One of the state's largest banks is planning a major redevelopment of a southwest Lincoln office building.
Back in September, Union Bank & Trust paid $8.7 million for a building at 1801 Pine Lake Road, and last week, the bank filed a $4.5 million building permit to renovate it.
Union Bank said in a statement that work has already started on the building, and it expects to be done with renovations sometime in the summer.
When construction is complete, about 180 of the bank's employees will move there from other leased locations, the statement said. The building will likely house additional employees in the future as the bank expands.
According to its most recent financial statement filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Union Bank has added 135 employees over the past five years as its assets have grown from $2.9 billion to $4.4 billion, which ranks third among Nebraska-based banks, behind Pinnacle Bank and First National Bank of Omaha.
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The bank said in its statement that in addition to office space for workers, the building also will have collaboration space and an employee fitness center.
"With this building, we see both an opportunity to create a space that's comfortable and productive for our employees and a chance to reinvest in the Lincoln community we care about so much," Angie Muhleisen, CEO and president, said.
The second floor of the building, which has been vacant for two years, had been home to a string of fitness clubs. Aspen Athletic Club, which opened there in December 2012, was bought out by Gold's Gym in June 2014.
Two years later, Gold's Gym sold its two Lincoln locations and several others to Genesis Health Clubs, which closed the 1801 Pine Lake location in December 2017 after buying the former Lincoln Racquet Club.
There are two current tenants on the first floor of the building, an Edward Jones Financial Advisor location and Extreme PCs, a local business that builds custom computers. Both signed short-term leases with Union Bank that allow them to stay until the end of March, a bank spokesman said, but they ultimately will have to relocate.
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