photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The Wesley Building, the brick building to the right, is proposed to be sold to an Illinois-based golfing organization that will use the building to house members of a caddy scholarship program.

A nonprofit that provides full-ride scholarships to golf caddies hopes to swing a deal to buy a University of Kansas building along Jayhawk Boulevard to convert into a residence hall.

KU and KU Endowment leaders are beginning the process to sell the Wesley Building, 1314 Jayhawk Boulevard, to the Evans Scholars Foundation, which plans to house scholarship recipients in the old building that essentially is across the street from KU’s student union.

The Kansas Board of Regents at its Wednesday meeting is expected to give its approval to a proposed deal that would allow KU to transfer ownership of the Wesley Building to KU Endowment, which then intends to sell the building to the Evans Scholars Foundation. The Regents’ action will clear the way for the Kansas Legislature to consider the property transfer during its legislative session that begins in January. Under state law, the deal needs legislative approval before it can proceed.

The approximately 12,000-square foot building houses communications and marketing offices for KU, and previously was home to the university’s news service and media relations offices. But KU administrators previously had made the decision to begin phasing out use of the building, and recently had planned to tear it down as part of efforts to reduce deferred maintenance costs on the Lawrence campus. University leaders said in a memo to the Regents that existing offices in the building are in the process of being relocated to other spaces on campus.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The front, west, side of the Wesley Building is pictured on Dec. 13, 2021.

A spokeswoman with the Illinois-based Evans Scholars Foundation didn’t immediately return a call seeking details about the organization’s plans for the building. But the foundation already operates a scholarship hall in rented property that is near the Wesley Building. It occupies an old two-story apartment building just east of 13th and Ohio streets. The Wesley Building is next door to that building, but closer to Jayhawk Boulevard. It is unclear whether the organization intends to occupy both buildings or will leave its existing scholarship hall once it takes ownership of Wesley.

The organization really does share some similarities with the premise of “Caddyshack,” the 1980s comedy that involved a teenage caddy trying to win a college scholarship for caddies. The real-life scholarship program is run by the Western Golf Association, which hosts a variety of amateur and professional golf tournaments. Some of the proceeds of those tournaments fund the scholarship program, which got started in 1930.

Since that time, the program has provided scholarships to about 11,000 caddies, and currently has more than 1,000 caddies receiving scholarships at 21 universities. KU traditionally has 40 to 50 students — normally out-of-state students — receiving an Evans scholarship in any given school year. The program added KU to its list of schools in 1975, but then ended its participation with KU for several years before re-establishing the KU connection in 2018, according to the foundation’s website.

In their memo to the Regents, KU officials said the property has a value of about $965,000, according to a recent appraisal. KU Endowment hasn’t disclosed at what price it intends to sell the property, but the deal would include a contingency that would require the property be returned to KU Endowment if Evans Scholarship Foundation discontinues use of the property.

The building, while having a Jayhawk Boulevard address, is not one of the more prominent buildings on KU’s main street. It sits 20 to 30 yards off Jayhawk Boulevard and is partially behind Smith Hall, the building that houses KU’s religious studies department near the intersection of 13th Street and Jayhawk Boulevard.

The proposed transfer of Wesley is one of several property swaps KU and KU Endowment are seeking approval for at Wednesday’s meeting. KU also plans to transfer to KU Endowment about three acres of university-owned land at Bob Billings and Crestline Drive, which would be used as part of a future transit hub for the City of Lawrence and KU bus systems. KU Endowment would allow the city to use the property — valued at $525,000 — for the transit hub under a “long term, low cost lease,” KU said in a memo to the Regents.

In addition, KU plans to transfer 40,000 square feet of vacant property near the intersection of 21st and Iowa Streets to KU Endowment. The property would be used to realign the intersection as KU Endowment works to create Innovation Park, a mixed-used research and commercial development near the KU School of Pharmacy and other research buildings on KU’s West Campus.

In exchange for the three properties, KU Endowment is proposing to transfer about 1.2 million square feet of vacant property along Westbrooke Drive on West Campus. The area already is home to a KU library annex building, the university’s construction and landscaping division, and several other maintenance buildings. KU already owns those buildings, but it does not own the land around and between the various buildings. Under the proposed deal, KU would get ownership of that land.

The three properties that KU is proposing to transfer to KU Endowment have a combined value of about $1.85 million, while KU Endowment says a recent appraisal of the Westbrooke property says it also has a value of about $1.85 million.

The Kansas Board of Regents is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at its Topeka offices for its monthly meeting.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The back, east, side of the Wesley Building is shown on Dec. 13, 2021.