WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

Eco devo leaders campaigning to convince City Hall to spend more on new neighborhoods, cite $112K increase in home prices since 2017

When about a hundred local real estate agents gathered in a west Lawrence conference room on Thursday, they expected to hear an update on the massive building project underway at the Panasonic battery plant in De Soto. They ended up hearing almost as much about another building project underway. This one, however, doesn’t involve any hammers and nails. Twisting of arms, though, might be involved. Local ...

Local entrepreneur to bring two stories of indoor minigolf to downtown Lawrence, with complete bar and restaurant

Lawrence, you’ve certainly said you want minigolf. “On the Facebook communities and stuff, you are always hearing people say, at least once a quarter, ‘someone should do minigolf,” Lawrence entrepreneur Matt Baysinger told me. Well, Lawrence, soon you are going to get two stories of it. I reported last week that Baysinger and his Kansas City-based company Swell Spark had signed a deal to buy the ...

Numbers begin to emerge on how many new households Panasonic plant may attract to the region, but big questions still loom

The name, of course, is Panasonic, but there are days it feels more like Panasecret for those who are trying to predict the regional impact of the company’s 4,000-job battery plant in De Soto. But some key details are starting to emerge on the $4 billion project, and for communities like Lawrence and Eudora, none may be more important than the estimated number of plant employees who are expected to move to ...

Trio of new single-family housing developments, including one in a former research park, proposed for Lawrence

News and notes from around town, with a special emphasis on Lawrence’s housing scene: — It might be fun to live on a street named Research Park Drive. (Upon hearing my address, people would exclaim that they hope it’s cranial research they are conducting.) Regardless, that old business park address may indeed become a new single-family neighborhood. Plans have been filed at Lawrence City Hall to ...

Tonganoxie closing in on $52M deal for a pet food ingredient plant that will pay average wages of more than $70K

Some people on the coasts say Kansas is flyover country. Perhaps, but if dogs ran the world, I think there is a chance that we might be the Florida of the canine universe. If that were so, Tonganoxie might be making its play to be Orlando. Eastern Kansas has a lot of pet food plants, and now nearby Tonganoxie is poised to become a bigger player in the industry. The city of about 5,500 people northeast of ...

Henry T's closes Lawrence bar, restaurant after 32 years, but seeking new home; new Mexican restaurant opens; signs of a new Starbucks

News and notes from up and down Sixth Street: — More than 30 years of Lawrence restaurant tradition hangs in the balance. The longtime westside restaurant and bar Henry’s T’s announced on Monday that it has closed its lone Lawrence location near Sixth and Kasold. But the restaurant hopes to find a new location in Lawrence to reopen the establishment that was known for its wings, burgers and beer. ...