From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 25, 1975:

Apparent low bids for construction of a new art museum at Kansas University totaled $3,629,300, an amount that pleased KU administrators watching the bid-opening process this week. Early estimates had placed the building’s overall cost at $5 million. “These are excellent bids, excellent,” Chancellor Archie Dykes commented. “We will ask the regents to act today…. They will then request permission for construction from the Kansas Legislature. They will also request the funds for utilities.” The museum, if finally approved, was to be located immediately west of the Kansas Union across Mississippi Street. KU’s Spooner-Thayer Art Museum had become crowded and was considered hazardous for valuable art objects; as a result, many of the collection’s objects were being stored in Spencer Library.