photo by: Bremen Keasey

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

The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission approved a pair of rezoning requests Wednesday night that would allow for a high-density housing development on the site of a former call center property.

Commissioners unanimously approved two requests to rezone over 6 acres of land at 2000 Bluffs Drive into a high density residential district, known as R-4. The commission in April approved a rezoning request to convert just under three acres of that site from a mixed used district to an R-3 residential housing district, as the Journal-World reported.

That previous move left the western portion, which included the former call center for Sallie Mae, as a mixed-use district, but Lance Adams, an architect representing the development, said desire for a large office building “doesn’t exist” since work environments have shifted to have more remote-work options and smaller offices. That is why the developers were now looking to rezone the whole site under R-4.

Preliminary plans for the site would include tearing down the former call center building and adding in six residential buildings. Adams said it would be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units with a focus on two-bedrooms, and the buildings would mostly be constructed on the current parking lots. Along with those residential buildings, the plan would be to add a clubhouse building near the front entrance from Sixth Street that would include a pool and fitness center.

Adams said the development plans to make use of the current impermeable surface to construct the new buildings, which will make it easier and also ensure there aren’t huge changes to the hilly environment surrounding the site.

“We are trying to embrace the bluffs,” Adams said.

Commissioner Jane Eldredge asked about why it would be better for the whole site to be the R-4 district instead of also still being a mixed-use district, M-2, and whether it would impact the overall intensity of development at the site.

Avery Koerner, a planner for the city’s Planning and Development Services department, said shifting from the M-2 to the R-4 district would be a “lateral shift” in terms of intensity of development. She also noted there would be more housing allowed, since rezoning from an R-3 to an R-4 district bumps the minimum housing requirement from seven units per acre to 16 units per acre.

Adams also reiterated that because the site is not really visible from the roadway, it makes it a bad fit for commercial buildings, which are often reliant on visibility to bring in customers.

The rezoning request will now go to the City Commission for final approval.