photo by: University of Kansas/Hunden Strategic Partners

A conceptual rendering of how the area around the KU football stadium could develop at 11th and Mississippi streets is shown. Proposals for the site have included a conference center, hotel, retail, restaurants and student housing.

KU has big plans to turn the area around its football stadium into a hub for conventions and tourism, but it may need to make its football stadium the smallest in the Big 12 to do so.

An outside consultant hired by the University of Kansas is recommending a 55,000-square-foot conference center, a 175-room upscale hotel and even a 2,500-seat concert and event venue for the stadium site near 11th and Mississippi streets on the northern edge of the KU campus.

But the experts also are recommending that KU shrink the size of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium to 39,839 seats, a drop of a little more than 7,000 seats from the stadium’s current official capacity.

The consultant’s recommendations also show the entire surface parking lot and grassy area immediately east of the stadium — a prime location for both parking and game day tailgating — eliminated as part of the new development. The consultant’s recommendations acknowledge KU will need new parking solutions, but the consultants said those solutions still must be determined. Construction of new parking garages on campus is likely to get consideration, a KU official said.

The plans are not final, but they are important because the consultant’s recommendations are included in a package of materials KU is distributing to companies who will bid to become the master developer for the KU gateway project, and also for companies bidding to become the new operator of the football stadium, conference center and entertainment venue. KU began soliciting proposals from developers and operators on Thursday.

A KU spokeswoman said the university is open to the idea of decreasing the seating capacity of the stadium because leaders are confident that improvements to the stadium — which will be extensive and include an increase in premium-seating areas — will make for a much better fan experience.

Karla Leeper, vice chancellor for strategic communications and public affairs, said the redesigned stadium will put fans closer to the field, will improve the sight lines for spectators and will change the feel of the venue in meaningful ways.

“We wanted to create a more intimate feeling in the stadium, make it louder and improve the quality of the fan experience,” Leeper said.

But a smaller seating capacity also will help KU with space challenges as it tries to create a major year-round destination development on a relatively small piece of property. The area open for development — KU is not opening up the iconic Hill to any development — is less than 5 acres in size.

Leeper said it is important to KU’s future that the Campus Gateway project, as it is being dubbed, strike the right mix between a high-quality football stadium and other amenities that can bring people to the university throughout the year.

“We love football,” Leeper said. “We want that football stadium to appropriately reflect KU’s commitment to athletics and KU’s argument for remaining in a Power Five Conference … But financially it doesn’t make sense to make that type of investment in something that is only used seven days per year. Part of this proposal is to identify how to activate that development 365 days per year.”

Leeper said that is also why KU is seeking the help of professional developers.

“Bringing in people who do that for a living and drawing on their expertise is useful,” she said.

Leeper said KU leaders are confident the gateway project can be the type of game-changer for the university that not only will bring more dollars into Lawrence through convention-goers and tourists, but also will increase the number of potential students who come to the campus for events or entertainment.

“The chancellor talks about this as transformational,” Leeper said. “It is a chance to transform that corner of campus. When you pull in at 11th and Mississippi now, you see a sea of asphalt and then the Campanile. This is a chance to take that corner that has been a little bit underutilized and do something special that can benefit the community.”

photo by: University of Kansas/Hunden Strategic Partners

A conceptual site plan for how the area around KU’s football stadium at 11th and Mississippi streets could develop is shown.

The plans included in KU’s requests for proposals are the most detailed yet for the gateway project. Here’s a look at some of those details:

• Improvements to the football stadium would include increased premium-seating options, new chairback seating to replace bleacher-style seats, new restrooms and concession areas, additional concourses, new scoreboards and other amenities. The plans call for more than 2,500 “club seats,” which would be a type of premium seating that would include additional services — perhaps concessions and other amenities — as part of their ticket. The plans also call for about 55 new suite-level seats in the stadium.

• At just under 40,000 seats, the renovated stadium would be the smallest in terms of seating capacity in the current Big 12. The next smallest would be Baylor’s stadium at 45,140 seats. The renovated KU stadium also would be the smallest in the new Big 12, although the stadiums at Houston and Cincinnati would only be a few hundred seats larger than the KU proposal.

Leeper and the consultants both said smaller stadiums are part of an industry trend. Baylor has the newest stadium in the Big 12. When it built McLane Stadium in 2014, it constructed the venue with about 5,000 fewer seats than its previous stadium.

More recently, San Diego State — which is vying to become a member of the Pac 12 Conference — completed its new football stadium last year. Snapdragon Stadium has a capacity of 35,000 seats, down significantly from its previous homes.

Consultants with Hunden Strategic Partners told KU that the university will still be well served by the smaller capacity stadium. The consultants noted that KU football averaged 26,610 fans during the 2015-2019 seasons, which was a period of few victories for the team. In 2022, when the football program became nationally ranked and bowl bound again, the team averaged fewer than 35,000 fans per game. While it was not mentioned in the consultant’s report, KU officials during the height of the Mark Mangino era — which included an Orange Bowl victory — touted an average attendance of more than 40,000 fans per game. In 2006, KU officials announced the season average was just over 44,000 per game.

• A fan plaza area would be created just outside the stadium in a portion of what is now the east parking lot for the stadium. A smaller plaza area also would be created on the south end of the stadium.

• A 55,000-square-foot conference center would be on the north bowl of the football stadium. The center would feature the largest banquet room space in the city, allowing for sit-down events of more than 1,000 people. It would also include about 10 smaller meeting rooms to host a variety of conferences.

