The Kansas Board of Regents yesterday approved a Univ. of Kansas proposal to build a $17.5M apartment complex that "would house as many as 32 of the school’s men’s and women’s basketball players," according to Rustin Dodd of the K.C. STAR. The facility, "to be located south of Allen Fieldhouse on Naismith Drive, is tentatively scheduled to open" for the '16-17 school year. KU officials said that the project is partially an "investment in the school’s tradition-rich men’s basketball program, specifically in the area of recruiting." KU basketball players "currently live in the Jayhawker Towers apartments, and Kansas coach Bill Self said last week that KU’s current housing setup was far behind its biggest recruiting competitors." KU officials added that the Fieldhouse Apartments "will be financed by private donors and bonds that will be paid off by revenues from the new complex." To comply with NCAA rules "against exclusive housing for athletes, at least half of the residents of the proposed project will have to be non-athletes" (K.C. STAR, 1/16). KU Chief Business & Financial Planning Officer Theresa Gordzica said that the price "may seem high, but it also includes a commons area, a kitchen, parking lot and a half-court basketball court" (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, 1/16).
