photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Kansas Lt. Gov. David Toland speaks to a downtown Lawrence crowd on May 1, 2026 as part of a grand opening celebration for the New Hampshire Lofts project.

Kansas Lt. Gov. David Toland was in Lawrence Friday to celebrate the official opening of a multimillion dollar affordable housing project in downtown, but also urged that the celebration should only last a short time.

Community members need to get busy building the next big project, because he said Lawrence needs to grow to meet its potential.

“Our job today with all of that history and as we celebrate this moment,” said Toland, who had referenced Lawrence’s history of rebuilding the city while the “ashes were still warm” following the Civil War-era sacking of the town, “is to, yes, take a couple of hours today and congratulate and celebrate what has been done, but it is really about how do we set up for tomorrow.”

Toland, in a brief interview with the Journal-World said he does expect major projects to continue to arrive at Lawrence’s doorstep for years to come. Toland was the state’s chief negotiator to attract the $4 billion Panasonic electric vehicle battery plant to De Soto, a deal that is expected to ultimately produce 4,000 jobs at the plant. Now, as the Journal-World has reported, De Soto is an advanced discussion to add several data centers to a site less than a mile from the Douglas County line. De Soto also is in the early stages of trying to attract a billion dollar-plus nuclear power plant to locate in the community, among other ventures.

“It was a heavy lift to get that first big domino to fall, which was Panasonic choosing Kansas,” Toland said. “They chose us because we committed to building the infrastructure. What I expect going forward, and certainly what we’re seeing in our deal pipeline, is that it is going to be somewhat easier for Kansas to land these massive investments.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The New Hampshire Lofts, in the 1000 block of New Hampshire Street, is pictured on May 1, 2026.

Toland, whose parents moved to Lawrence about two years ago, believes Lawrence is well positioned to benefit from renewed interest in Kansas.

“For Lawrence, I think the opportunity is there to continue to grow, and I hope grow in a smart way,” Toland said.

Recent numbers, however, have suggested that growth in Lawrence is slowing in several key ways. As the Journal-World reported in March, the latest population estimates from the Census Bureau for Douglas County showed total population dropped slightly in 2025, making it the only urban county in the state that posted a decline for the year. The slowdown in population coincided with the city of Lawrence posting new record lows in single family building permits in both 2024 and 2025.

Toland was in town Friday to participate in a ribbon cutting for one of the larger residential projects in the city recently. The Lawrence chamber of commerce and other groups shut down the 1000 block of New Hampshire Street midday Friday to host a ceremonial grand opening for Lawrence developer Tony Krsnich’s New Hampshire Street Lofts project.

The project — located on the east side of New Hampshire Street on property that formerly was owned by Allen Press — received nearly $18 million in federal and state affordable housing tax credits to build approximately 50 rent-controlled apartments for residents 55 years old and older.

The four-story building also includes “work-live” units on the ground floor that are designed to allow residents to have an office or shop open to the public in the front part of the building, while having living space in the back part of the building.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Lawrence developer Tony Krsnich attends a grand opening celebration for his New Hampshire Lofts project in downtown Lawrence on May 1, 2026.

Krsnich told a crowd of several dozen people on Friday afternoon that the project, which opened earlier this year, already has been highly successful. He introduced the crowd to one resident who had been homeless for about two years before qualifying for a rent-controlled unit in the apartment complex.

While the traditional apartment units are full, the development is still working to secure tenants for many of the ground floor “live-work” units.

Toland said the downtown project — which in addition to receiving state and federal tax credits also received significant tax incentives from local government — is a good example of one that can work well for Lawrence.

“What I hope Lawrence residents will see here is that this is a model we need to replicate over and over again,” Toland said. “You’ve got high quality architecture, you have a mix of incomes, you built it downtown, in a walkable part of the community. Those are the right ingredients, I think, for building a healthy community. This is a model that I think proves the case, and we would like to see a lot more of it.”

Toland, though, said he also thinks Lawrence has to look beyond its downtown for residential growth opportunities.

“You have to acknowledge that there are limits to how much density you want in the middle of the city, so we’re going to have to grow out too,” Toland said. “But we need to have it done in a high quality manner.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The New Hampshire Lofts, in the 1000 block of New Hampshire Street, is pictured on May 1, 2026.