Major business park planned for NW 48th, I-80
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BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star
Major shopping and employment opportunities could be headed for the area around the Northwest 48th Street and Interstate 80 interchange.
The proposed West Lincoln Business Center would have more than 1.5 million square feet of retail, industrial and office space, with the bulk of the site, more than 1 million square feet, pegged for a potential large employer or employers.
A traffic study included with application documents submitted to the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Department lists a potential industrial user of 600,000 square feet, as well as another industrial user of 225,000 square feet and an office building of 200,000 square feet.
The traffic study also lists such potential major retail uses as a 175,000-square-foot discount superstore, a 45,000-square-foot supermarket, 30,000-square-foot toy and office stores, two motels and several restaurants.
Rob Otte, one of the members of the group developing the land, said plans are very preliminary and he cautioned against reading too much into mentions of possible uses.
“These are still pretty big bubbles (to fill in),” he said.
He did say, though, that he and his partners have been talking to potential businesses interested in the site.
The project is slated to develop in phases, with some of the commercial development likely to occur first.
Otte said it would likely be late this year before any site work begins, and any business openings likely will not starting until 2009 or even later.
The economy is uncertain, he said, and “We want to be pretty careful.”
All that could change if the right tenant came calling.
“It would turn a lot of dirt (quickly) if the right user came in,” Otte said.
Before the developers can consider doing anything, the plan must go through the governmental approval process.
The first step, a public hearing in front of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission, is scheduled for Wednesday.
Otte and his partners are seeking annexation and zoning changes as well as an amendment to the city-county comprehensive plan to put it on a faster track to development.
The 233-acre site also includes a residential component to the north that could hold as many as 448 dwelling units in a combination of houses, town homes and apartments.
“It’s a pretty ambitious project, but it does have a fair number of different uses that area of town has been lacking,” Otte said.
One is the large industrial site. Government and business people have been trying to develop more of them since an economic consultant’s report several years ago said the city did not have enough.
Mike Lang, director of business retention and expansion for the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, said the site is already being marketed through Aquila’s economic development Web site.
He said it should be very attractive, especially to transportation and logistics companies, because of its proximity to the interstate.
“There is a lot of potential there,” said Lang, who on Feb. 1 will move to the mayor’s office to become the city’s economic development coordinator.
That potential will likely be enhanced by the possibility of tax-increment financing.
A blight study has been done on the area, and if the city approves blight status, it would make businesses that locate there eligible for TIF, which would allow them to reinvest the additional property taxes they generate in the development.
Large employers also would likely be eligible for state tax incentives.
“Right wrong or indifferent, employers ... are looking for those sorts of incentives,” Otte said.
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
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If anymore business' are going to be put north of I-80, NW 48th Street needs to be widened. There is already enough traffic rolling through there on a daily basis for the two lanes that are present now. It would be a whole lot easier to widen it BEFORE they put in these business' along there...rather than having to go through a process of taking the easements later on. Also, the developer should be responsible for some of the cost of widening it...not the residents in that area that have no control over what goes in over there.
Hopefully the concerns of the residents in that area will be taken seriously, and this project will not be back doored through because of the big money involved or the political ties the developers have. But for some reason, I have a feeling that is about to happen in this case. There are a lot of reasons not to do this development at this time...and a "real need" needs to be shown, otherwise there will be a bunch of empty buildings sitting there bringing in no tax revenue. "
The only thing that I can see is how long the city and developers have ignored Airpark. The roads are downright dangerous because they are riddled with 6 inch deep potholes, especially at corners where there is stormwater runoff, we need a stoplight at the entrance to the new grocery store (which seems to be doing well despite having the north walmart) and there are still gravel roads out here, inside city limits. They pay to oil these roads a few times each year, and for a maintainer rather than paving them.
Building out here is not sprawl. This has been a neighborhood for a very long time and people have lived here a long time, since it was a military base. It's time to do something for airpark, Arnold heights and Ashley heights instead of building to the south. "