Steven Bartkoski

Lindsey Stinson, Bixby, Okla., junior, and Samantha Key, Sabetha junior, lounge and watch TV yesterday under their gazebo-like living room at the Four Wheel Drive Townhouses located behind Sears. Stinson first discovered them in a classified advertisement in The Kansan. When asked about the oddly-shaped houses, Key replied, “When you walk in them you laugh, and then you fall in love with it.”

Former churches and even retail malls in Lawrence are quickly becoming apartments and townhomes, all in an effort by landlords to use unique structures to draw students and other new clients to their properties.

Interesting buildings can bring in a variety of people, including students, Samantha Key, Sabetha junior, said. Key lives in the Four Wheel Drive Townhouses, located at 2859 Four Wheel Drive Road.

All 14 units are circular in shape, both inside and out. This unique style was not initially attractive to Key, but she grew to like it.

“When I first saw them, I though they were weird,” Key said, after having been a tenant for almost a year. “But they are so beautiful and different.”

The apartment setup also provides her amenities that would be hard to find elsewhere.

“I have a gazebo in my apartment,” she said.

The townhomes, located in southern Lawrence, were built as a retail shopping mall in the early 1990’s, said Kathryn Franklin, office manager for the townhomes. But after the River Front Mall was built, the property owners decided to transform the mall into rentals.

A church, which was built in the late 1800s and is now located at 1001 Kentucky St., also has been transformed. It is now a home for students and even a small business, Little Springs Design, said Aspen Junge, network operations professional for the company.

“I remember when we looked at it, thinking how cool it was,” Junge said.

The small business operates out of the location because of its close proximity to downtown, Junge said. The cost for their apartment, which Junge said was more than $600 per month, is cheaper than if the business were on Massachusetts Street.

“It’s cool, but you pay for the ‘cool factor,’” Junge said.

Each property has its own quirks, though. Tenants living at 1001 Kentucky St. battle for parking spaces as much as those in the residence halls. The lot was not designed to have a big parking lot, Junge said.