LAWRENCE, Kan. (KWCH) – In August of 2023, the future home of Jayhawk football was announced. A reimagined David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium along with a new conference center, a combination of new retail, dining and other amenities. Today phase one of construction is well underway. 12 News met with University of Kansas athletic director Travis Goff on an update of the project nine months since the announcement.

“Obviously you have some steel now starting to raise up,” Goff said. “We’re going vertical and it’s taking shape. I don’t want to say they’re ahead of schedule but thus far they’re on schedule.”

The Jayhawks were originally slated to play their upcoming 2024 season at the site of the construction on David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, but a pivot was made – specifically up the Kansas Turnpike.

KU came to an agreement with Sporting Kansas City and the Kansas City Chiefs to play their home schedule in Children’s Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium, rather than in Lawrence.

Goff said the quick pivot to Kansas City that was officially announced just two months after the final home game of the 2023 season was due to making sure the experience of a Jayhawk football game wasn’t lessened.

“Out of the gates, the notion was ‘Let’s find a way to play through the construction on campus,’” Goff said. “‘As things evolved the fan experience wasn’t even going to come close to what we’d aspire for it to be.’”

Although the playing conditions in Lawrence aren’t near ready for football to be played this August, Goff reassured that the fundraising for the stadium is well on its way.

“We’ve raised well over $150 million to secure this $50 million dollar grant,” Goff explained. “Athletics will do some borrowing, of course, to take on some debt service to fund a small portion of that $450 million goal, but we feel good about the pathway and of course the fundraising has been the catalyst to get this done.”

With the move to Kansas City fans in Lawrence will end up having to wait nearly 21 months to see a football game on campus, but Goff said the wait for it to return to Lawrence will be worthwhile for the finished product of phase one.

“Our people deserve it if we’re being honest,” he said. “We haven’t always been able to provide world class fan experience.”

The Jayhawks begin their season at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City on August 29 against Lindenwood.

Copyright 2024 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com

SALINA, Kan. (KWCH) – This week marks Holocaust remembrance and with that came an opportunity for a crowd gathered in Salina to hear from a Kansas woman who survived Nazi Germany and told her life story in her 2020 memoir, “Surviving Hitler, Evading Stalin: One Woman’s Remarkable Escape from Nazi Germany.”

Speaking in Salina Tuesday, 95-year-old Mildred Schindler Janzen recounted her experiences, including separating from her family as a teenager and coming to the U.S. where she eventually settled in Kansas.

“I finally got to the place I was supposed to be,” she said, drawing applause from the Salina audience.

Janzen’s journey to a new life began in February 1945 when Russian soldiers invaded her family’s farm in Germany. Her memoir, detailing how she started over in Kansas has inspired many, including a high school classmate.

“The situation she had to endure during her time, it just…She’s a very strong woman, let’s up it that way,” former classmate Hazel Tilton said.

Janzen’s story also inspires newer generations, including school children across Kansas. For them, she has a special message.

“I want our young people to know that this can happen and I want them to know to be so proud to be American and to live in a country that’s free,” she said, referencing the difference between the history that unfolded in the country in which she was born and the nation she’s called home for nearly 80 years.

On Tuesday, Janzen spoke at Salina Presbyterian Manor. She’ll share her story again on Friday speaking with students at Chapman Middle School.

You can learn more about Janzen, her story, and her memoir here: https://www.sheryesimmonsgreen.com/survivinghitlerevadingstalin.

Copyright 2024 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com

A freshly negotiated lease agreement with the developer behind the lightwell building in downtown Kansas City means WeWork will continue its two-floor coworking and flexible office space operation in the heart of the city’s central business district.

WeWork has officially completed its lease rationalization with the assumption of its lightwell location contract, the company said Monday, noting a successful negotiation with its landlord partner, SomeraRoad.

From the archives: Reimagined lightwell ready to take innovation hub mantle as KC’s tech talent return to the office

“WeWork has attracted a dynamic mix of the city’s most innovative startups, freelancers and creatives, and long-established Kansas City businesses to lightwell,” said Ian Holland, senior associate at SomeraRoad. “WeWork’s desire to remain at lightwell is a testament to the building’s best-in-class offerings and amenities. Alongside WeWork, we look forward to continuing to offer a best-in-market office experience at lightwell for years to come.”

Click here to learn more about WeWork’s space at lightwell.

The news follows WeWork’s confirmation in March that the coworking pioneer was closing its once-vaunted Corrigan Station location in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District as part of a massive company restructuring that came on the heels of a November 2023 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

ICYMI: WeWork closing Corrigan Station, once a core hub for Kansas City’s startup community

WeWork expects to continue its operations in Kansas City into the future and there will be no further changes to its real estate portfolio in the market as part of its global lease restructuring, the company said.

WeWork at lightwell in downtown Kansas City; photo courtesy of WeWork

The WeWork space within lightwell’s 30-story skyscraper features sought-after lounges, rooftop deck, conference rooms and amenities — in addition to private offices and drop-in areas — all within walking distance of the Power and Light District and T-Mobile Center.

The location was developed alongside SomeraRoad’s massive renovation of the towering downtown building, debuting the coworking concept’s nearly 100,000-square-foot footprint in 2020 just as the global COVID-19 pandemic began.

“We are grateful to SomeraRoad for their collaboration and support in reaching this mutually beneficial outcome,” said Melissa Visoky, senior director of real estate at WeWork. “In this challenging macro environment, it is important to be thoughtful and creative in finding solutions that align the interests of our companies.” 

“Through this new agreement, we both stand to share in anticipated future success,” she continued. “The lightwell building is a one-of-a-kind asset in Kansas City, and we are excited to continue to offer a high-quality working experience from the building.”

In addition to the new terms reached with SomeraRoad, WeWork on Monday assumed 15 other leases in the U.S. and Canada.

SomeraRoad also is making headlines in Kansas City for its extensive redevelopment project in the West Bottoms.