• A 175-room upscale hotel would be built adjacent to the conference center. The consultant recommends the hotel be built on the grassy area that is at the southwest corner of 11th and Mississippi streets.

• A new student housing building is proposed near the southeast corner of the football stadium site. The building would include 425 bedrooms, with some of the rooms devoted to housing for members of the football team. The building would be along Mississippi Street on a portion of what is currently the east parking lot for the stadium. The building would be just north of the outdoor practice fields for the football team.

• The consultants recommend a maximum of 55,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space be constructed on the center portion of what currently is the east parking lot for the stadium. The retail and restaurant building would be closer to Mississippi Street than it would be to the stadium. Space in between the retail/restaurant building and the stadium would house the fan plaza area. In terms of tenants for the space, a large athletic apparel store selling KU gear seems like a strong possibility. The consultants said restaurant spaces need to include national brands that are recognizable and are considered a destination. The consultants noted that retail and restaurant development has not been successful in the area thus far — the HERE apartment building across the street from the stadium has numerous vacant ground-floor commercial spaces. The consultants said creating an active convention and events business will be critical to the success of any retail and restaurant businesses at the site.

• The consultants recommend a 2,500-seat concert and entertainment venue for the project. However, it is unclear where that venue would be located. It doesn’t show up on the conceptual site plan created by the consultants, but it is listed in the recommendations prepared by the consultants. The proposal is asking developers to figure out how such a facility could be financed and constructed. The consultants said having a facility that could also have an outdoor performance space should be explored.

• Due to the relatively small size of the site, multistory buildings are expected to be part of the development. Plans indicate none of the buildings would be taller than five stories. Consultants said rooftop dining and other such amenities should be explored.

• About 20,000 square feet of office space is proposed for the project, with most of that being geared toward the health care market or other users that express an interest in the site. The recommendations show a “Kansas Team Health” building being constructed on an existing surface parking lot that is just southwest of the Anderson Family Football Complex. Kansas Team Health is a partnership between the KU hospital system and LMH Health. It provides services to KU athletes, but KU leaders previously have said the gateway project could include a health care component that would serve KU faculty and staff, plus other members of the community.

• About 500 surface parking lot spaces — most in the eastern lot — would be lost in the recommendations put forth by the consultants. Leeper said KU knows it needs to address the parking and that it will be a major consideration for the adjacent residential neighborhood, which already sees heavy on-street parking from the university.

Leeper said the consultants didn’t recommend any specific parking solutions. Instead, KU wants to hear ideas from the development community. Leeper said the idea of additional parking garages near the stadium or elsewhere on campus likely will get some consideration. She said KU is challenging developers to come up with ideas on how the area can still be a great spot for tailgating, even if it has fewer parking lots where tailgating traditionally has taken place.

• KU has created a separate request for proposals related to parking. KU is seeking a private company that could manage all of KU’s parking system, which includes about 14,000 spaces throughout the Lawrence campus. A private company would be expected to find new efficiencies and create new revenue. Currently, KU’s parking system is run by a university department. Leeper said KU is uncertain whether it will choose to work with a private parking company, but she said leaders believe now is the time to explore the feasibility of such a partnership.

• Funding options for the project, which is expected to total more than $300 million, are still being developed, the consultant said. KU has secured more than $85 million in state funds and a guaranteed match that either will come from donors or from reserves from KU Endowment, if donor funding doesn’t meet the match requirements. KU also is exploring asking the Legislature for STAR bond financing, which would allow sales taxes generated on the site to be used for site costs. That type of special financing was used to build the Kansas Speedway and several other large tourist-type attractions in the state.

• None of the gateway development is proposed for the residential neighborhood that is north of 11th Street (also known as Fambrough Drive near the stadium.) But the consultant’s report does briefly mention that area could be the site of development in the future.

“Successful development of this corridor could also lead to other future development opportunities north of 11th Street and west of Mississippi Street, further expanding the campus gateway,” consultants with Hunden Strategic Partners wrote in their market and impact analysis for the project.

As the Journal-World has reported, several residential properties near the stadium have sold in recent months to entities known to have experience in the development industry. KU officials have said they aren’t making purchases in the residential neighborhood, but also said they couldn’t rule out that private developers may pursue their own redevelopment projects to be next to the Campus Gateway.

Leeper said that continues to be the case. She said KU remains focused on the property south of 11th Street, although she said KU is talking with the city about how it could improve the portion of Mississippi Street leading from Ninth Street to the football stadium.

Leeper said KU will prioritize keeping neighbors informed of ideas and developments related to the Campus Gateway project. She said small-group meetings with neighborhood leaders already have begun, and larger meetings are planned. A public website for the project also is expected to be launched this summer.

The project won’t be required to go through the normal development-approval process at Lawrence City Hall. The development is on university-owned land, which is subject to a cooperation agreement with the city but not subject to the city’s ordinary development process. Instead, a special committee of university, neighborhood and city officials will be created to formally hear details of the project as they are officially proposed.

But beyond that group, Leeper said KU is committing to being transparent and communicative during the entire development process.

“We are going to keep talking to them at every stage,” Leeper said.

KU hopes to have an operator for the stadium and conference center selected by September. A parking company, if KU chooses to go that route, also would be selected in September. A master developer for the project would be selected in December, under KU’s current timeline.

None of the changes to the stadium or parking would occur during this upcoming season. The soonest work would begin on the conference center and other such projects would be in December, after home football games have concluded.