In the Internet age, the world of finance moves at a frightening pace. If you don’t believe me, just watch my bank account on a day that Amazon puts designer shoes on sale . . . or purses . . . or bulk chocolate for the chocolate fountain . . . Well, Lawrence is now home to a company that is seeking to “reinvent the basic bank account” for today’s fast-paced world. And it may result in some good jobs for Lawrence along the way.

Topeka-based Yantra Services has opened up an office in downtown Lawrence, with hopes of attracting computer scientists, programmers, research analysts and other technical positions from the talent pool at KU and from Kansas City. The company has located in the former Antiques Bazaars II building at 840 Massachusetts St.

I don’t claim to understand everything that Yantra Services is developing. After all, I’m the guy who doesn’t even get access to my own PIN for the ATM. But Suresh Ramamurthi, president and CEO of Yantra, said the company is developing a host of electronic payment systems that will benefit both financial institutions and consumers.

“We’re doing work that will help large banks move lots of money through large transactions at high speed,” Ramamurthi said. “We’re really developing real time risk management because everybody wants everything to happen so fast.”

Ramamurthi said the company’s Lawrence office is starting out small with just a handful of employees. But he said the company has two floors of office space in the building, and is hopeful that it can have a significant number of Lawrence employees in the near future.

“Basically, we are looking to see if we can find the right talent in the Lawrence market,” Ramamurthi said. “If we can, we intend to fill the building up.”

It is not everyday that a downtown retail storefront, like the former Antiques Bazaar II location, is converted into an office space. But Ramamurthi said the downtown environment should be helpful in attracting talented employees. There is also another twist the company is proposing: The company has filed paperwork at City Hall to have a sidewalk seating area.

If approved, that would be a first for downtown Lawrence. The downtown obviously has tons of sidewalk seating areas for restaurants and bars. But to my knowledge, there are no approved sidewalk seating areas for other types of businesses. Ramamurthi said he simply is wanting to provide a nice place for his employees to take a break or work outside when the weather is pleasant. He said such an area would be a nice employee benefit and create a better workplace environment.

It will be interesting to see how the city rules on this one. I’ve heard some folks who have said an office building shouldn’t be treated any differently than a restaurant or bar. The sidewalk seating area for an office would take up no more space on the sidewalk than a seating area for a restaurant. I’ve heard others, however, say that this could open up a door that downtown may want to leave closed. It is one thing to have sidewalk seating areas spaced intermittently along Massachusetts Street at bars and restaurants. But some people argue it would change the feel of the downtown district if essentially every type of business could have such an area on the public sidewalk.

If this goes forward, the bigger question may be whether retailers find a way to use the sidewalk on such a permanent basis. Exactly how that would be, I don’t know, but they’re a pretty creative bunch. I’m sure there are some who would be interested. Why wouldn’t they? The city charges $3.50 a square foot for a business to have exclusive use of the sidewalk in front of their business. (There is a limit to how much of the sidewalk can be used. A path for pedestrians has to be maintained.) While $3.50 a square foot is not exactly giving it away, that could be pretty cheap space, if an entrepreneur figured out the right way to use it.

Lynn Braddock Zollner, the historic preservation officer for the city’s planning department, is reviewing the plans. She said the item will be presented to the City Commission in the next few weeks. She said her office likely will not make a recommendation one way or the other on whether the use should be approved.

“We’re still trying to figure it out as well,” Zollner said of the possible ramifications of the new type of sidewalk use. “It is basically a policy question for the City Commission.”

In other news and notes from around town:

• Here’s another issue you should expect city commissioners to discuss soon: Providing a substantial donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence. As we’ve previously reported, the Boys & Girls Club is in the early stages of developing a plan for a new teen center. The nonprofit has expressed an interest in some of the property the city plans to buy for the new police headquarters facility.

If you remember, the city has signed a letter of intent to purchase 47 acres of vacant ground across the street from the Hallmark Cards production plant. The site is basically just south and east of the Kansas Turnpike interchange at McDonald Drive.

It now appears that the Boys & Girls Club project is going to get acted on sooner rather than later. City Commissioner Jeremy Farmer has asked that the project be put on Tuesday night’s agenda for discussion. Farmer said it would be helpful to the Boys & Girls Club’s fundraising efforts if the city makes a commitment now to donate 10 acres of the site to the club for use as teen center site. The donation would be contingent upon voters approving the sales tax question on the Nov. 4 ballot because without that approval, the city won’t be buying the 47-acre site.

In the coming days, I’ll work to get more details about what Boys & Girls Club leaders envision for a teen center, but we’ve previously reported the organization has a desire for space that would include a gymnasium, a commercial kitchen, a performing arts room, and several multipurpose spaces. The proposal, as it has been explained to me thus far, is that the city would provide the land for the center, and the Boys & Girls Club would conduct private fundraising to build the center.

The city is scheduled to pay just under $48,000 an acre for the proposed police headquarters site. So, if the city donates 10 acres, it would be about a $500,000 donation. It would end up being a bit more than that, if the city is expected to make the site construction ready.

It will be interesting to see how the project progresses. Obviously, some of the things the Boys & Girls Club is looking for now will be available at the new recreation center at Rock Chalk Park. The facility has eight gyms, and it also has 7,000 square feet of vacant space that was going to be a wellness center but plans for that part of the project fell through. The City Commission hasn’t yet designated a use for that space. But demand for the recreation center is expected to be high, and there may be some other logistical issues that make that space less than ideal for the Boys & Girls Club.

If commissioners go ahead and approve the donation agreement next week, there may be a positive side effect for those who are supporters of the police headquarters proposal: Supporters of the Boys & Girls Club may become more active campaigners for the police headquarters building. I’m quite certain that point hasn’t been lost on commissioners.