A rendering of the HERE Kansas luxury apartment complex, currently under construction at 1111 Indiana St.

Anybody who has ever picked up a hammer or saw has had it happen: You start your home improvement project and then realize you forgot a part. I usually fix such matters with duct tape, and if that doesn’t work, with an expensive jewelry purchase. Most of the time, though, the missing part is not a multimillion dollar automated parking system. But when it is, figuring out a solution can be a real head-scratcher, as one Lawrence apartment developer can attest.

We reported in October that the Here @ Kansas apartment project near Memorial Stadium ran into a major problem with its proposed, high-tech, robotic parking garage system. The problem is the company that makes the system went bankrupt and never delivered the equipment. That left a major question about how the multistory apartment complex — it will have 237 apartments with 624 bedrooms — is going to provide parking in an area that already is congested with KU traffic.

Well, the answer to that is still unclear, but the developer for the project said he expects to propose a solution to Lawrence City Hall in the next couple of weeks.

“We’re working very diligently on a comprehensive solution that actually will provide more spaces than before,” said James Heffernan, who is a leader of the Chicago-based development group that is building the $75 million apartment/mixed use project at 11th and Indiana streets.

When I chatted with Heffernan in October, the main plan was to find a new vendor for the automated parking system, which uses a series of elevators, tracks and other devices that allow motorists to drop off their vehicles and have them parked and retrieved completely without the assistance of a human. Heffernan wouldn’t go into any details about whether that is still the plan. He said the issue was a bit like a Rubik’s Cube, and he didn’t want to comment on specifics until all the details were figured out.

“But we understand that is an important issue for the community, and we plan to rise to the occasion and provide a solution for it,” Heffernan said.

What will be interesting to watch is whether the solution will be confined to parking on site, or whether the development group will propose some off-site solutions. Heffernan didn’t provide such details, but when I chatted briefly with interim City Manager Diane Stoddard, she indicated the company was considering both on-site and off-site options.

“They appear to be looking at all those different options,” Stoddard said. “They have indicated to us that they will submit a plan by the end of this year or early next year.”

The Here group ran into the same problem for a similar project it was constructing in Champaign, Ill. That project, though, was much further along when the parking system company went bankrupt. Here officials have been forced to rent space in a city-owned parking lot a few blocks away, according to news reports in Champaign. Simply replacing the automated parking system with a traditional parking garage is difficult because the space for the automated system is significantly smaller than for a traditional garage because the automated system doesn’t need much space in the way of driving lanes or ramps.

Stoddard emphasized that any new parking plan for the Lawrence project will have to win the approval of the City Commission.

That could get interesting too. The project was a political hot potato when it was approved last year. The previous city commission approved a 10-year, 85 percent property tax rebate for the project, but did so on a 3-2 vote. There was significant opposition from neighbors who said even with the automated parking garage, they were concerned there would be significant overflow parking into the neighborhood.

Now, without the parking system, I suspect that concern is heightened. The interesting part is that four of the five members on the City Commission are new since that vote was taken. The one holdover — Mayor Mike Amyx — didn’t vote for the incentive package either.

Commissioner Leslie Soden back in October said she “absolutely” could see the commission debating whether to reduce the size of the incentive package to Here, if the project can’t deliver on its original parking plan.

It seems certain at this point that the new parking plan for the project will be different from what was proposed. Whether that means it is likely city commissioners will want to adjust the incentive, though, isn’t clear.

As Heffernan noted, he’s optimistic about finding a solution that will provide for more parking than what was originally proposed. The details will be important but, who knows, there might be a really creative solution out there.

After all, who would have ever thought that a diamond tennis bracelet could fix a stairway that ended four feet too short?

In other news and notes from around town:

• This is the time of year where unexpected things can happen, and apparently that was the case for some kids at a Lawrence Wal-Mart on Saturday.

I received a voicemail from Journal-World reader Denise Sellers that explained she had taken her grandson Christmas shopping at Wal-Mart on Saturday. The grandson always insists on putting a dollar into the Salvation Army donation bucket. When he did this time, there was a man standing next to the bucket, who gave the young boy a $50 bill as a thank-you for being generous.

Sellers said that it appeared he was giving out several $50 bills that day.

“He had kind of a huge stack of them,” Sellers told me in the voicemail.

Seller said she saw him give money to a couple of young children. She indicated he would wait until a child had put money in the bucket, then surprise the child with the $50 bill.

Sellers said she tried to get his name when she and her grandson thanked him, but he said he wasn’t interested in giving it.

I’m a little short on details beyond that because I haven’t been able to get in touch with Sellers this morning, so I don’t know if it was the Wal-Mart on south Iowa or the one on Sixth Street.

I checked in with a leader of the local Salvation Army. She hadn’t heard about it, but said it is always heartwarming to hear stories of generosity.

“I think that is awesome,” said Lt. Marisa McCluer. “A lot of parents want to instill the virtue of giving back. We love when kids volunteer to ring the kettle too. We know they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart.”

The Salvation Army could use some folks sticking $50 bills into the red kettles. McCluer said that with four days left on their bell ringing campaign the Lawrence kettles have collected about $55,000. The goal is $100,000.

As for the generous man with the $50 bills, I’m curious to know if that happened to anyone else. If so, share the details in the comment section below.