Redevelopment would mean another hotel for downtown Lincoln | Local business news

Mike Works, who bought the building at 11th and O streets for $5 million last fall, said he plans a “limited-service hotel with a first-floor restaurant and retail opportunities.” .

The hotel will have approximately 100 rooms and will occupy the northern part of the six-storey building.

Works, who has experience developing other hotels in Lincoln, including the Holiday Inn Express at Ninth and O streets which opened last year, declined to provide further hotel details. planned for the Gold’s Building.

A redevelopment plan announced for the building in 2019 originally included a hotel, but that plan fell through due to the coronavirus pandemic. A later plan to turn the building into apartments also fell apart when developers failed to get permission to use historic tax credits to help pay for the addition of windows on the south side.

The previous owner, Gerard Keating, had said he could demolish the whole building after redevelopment plans failed.

The plan for the works would save the northern half of the building, but it plans to demolish the southern half.

Works representatives who spoke to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission on Thursday said the southern section, which housed a number of state government offices, is now completely vacant and in need of too much work to render. feasible redevelopment.

Demolition of the building will provide space for hotel parking, but Works said it plans to eventually redevelop the site with a mixed-use building that would include apartments.

The works indicated that a formal redevelopment plan will likely be presented in the coming weeks, which will focus on the plan for the hotel, which, if all goes as planned, could open towards the end of 2023.

A potential sticking point is the StarTran bus transfer station on the 11th Street side of the building.

Representatives who spoke to the Historic Preservation Commission, attorney Andrew Willis and Justin Hernandez of NGC Construction, said the hotel plan may not come to fruition if the bus station cannot be moved.

Urban Development Director Dan Marvin said the bus transfer station was part of the city’s discussions with Works, just like with previous developers, but he declined to elaborate.

The city wants to relocate the station to the old police station building at 233 S. 10th St. and authorized $500,000 in tax increase funding as part of a previous Gold redevelopment to pay for the demolition .

The project for a new transfer station depends on securing a federal grant, which the city has so far been unsuccessful.