photo by: Bremen Keasey

The office building at 2000 Bluffs Drive is pictured in September 2024.

A portion of the property that was home to a former call center — and at one point was considered as a location for Lawrence’s City Hall — could potentially be rezoned for residential redevelopment.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission will consider a request to rezone approximately 2.86 acres at 2000 Bluffs Drive from a mixed-use district to a residential district.

As the Journal-World reported in January, a local investment group bought the approximately 6-acre site northeast of Sixth and Iowa streets. The group said at the time that it planned to redevelop the nearly 50,000-square-foot office building that for years had housed the call center for student loan company Sallie Mae.

The group also said it was interested in adding multifamily units in the parking lots. The request for rezoning would change the eastern portion of the property to an R-3 residential district, allowing for the possibility of medium-density housing in that area, according to a city memo.

Although the request for rezoning does not include a preliminary site plan, the R-3 residential district allows for a mix of multi-unit residential apartments and compact detached housing, according to the city’s Land Development Code. Planning staff noted in a review of the request that the R-3 density is “compatible as a transitional district to the zoning and use of neighboring properties.” The request would leave the western portion with the office building still as a mixed-use district.

The property at 2000 Bluffs Drive was bought for redevelopment back in December 2024 — a few months after the site was touted as a potential location for Lawrence’s City Hall. The idea was presented back in September 2024 because of a lack of space in the current City Hall building at 6 E. Sixth St.; however, the City Commission voted 3-2 in October 2024 to scuttle the plans to purchase the site after lengthy public input that urged commissioners to reconsider moving City Hall from downtown, as the Journal-World reported.

The Planning Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The meeting will be live-streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.