Will city get its high rise?

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BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star

Mayor Coleen Seng wants a developer to top off a planned city parking garage with a high-rise building of up to 25 stories. That plan, which got initial approval from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission on Wednesday, is a small part of a larger redevelopment project. But it's part that's most talked about.

The project includes the entire block bounded by Q, P, 13th and 14th streets and also includes a civic plaza. But skyscrapers are not an everyday — or even every decade —  occurrence in Lincoln.

The last one to be built was the 10-story Embassy Suites at 10th and P streets, which opened in 2000. Before that, the last high-rise built was the reconstructed Cornhusker hotel, completed in 1983. The last non-hotel high rise in the city was the 12-story Wells Fargo Center, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

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A new look for Lincoln's skyline? Here's an artist's conception of how a high-rise where the Star Ship 9 theater now stands could change the look of Lincoln. (Matt Van Driest)

A new look for Lincoln's skyline? Here's an artist's conception of how a high-rise where the Star Ship 9 theater now stands could change the look of Lincoln. (Matt Van Driest)

The Journal Star wondered who — beyond billionaire hotel magnate and Embassy Suites developer John Q. Hammons, who has already  made his interest known in building another downtown hotel — might have the means and desire to make such a stamp on downtown Lincoln.

Might a locally headquartered national company such as student loan provider Nelnet be interested in building a new company headquarters?

“It’s not something we’re pursuing at this time,” said Nelnet spokesman Ben Kiser.

He did call it an exciting project for Lincoln, though.

What about insurance company Ameritas?

Having just built an office complex in Fallbrook and having spent three years renovating its home office on O Street, “we’re pretty good on space,” said Jon Weinberg, vice president of real estate at Ameritas Investment Advisors.

But Weinberg, who helped work on the city’s Downtown Master Plan, said he thinks it’s likely a developer will come forward with a large residential project, including some sort of office and retail component.

“I wouldn’t bet on the 20 to 25 (stories), but you’re certainly going to see something in the teens,” he said.

Some developers are already eyeing the site, say those involved in the project.

Polly McMullen, president of the Downtown Lincoln Association, said the project has produced “high developer interest” including four or five Omaha companies that asked to be contacted when the city puts out requests for formal proposals.

Dallas McGee of the city’s Urban Development Department agreed.

“We’ve certainly had some very good preliminary interest,” he said.

Might someone have indicated they plan to build a large skyscraper?

“We haven’t had a lot of specifics on magnitude,” McGee said.

McMullen and McGee both said the project is being marketed regionally and nationally.

While McMullen said a high rise building would be feasible and a good addition to downtown, she said she hopes people don’t get fixated on that one possibility.

“From a DLA standpoint, a home run is not so much having a tall building, but having a wide range of uses on that block,” she said.

One of those is street-level retail, which McMullen called, “really, really important.”

Another use for the site might be as home to a major employer.

McMullen said site selectors are always scoping out potential locations for companies that want to move and expand. Lincoln, like Omaha, is a strong insurance and financial center and could attract a company in one of those industries.

With parking already taken care of, the site could be attractive to a large employer.

“This could be one of our few opportunities to attract a major employer to downtown,” McMullen said.

McGee said any proposal to bring a major employer to downtown Lincoln would get serious consideration from the city.

“That would be very attractive and we would all get excited about it very quickly,” he said. “I don’t think it would be the only thing we would get excited about, though.”

When the city sought redevelopment of another major downtown block — Block 35, where Embassy Suites is now — in 1996, it got proposals ranging from twin 12-story towers to a low-rise office complex.

McGee said he expects to see a similar variety of projects proposed this time around.

McGee said more details will come into focus once the plan has been approved by the City Council and requests for proposals go out, which he said will likely be in late April or early May.

“We’ll know more once the RFP is out on the street,” he said. “(But) I think it’s a very good sign that there is interest at this point.”

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