photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

KU Innovation Park's new research and office building opened to the public on Aug. 17, 2022.

News and notes from around town:

•••

A flock of Jayhawks, so to speak, has delivered more than a half-million dollars in funding to a group of KU-connected start-up companies.

As we’ve reported, officials at KU Innovation Park have created a new “angel investor” network that brings together KU alumni and others with Jayhawk connections who are interested in providing early-stage funding to start-up companies that are using University of Kansas research.

The group — call Oread Angel Investors — in November held its first pitch event where companies give presentations designed at attracting investors. On Monday, KU Innovation Park announced the final results. The angel investor network provided $570,000 in funding to technology and bioscience companies.

KU Innovation Park didn’t release specific funding awards, but said that five KU-connected companies were invited to make pitches at the event. They were:

• Ideem, a technology company that work to improve two-factor authentication processes.

• Invary, a cybersecurity company that focuses on hidden cyberthreats.

• Phoreus Biotech, a bioscience company focused on genetic technology.

• Earthgrid, a company that is using new technology to improve the efficiency of tunneling and excavation operations.

• Icorium Engineering Company, a company that has technology to reclaim and recycle cooling refrigerants.

The Oread Angel Investors group got started with a grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce, and now has about 70 investors, KU Innovation Park said. The group’s next pitch event is scheduled for March. Companies or people who are interested in becoming an investor should contact the group through its website, oreadinvestors.com

•••

On Tuesday, we reported that Lawrence set a new record low for the number of single family building permits issued in a year. Information that I didn’t have to report at the time was how many apartment complexes were built in the city during the year.

I’ve since gotten that information from the city, and that part of the housing market wasn’t booming either. The city issued permits for two apartment complexes that had a total of 89 living units. That was the second slowest year since 2018. Here’s a look at how 2024 stacks up to some recent years:

• 2024: 2 permits, 89 living units

• 2023: 2 permits, 12 living units

• 2022: 12 permits, 206 living units

• 2021: 14 permits, 254 living units

• 2020: 9 permits, 94 living units

• 2019: 10 permits, 188 living units

• 2018: 23 permits, 392 living units

The other thing notable about the number is that Lawrence once again had more apartments built than single family homes. As a reminder, Lawrence had permits for 57 single family homes in 2024.

That doesn’t happen every year, but it happens frequently. During the decade following 2010, there were 2.6 apartments built for every single family home that was constructed in the city. Not every decade has produced such numbers, but a change in Lawrence’s housing mix is certainly underway. There’s been speculation that the change has helped fuel enrollment declines in Lawrence public schools, as apartments traditionally haven’t been home to as many families with school-aged children.

If you are scoring along at home, the two complexes that received permits in 2024 were at 1010 New Hampshire Street and 2129 Clinton Parkway. Both were affordable housing projects that we’ve written about previously.

•••

Another end-of-year statistic to pass along involves the actual physical size of the city. Lawrence recently formalized its city boundaries by tallying up how many acres of land were annexed into the city limits in 2024.

The grand total: 2.87 acres.

In terms of how that compares, the numbers vary a lot from year to year, but the 2024 total was on the low side. The city provided a list that goes back to 2010. Here’s a look at that:

• 2024: 2.87 acres

• 2023: 234.1 acres

• 2022: 60.91 acres

• 2021: 3.0 acres

• 2020: 0.73 acres

• 2019: 7.16 acres

• 2018: 0 acres

• 2017: 0 acres

• 2016: 58.18 acres

• 2015: 0 acres

• 2014: 13.7 acres

• 2013: 43.8 acres

• 2012: 302.6 acres

• 2011: 53.33 acres

• 2010: 47.59 acres

All the new property added to the city was in North Lawrence, along N. Seventh Street and north of North Street.