A rendering of the proposed addition to the building owned by J.A. Woollam Co. at 311 S. Seventh St.
COURTESY IMAGE
This image shows plans for a three-story addition to the west of the current home of J.A. Woollam at 311 S. Seventh St. The development will be a neighbor to the future South Haymarket Park.
COURTESY IMAGE
J.A. Woollam, which makes scientific instruments, wants to expand its offices in a TIF project estimated at $20 million. The company is based in the Cotswold Building at Seventh and J streets.
JOURNAL STAR file photo
J.A. Woollam Co., which makes scientific instruments, wants to expand its offices in the historic Cotswold Building in the Haymarket.
A redevelopment agreement with the city would authorize $3.3 million in tax-increment financing for a major expansion of a longtime high-tech company in the Haymarket.
J.A. Woollam Co., which makes light-measuring instruments called spectroscopic ellipsometers, is planning to more than double the size of its existing headquarters at Seventh and M streets — a project that would help connect a future downtown park to Haymarket South.
The expansion plan is among the first projects announced since the city unveiled a master plan to draw people to Haymarket South and better connect the area to the South Salt Creek neighborhoods.
The Cotswold Building, which was built in 1894, sits at the edge of the planned South Haymarket Park and houses J.A. Woollam Co. The company's charitable foundation donated $1 million to the park project in 2019.
“This project has been a long time coming,†said Hallie Salem, redevelopment manager with the city’s Urban Development Department. The company, she said, has been considering an expansion since 2014.
It is investing $16.9 million in redevelopment of the existing building and a 57,000-foot expansion, as well as additional parking, Salem said.
When it’s finished, the building will be valued at about $18.6 million, she said.
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The tax-increment financing, a tool that allows developers to use the increased future property taxes a project generates to pay for certain upfront costs, will be used for environmental remediation, rehabilitation of the building’s historical facade, and a landscape boundary wall near the park.
The company’s plans — including 35 parking stalls on the north side of the building — will help integrate the area with the future park planned for a plot of land at Seventh and N streets.
During the day, those parking stalls will be used by employees and at night and on weekends the lot can be used by park patrons. Plans also include pedestrian access to the park.
The company plans to add a three-story addition to the west side of the Cotswold Building at 311 S. Seventh St., which has been the company's home since 1997, 10 years after it was founded by John Woollam as a spinoff of research he was doing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Cathy Rustermier, the company's human resources manager and daughter of its founder, said the company employs 67 people who all have college degrees or are working on them, and 85% of those employees graduated from Nebraska schools.
The building was originally three stories and was used as a factory and warehouse for a paint company, then later became a grocery store. In 1944, most of the building was destroyed by fire and it was renovated into a one-story building. A second floor was added in 1991.
The council will vote on the redevelopment agreement at its June 13 meeting.
This image shows plans for a three-story addition to the west of the current home of J.A. Woollam at 311 S. Seventh St. The development will be a neighbor to the future South Haymarket Park.
J.A. Woollam, which makes scientific instruments, wants to expand its offices in a TIF project estimated at $20 million. The company is based in the Cotswold Building at Seventh and J streets.