The Lincoln City Council on Monday unanimously approved zoning changes that will allow redevelopment plans for the block anchored by Pershing Center since 1957 to move forward.
The move — along with the council’s vote affirming that the redevelopment conforms with the city’s Comprehensive Plan — will allow Omaha-based White Lotus Development to move forward with plans for 100 affordable housing units, a small retail space, a wellness center, a child care center, underground parking and a community green space.
The plan also calls for a new, 90,000-square-foot, three-level public library that would replace the existing Bennett Martin Library, though the city must pass a bond issue to help pay for it.
The Omaha developer’s plans would proceed even without the library.
But proponents of the project who spoke at a public hearing last week said a new city library would act as a gathering place to draw people downtown and as a catalyst for other development.
There are other big steps needed to get the project off the ground, including negotiating a redevelopment agreement with White Lotus, which would include demolition plans for Pershing. The agreement will also include an option to put another public use in the spot planned for the library were a bond issue to fail.
The council’s vote Monday changed zoning on the block bounded by Centennial Mall and 16th, M and N streets from public to B-4, a business zone that covers most of downtown.
Planning documents list White Lotus' investment at somewhere between $25 million and $30 million, which includes $3 million to $4 million in tax-increment financing, money that comes from the increased property taxes the development will generate to pay for certain improvements.
Library Director Pat Leach said early estimates put the cost of a new library at $50 million, but design work is just beginning.