photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Lawrence businessman Doug Compton hopes to move the headquarters for his two businesses, First Management and First Construction, into the former Borders bookstore space at Seventh and New Hampshire streets.

My theory is the Ghost of Failed Predictions haunts the old Borders bookstore building at Seventh and New Hampshire streets. Perhaps not for much longer, though. After more than a decade of being mostly vacant, there’s word of a possible corporate headquarters locating in the downtown space.

Lawrence businessman Doug Compton confirmed that he’s in discussions with the city of Lawrence about a project that would locate the corporate headquarters for his two companies — First Management and First Construction — into the large building.

The deal is not done. Compton is expected to ask for an incentives package to convert the old bookstore space into a modern headquarters building. But if the deal does materialize, it would be the latest plot twist for a building that was supposed to be a horror story for downtown.

Perhaps you remember the late 1990s and the Borders bookstore controversy. City commissioners approved construction of the new building, but did so over the predictions of many that the chain bookstore would run The Raven, the locally-owned bookstore, out of business. For good measure, many predicted the Borders project would open the door to a slew of chain retailers, which was not what many in the public were seeking.

Neither prediction came true. Instead, downtown survived Borders better than Borders survived the internet.

Borders closed in 2011, and the building has been mostly vacant ever since — although there was a time period where it did house actual horrors. The building at times was a pop-up shop for a seasonal Halloween store, and then more recently, was a haunted house. Its longest stint of usage post-Borders was as the temporary location for the library, while the current space was being remodeled. (But the library can’t be classified as a horror, now that it no longer asks me to pay my late fines.)

Compton has been part of the ownership group of the building for many of the post-Borders years. It hasn’t been for a lack of trying that a tenant hasn’t emerged for the spot. For the longest time, people were predicting the site would house a downtown grocery store. A Price Chopper got so far as to publicly disclose its interests, but then the deal fell apart as questions about financing and public incentives emerged.

At other times, Compton and his partners discussed adding multiple stories to the building to house apartments, with a grocery store or some other retailer on the ground floor.

Don’t look for the new project to do any of that. Compton told me he is looking to do a simpler project at the site.

“We just want to clean up the building an modernize it,” Compton said.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Borders bookstore building at Seventh and New Hampshire streets is shown on May 9, 2022.

The building already has a false second story to it. Compton said preliminary plans call for the false second story to be made into a real second story that can house offices for his companies. Past plans called for an underground parking garage. That also won’t be needed. The property has a large approximately, 100 space private parking lot that would be used to support the office development, Compton said.

If you recall, we reported not that long ago that Compton had built a brand new headquarters building for his companies in North Lawrence. That was back in 2020 that Compton moved his companies into space at 1451 N. 1823 Road, which is in the small industrial park just north of the intersection of U.S. Highways 24/59 and US Highway 40. Compton would sell that building to another user and move his staff into the remodeled Borders building.

Part of the reason for the move is to get back to downtown, where Compton’s companies previously were located, but a bigger reason is space, he said. Compton said his current headquarters has 22 office spaces, some of which are housing multiple people. The new space would have 44 offices.

“It would be bringing new employees to downtown,” Compton said.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

Robert Green, president of First Management and First Construction, and Doug Compton, founder and owner of the companies, stand in the lobby of the company’s new corporate headquarters in North Lawrence.

Compton said business has been very strong, although almost all of his construction projects are now happening outside of Lawrence. His companies are working in Kansas City, Denver, Fort Collins and several other locations, mainly building apartments but some commercial projects.

When I chatted with Compton in 2020, he said a good year for his construction company was $60 million in business. He said that had morphed into $200 million worth of business being more the norm. That has continued to be the case, he said.

“We want to have plenty of room to grow because we need it,” Compton said of plans for the new office space.

Details on what type of incentives Compton will request and how many and what type of new jobs the expansion may create, weren’t yet be available. Both details probably will be key in determining what type of reception the plan gets at City Hall.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Reuter Organ buildings near Sixth and New Hampshire streets have sold recently.

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One other quick downtown note, I did confirm that the old Reuter Organ buildings near Sixth and New Hampshire streets have sold. Compton used to own those properties, but now they are listed under an ownership group led by Matt Gilhousen, according to property records at the Douglas County Courthouse.

Gilhousen is a Lawrence resident who is a co-founder and executive of Tradewind Energy, which ended up being a major wind and solar developer based in Lenexa. In 2019 it was purchased by an even bigger green energy company.

Since then, Gilhousen has made several commercial property investments in Lawrence, including renovating the corner building at 11th and Massachusetts streets that houses Sylas & Maddy’s, plus investing in the area near the Warehouse Arts District in East Lawrence.

The Reuter buildings — there’s a big three-story limestone one and a smaller two-story red brick building — are big and old. The smaller building has had some office space in it in recent years, but the larger building hasn’t been occupied for a long time.

I’ll let you known when I hear more about the plans for the buildings.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Reuter Organ buildings, consisting of an office building and old organ manufacturing plant, are shown near Sixth and New Hampshire streets in downtown Lawrence.