photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Demolition work began Sept. 4, 2024 on the former Allen Press building at the south end of downtown Lawrence.

It is the final chapter for a downtown Lawrence building that used to produce many a chapter in academic journals around the world.

A large track hoe excavator began punching holes in the cinderblock walls of the former Allen Press building at 11th and New Hampshire streets at about 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday. Within a few weeks, the site at the southern entrance to downtown will be a straw-covered lot waiting for the grass to grow, developer Tony Krsnich told me.

For those of you who love green space, don’t count on that being there for long. Krsnich, who recently bought the property from the Allen family, said he thinks the most likely use will be a multistory affordable housing project that has some commercial or office spaces on its ground floor. He has such a project under construction on the east side of New Hampshire Street currently, and his plan for the west side of the street is a slightly smaller version of that project.

But on Wednesday, Krsnich was more eager to talk about what’s coming down rather than what may be going up.

“Watching 30 years of blight be torn down, I have to be honest, it is going to be hard to peel me away from watching this today,” Krsnich said during a brief interview at the site. “This is a big moment for Lawrence.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Demolition work began Sept. 4, 2024 on the former Allen Press building at the south end of downtown Lawrence.

It does mark a change that has been a long time in the making. For decades, Allen Press was a foundational business in downtown Lawrence. The building was a throwback to the day when industrial uses were a big part of downtown. Presses, in particular, were a big part of downtown. Both ends of Massachusetts Street had them. The Journal-World’s printing plant was on the north end of Massachusetts Street, and Allen Press ran its presses at essentially the south end of the street.

Allen Press was regarded as one of the world’s leading publishers of academic and scientific journals. As the Journal-World has reported many times, Allen Press got started in 1935, when a Lawrence printing apprentice by the name of Harold Allen purchased an existing print shop that was located in the basement of what is now the Merchants Pub & Plate building in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A former industrial building of Allen Press at the northwest corner of 11th and New Hampshire streets is shown on July 3, 2024. The new owner of the property hopes to win city approval to demolish the building.

By the 1960s, that business had morphed into a printing business that specialized in publishing scholastic journals — the type that University of Kansas professors and other academics used to publish their work.

Harold Allen’s sons — first Arly Allen and then Rand Allen — led the company after Harold Allen’s death in the late 1980s. The building at 11th and New Hampshire ended up lasting longer than the company did. Allen Press moved its printing operations to an East Lawrence facility in the 1990s, and the downtown buildings sat largely vacant for the ensuing decades. The East Lawrence site was closed by its new corporate owners last year.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Buildings along the west side of New Hampshire that once were occupied by Allen Press — pictured on March 6, 2024 — would be demolished as part of a project to build a senior, affordable housing project near 11th and New Hampshire streets.

The New Hampshire Street property had long been coveted by numerous developers as one of the largest tracts of land in downtown, but reaching a deal with the Allen family proved elusive . Krsinich, the developer of the Warehouse Arts District in East Lawrence, did strike a deal to purchase the site in July.

Many a downtown-watcher has been surprised at how quickly plans to tear down the building have progressed. In a historic district where demolitions are rare, the project received special city approval after Krsnich made the case that homeless individuals were frequently entering the building, at great risk to themselves.

“Not only do they need to be torn down, they need to be torn down immediately,” Krsnich told me in early July. “You don’t even have to go inside to smell all the mold in the buildings.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Demolition work began Sept. 4, 2024 on the former Allen Press building at the south end of downtown Lawrence.

Now, Krsnish said the process of tearing down the building and removing the rubble will likely take a couple of weeks. By this time next year, a project could be underway to build an approximately 40-unit apartment building that will be rent-controlled and likely geared to residents 55 and older. Krsnich currently is building a 49-unit version of that project on former Allen Press property that is on the east side of New Hampshire, near 11th Street. That project is expected to be completed next summer, and Krsnich would like to start on its near mirror image at that time.

Such a project still needs some key approvals. A big one is the awarding of affordable housing tax credits from the state. Those credits are used in the financing of the project, and they also are the mechanism that requires the development would be rent-controlled and open only to individuals who meet certain income levels.

The project also would need land use approvals from the City Commission, and likely would seek financial incentives.

Krsnich has went back and forth the last several months on whether he would use the site at the northwest corner of 11th and New Hampshire for the affordable housing project. He had previously said he wanted to hear other ideas from potential partners for development of the lot, but Wednesday he told me that the affordable housing project would be the use, unless something unexpected happened.

However, that still leaves a decision to be made on what may be the most prime piece of property that Krsnich acquired from the Allen family. That’s the current parking lot site at the northeast corner of 11th and Massachusetts streets. Next to that parking lot is an old Quonset-hut-style building that also has been long vacant.

Krsnich previously told me that he was interested in saving that building — at least for a few years — and finding a tenant for the space. He mentioned everything from a bowling alley to offices that need a large open floor plan. However, Krsnich said his crews began clean-up work on the project as the first steps toward a renovation and found several problems.

“I wanted to see what it looked like when it was cleaned up,” Krsnich said. “I think there’s a 95% chance that this building is not economically salvageable. I think it probably will come down.”

To be clear, Krsnich doesn’t have the necessary approvals to tear down that building, and would need to file for approvals through Lawrence City Hall. It won’t be part of the demolition work that is underway currently.

In terms of what could go on the large piece of property at 11th and Massachusetts, Krsnich has mentioned a hotel or a large mixed use project of commercial, office and maybe high-end residential units. However, he doesn’t have any firm plans.

All of that is an issue for another day. On this day, Krsnich said he was simply pleased that demolition work had begun on the large, blighted building. A crowd had already started to gather in the downtown area Wednesday morning to watch the demolition work proceed. Krsnich said he understood why — though he stressed onlookers needed to respect the fencing around the site. He predicts the day will end up being an important one in downtown’s future.

“Projects like New Hampshire Lofts are game changing projects,” Krsnich said of his affordable housing project that is under construction on the other side of the street. “But you could argue that nothing is more important than tearing down this blighted building, probably more important than building something back.

“If nothing else it sets yourself up for success at the bookend of our downtown.”