34 signs of progress in Lincoln

Fallbrook's Town Center, a burgeoning neighborhood in northwest Lincoln, has a new tenant and another coming soon. The full-service salon Sapa Nail Spa opened in December, and SchillingBridge Winery & Microbrewery in Pawnee City has announced plans to open this spring.

Construction on Project Oscar, the new commercial building at Canopy and P streets in the West Haymarket, is on schedule. The building will provide headquarters space for the engineering firm Olsson Associates, which plans to move into the second and third floors in August. Yet to be announced is the fourth-floor tenant and occupants of first-floor retail space.

Four new CVS pharmacies opened in 2013, all of them replacing older stores. The 70th and O streets location opened in December and marked the end of a significant building boom for the health care company. Since 2010, CVS also opened three new locations in parts of the city it did not previously serve.

Lincoln's historic neighborhoods along 48th Street, including College View in the south and University Place in the north, still hold onto a unique identity while the array of neighborhood shops continues to grow. College View is anchored by Union College; University Place is home to Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Since the Lincoln Bike Kitchen opened shop at 1635 S. First St., Suite 1, the volunteer repair staff have fixed more than 700 bikes and donated 124 bicycles they rebuilt or repaired to people in need. The kitchen is looking to build on those numbers, so they’re asking people to become members. For more, go to lincolnbikekitchen.org.

3 Landmark, an office building with some underground parking, is under construction at 1128 Lincoln Mall. NEBCO Inc. will lease more than 90,000 square feet of space in the building, which is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

McKinney's Irish Pub opened in November in the old Salvation Army building at Eighth and P streets, next door to the Rodizio Grill. The pub stocks a large selection of craft beer and Irish whiskeys. Beginning in March it will offer a food menu with options like corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie and bangers and mash.

Carma Bryan started City Impact with her husband, Brad, in 1997. Right now, they rent space at 27th and R streets, but plan to open their own education center next to Peter Pan Park in the spring. At the center, they’ll teach kids to read, cook, dance and study the Bible, Bryan said.

Infrastructure work underway at the new downtown civic plaza at 13th and P streets should wrap up by the end of March. The surface of the plaza will be installed in April and May and trees and plants will be added. The artistic glass tower that will dominate the space will be installed in June.

Lincoln Public School’s new $4.4 million Don D. Sherrill Education Center opened this fall at 330 N. 56th St. for elementary and middle school students with serious behavior problems. It replaced a renovated church at the same location, where the program had operated for many years.

Construction of a new bridge over railroad tracks will leave Southwest 40th Street closed at West F Street for two years. Southwest 40th, which runs past the new Lancaster County jail, is scheduled to reopen in August 2015.

Gary and Tamara Schubert are owners of a 19,000-square-foot Planet Fitness being built at 3020 North Hill Road off North 27th Street. The Schuberts plan to begin selling memberships — $10 or $20 a month, depending on the package — in March and expect to see the gym completed two to three months after that.

The P Street District renovation, planned for blocks between 11th Street and Centennial Mall, is an effort to beautify the corridor between Union Plaza and the Haymarket. Once complete this summer, the $6.6 million project will provide for wider sidewalks, new lighting and pedestrian-friendly crosswalks.

QP Ace Hardware took over the CVS spot at Northwoods Shopping Center, 14th and Superior. CVS leveled part of the center -- the hardware store’s former home -- to build a free-standing store with a drive-through pharmacy. The revamped hardware store opened Monday; its grand opening is April 11–13.

University Suites on the corner of 18th and R streets is expanding suite-style living options for University or Nebraska-Lincoln students. The suites opened last fall and feature 512 beds. This fall, 513 new beds will be open for students on the east side of the building as part of a $73.1 million project.

Rathbone Village, a neighborhood hub at 32nd and South streets, includes Henry’s on South, a European bistro and wine bar that has dinner customers filling its tables for nightly specials, and Iron Tail, a custom framing and gallery next door that has added gallery shows, making it a great First Friday stop.

MoMo, set to open March 18 at Pioneers Boulevard and Lucille Drive, will serve Italian Neapolitan style, wood-fired hearth oven pizzas, tapas, appetizers, sandwiches, salads, soups and other dinner entrées. “Not everyone will get MoMo," said owner Anthony Bonelli, "but for those that do it will be extraordinary."

