photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

The building at 1423 Ohio St in the Oread neighborhood in Lawrence, shown in October 2025. The Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to rezone this and three other adjacent properties from R-4 to R-5, making it the first parcel in the city zoned for “very high density” housing.

Lawrence City Commissioners approved Tuesday night a request to rezone an area right near the University of Kansas campus to a “very high density” area — marking a potential first for the city.

Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a rezoning request for approximately 1.34 acres of land located at 1430 and 1432 Louisiana St. and 1423 and 1433 Ohio St. from an R-4 high density residential district to an R-5 very high density residential district.

As the Journal-World reported, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the rezoning request in October. A city memo noted that three of the four properties on the site contain apartment buildings and surface parking lots, while the remaining lot, 1432 Louisiana St. has a single detached dwelling.

The parcel of land that was rezoned is directly adjacent to the KU campus, and is surrounded by The Wagon Wheel, popularly known as “The Wheel,” to the north; KU’s Pearson and Stephenson scholarship halls to the west; and Greek life houses to the south and east.

The developer who requested the rezoning, Doug Compton, previously told the Journal-World he had concept plans to build an approximately four-story building on those properties that would house more than 300 bedrooms for students. Included in the vision would be turning the former Sunrise Garden Center property at 15th and Learnard Avenue into a 234-space surface parking lot, which is about one mile east of the proposed site.

In order to convert the former Garden Center property to a parking lot, the site would have to be rezoned as well. That might be less straight forward, considering a meeting with neighbors hosted in November regarding the property drew 50-60 neighbors with multiple expressing concerns about rezoning the lot. An item to consider the rezoning of the property at 1501 Learnard Ave. was on the agenda for the Planning Commission’s December meeting, but is now deferred, according to a city memo.

photo by: Douglas County GIS/Journal-World

The blue star marks the site at 1501 Learnard Ave. A Lawrence developer hopes that it can be the future site of a parking lot that serves a 300-unit apartment complex that would be located about one mile away next to KU’s campus.

As far as the most recent puzzle piece — the parcel the commission voted to rezone Tuesday night — the approval was smooth sailing. Mayor Brad Finkeldei said ahead of the vote he supported the project. While he noted he thinks there is a lot more process on this item — especially having more conversations about the potential parking lot that would be about a mile away — this zoning request fits in the city’s plan of having more housing options around KU.

“Having more density closer to the university at this location makes sense to me, and hopefully it will have a positive effect on the rest of the neighborhood,” Finkeldei said.