photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Before it was gutted by a multi-alarm fire in 2023, the building at 815 New Hampshire Street was an all-time Lawrence great for expanding your waistline.

Over the years, various Mexican restaurants operated in the space with not only all-you-can eat chips and salsa, but margaritas large enough that they came with their own pool ladders. Then, there was the patio, which easily was one of the largest of any restaurant in the city, and was famous for turning one hour of dining into several hours of lounging.

What the space never was any good at was inspiring me to do an aerobic-heavy activity like cycling. Perhaps in its new life, it will. The owner of Lawrence’s Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop has reached a deal to lease the old restaurant space at 815 New Hampshire Street.

Sunflower owner Matt Gilhousen confirmed that he indeed intends to the turn the building, which has been vacant since the fire, into something new. The building might become expansion space for Sunflower Outdoor & Bike, which is based in an old Massachusetts Street building that is basically across the alley and up the street from the New Hampshire building.

Or, it might be something completely different, Gilhousen said.

“Nothing is off the table yet in terms of what we might do with it,” he said.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Flames erupt through the roof of Cielito Lindo, 815 New Hampshire St., on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in downtown Lawrence.

After watching the building go unused for awhile, Gilhousen said he felt compelled to lease the building and trust that the right idea for it would come along.

“It is right in our backyard, right behind Sunflower,” said Gilhousen, a KU enginering alum who had success as a co-founder of a large renewable energy development firm. “I have always loved that court yard and New Hampshire Street.”

One thing the space won’t become is a replacement for Sunflower’s Massachusetts Street storefronts. Gilhousen, and active cycler who bought Sunflower in 2020, has added much to that building — which also was ravaged by a fire in 1997 — and he said there are no plans for Sunflower to leave Mass Street.

But the Mass Street location is a good example of how many different interests Sunflower has embraced under Gilhousen’s ownership. Once just a bike shop and outdoor gear retailer, the location now has a coffee shop and cafe, event space and a wellness center that teaches yoga and pilates, among other ventures.

For years the New Hampshire Street building was home to the Mexican restaurants Dos Hombres and then Cielito Lindo, which occupied the building at the time of the fire. That fire was one of the more significant ones in downtown Lawrence in years. It required 15 fire fighting apparatus to stop the flames from spreading to nearby historic buildings. Ultimately, both the roof and the floor of the building collapsed.

In the days after the fire, it was widely assumed the building would be torn down, but the ownership group led by Lawrence businessman Jeff Hatfield had figured out how to save the exterior walls and the basic structure of the building. The group put the building up for lease, and it was widely assumed the building and its big patio would land another significant restaurant tenant.

That didn’t happen, but Gilhousen said a restaurant use might still be a possibility for the site. He said he really hadn’t settled on a use for the building, although he has filed for a building permit to begin some basic interior work.

“We are looking at several different scenarios and trying to figure that out,” Gilhousen said. “By the end of the year we will know for sure what the plan is.”

It is certain to be a busy few months for figuring. As we’ve reported, Gilhousen owns a significant property just up the street on New Hampshire. He purchased the former Reuter Organ buildings at the corner of Sixth and New Hampshire streets, and is working to restore the historic four-story, stone factory building that dates back to the 1880s.

When Lawrence city commissioners approved a package of tax incentives for the project in February, Gilhousen was planning on the building housing a mix of approximately 10 living units and four commercial units. Now, Gilhousen said he’s considering a more specific idea.

“What we are looking at real closely right now is a boutique hotel and event space, but we are trying to figure out exactly how to pull that off,” Gilhousen said.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Reuter Organ buildings, consisting of an office building and old organ manufacturing plant, are shown near Sixth and New Hampshire streets in downtown Lawrence.

A timeline on that decision is less certain. Gilhousen said the focus of the project currently is to get the building better secured with everything from new windows to utility upgrades. As we reported in 2024, the building came close to collapse after it suffered a “”catastrophic failure of its post and beam supports.”

“Right now the focus is on getting the building dried in and getting the utilities hooked back up and the white box done,” Gilhousen said of the general interior finishing work that is underway. “In the meantime, we will figure out exactly whether we are going to self-occupy it or find some tenants.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The former Reuters Organ building at Sixth and New Hampshire streets is pictured on Aug. 22, 2026.