Retail and entertainment corridor
Drawing people downtown is one thing. Keeping them there a little longer — after a movie or a performance at the Lied Center — is another.
And in addition to a new arena in the Haymarket and a high-rise at 13th and Q streets, the 2015 Vision group wants a retail corridor on P and Q between the Haymarket and the Antelope Valley project near 22nd Street.
The goal of the corridor is to supplement — not compete with — what’s already downtown.
That means creating an atmosphere separate from the college scene. More stores, such as Urban Outfitters. Cocktail lounges like Zen’s and Starlite Lounge. And more diverse fine dining, such as Omaha’s Blue Sushi Sake Grill.
“There’s just so much you can’t do downtown that could be done downtown,” said Tom Smith, one of the founding members of 2015 Vision.
The Downtown Lincoln Association, with money from its budget, the city and $30,000 in private funding, hired two Denver consulting firms: retail specialists The Laramie Co. and downtown development specialists Progressive Urban Management Associates.
In November, the consultants conducted four focus groups to start to find out what people want downtown.
They talked to college students, downtown employees, downtown retailers and Lincoln residents who neither live nor work downtown.
Then the Downtown Lincoln Association and its consultants designed four surveys to be administered more broadly among these same groups.
The results will help them determine businesses they’ll try to attract.
One thing that’s certain: The retail corridor wouldn’t compete with O Street, which is lined with bars and restaurants catering to students from the nearby University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Smith said the area lacks the amenities to keep those who come downtown to go to the Lied Center, Sheldon art gallery and Rococo Theatre.
“I don’t know that anybody’s interested in more — quote — college bars on P or Q,” Smith said. “I think we’re more interested in quality retail, quality restaurants, quality recreation for the whole community.”
Recent college graduates — the target of the 2015 Group — said they wouldn’t mind lounges that appeal to a slightly older crowd.
Some 25-year-olds are out of their element in college bars, said Susantha Weerasinghe, a 2003 Hastings College graduate who lives downtown and works at Wells Fargo at 13th and O streets.
Weerasinghe wants more restaurants and bars like the Blue Sushi Sake Grill, which has an atmosphere he described as professional-casual.
“You don’t feel like you’re back in college,” he said.
Misty Wendt, an account manager at Swanson Russell Associates and 1997 UNL graduate, said downtown needs more cocktail lounges like Zen’s, Barrymore’s and the Starlite, which provide a better atmosphere for patrons who want to sit and talk.
And even some students expressed interest in more lounges.
Art Rudnicki, a senior math major, said he’d like to see “not a college binge-drinking bar, but a higher class bar.”
But with bars aplenty, students and young professionals agree downtown has more pressing needs to become a more attractive place to live or work.
“I live downtown, so any kind of grocery store,” Wendt said.
Polly McMullen, president of the Downtown Lincoln Association, said a grocery store was the second most common response among student focus groups.
The most common: An Urban Outfitters clothing store, the type of big-name retailer McMullen said her office and 2015 Vision hope to attract.
And now is the time, Smith said.
“Downtown, from a rental standpoint, is a value,” he said. “It’s a safe place to be. Yes, it has its ebbs and flows, but I’m not sitting with an empty building and hoping for somebody to knock on my door and rent it.
“People are finding they can come downtown, and they can rent space for three, four, five, six dollars a square foot less than they can rent for out on 84th or 70th or Wilderness Ridge.”
McMullen said downtown revitalization is driven by young entrepreneurs, one of the crowds 2015 Vision hopes to attract and keep in Lincoln.
Although not an entrepreneur, Weerasinghe said Lincoln is already doing well to draw young professionals. Originally from Grand Junction, Colo., he chose Lincoln because of its small-town atmosphere.
Wendt stayed for the same reason after considering jobs in Omaha and other cities.
“It’s just small enough that it still has that community feel,” she said.
Smith said 2015 Vision hopes to build on that feel.
“It’s about making it vibrant,” he said. “People are coming down here to do things. So if we give them more to do, it’ll even be better.”
