Ayars & Ayars unveiled its new Lincoln office Friday, a building local officials hope will encourage more development in the University Place area.

Several people called the building at 2436 N. 48th St. a catalyst during a dedication ceremony.

"Hopefully this is going to spur a tremendous amount of investment in the northeast side of Lincoln," said Robert Scott of WRK LLC., which developed the project.

Ayars, a design and construction company, will use 16,000 square feet of the two-story building it built to house its Lincoln employees, most of the company's workforce of 120, said President Mike Ayars.

He wanted to keep his company in the northeast part of town -- its previous office was at 65th and Holdrege streets -- and said "we really felt that this site fit the bill."

Will Scott of WRK said the remaining 4,000 square feet of the building, which fronts 48th Street, is available for retail uses.

Although WRK doesn't have tenants yet, Will Scott said there has been interest from restaurants and other retail users.

Completion of the building ends a long and sometimes tumultuous road that started several years ago.

The Scotts made a deal with the city to lease an old Alltel switching station to the Lincoln Police Department for a Northeast substation and to build a new building on city-owned land that was the former home of Northeast Printers.

Some current and former City Council members denounced the agreement as a sweetheart deal, and the criticism grew louder when it took WRK longer than expected to get the project going.

Robert Scott mentioned Friday that he and his brother faced "tremendous opposition" to the project -- but the criticism was mostly forgotten, as civic leaders, neighborhood residents and Ayars employees turned out to tour the new building.

Mayor Chris Beutler said the building is slated to be the first in Lincoln to obtain the LEED Gold certification, a rating of its environmental friendliness, from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Recycled materials were used in construction of the building, and the property has several environmentally friendly features, including 30 300-foot-deep wells to provide geothermal heating and cooling and landscaping that will require very little water.

"Projects like this are difficult, but they're worthy of the effort it takes," Mike Ayars said.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.