LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 91-year-old Lawrence woman has so far resisted a developer’s offer of $600,000 for the modest home she bought for $850 decades ago.
Georgia Bell told The Kansas City Star she has nowhere else to go if she leaves the small one-bedroom home where she’s lived since 1946. The home has appraised for about $93,500.
Lawrence officials and the developer, Jim Heffernan of HERE LLC, have made it clear that Bell can stay in her home. No one is talking about forcing her out through eminent domain.
But city officials have approved the HERE project, and Heffernan says construction will begin later this year, regardless of what Bell decides. If she decides to stay, Bell’s home will be within the middle of the U-shaped complex.