Horizon Food Service, a Burger King franchisee, plans to renovate the Burger King restaurant at 5940 Havelock Ave. The $250,000 renovation will include exterior work and remodeling of the dining room, including installation of a flat-screen TV. Work should be finished by April.

Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are more plugged-in than ever. Interactive touchscreens installed at the College of Business Administration, Campus Recreation Center and Memorial Stadium for $87,000 provide announcements, while also allowing users to scroll for more information.

Erik Hustad and Gabe Lovelace started slinging food out of a truck in late 2011. Three years later, they’ve opened Honest Abe’s Burgers, Sebastian’s Table, Sasquatch Bakery and now have plans to open a sandwich shop in the Wells Fargo Center downtown featuring fan favorites from their GUP Kitchen food truck.

In December, a clear view into an expansive art gallery replaced the ukuleles once displayed in the storefront of Dietze Music House. Kiechel Fine Art’s new three-story home at 1208 O St. allows for displays of long-held collections and contemporary exhibitions, and there was room left over for a wine bar.

Nothing worse than having to brake at the end of the Jamaica North Trail for that 90-degree turn onto the Salt Creek Levee Trail -- especially when a south wind is blowing your bike back to town. This fall, you won’t have to. The city is spending $600,000 to extend the Jamaica to Fourth and A streets.

Shoppers will be able to fill up on chicken strips, then walk a few feet and find a comfy mattress for their post-fried food siesta in late February, when Raising Cane's and Labeda Mattress open in new, side-by-side buildings at 28th Street and Cornhusker Highway.

Piedmont, one of the city’s oldest shopping centers, is getting a facelift. True Value Hardware and Bernina Sewing Center have opened stores in the mall at 1256 S. Cotner Blvd. Coming soon are Cotner Pet Care, Gloria Deo and a CoreCare Chiropractic.

A towering 3,200-square-foot structure at 14th and W streets is the most striking result of the YES 2 Better Rec Centers referendum approved by University of Nebraska-Lincoln students in 2010. The Outdoor Adventure Center, set to open in mid-April, will be home to an expanded bike shop and a 42-foot climbing wall.

Loft & Craft, a business selling refinished furniture and accessories with a modern edge, sprouted up in the Parrish Studios at 1416 O St., Suite 16, in September, adding to a cool collection of unique and arty businesses open Fridays and Saturdays.

Northeast Lincoln residents will soon be able to get an Amigo’s soft taco at 84th and Holdrege streets. The chain’s newest Lincoln location is the fourth Lincoln drive-thru, and one of the chain’s 14 Lincoln stores and 25 locations statewide.

Construction on a new St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and Newman Center is on schedule near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. The former church was demolished in March and its replacement is set to open around Easter in 2015. New facilities for the Newman Center are set to open later this year.

The framing is almost complete on a 16,000-square-foot medical office building near 40th and Lake streets. The one-story building will house Antelope Creek Family Physicians as well as a branch of Saint Elizabeth Sports & Physical Therapy. A May opening is planned.

The 25 Toss Boxes around town, and the 10 to 15 to come, are helping the People’s City Mission fund its Homeless Prevention Center -- and keep its clients in newer clothes. The mission could collect 2 million pounds of clothing this year, giving away the best and selling the rest.

Construction began late last year on a $2.4 million renovation and expansion of the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A St. The work will expand classroom space, replace the roof, add a geothermal and solar energy system, as well as renovate office space. During construction, the congregation is meeting at New Hope United Methodist Church, 1333 N. 33rd St.

The $2 million Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Outdoor Education Center at 44th and Superior streets is expected to open in April. City officials worked with the commission to build a 32-lane archery range, 10 shooting stalls with retractable targets, three classrooms and offices.

On the north side of the Tallgrass Parkway and West Alvo Road roundabout, a field of clipped cornstalks runs off into the horizon. But as drivers turn south, the view is of a budding Fallbrook: new houses, Schoo Middle School, a bank under construction and a mostly occupied Fallbrook Town Center.

Cause for Paws plans to open a new store near 48th Street and Normal Boulevard by March. The new shop in a former Blockbuster is larger -- 6,500 square feet -- and offers more parking and visibility than the current location at 5700 Old Cheney Road. Cause for Paws will operate two stores until the lease on the Old Cheney building ends in August.