Panera Bread has become the first business to take advantage of a fund created to help attract retail business to downtown.

Panera plans to open sometime this summer on the first floor of Arbor Day Plaza, 211 N. 12th St.

To help with the costs of bringing Panera to its space, the Arbor Day Foundation is receiving $35,000 from the Downtown Civic Ventures fund to help with improvements .

Downtown Lincoln Association President Terry Uland said the money,in the form of a forgivable loan, can be used toward permanent tenant improvements, such as bathrooms and heating and cooling work.

The fund, which was started a few months ago at the behest of the 2015 Vision group, pools mostly private donations with a $100,000 one-time grant from the city, which the City Council approved just within the past two weeks.

The fund's purpose is to attract retail businesses to the P and Q Street corridors.

Uland said a 2008 consultant's study identified Panera Bread as an excellent recruitment target for downtown Lincoln.

"Panera Bread is a perfect fit for the community," Uland said. "Panera will appeal to university students, faculty and staff, people working downtown as well as visitors to our city for sports and cultural events."

Matt Harris, president of the Arbor Day Foundation, said his organization participated in the master plan for downtown Lincoln and wanted to create something positive for the community with its available space.

"Our goal was to keep retail space in Arbor Day Plaza and we think Panera Bread is ideal for this location," said Harris, whose space has been vacant since the concept of redeveloping the first floor was conceived several years ago.

When the fund was created several months ago, its aim was to bring 15 new businesses downtown within five years.

City Council Chairwoman Robin Eschliman said she hopes Panera's move is the start of a "surge of momentum that will bring an eclectic and unusual mix of local, regional and national retailers to Lincoln."

Uland said the DLA has had discussions with a couple of other potential new downtown businesses, but "nothing is in the pipeline at this moment."

Panera, which specializes in soups and sandwiches, has two other Lincoln locations - in SouthPointe Pavilions Mall and at 201 N. 66th St., on the outskirts of Westfield Gateway.

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