photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Plans have been filed for the vacant lot at Sixth and Alabama streets to house a new doctors office.

News and notes from around town:

The empty lot at the southwest corner of Sixth and Alabama streets has been a longtime healthy holdout. Just up the street there has been a plethora of fast food restaurants develop — a McDonalds, a Burger King, a Taco Bell, a Taco John’s and more.

But the lot — it is just east of the Midwest Regional Credit Union, if you are having a hard time picturing the spot — has been content to produce nothing but growing grass. Plans are in the works for that to change.

No, fast food is not in its future. A doctor’s office is slated for the site. A drive-thru cholesterol clinic would be a stroke of synergy, but I don’t think that is what is planned. Instead, the new office will be owned by a pair of Lawrence general practice doctors, Marc Scarbrough and Eric Huerter, according to a partner in the project.

“It is a great location for a medical office building,” Lawrence businessman Doug Compton, who is an owner of the lot, told me.

The site is just a few blocks away from Lawrence Memorial Hospital and other medical practices at or near LMH Health’s Maine Street campus.

I don’t have a ton of details about the practice itself. The development plan filed at City Hall said it will be the new home for the Reed Group. It listed Scarbrough as the point of contact, but he hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment. There is an existing Reed Medical Group that is located in the LMH Health-owned medical building at Sixth and Maine streets, which is basically just a block west of this new location. It includes Scarbrough, Huerter and at least one other provider. In short, I don’t know if this is simply a relocation or a larger change to the practice. Reed Medical Group has largely been branded — on its website and such — as an LMH-operated facility, but this building project is not an LMH Health venture.

Compton told me he didn’t have details on those aspects of the project. He’s mainly serving as a landowner and the likely builder of the facility.

photo by: Schneider & Associates/City of Lawrence

Renderings of a medical building proposed for 1005 W. Sixth Street are shown.

The new building itself won’t be huge. The plans call for a 3,272 square-foot, single-story building to be constructed on the front part of the lot, the portion closest to Sixth Street, with a 17-space parking lot in the rear.

A timeline for the project is unclear. It is still working its way through the City Hall development process, which will include a review by the Historic Resources Commission, due to the site’s proximity to the older neighborhoods that surround it.

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photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A sign showing a rendering of a planned Truity Credity Union branch near 23rd and Harper is eastern Lawrence is shown.

On the opposite side of town there is a lot that is not entirely empty, but it has been empty of money for quite awhile. That’s noteworthy because it has a bank building on it. Perhaps you remember when US Bank operated a small drive-thru branch near the corner of 23rd and Harper, just east of the Vanderbilt’s boot store.

That branch has been closed for a few years, but there are plans for it to return to its monied ways. A sign recently has emerged on the site that Truity Credit Union plans to open there.

I don’t have much information about Truity’s plans. Since the use of the site isn’t dramatically changing, the project isn’t required to file major development plans with City Hall. I’ve reached out to a spokeswoman with Truity, but haven’t yet heard back.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A vacant bank building near 23rd and Harper in eastern Lawrence is shown in May 2025.

However, the sign on the site includes a rendering, and the project looks pretty straightforward. It appears the existing building will remain, but will be remodeled to fit the Truity brand and look. Of course, the drive-thru lanes will remain.

The site will be Truity’s easternmost location in Lawrence. The project is the latest in a series of moves for the longtime Lawrence credit union — its roots go back to the Kansas University Credit Union. The credit union recently opened a new branch near 19th and Iowa streets in The Crossing development on KU’s West Campus. It closed its 23rd and Naismith location, and that site is now being redeveloped into a branch for Chase, the huge national bank. This latest project will get Truity back on 23rd Street, albeit farther east.

Truity also owns property near Sixth Street and George Williams Way, just south of Rock Chalk Park. Presumably, that will be home to a branch at some point in the future. However, a timeline for that project hasn’t been announced.

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Diplomas lead to dollars. That was what I was reminded of as I watched KU graduation ceremonies last weekend. Sure, extra earnings with a degree, yada, yada, yada. What’ I’m talking about is all the dollars flowing out with graduation-weekend expenses.

The one that really caught my eye was gasoline prices in Lawrence. They jumped from about $2.85 per gallon just prior to graduation to nearly $3 per gallon during graduation weekend.

I presume that is coincidence, but given that the Memorial Day weekend has arrived, and travel may be in your plans this long weekend, I did check average gas prices around the state for you. Lawrence currently has the highest gas prices of any metro in the state, so you may keep that in mind as you map out your bathroom breaks.

Here’s a look at some of the averages as compiled by AAA:

• Kansas City, Kan.: $2.95

• Lawrence: $3.00

• Manhattan: $2.96

• Topeka: $2.96

• Wichita $2.95

• Kansas statewide average: $2.90

• Missouri statewide average: $2.86

• Oklahoma statewide average: $2.81

• Colorado statewide average: $3.17

• Nebraska statewide average: $2.99

It is worth noting that prices are down quite a bit from where they were a year ago. Last year at this time, the average price in Lawrence was $3.17, according to AAA.