Development planned on downtown parking lot site

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BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star

First, a parking garage will rise.  And then, hopefully, development will follow. That’s the vision for a downtown block bounded by 10th, 11th, M and N streets, just south of Gold’s Galleria.

In addition to the parking garage — three or four stories and about 550 stalls, including 90 secure underground spots — a plan from Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects shows almost 19,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, including a bank, small grocery and deli, and other retail uses.

Upper floors could have a combination of commercial and residential space in the form of 40 1,000-square-foot lofts. And there could be a skywalk over N Street leading to the Gold’s building.

The project has generated interest from potential tenants, including banks, hotels, housing developers and a family entertainment company, said Dan Spiry of Bahr Vermeer Haecker.

But with nothing nailed down, the design is flexible, Spiry said.

“We’re really in what I call a formative stage,” he said.

Spiry said the plan is to get a more concrete idea over the next month of potential tenants and get started on the parking structure.

Potential commercial and residential portions of the project will be driven by demand, he said.

Tapping that demand shouldn’t be a problem, said Polly McMullen, president of the Downtown Lincoln Association.

McMullen called the project “the best of both worlds” — a parking lot will be developed into a better and higher use, and the number of available stalls will more than double.

“This is really a home run from a parking standpoint as well as a development standpoint,” she said.

McMullen said the project is a rare opportunity in downtown because the block is owned by one person — Randy Acher, who also owns Acher Arms.

Most downtown blocks have multiple owners, she said, meaning large developments are difficult unless they are part of a city project.

The land is zoned for the uses envisioned by the developer, so the project could likely proceed without going before the city-county Planning Commission.

But it likely will be eligible for tax increment financing, Spiry and McMullen said. If the project goes that route, which would allow property taxes generated by the project to be used for improvements, the developer would have to negotiate with the city and the project would have to be approved by the Planning Commission and City Council.

Because of that possibility and the fact there are no committed tenants yet, Spiry said the project has no strict timetable.

“But the potential is there for sometime in 2007, summer or later, for the first phases to be opening up.”

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.