photo by: Screenshot of City of Lawrence document

A design of a new development at 826 Vermont St. in Downtown Lawrence. The application for the project, which would be a 400,000 square-foot development with a grocery store, will be heard by the City Commission Tuesday night.

City commissioners will consider an application from a local group to redevelop a parking lot in Downtown Lawrence into a mixed-use project that would feature a grocery store, hotel, apartments and parking garage.

The proposed development would be a 400,000-square-foot, seven-story structure on 826 Vermont St., just west of Massachusetts Street. According to the proposed designs, the first floor would feature a 20,000-square-foot grocery store and lobby to the hotel. The hotel would take up the second through fifth floors and have 80-100 rooms. Above the hotel on the sixth and seventh floors, there are plans for a mix of condos and apartments, with 20% of the apartments set aside as affordable housing.

The development team, consisting of JR Lewis of Checkers, Adam Williams of Williams Management, and Paul Werner of Paul Werner Architects — all from Lawrence — is requesting the city to allow the group, operating as Rise Up LLC, to pursue financial incentives for the redevelopment of the lot.

Adam Williams, the developer, said in a press release the new project represents an investment in the community’s future, and the group is excited at the prospect of increasing accessibility to important amenities, especially increasing accessibility to groceries and affordable housing.

“We are excited to unveil this ambitious project that will bring multiple benefits to our downtown area,” Williams said.

Tiffany Asher, an office manager with Paul Werner Architects, said the commission will vote Tuesday on whether to accept the application or not. If it is accepted, that would allow the group to explore potential incentives. Asher added the commission will neither approve the project nor an incentive package.

Some of the requested assistance for the project, according to a city memo, includes the issuance of Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRB) for a sales tax exemption on construction materials and creating Tax Increment Financing on property taxes and sales taxes. The group estimates the total price of the development would be $58 million dollars.

The proposal came about after the city published a request for information in November 2023 for proposals to redevelop three downtown parking lots — 711 New Hampshire St., 836 Vermont St., 825 New Hampshire St. and 1020 Vermont St. — into mixed-use buildings, as the Journal-World reported. During discussion on redevelopment ideas, city commission members expressed interest in a downtown grocery store.

City Manager Craig Owens said the city received multiple proposals about each of those three lots, but the 826 Vermont plan has moved “faster than the others.” Owens said he expects development proposals to move to the commission for all three sites over the next few months. If any of the proposals were not to be approved, Owens said the city would initiate discussions with other groups who sent in proposals “who have expressed a strong interest in developing in Downtown Lawrence.”

The 826 Vermont parking lot briefly was set to be donated to the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center for a multistory housing project, but the idea was put on hold in fall 2022.

Although the project will require multiple other approvals, the city memo said that construction could potentially start in spring 2025 and see the development fully operational by fall 2026.

The commission’s meeting will start at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.

photo by: Bremen Keasey

The City Commission will consider an application Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, to redevelop the parking lot at 826 Vermont St. in Downtown Lawrence into a mixed-used development with a grocery store.