photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Construction work on David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium at 11th and Mississippi streets is pictured on May 21, 2026.

Plans for a hotel that will connect to KU’s football stadium and the 1,000-seat conference center inside the stadium have taken an important step forward. KU leaders are now publicly saying who the operator of the hotel will be.

Jeff DeWitt, KU’s chief financial officer, told me in a brief interview that Kansas City hotel developer and operator Chuck Mackey has been chosen to bring the approximately 150-room hotel to fruition. Additionally, DeWitt confirmed that KU has received confirmation that the hotel will be an upscale Marriott.

“They got Marriott approval to build it,” DeWitt said of negotiations between Marriott and Mackey’s company, Capital Management Inc.

The hotel currently is in the design phase, and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2028, DeWitt said.

For the most part, the latest update squares with what KU said about the project when the idea of a hotel was first announced in December 2024. However, KU officials hadn’t said much about the project for quite awhile. When I would ask for an update, they basically said that they were still working on a deal for the project.

When I checked in with DeWitt this week, this was the first time he disclosed that Mackey was the developer behind the project, and that Marriott had given its blessing to the project.

If Mackey’s name sounds familiar, he’s brought a hotel to Lawrence before. Mackey’s company was the developer and continues to be the operator of the Marriott TownPlace Suites hotel at Ninth and New Hampshire streets in downtown Lawrence.

However, the more relevant project Mackey has completed might be the Marriott Cascade Hotel at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. KU officials in December 2024 said they were hopeful the hotel at the stadium site would be a Marriott Cascade, similar to the one located at the Country Club Plaza. This week, DeWitt said that is still the plan.

As we’ve reported, that upscale hotel features a hotel bar, multiple restaurants, a full-service coffee shop, and extensive spa offering everything from saunas to massage. Exactly what amenities the Lawrence version will have is still being determined, DeWitt said. Plans continue to call for condo units to be located on the upper floors of the hotel.

A hotel has been viewed as a critical component for KU to turn its stadium site into what university leaders have dubbed the Gateway District. The district is envisioned to be a place that brings activity to the site at 11th and Mississippi streets – on the northern edge of KU’s campus – throughout the year, rather than just on KU gamedays.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Construction work at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is pictured on May 21, 2026.

A conference center with an approximately 1,000-seat banquet hall already is open. The center was built into the north end of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium as part of a more than $400 million partial renovation of the stadium that was completed last year.

KU has contracted with the national convention center operating firm Oak View Group to manage the conference center. OVG officials have said the center should put Lawrence in the running for significant conference and convention business, but having a hotel that is directly connected to the center will be key.

KU leaders also hope to have a host of restaurant and retail operations in the Gateway District. DeWitt said the hotel property’s first floor is expected to accommodate retail and restaurants. The project also will include multistory student housing buildings directly to the south of the hotel. It is possible those buildings also could house retail and restaurant offerings on their ground floors.

If you are having a hard time picturing the future location of those buildings, they’ll be located on what used to be the east parking lot for the football stadium. That, of course, brings up questions of parking. DeWitt confirmed that the hotel building – which will be at the northeast corner of the stadium – won’t have its own parking. Rather the student housing buildings will have two levels of garage parking. Those parking garages will provide parking for the approximately 400 units of student housing, for the hotel and also will be used on game days.

photo by: University of Kansas

A concept of KU’s Gateway District, as provided to the Lawrence City Commission for review.

That parking garage won’t necessarily be available for general conference center parking. Instead, as we’ve reported, KU is planning to build an approximately 125-space surface parking lot near the stadium – just northwest of 11th and Missouri streets – where the Sunflower apartments were located.

But KU officials have said they also are considering using a busing system to transport attendees from KU’s West Campus parking lot to the conference center, if parking at the stadium site isn’t adequate to handle large conference events.

How often that system would be needed isn’t clear, but it likely would depend on when the center is hosting large events. Evening events likely would be able to use university parking lots that are near the stadium. However, during daytime hours – especially when classes are in session – those lots are full. That would leave the conference center dependent upon the 125-space lot northwest of the 11th and Missouri streets, and the dedicated parking spaces for the hotel, which presumably would be around 150 spaces.

Together, that would be less than 300 spaces. If the conference center were hosting a 1,000-person conference during a weekday, that could leave the center short of on-site parking spaces.

During our brief interview, I didn’t ask DeWitt about the idea of using buses to bring convention-goers to the site or other parking plans. However, DeWitt indicated more parking proposals may be forthcoming.

“We’re looking at other parking options, as well,” he said.

This part of the Gateway District is a public-private partnership. Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate – the developer of the new Kansas City International airport – is serving as the master developer for the Gateway District. It has brought on other partners, including Kansas City-based Sunflower Development – which is building the student housing – and now Mackey’s group for the hotel.

The City of Lawrence also is a major partner in the project. It and the state agree to issue STAR Bonds for the development, which will allow sales tax revenues generated at the development and the area surrounding it to be captured and used to pay for infrastructure costs related to the district.

DeWitt said a key component of the project is expected to happen late this year when the city actually sells those STAR bonds, providing the developers with a stream of money to pay for the construction. Like any bond, there’s an interest rate attached to STAR bonds, which means KU and its partners will be closely watching the direction of interest rates, which are now predicted to rise this year.

Already, this phase of the Gateway District is anticipated to have a price tag of $300 million, but higher interest rates could impact those numbers significantly.