A pair of twin brother developers who are changing the landscape of downtown Lincoln have been chosen to work with the city on its arena project.

The mayor chose Robert and Will Scotts’ development team over Missouri hotel magnate John Q. Hammons’. He will officially announce the selection at a press conference this morning.

Hammons was the other finalist from an initial field of five teams vying to develop some portion of an arena and convention hotel.

Voters will decide next year  whether to green-light a new arena near the Haymarket to replace the 50-year-old Pershing Center.

The Scotts’ team — called Lincoln Traction Partners — proposed two hotels, a conference center, retail space, offices and condos. A 150-room hotel would be part of the arena, with about 70 rooms facing into the arena like club suites; 30 percent of those would have balconies, the rest windows. The team also proposed a 250-room hotel south of the arena.

All the buildings in the Scotts’ proposal have brick facades and resemble existing Haymarket buildings.

The plan includes three parking garages. The upper floors of the garages could be used for condos and the first floors for retail and restaurants.

“We’re honored to collaborate with the city of Lincoln, its citizens, the University of Nebraska and the 2015 Vision group to create a catalyst that will positively change the face of our capital city,” Will Scott said Monday.

However, Mayor Chris Beutler said the Scotts’ design is preliminary.

“Ultimately, the city’s going to decide the design of the arena,” Beutler said. He has selected DLR Group of Omaha to be the arena architect.

Beutler said he chose Lincoln Traction Partners due to the quality of its proposal and the team’s energy and creativity. He also saw an advantage to having local partners help explain the project to the public.

“I think they’re gonna go all-out to make this a centerpiece,” Beutler said.

Hammons proposed to finance and build a 250- to 325-room, four-diamond hotel and jointly finance a conference center. Beutler declined to release financial details but said the Scotts’ financing proposal was comparable.

“They were very comparable in terms of what they would bring to the equity picture,” Assistant Planning Director Kent Morgan said.

Beutler informed Hammons of his decision Monday morning.

“He was disappointed, but he was every bit the gentleman; he wished us well,” Beutler said.

While the Scott brothers have not done an arena before, their national partners have: Architectural firm Ellerbe Becket of Kansas City has designed more than 50 arenas, including the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena that so impressed Lincoln officials. 

The Scotts also partnered with commercial developer Woodbury Corp. of Salt Lake City, a firm that owns 14 hotels and has three more in the works.

While it appears the Scotts are the local face on a national team, their partners have Nebraska connections. James Poulson, Ellerbe Becket’s design director, is a native of Elm Creek and graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s architecture school. Three other members of the Ellerbe Becket team are also UNL graduates.

“There’s a few of us Cornhuskers or expats,” Poulson said Friday.

One of the Ellerbe Becket designers, Greg Brown, wrote his master’s thesis on Lincoln’s arena project. Brown showed his work to city officials at various points in the process. Poulson advised Brown on his thesis, and then hired him out of college.

Another member of the Scotts’ team is former Husker All-American offensive lineman Zach Wiegert, who returned to Nebraska as Midwest representative for hotel developer Woodbury Corp.  The Fremont native was a friend of the Scotts in college.

The Scotts have touted their local connection to the project —their office is in the Haymarket and they’ve developed several properties downtown and in the Haymarket.

The Scotts and Woodbury are already partners in developing a Haymarket “arts and humanities” block of art galleries, performance spaces, specialty shops and condos.

In their pitch to the city, Lincoln Traction Partners portrayed its proposal as having the potential to inspire a reinvigoration that rivals that of Indianapolis.

Former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, who played a major role in developing Conseco Fieldhouse and revitalizing the city’s downtown, has been a financial consultant to the Scotts’ team.

City officials will soon begin negotiations with the Scotts’ team on a redevelopment agreement.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.