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.