Wok, 1700 W. 23rd, $9,400 for 19 specific violations involving 13 illegal aliens, who were now all facing deportation proceedings. The agency said it was the stiffest fine levied in Kansas or Missouri for similar violations since the U.S. Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986.