Knights of Columbus to close E. 23rd Street events hall; new food cart slated for downtown; SLT project to create long-term lane reductions on K-10

For decades, the Knights of Columbus building on east 23rd Street has been home to bird shows, gun shows (not at the same time), wedding receptions and a host of other events. I even have been known to put on my best Western dancing shirt and head to the Knights of Columbus for its live country dance bands. But all that is changing. (Clarification: I’m keeping the shirt.) The organization is in the process of closing the building and finding a new owner for the large piece of property.

Kevin Oneslager, an officer with the group that owns the building, said the Knights have stopped taking reservations for the use of the building and the fraternal organization is no longer holding its meetings there, either. Some of you may have noticed that all of the Knights of Columbus signs have been removed in recent days.

Oneslager said events that already have been booked would go on as planned. Oneslager said the Knights of Columbus organization also is still very much alive and well. It is holding its meetings at the St. John’s Catholic Church. Members of the Knights, however, decided they were just spending too much time managing the large building.

“We would rather focus our time on the charity. Our main focus is on charity,” Oneslager said.

Plus, now is probably a good time to sell the building. It’s on the far eastern edge of Lawrence and is adjacent to the city’s VenturePark property, which is the new business/industrial park on the former Farmland Industries site. The building, which dates to the mid-1960s, sits on about 2 acres of commercial zoned property, and is highly visible from 23rd Street. It also is adjacent to two other pieces of 23rd Street property that could be candidates for redevelopment — the former Don’s Steakhouse building and the former Diamond Everley Roofing building.

Those three properties combined would create a large area for redevelopment on 23rd Street. I haven’t heard of any specific plan to do so, but certainly the idea has come up among some in the commercial real estate business.

Oneslager said the ownership group is in the process of getting an appraisal and expects to start fielding interest in the property later in 2015.

“It is a great location,” Oneslager said. “Obviously sitting right next to VenturePark, we hope that may draw some interest.”

Speaking of interest, I know you want to see the beautiful shirt. So, let the wonderment begin . . .

In other news and notes from around town:

• Speaking of things we would like to torch . . . (Wait a minute, how did my wife get ahold of the keyboard?) Regardless, there is news that involves torches. Torched Goodness, the unique food truck that serves a whole host of Creme Brûlée dishes, has received a city permit for a food cart in downtown Lawrence. The cart will be on the northeast corner of Seventh and Massachusetts street, in front of Liberty Hall. I’m not entirely sure whether the food cart will focus on Creme Brûlée or whether it will be more traditional street food. I’m also not sure how I’m going to sneak Creme Brûlée into a movie at Liberty Hall, but I’m working on answers to both of those questions. I’ve got a call into the Torched Goodness folks and will report back any details I learn.

• What I do know is that traffic on Kansas Highway 10 just east of Lawrence will be a bit different for the rest of 2015. Crews working on the South Lawrence Trafficway project are slated to close one lane in each direction on the busy highway beginning on Monday. The lane closures are expected to last into December.

Information from the state says the lane restrictions will run from a point near the East Hills Business Park entrance and go all the way to the County Route 1057 interchange between Eudora and Lawrence. So, that’s about a 2.5-mile stretch. The speed limit in the area will be reduced to 55 miles per hour.

The lane reductions will give crews room to build a number of bridges over K-10 as part of the SLT project. A lot of the work will be near the area where K-10 curves and previously intersected with Noria Road. That road intersection won’t be part of the new SLT configuration. Instead, Noria road will travel over K-10 via an overpass. Work also will be near the ski lake just south of K-10.

We’ll see how bad traffic becomes on K-10. The Kansas Department of Transportation said motorists should expect “minor delays.” I travel that road a lot, and there have been some temporary lane reductions before. Traffic still moves pretty well even with one lane. Just hope there is not an accident that impacts that one lane. If so, you had better hope you packed an extra Creme Brûlée.

As for the SLT work, it will be interesting to watch the interchange being constructed. It is not your standard interchange with a bridge and a couple of entrance and exit ramps. I’m not sure I have all of it figured out, but look at the map below for some details. It shows the Noria Road overpass, and it looks like there will be a few other overpasses as well. And there’s also an area — the spot where all the green lines are twisted up — that looks a bit like my eyeglasses after a spaghetti dinner with one too many glasses of wine. But I’m sure it all will become clearer in the next few months. And, if for some reason you haven’t driven through that area in awhile, you should. It is changing tremendously.