For Sale: Historic Lawrence Turnhalle
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LPA’s longrunning effort to preserve and revive the historic Turnalle building (built in 1869) at the corner of 9th and Rhode Island streets has taken another turn: The current owner, Flint Hills Holding Group LLC, has decided to offer the building for sale. Considering the current economy and the scope of the challenge that rehabilitiating the Turnhalle presents, it seems best for the building to have a new owner.
LPA supports the sale and is confident that the Turnhalle will be protected. Turnhalle is listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places as a contributing property in the North Rhode Island Historic District. LPA also listed Turnhalle as a Landmark on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places while we owned it from 2012 to 2014.
Even more important, LPA has a Historic Preservation Covenant for Turnhalle. That “Running With The Land” covenant gives LPA rights in perpetuity to ensure the preservation of Turnhalle. LPA must be consulted and provide our approval for any project that impacts the character-defining features listed in the Historic Structure Report that was done for the LPA shortly after our purchase of the building. These rights remain in force for all future owners of Turnhalle. The Kansas Historical Society website has copies of the Historic Structure Report and the Historic Preservation Covenant.
LPA also owns the parking lot directly across E. Ninth Street from the Turnhalle, which we purchased to leverage rehabilitation of Turnhalle. Any major project at Turnhalle will require parking.
We hope that the right buyer will now come forward and invest in this important Lawrence landmark. Once again, we’d like to thank all our members and donors who joined with LPA to make our work on Turnhalle possible. More information on the history of the building and the work we completed can be found here.
Photo on left courtesy of The Kansas State Historical Society; photo at right courtesy of Watkins Community Museum of History as printed in "Lawrence:: Survivors of Quantrill's Raid" by Katie Armitage.
