The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission on Wednesday gave the green light to a redevelopment project on the northeast corner of 11th and P streets.
The commission voted unanimously that the project conforms to the city's Comprehensive Plan for land use, which is a necessary first step to help it qualify for city tax incentives.
The owners of buildings at 200 and 216 N. 11th St. are planning a $10 million redevelopment project that includes a 34-room boutique hotel, condos, exterior renovations and renovation of a ballroom.
The boutique hotel is the centerpiece of the project.
Nick and Brooke Castaneda, an Arizona couple, are developing the hotel, which will be named after Brooke's father, Ken Kindler, a Lincoln artist who died in 2014. Some of Kindler's artwork will be used as design elements in the hotel.
People are also reading…
To get the 34 rooms, the Castanedas will add three floors to the four-story building at 216 N. 11th St.Â
The rest of the project involves improvements to the Commercial Club building at 200 N. 11th St., including remodeling the ballroom space on the third floor and adding four condo units to the fourth floor.
Both the ballroom and the condo units will be available for use by the hotel. A fifth floor could be added in the future if residential and/or hotel demand makes it feasible.
The building also will get exterior renovations that include returning awnings and globe lighting and restoring second-floor windows on the south side of the building.
The two buildings will be tied together by a common elevator, and the 216 N. 11th St. building will be tied to the Que Place garage to the north by a fourth-floor skywalk.
Wednesday's vote by the Planning Commission helps start the process of the city and developers negotiating a redevelopment agreement, which, among other things, will spell out how an estimated $1 million to $1.4 million in tax-increment financing will be spent on aspects of the project that benefit the public.
The developers hope to start work this spring and have the project completed by the summer of 2018.