10
Friday, April 16, 1976
University Daily Kansan
Home builders endure high costs
By DAN BOWERMAN
Staff Writer
House construction and sales are up in Lawrence, but so are the prices.
According to two realtors, two house builders and a mobile home dealer, the local market is good. But some people are being excluded because of prices.
"The problem is that we have prized the consumer out of the market," Daryl Beene, treasurer of Harris Construction Co., Inc., said. "We don't want to trap them into a rental situation."
According to figures compiled by the Lawrence building inspection department, the housing market is booming despite prices.
THE DEPARTMENT'S figures show that 84 building permits for single family dwellings were issued in the first three months of 1976, including 43 issued in March alone. Last year at this time, only 32 single-family dwelling permits had been issued.
"This has been, and will be a good year," Robert L. Elder, co-owner of Western Home Builders, Inc., 3401 W. 24th, said, "Everbody is busy."
Steve Jones, sales coordinator for McGrew Real Estate, Inc., 901 Kentucky, said the market had been better for the first quarter of this year than in previous years.
"The market is very, very active, and it will probably remain so for awhile," he said.
HOUSE construction is up, but inflation has incensed homes to 10 to 12 per cent according to a report.
Bill Rutherford, realtor for Holmes Peck
and Brown Real Estate, Inc., 16800 E.
Nassau Ave. New York, NY 10027
sale this year came to about $39,000. He said he would have cost about $65,000 last year.
Rising prices for homes could be at tributed to rising costs in land, material and labor, he said, but inflation hasn't affected the Lawrence market.
"Business is comparable or better than last year." Rutherford said.
"Lawrence is an economic oasis—we've never dried up," he said.
He said Lawrence hadn't experienced a major drop in home sales during the recession last year. Jones expressed the same view.
JONES SAID Lawrence wasn't like the national scene because of the University influence, the size of the town and the stable agricultural influence. He also said the Midwest was more stable than other parts of the country.
However, Beene expressed concern that adequate housing wasn't being provided for couples just entering the job market and those on fixed incomes.
"We need to find a solution to the problem of creating adequate housing for the average family," he said. "We are decreasing the size of the population in the new home."
BILL WEBER, owner of Webster's
Holmes Bowers, 340W 6th, said he thought
that a new website was needed.
"Stick-built homes are beyond the means of most people," he said. "Mobile homes can provide safe, nice and cheap homes for these people."
Webster said sales had been good this year, but they were "terrible" last year.
He said that during the recession last year people stayed in the residence halls, with
their parents or in apartments. He said that we were leery of purchasing mobile homes.
BECAUSE of the upturn in the economy, he said, people are coming out of the city and going back to private than apartments, give access to easy parking and offer more security, he said. Also, because we are anchoring mobile applications available, we are as safe as regular homes, he said.
Webster said there hadn't been any major price increases in mobile homes in the last year and a half although there were considerable increases before that.
Elder said that his average house, which cost from $30,000 to $40,000, had about 1,500 square feet.
NEW MOBILE homes are priced from $6,500, he said. There are about 750 square feet of living space in cheaper models and larger ones. The homes of Webster's homes are furnished, he said.
Beech said he thought his firm's average house sold for about $70,000, with houses selling for under $40,000.
"We currently build custom homes," he said. "Consequently, it runs into a larger expense."
HE SAID Harris Construction Co. was working on a development for low-income families where homes might be available within the next 18 months.
Jones said that although new home construction was up, the largest component of the residential real estate market was existing homes.
He said the buyer of a new house started a chain reaction. One person would buy a new house, and someone would move into the old house.
Cancer researched in Lawrence
By CHRISTINE TYLER
It would probably come as little surprise to anyone that cancer research is done at the KU Medical Center, but there is also a place where you are being conducted on the Lawrence campus.
The research done here includes basic research by people with a variety of specialties. Faculty members and students in pharmacology, chemistry, physics, biochemistry and biology are all working on that could contribute to a cure for cancer.
