The council approved a redevelopment plan that would allow B&J Partnership to develop a 105-room hotel, 60 residential units and retail on the block bordered by Eighth, Ninth, Q and R streets.
The developer proposes renovating two buildings and constructing a new one with a brick facade, investing a total of $18 million. The next step is for the city and developer to come up with a redevelopment agreement spelling out terms and conditions; it also must be approved by the council.
Camp asked how certain he was that the project would happen.
"I can't give you a 100 percent guarantee that any project is going to get built in the financing environment we have today," Hunzeker said. But he said requiring such a guarantee would send developers running elsewhere.
"We have not yet been told 'we're not interested' by any financial institution," he said. "But do we have a legally binding commitment to finance this? No."
Camp said while he thinks the proposal is "an absolutely great project," he doesn't think the city has properly analyzed its costs and benefits.
Although Camp asked the majority of questions during the public hearing on the project, in the end he did not vote on it, saying "Some might say I have a financial interest in this." And with that, the redevelopment plan passed 6-0.
B&J Partnership plans to convert the historic Tool House building and a vacant antique store into 48 to 56 apartments, 19,000 square feet of retail and a 105-room hotel on the west side of the block bounded by Eighth, Ninth, Q and R streets.
Speedway's latest work includes the oldest of the historic buildings near 8th and P Streets, a five-story brick and wood timber warehouse which dates back to the early 1900s and originally housed the Grainger Brothers wholesale fruit and grocery business.
When renovation is complete there will be an addition to the west building of the complex and the existing garage area, with retail, office and restaurant space. Current tenants include Nebraska Global and Hudl Sports. Harris said Speedway Properties is in discussions with a large restaurant tenant that would like to open later this year.
Speedway Properties is also developing plans for a hotel at the southeast corner of 8th and R Streets, incorporating the former Tool House building, one of the oldest in the Haymarket. The renovation includes a plan to add retail and restaurant space on the first floor and residential units on upper floors. A final timeline for expected completion is still to be determined.
That looks good, kudos to Speedway developing this, they pretty much own the Haymarket. I hope they do something else with the building across the street "Haymarket Antique Square".
Outstanding. The Haymarket is going to be amazing. It's the piece that Omaha is missing in its Arena District and what has been built near the Omaha Arena, almost without exception, is boring. Lincoln is doing it right. My company is exploring options and Lincoln is getting our attention.
Bob from Omaha wrote:Outstanding. The Haymarket is going to be amazing. It's the piece that Omaha is missing in its Arena District and what has been built near the Omaha Arena, almost without exception, is boring. Lincoln is doing it right. My company is exploring options and Lincoln is getting our attention.
How exactly is this building the one piece that Omaha is missing? Maybe I'm reading the sentence incorrectly but I'm not getting the concept.
Bob from Omaha wrote:Outstanding. The Haymarket is going to be amazing. It's the piece that Omaha is missing in its Arena District and what has been built near the Omaha Arena, almost without exception, is boring. Lincoln is doing it right. My company is exploring options and Lincoln is getting our attention.
How exactly is this building the one piece that Omaha is missing? Maybe I'm reading the sentence incorrectly but I'm not getting the concept.
Hes talking about an arena district (Haymarket) taking off right away.
Linkin5 wrote:Hes talking about an arena district (Haymarket) taking off right away.
Oh, so saying that Lincoln's arena has the advantage because it's being built in an already established section of town? I sort of agree, but would love to give it a few years before I make a serious comparison.
Linkin5 wrote:Hes talking about an arena district (Haymarket) taking off right away.
Oh, so saying that Lincoln's arena has the advantage because it's being built in an already established section of town? I sort of agree, but would love to give it a few years before I make a serious comparison.
Don't get me wrong. North Downtown still has potential. I am just saying that the Haymarket is a very cool area and its already there. North Downtown could have been developed differently. The new hotels are needed but they look, IN MY OPINION, suburban. There could have been other designs. It could still be great.
I like both areas and hope that they both succeed. No offense to either.
Linkin5 wrote:Hes talking about an arena district (Haymarket) taking off right away.
Oh, so saying that Lincoln's arena has the advantage because it's being built in an already established section of town? I sort of agree, but would love to give it a few years before I make a serious comparison.
Don't get me wrong. North Downtown still has potential. I am just saying that the Haymarket is a very cool area and its already there. North Downtown could have been developed differently. The new hotels are needed but they look, IN MY OPINION, suburban. There could have been other designs. It could still be great.
I like both areas and hope that they both succeed. No offense to either.
Yeah I agree its really apples and oranges (I think that phrase needs to be added to the cliche phrase thread). Lincoln has the opportunity to add on to and improve an already existing district, while Omaha gets to create an entirely new one piece by piece.
Linkin5 wrote:Hes talking about an arena district (Haymarket) taking off right away.
Oh, so saying that Lincoln's arena has the advantage because it's being built in an already established section of town? I sort of agree, but would love to give it a few years before I make a serious comparison.
