Bulk of Lincoln's residential growth focused in burgeoning apartment building projects

Last year's apartment building boom drove the second-highest residential construction year of the last eight years, and marked the third time in the last eight years the city had more than 1,000 apartments built. 

This uptick in apartment construction followed a jump from 299 new apartments in 2016 to more than 700 in 2017 and 2018. Crews put up 1,077 new units in 2015, the data shows. 

Those apartments accounted for more than half of all new residential units built last year in Lincoln, the city reported. 

City officials believe a mix of construction trends, the appeal of apartments, realities of home ownership and Lincoln's development climate contributed to the trend. 

Per-unit construction costs have made building apartments an appealing investment in Lincoln and elsewhere in the U.S., Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Director David Cary said.

There's also been steady demand for apartment housing, with some of the building in the last decade targeting students as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln aimed to grow its enrollment to 30,000 students. 

To those searching for housing, apartments offer the flexibility of moving quicker, and generally rent can be less expensive than home ownership, where mortgage payments, maintenance costs and property taxes can add up, Cary said.

Some of the appeal for apartment living may stem from the wave of home foreclosures that were followed by the economic recession in the mid- to late-2000s, city leaders said.  

"People who are under 35 saw their parents go through a lot of crisis," said Dan Marvin, the city's Urban Development director. "They didn't want to go that route."

Nearly 2 in 5 Americans that Gallup polled in 2018 said they didn't believe they would buy a home any time in the foreseeable future. 

By comparison, the poll found about 1 in 10 people said they planned to buy a home in the next year and 1 in 3 planned to buy one in the next five years.

Building on the market and growth realities, the city blueprint that's guided construction in Lincoln for most of the last decade set a goal of having apartments account for 40% of new housing.

Actual apartment construction has exceeded that goal by 5 percentage points, according to the Planning Department.

Currently, there are high-rise apartment buildings going up in the Telegraph District, the first new housing units in what's seen as a major redevelopment project.

Downtown, plans have been approved for an apartment project at Ninth and M streets, with another possible at Ninth and P. And development tied to Pinnacle Bank Arena is expected to add more apartments in the South Haymarket, adjacent to what city leaders foresee as a downtown park.

There also are plans to put up an apartment complex just west of Gateway Mall, and Chateau Development has eyed a 54-acre parcel of Yankee Hill Country Club for an apartment complex that could eventually grow to 860 units.

Officials said much of the infill in Lincoln's core has been achieved through apartment projects, while new home construction dominates residential growth on the city's edges.

That works for city officials, who expressed support for new apartment construction from a planning standpoint as the percentage of Lincoln residents renting grew from 35.5% in 2000 to 36% in 2010 and 38.8% in the latest census estimates.

"In that sense, we have made it a welcoming environment," Cary said.

Photos: New construction in Lincoln