photo by: Nick Krug/Journal-World File Photo

An area just southeast of the intersection of the South Lawrence Trafficway and Iowa Street, pictured June 6, 2017, is being proposed as the site for a large-scale shopping center.

There’s a new idea for one of the most prominent intersections in Douglas County — about 500 units of affordable housing.

Plans have been filed at Lawrence City Hall to change a portion of the 177-acre mixed-use development planned for the intersection of U.S. 59 and the South Lawrence Trafficway. Instead of building a couple of hotels and some medical office buildings along the southern edge of the proposed development, the new plans call for 24 acres of apartments.

A representative of the development team confirmed the apartment project would be built by a developer who is seeking affordable housing tax credits from the state of Kansas, meaning the units would be rent controlled and made available to people meeting certain income guidelines. The developer hasn’t been named, but is the same group that previously was seeking to buy property from Baker University near 31st Street.

Now the group is planning to move its project about five or six blocks farther south and become part of what has been dubbed the New Boston Crossing project. A Wichita development group has been working for more than two years to develop the property that is at the southeast corner of where U.S. Highway 59 — which is Iowa Street in the city limits — and the SLT intersect.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

An area just southeast of U.S. Highway 59 and the South Lawrence Trafficway, far right, is shown on Sept. 15, 2023. The area is proposed for a new mixed-use housing and retail development.

The approximately 500 units of rent-controlled apartments would be in addition to a few hundred traditional apartments that could be built on other portions of the property, according to plans. The plans show the possibility of traditional apartments along the SLT, which is also Kansas Highway 10. But the plans also note that property could be used for up to two hotels instead.

The part of the development that is likely to be built first, however, are about 150 to 190 lots for single-family homes and townhomes, said Corby Rust, a landscape architect who is developing the project plans for Lawrence-based Landplan Engineering. The building community has been searching for a new location to undertake significant amounts of single-family home construction, with local home prices rising as the supply of housing in the city has not kept up with demand in recent years.

Rust said current plans call for construction of streets, a drainage pond and other infrastructure to begin in the spring of 2025. That would put housing construction on track to begin in the fall of 2025. The housing development is expected to be the first to develop because it will take its access off Michigan Street, which already has been built south of the SLT.

The project has most of its major approvals from Lawrence City Hall. However, the change of plans to add more apartments to the development will require city approval. The project also is waiting for a floodplain ruling from federal officials.

That is the other major change to the development. The latest plans call for an additional six acres of greenway space to help control stormwater. The new plans eliminate a major north-south road that once was proposed to run the entire length of the project. Now, the plans call for two smaller cul-de-sacs that are separated by the new greenway area. Rust said that change should put the project on track to win the necessary federal floodplain approvals.

The new greenway space would be in addition to nearly 70 acres of a pond and park space, both located near the southern end of the development. The southern end of the development is the portion closest to the Wakarusa River. Concerns about placing development near the river have generated opposition to the project, which won split votes at both the Planning Commission and City Commission levels.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A bean field along U.S. Highway 59 and the South Lawrence Trafficway is pictured on Sept. 15, 2023. The site is proposed for a new mixed-use housing and retail development.

As for the commercial development proposed for the project, those plans are largely unchanged, Rust said. The biggest change is the space dedicated to hotels. While the original plans called for two 90-room hotels along U.S. Highway 59 on the southern part of the property, the new plans now show any hotels being located along the South Lawrence Trafficway.

Other commercial uses envisioned for the property include a gas/fueling station, restaurants, medical office buildings and a 10-acre lot that is labeled for entertainment-type uses. Rust said that site could house anything from a bowling alley to pickleball-based businesses to other such concepts that combine dining and active entertainment options.

In total, the project would have about 24 acres of CC-200 commercial zoning, according to the plans. That zoning category allows for hotels and mixed-use multi-story buildings, which developers have said they are interested in. The zoning category, however, also would allow for more traditional big-box retail stores, although developers have said that is not a focus of the project.

photo by: Courtesy: Landplan Engineering

A map of the proposed layout of the New Bostom Crossing project proposed for U.S. 59 and the SLT is shown.