photo by: AdobeStock

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 23, 2017: Detail from Hilton hotel in Sydney, Australia. Hilton Hotels & Resorts is a global brand of hotels founded in 1919 at Cisco, Texas.

A deal for a 110-room hotel on the northeast corner of 11th and Massachusetts streets is close to being finalized — and there is a juicy piece of speculation attached to it as well. Word in development circles is that a Graduate Hotel by Hilton has chosen the site, which would mean a true KU-themed hotel would be coming to the downtown district.

Tony Krsnich, who owns the 11th and Massachusetts site that formerly housed the Allen Press industrial complex, confirmed that a hotel brand has selected the site for a 110-room hotel, and that he is in final negotiations with a hotel brand. However, Krsnich said he could neither confirm nor deny that the hotel brand is the Graduate by Hilton.

“We are very excited about a luxurious boutique hotel, and we look forward to being able to make a formal announcement in the weeks ahead upon the formal approval from the hotel board,” Krsnich said.

The Graduate hotel flag is a growing brand of hotels that was bought by Hilton in 2024. It currently has hotels in about 30 prominent university communities across the country. In the central region, Fayetteville, Ark., Lincoln, Neb., and Iowa City, Iowa all have Graduate hotels near their universities. Nationally, Graduate has hotels close to Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, University of Texas, North Carolina, Arizona and Arizona State, and multiple Ivy League schools, among others.

The hotels often feature “presidential suites” with decor that evokes the theme of the community’s university, plus other custom furniture and fixtures throughout the hotel that is designed to pay homage to the big university in town.

The hotel brand also commonly features a cocktail lounge, coffee shop and restaurant that carry through on the same themes.

The idea of a hotel coming to the vacant site at 11th and Mass is not a new one. We reported back in June that Krsnich had created preliminary plans for an approximately 95-room hotel for the site, which he was using to try to attract interest from various hotel brands.

That strategy seemingly is working. Krsnich said interest in the site has been strong, leading to the unnamed brand recently asking Krsnich to apply to the hotel’s board of directors for approval of a Lawrence project.

“The party we are talking with not only asked us to apply, but flew into town and looked at several sites,” Krsnich said. “Upon multiple negotiations and meetings and conversations, they chose our site as the site in Lawrence Kansas to apply.”

photo by: Emme Schatz

A rendering from June 2025 shows a concept design for a hotel at 11th and Massachusetts streets in downtown Lawrence.

It hasn’t been hard to guess why hotel brands have become interested in the Lawrence market. The University of Kansas late last year opened its new KU Conference Center that is built into the revamped David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

The conference center can host events of up to 1,000 people, and the center isn’t yet connected to a hotel. KU officials are finalizing a deal for a 162-room hotel that would connect to both the conference center and the stadium. However, that planned hotel — nor The Oread hotel that is located a handful of blocks up the hill from the conference center — would be able to accommodate all the attendees of the center’s larger conferences.

Krsnich’s 11th and Massachusetts site is about a half-dozen blocks east of the conference center and stadium site. Krsnich said the studies he has seen indicate that 400 to 500 new hotel beds might be needed in Lawrence to serve the new conference center. Existing hotels in the market — which historically have had good business on the weekends but struggled to fill rooms on weekdays — might not agree with that, but the picture of demand for local hotel rooms is definitely evolving as KU starts hosting more events at the conference center.

As for the hotel that KU is seeking for its site, leaders have announced preliminary plans for a 162-room Marriott hotel that would be similar to the Marriott Cascade that is located in the Plaza district of Kansas City, Mo.. That upscale hotel features four restaurants, a lounge and a coffee shop, according to its website. However, it is not yet clear that KU and the private development group it is partnering with have finalized plans for that hotel. I will seek an update on that matter in the coming days.

In terms of what’s next for Krsnich’s project at 11th and Mass, we will await a formal announcement from the hotel group. Beyond that, I suspect that the project would request a package of financial incentives from the city, which would be subject to a full round of hearings at City Hall before the project could proceed.

This site also may get particular discussion related to parking. Krsnich did confirm that he wants to explore if the project could incorporate an underground parking garage that could not only serve the hotel but also serve other uses in the area. Those uses may include the Lawrence Farmers Market, if it ultimately relocates to South Park.

A big user also could be Douglas County, which has its courthouse and Judicial and Law Enforcement Center across the street from Krsnich’s site. The county has lost parking spaces recently as the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is expanding onto a portion of the main parking lot that serves county offices. Krsnich confirmed he has begun to talk with county officials about whether the project could meet some of the county’s parking needs.