Many KU researchers work with researchers from the Med Center, Kansas State University and the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, Mo., as participants in the Mid American Cancer Center Program (MACCP).
The MACCP functions primarily through two committees, one on research and one on engineering.
The research committee recommends small research grants and grants for the undergraduate community, and the committee offers stipends to students and works with cancer education, according to Paul Kitos, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Lawrence and Med Center campuses.
Kitos said recently that his own studies dealt with cell growth and reproduction and revealed how cells develop.
cancer studies. He said he was mainly concerned with finding what controls inflammation.
Another researcher, Mathias Mertes, professor of medicinal chemistry, said his lab's research was concerned with designing and making new chemicals and with the basic mechanics of making better drugs.
Mertes said his lab worked with basic compounds. Compounds with high potential are sent to the National Cancer Research Center and used to be used by humans for three to five years.
Another approach to basic cancer research is virology, the study of viruses. Henry Stone, assistant professor of medicine at McGraw-Hill University and teaches a course in tumor virology.
He is researching how a virus controls its products, he said. His basic research is done with Newcastle's disease, a highly contagious virus, rather than with cancer.
Much of the cancer-related research on the KU campus is done by faculty members and graduate students although some is conducted by undergraduate students.
Ann Warner, Hutchinson sophomore, recently received a $1,200 grant from MACCP for a study on immunology- how microbes respond to environmental stimuli.
Warner said she was doing the study as
awkward not applied, research, "the just to find out
what it is"
Steve Hornung, Colby junior, was also given a $1,200 grant by the MACCP. His will try to determine what is needed to produce a biologically stable, low-molecular-weight polymer that could adhere to cell membranes or enhance control genetics, he said.
Hormung's research could be applied to cancer drug research, he said, because cancer is sometimes caused by altered gene activity.
DANCING LIVE MUSIC
5 Nights a Week No Cover
NEW MODERN DECOR
Sandwiches - Pizza Pool - American Shuffleboard
Entertaining Night People with cold beverages a
big part of their evening. The atmosphere is designed for sweet味道 and gentle
530 Wisconsin Behind 66 Station
New Member/Available Class
Class of Private Club
—12—
—7— DAYS—
Waime Pol-owner
Three buildings now being built for $15.3 million
Visitors to the campus this weekend may notice three major buildings under construction that will cost more than $15.3 million to build.
A new law center, about 50 per ceim completed is accessed from Learned Hall, McGraw-Hill. The total cost of the project is $4.94 million and the building is expected to be completed in September 1977, R. Keith Lawton, dept. of facilities planning, said yesterday.
The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum,
under construction west of the Kansas
841-0817
Union, is also about 50 per cent completed,
Lawton said. Total cost of that project is
$4.62 million and the building is scheduled to
open in January 1978.
A visual arts building is also under construction at the corner of 15th and Naismith Drive between Marvin and Lindley Halls. Total cost of that project is $7.57 million and the building should be completed by the spring of 1978, Lawton said.
Plans are being made for the construction of a computation center and an addition to the building.
Relays Special
4 Pretzels for $1 (regular $1.45) Friday-Sunday
Regular Special:
Mon.-Thurs.
1-5 p.m.
3 pretzels & a pitcher of Coors for '2
The River City Jazz Band saturday april 17th on the sundeck Kansas Union - level 6-2 to 5pm
WELCOME TO THE KU RELAYS 1976.
It's all here this weekend! All the colors and crowds of a big collegiate event: open houses, a lot of fun, special exhibits, and of course-never enough room to park.
When the day is over and it's time for dinner and a night out-you'll be looking for a place to go that's away from all the crowds but still very exciting. Come to the International. Relax with our special beverages, enjoy a good meal, and then dance your way through the evening to the sounds of our D.J.
IT'S A FUN WEEKEND. MAKE IT A FUN NIGHT.
12-2 p.m.-general public 2 p.m.-3 a.m.-members only 7 days a week
944 Massachusetts 842-2458