Don't get me wrong. North Downtown still has potential. I am just saying that the Haymarket is a very cool area and its already there. North Downtown could have been developed differently. The new hotels are needed but they look, IN MY OPINION, suburban. There could have been other designs. It could still be great.
I like both areas and hope that they both succeed. No offense to either.
Yeah I agree its really apples and oranges (I think that phrase needs to be added to the cliche phrase thread). Lincoln has the opportunity to add on to and improve an already existing district, while Omaha gets to create an entirely new one piece by piece.
FrontlineOmaha wrote:We should change the name of this sub forum from "Lincoln" to "Lincoln vs. Omaha"
Ehh. I just think it is natural to compare between the two.
This is the first time in a loooonngggg time that Lincoln development has been able to keep up with Omaha development. Pretty exciting for the area.
I still stand by the theory that the move to the B1G has changed the cities leaders minds on the direction of Lincoln. Instead of being a peer of Ames or Manhattan Lincoln is looking to be a peer of Madison and Ann Arbor.
iamjacobm wrote:I still stand by the theory that the move to the B1G has changed the cities leaders minds on the direction of Lincoln. Instead of being a peer of Ames or Manhattan Lincoln is looking to be a peer of Madison and Ann Arbor.
I hadn't thought of that angle before, I kind of like it. When it comes to game day atmosphere, I would have to say Lincoln is already near the top of the list and improvements like this can only make it better.
A replacement for Pershing Auditorium has been discussed in Lincoln for at least the last 20 plus years. Watching Omaha build the Quest wasn't easy for the local boosters here in l-town. The specific plan for the Pinnacle Bank Arena (that's now abiliding) predates public knowledge of NU moving to the Big 10 (I "hate" the cutesy "BIG" moniker, even if it's official). I'm sure, and I think hindsight will prove this right, that membership in the "BIG" will be huge for Lincoln in many ways besides sports. The jury's out over whether this blip lasts longer than, say 10/15 years, though.
Linkin5 wrote:That looks good, kudos to Speedway developing this, they pretty much own the Haymarket. I hope they do something else with the building across the street "Haymarket Antique Square".
I wasn't aware but antique square has been torn down. I haven't seen something proposed but maybe I missed it, Jacob or L-dude know?
Linkin5 wrote:That looks good, kudos to Speedway developing this, they pretty much own the Haymarket. I hope they do something else with the building across the street "Haymarket Antique Square".
I wasn't aware but antique square has been torn down. I haven't seen something proposed but maybe I missed it, Jacob or L-dude know?
I want to say another hotel is destined for that spot.
Linkin5..."Antique Square", if you're referring to the former Larson Furniture/Antiques, (S.E. corner of 7th & R, across R St. from the Downtown P.O.)?...that's now two 3-story buildings containing nine (total) townhouses. They've been there for several years. If that's not the location, than give an address, as I'm not remembering the "Antique Square" name.
The building I was referring to was on 8th street directly across (east) from the building they are talking about in this article. It was a whitish building one story building that said "Haymarket Antique Square" on it.
Linkin5...the location/building you are referring to is actually the location shown in the first post (second illustration), a future Speedway hotel site (which shows an architectural rendering of what is proposed on the exact site of your question). In my opinion, there are too many new hotel locations, as the new arena cannot support the new hotels, (unless the existing downtown hotels are cannibalized to support them)...it's a stretch to suggest that with a new arena, the hotel usage will increase enough to support the new hotels without losses at the existing hotels. Just my opinion.
l-dude wrote:Linkin5...the location/building you are referring to is actually the location shown in the first post (second illustration), a future Speedway hotel site (which shows an architectural rendering of what is proposed on the exact site of your question). In my opinion, there are too many new hotel locations, as the new arena cannot support the new hotels, (unless the existing downtown hotels are cannibalized to support them)...it's a stretch to suggest that with a new arena, the hotel usage will increase enough to support the new hotels without losses at the existing hotels. Just my opinion.
FrontlineOmaha wrote:We should change the name of this sub forum from "Lincoln" to "Lincoln vs. Omaha"
Ehh. I just think it is natural to compare between the two.
This is the first time in a loooonngggg time that Lincoln development has been able to keep up with Omaha development. Pretty exciting for the area.
I still stand by the theory that the move to the B1G has changed the cities leaders minds on the direction of Lincoln. Instead of being a peer of Ames or Manhattan Lincoln is looking to be a peer of Madison and Ann Arbor.
I still think that's off. These plans for Lincoln were going long before 06/2010..... Some great Big 12 cities as well. I would put Austin and Boulder up with those two.
The 104-room, five-story hotel is set to open just a little less than a year from now, on July 2, 2013, said John Klimpel, a local hotel developer involved in the project.
The hotel is part of a larger redevelopment project involving the former Tool House building. Plans, which were unveiled nearly three years ago, call for as many as 56 apartments and 19,000 square feet of retail space on the west side of the block bounded by Eighth, Ninth, Q and R streets.
Check out the nearly completed hotel right behind this block!
Seriously can't get enough of Lincoln development right now.
Good infill. The thing I am even more excited about though is that they will be fixing up Tool House and the crappy looking building next to it, those have been ignored for far too long.
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