Lawrence buys former Journal-World press site for City Hall annex

Lawrence locked down a downtown property that could become its next City Hall annex, with commissioners unanimously approving a $2.1 million purchase of the former Lawrence Journal-World printing plant. The deal covers 609 New Hampshire St. and 630 Massachusetts St., a site directly across the street from the current City Hall at 6 E. Sixth St. and squarely inside the city’s long-running effort to ease a space crunch downtown.

The purchase matters because the existing City Hall, built in 1980, is about 35,500 square feet, and city staff have said that is no longer enough room for the workforce and services Lawrence is trying to house. City documents describe the City Hall Reconfiguration Project as a five-year phased plan to address space needs, ADA compliance, security issues and the reworking of office space. The press site gives the city a rare chance to expand immediately across the street from its headquarters, instead of forcing every department into the same aging building.

City officials are not rushing into the roughly $21 million renovation bill that consultants and staff say would eventually be needed. For now, the purchase secures the property and preserves options for a future annex, while leaving the larger design and funding decisions for later. The broader goal is to make City Hall function better for residents who rely on city services, including offices that have been squeezed by the move of Planning and the need to reorganize space for Utility Billing and other departments.

Multistudio, the local design firm advising the city, looked at the former press site alongside the Reuter building and the old Borders building before recommending the newspaper property. Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire has pointed to the amount of space there and the chance to coordinate services more efficiently. The city had already tried a different downtown fix in 2024, pursuing a building near Sixth and Iowa streets, but that effort collapsed after heavy public backlash, giving this deal a sharper political edge as well as a practical one.

The property also comes with deep downtown history. The Lawrence Journal-World moved to 609 New Hampshire St. in 1955 after its earlier home at 722 Massachusetts St. burned in a fire that also destroyed the Bowersock Opera House. The building is owned by The World Company, which is associated with the Simons family. Downtown Lawrence design guidelines are meant to preserve the historic core, and the former press site has already drawn changing redevelopment ideas, including a 2024 proposal that envisioned a Q39 restaurant, a courtyard and event space. For now, Lawrence has chosen to keep the block in public play, betting that this corner of downtown can solve a City Hall problem that has been building for years.