photo by: Nick Krug

The HERE Kansas apartments, 1111 Indiana Street, are pictured Friday, June 10, 2016.

For the third time, a HERE Kansas developer said he is close, but not yet ready, to announce a solution for more parking for the project.

HERE, a residential, retail and restaurant development near Kansas University’s Memorial Stadium, is 67 parking spaces short of being allowed to lease all of its luxury apartments.

James Letchinger, president of JDL Development — the group behind HERE — told the Lawrence City Commission in April he was “days away” from sharing details about a solution to get at least 69 spaces. Two months later, on June 9, the plan had yet to be released, but Letchinger again said it would be only three to five days before he could offer more details.

On Thursday, two weeks after that update, Letchinger said the solution was not ready.

The city confirmed Thursday developers had not submitted an application to the city about the additional parking.

“We’re not quite there yet. We’re getting close,” Letchinger said.

Originally, an automated parking garage was planned to hold enough cars for the 624-bedroom development. When the company hired to operate the garage filed for bankruptcy last fall, developers switched to a human valet system, though it won’t be able to park as many vehicles.

The City Commission approved the valet system in April. With the approval, developers are permitted to fill all 13,500 square feet of restaurant and retail space in the structure, plus 548 bedrooms this August.

Commissioners stipulated that developers would not receive tax rebates from the city until they secure the total number of parking spaces required to fill the entire development. Through an agreement with Lawrence, developers are subject to an 85 percent, 10-year tax abatement.

City Manager Tom Markus said at an April City Commission meeting that KU was part of the solution Letchinger was pursuing.