photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

Two city functions will be moving out of the Riverfront Mall: Lawrence’s Municipal Court and its planning department.

The mall is located just east of City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., and it has housed the two entities for about five years.

The move to City Hall will be for all Municipal Court functions, said Cori Wallace, a spokesperson for the city. The window for court transactions will be on the first floor, and court proceedings will occur in the City Commission chambers. All court employees will be housed at City Hall, she said.

The move, which also involves the city’s planning department, is occurring due to the city’s departure from the riverfront building, which is owned by Riverfront LLC. The city has leased spaces for its planning department and Municipal Court from Riverfront LLC since 2019, under a 10-year contract at approximately $300,000 per year. The city owns the land, but Riverfront LLC, operated by the Simons family, owns the mall building, which also houses a hotel, SpringHill Suites by Marriott.

As the Journal-World reported, the city paid about $763,000 to renovate the approximately 21,400-square-foot space at Riverfront, which amounted to about 40% more space than the previous accommodations for the two departments.

The owners of the Riverfront Mall property have filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city alleging that the city and its contractors caused millions of dollars in damage to the Riverfront Mall property when construction crews altered the bank of the Kansas River as part of a project to repair the nearby Bowersock Dam.

Wallace said more information about the move to City Hall would be available later Tuesday.