6C ON THE HILL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2006
BUSINESS
Watering hole may dry out
An attorney bought The Crossing and plans to tear it down to build a five-story residential complex
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
Contributed photo This artist's rendering shows the preliminary development plan for Indiana and 12th Streets, where The Crossing is located. A Manhattan attorney bought the building and plans to build a five-story commercial and residential development.
A local bar's future is in doubt after the sale its property this past summer. Many students, alumni and residents are upset that The Crossing, a campus staple, could be replaced with a structure that
Contributed photo
be repaired with
would strip the
uniqueness away
from a town that
tried so hard to
hold onto to the
things that made
it special.
"The Crossing is as much of an institution as anything else at KU," Tony Esparza, a 2001
through."
Esparza said he used to live two blocks away on Ohio Street and would stop by The Crossing on his way home from class on Fridays.
Lisa Meinen, a 2005 alumna said The Crossing was close
"The Crossing is as much of an institution as anything else at KU."
alumnus said. "It's hard to know that nothing is how it was when you went
TONY ESPARZA
2001 alumnus
enough to campus that a student could grab a beer between classes.
"W hat other bar is on the bus line," she asked.
day as The Crossing — has endured five other names and several changes in ownership since it first opened in 1923.
The Rock Chalk Café known to-
One thing has remained constant. The little watering hole at the corner of 12th and Indiana streets has always been a favorite of KU students, alumni and Lawrence residents.
The land where The Crossing now sits was once the site of the University's campus stables. Students rode their horses up 12th street, which was the least sloped street leading up to campus. They would leave their horses and walk to class, according to Jacob Shipley, a 2001 alumnus and former manager of The Crossing who wrote a paper about the history of The Crossing as a student.
"It's been a watering hole for both students and horses for some
time," Shipley said.
What is now known as Yello Sub began when The Crossing was called The Flagship International in the mid-1970s. Sandwiches were sold out of the back of the building. At $^{\textcircled{2}}$ that time, The Crossing was remodeled so the front resembled the back of a ship, Shipley said. Yello Sub moved to its current location, 624
W. 12th St., in the late-1970s.
Manhattan attorney, Robert Pottroff, a Kansas Law graduate, bought the property that houses The Crossing, 618 W. 12th St. with the intention of building a five story residential complex with retail stores on the bottom floor.
SEE CROSSING ON PAGE 11C