Kansas City firm purchases former site of Jayhawk Bookstore, redevelopment talk on its radar

Jayhawk Bookstore is located at 1420 Crescent Road, just off the KU campus at Crescent and Naismith Drive.

When I was a student walking around KU, I know what I always hoped to find “at the top of the hill”: an oxygen tank. Instead, I would find the Jayhawk Bookstore, which thanks to a long-running advertising jingle, everyone knew was “at the top of the hill.” The bookstore is no longer open, which has left many wondering what will take its place. There is some news on that front.

As we reported in June, the Jayhawk Bookstore closed its doors for good as textbook sales continued to decline. The property at 1420 Crescent Road — it is just west of the Chi Omega fountain and the main entrance to Jayhawk Boulevard — had no shortage of interested buyers. A Kansas City based equity firm, though, is the group that has finalized a deal to purchase the prime piece of real estate.

Axiom Equities, an investment firm that has about a $200 million portfolio of strategic real estate investments, has closed on the property and now is figuring out what to do with it.

“It is a front and center location in Lawrence,” said Ben Kalny, co-founder of Axiom. “Whatever happens on the site needs to fit with the neighborhood. Our general posture is to lease the property in the near term with an eye on long-term optimization.”

The company is fielding multiple offers from potential tenants for the approximately 10,000 square feet of commercial space. That includes conversations with restaurants, coffee shops, retailers and others. The building has about 2,300 square feet of apartment space on its upper floor. That use will continue.

“The range is pretty broad at this point,” Kalny said of potential commercial tenants. “It really has to be the right fit. It is important to us that the end result is something the university is proud of and that we can be proud of.”

Whether one user takes the entire space, or multiple tenants fill the property, is unknown at this point. Mike O’Connell, acquisitions manager for Axiom, said a timeline for reaching deals with tenants also is uncertain. Axiom is still in the evaluation stage. Axiom has contracted with Allison Vance Moore of Lawrence’s Colliers International office to market the property to prospective tenants.

It is pretty easy to see how a restaurant could be part of the mix. The Kansas Union provides quite a bit of food options on the other end of Jayhawk Boulevard, but there are fewer such options on the western end. Imagine a Chick-fil-A or some other restaurant basically just a stone’s throw from all those fraternity and sorority houses. You might need to create a special route for the Brinks truck and add a defibrillator or two.

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The more interesting item, however, may be the talk of “long-term optimization.” That could mean a complete redevelopment of the site. The property is intriguing not just because of its location but also its zoning. The property has the city’s mixed-use zoning designation, which means it can house a combination of residential, commercial and office development. That zoning designation is key because it gives the development group multiple paths forward without having to go through a full-blown zoning battle at City Hall.

Kalny said a redevelopment of the site, about a half-acre, is possible.

“I expect we will have dialogue with folks who have ideas along those lines,” Kalny said. “With what is going on with campus right now, my goodness, it is really impressive. We would be remiss if we didn’t entertain the notion of a higher and better use. But it would have to be the right use too.”

Any redevelopment at that location likely would be watched closely. The bookstore site is adjacent to the West Hills neighborhood, which traditionally has served as a home to lots of university professors and administrators. I know the neighborhood was pretty active in the City Hall proceedings that resulted in the mixed-use zoning for the property. Neighbors raised some concerns about what that zoning designation could allow in the future.

Kalny said he understands any redevelopment of the site is going to have to include significant conversations with the neighborhood.

“We know we have a terrific neighborhood next door,” Kalny said.

So, that’s something to keep an eye on. In the meantime, I’ll let you know when I hear more about potential tenants for the building.