Reach Alex Haueter at 473-7254 or ahaueter@journalstar.com.
And in addition to a new arena in the Haymarket and a high-rise at 13th and Q streets, the 2015 Vision group wants a retail corridor on P and Q between the Haymarket and the Antelope Valley project near 22nd Street.
The goal of the corridor is to supplement — not compete with — what’s already downtown.
That means creating an atmosphere separate from the college scene. More stores, such as Urban Outfitters. Cocktail lounges like Zen’s and Starlite Lounge. And more diverse fine dining, such as Omaha’s Blue Sushi Sake Grill.
“There’s just so much you can’t do downtown that could be done downtown,” said Tom Smith, one of the founding members of 2015 Vision.
The Downtown Lincoln Association, with money from its budget, the city and $30,000 in private funding, hired two Denver consulting firms: retail specialists The Laramie Co. and downtown development specialists Progressive Urban Management Associates.
In November, the consultants conducted four focus groups to start to find out what people want downtown.
They talked to college students, downtown employees, downtown retailers and Lincoln residents who neither live nor work downtown.
Then the Downtown Lincoln Association and its consultants designed four surveys to be administered more broadly among these same groups.
The results will help them determine businesses they’ll try to attract.
One thing that’s certain: The retail corridor wouldn’t compete with O Street, which is lined with bars and restaurants catering to students from the nearby University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Smith said the area lacks the amenities to keep those who come downtown to go to the Lied Center, Sheldon art gallery and Rococo Theatre.
“I don’t know that anybody’s interested in more — quote — college bars on P or Q,” Smith said. “I think we’re more interested in quality retail, quality restaurants, quality recreation for the whole community.”
Recent college graduates — the target of the 2015 Group — said they wouldn’t mind lounges that appeal to a slightly older crowd.
Some 25-year-olds are out of their element in college bars, said Susantha Weerasinghe, a 2003 Hastings College graduate who lives downtown and works at Wells Fargo at 13th and O streets.
Weerasinghe wants more restaurants and bars like the Blue Sushi Sake Grill, which has an atmosphere he described as professional-casual.
“You don’t feel like you’re back in college,” he said.
Misty Wendt, an account manager at Swanson Russell Associates and 1997 UNL graduate, said downtown needs more cocktail lounges like Zen’s, Barrymore’s and the Starlite, which provide a better atmosphere for patrons who want to sit and talk.
And even some students expressed interest in more lounges.
Art Rudnicki, a senior math major, said he’d like to see “not a college binge-drinking bar, but a higher class bar.”
But with bars aplenty, students and young professionals agree downtown has more pressing needs to become a more attractive place to live or work.
“I live downtown, so any kind of grocery store,” Wendt said.
Polly McMullen, president of the Downtown Lincoln Association, said a grocery store was the second most common response among student focus groups.
The most common: An Urban Outfitters clothing store, the type of big-name retailer McMullen said her office and 2015 Vision hope to attract.
And now is the time, Smith said.
“Downtown, from a rental standpoint, is a value,” he said. “It’s a safe place to be. Yes, it has its ebbs and flows, but I’m not sitting with an empty building and hoping for somebody to knock on my door and rent it.
“People are finding they can come downtown, and they can rent space for three, four, five, six dollars a square foot less than they can rent for out on 84th or 70th or Wilderness Ridge.”
McMullen said downtown revitalization is driven by young entrepreneurs, one of the crowds 2015 Vision hopes to attract and keep in Lincoln.
Although not an entrepreneur, Weerasinghe said Lincoln is already doing well to draw young professionals. Originally from Grand Junction, Colo., he chose Lincoln because of its small-town atmosphere.
Wendt stayed for the same reason after considering jobs in Omaha and other cities.
“It’s just small enough that it still has that community feel,” she said.
Smith said 2015 Vision hopes to build on that feel.
“It’s about making it vibrant,” he said. “People are coming down here to do things. So if we give them more to do, it’ll even be better.”
Reach Alex Haueter at 473-7254 or ahaueter@journalstar.com.
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