Council Approves New Downtown High Rise

Lincoln, NE (July 13, 2020)  The Sharp Building has been one of the landmark features of the Lincoln skyline since 1927.  Soon, it will have a companion.  The City Council today approved plans for a 15 story apartment building on the northeast half of the same block.

Block 65, as it is referred to in City Planner-speak, has a large parking lot on its northeast corner currently.  That lot will give way to the yet unnamed residential high rise.  The plan also includes improvements to modernize the Sharp Building, and an eventual plan to build a City owned parking garage across the South half of the block.

The 300,000 square foot residential building will include retail and other amenities on the first floor, three floors of parking, and 200 rental housing units.  The redevelopment plans for the Sharp Building include general modernization, but also hold out the possibility of developing its upper floors for residential also.

The South half of the block, already City owned, will have a six story parking garage with at least 700 parking stalls.  Its ground floor will also have space for retail, and it would also be built with the possibility of additional development on or above its top floor.

The downtown Master Plan also includes substantial re-development for M Street, which runs along the South side of Block 65.  Those plans include a 37 foot “Greenway” running along the Street’s north edge.  Documents presented to the Council certify that the plans meet the goals of the downtown Master Plan, as well as those in the Lincoln Center Redevelopment Plan.  They include ” intensifying and strengthening Lincoln’s central business district as a focal point for regional development and the employment, entertainment, and educational hub of the community; providing for compact and interrelated development; encouraging the development of mixed-use projects that attract and maintain commercial and residential activity; expand housing opportunities to foster 24-hour activity; and, encouraging rehabilitation/renovation of existing structures and the preservation of the architectural integrity and historic
character of the area.”

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