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A Railyard newcomer is acquiring one of the entertainment district's oldest tenants.

The people behind Tank’s Country, a Railyard bar that opened in July, are acquiring Longwell's, which was one of the first businesses to open in the Railyard.

Todd Mosser, a partner in Landshark Realty group, which owns Tank’s Country, said it is changing Longwell's name to THE CORNer Bar and plans to reopen on Friday.

Husker football gamedays are a big driver of foot traffic downtown, Mosser said, but the bar won’t just be for game day.

“We're trying to create as much activity and kind of change the culture down there as much as you can to make it, when we’re not playing live music, to have a family atmosphere for that restaurant,� Mosser said.

Mosser said he is aiming to open the bar Friday evening after bringing in cleaning companies. Some additional seating areas will be added for the weekend, but the majority of updates that are planned won’t happen until later, he said.

The bar will eventually undergo changes to accommodate live music, downsize the number of taps, build a bourbon bar, include a window on game days and add a bar dedicated to whiskeys and tequilas, Mosser said. The bar will also have food service, which it aims to have ready for next week's state high school volleyball tournament.

The new bar is seeking 20 new employees for this weekend, according to a from another bar Landshark owns, Tank's Bar and Guitars. The bar had about 140 applications as of Wednesday, Mosser said.

The Tank’s bars have a good reputation and have been fortunate to have great staff and good luck with college students working hard to make money on game days, Mosser said.

A bar’s staff also plays a big part in its success, he said.

“Everybody has the same beer, has the same wine, the same whiskey, everything like that,� Mosser said. “But the service piece of it, for us, is the number one most important thing you can provide to be top notch in Lincoln, because one bad experience and they'll never come back.�

Mosser said there have been some bad things said about the Railyard in the past few years, and he's hoping the sale will bring new activity to the area.

“We're hoping to come down and make a change and change the face of the entire Railyard,� Mosser said.

Changing the face of the Railyard has been discussed for several years. The property's owners hired a Denver-based consultant to review if closing a section of Canopy Street alongside The Railyard would be beneficial.

Eric Marsh, the owner of Longwell’s, was a proponent of that plan but is now moving on from the Railyard.

He said he had been talking about the ownership change for a few weeks with Mosser.

“I got to a point where I was ready to move on,� Marsh said. “And so Todd said he had an interest. We sat down, we talked a couple times and it kind of worked out.�

The bar’s change of ownership will mark the end of about a decade for Longwell’s, which opened in 2014, just months after the Railyard officially opened. The quick change was driven by Saturday's Husker football game against UCLA.

“He was interested in having the last few football games, which drove the timing,� Marsh said. “That's one of the things that helped get the deal done.�

Marsh said the Railyard isn’t the busiest place once football is over, especially in the winter.

Not included in the sale was Longwell's collection of bourbon. The bar had been collecting bourbon for a decade and aging it since Covid-19, Marsh said

Longwell’s hosted a “Bourbon Bonanza Blowout� to sell its stock of bourbon, according to a . The event lasted for several days, ending on Thursday.

Marsh said he has sold a lot of bourbon and is now looking forward to the next chapter.

“My daughter and I have been doing this for over a decade and, like I said, the winters are long and the summers are dry,� Marsh said.