A plan to redevelop the Bishop Heights shopping center took its first step forward Wednesday.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a blight and substandard designation for the property at 27th Street and Nebraska 2.
The designation, which will have to be approved by the City Council, opens the door to using tax-increment financing as part of a formal redevelopment plan for the center. Tax-increment financing, or TIF, allows developers to use future property taxes generated by projects to pay for certain upfront costs.
RED Development, the company that owns SouthPointe Pavilions, is partnering with Lincoln-based White Holdings to redevelop the center.
They have not submitted their plans to the city yet but have shown them to neighbors. They include demolishing the strip mall owned by RED, the former home of Shopko and other businesses, as well as the former U.S. Bank building owned by White.
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As part of the project, EPC Real Estate Group is planning to build a “luxury multifamily building” on part of the former Shopko property, while RED would develop several smaller commercial buildings.
White plans to build either one large office building or two smaller ones on the property it owns.
Redevelopment plans shared by RED Development include multifamily housing on the northeast corner of the former Bishop Heights shopping center site. New commercial buildings are also part of the project.
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Existing businesses Wells Fargo and Arby’s, which own their buildings, plan to remain, and Arby’s has expressed interest in renovating its restaurant.
The strip mall portion of the site has been largely vacant since Shopko went bankrupt and closed in the spring of 2019.
Dan Marvin, the city’s urban development director, said a blight study found several factors, including deteriorated and dilapidated buildings, deteriorating site conditions, and overall economic obsolescence of the site, that justify the blight designation.
No one spoke in opposition of the blight designation at the meeting, although one area resident did submit email comments in opposition.
In his email, Cory Collins objected to including a house at 2711 Kucera Drive in the blight study. The house is owned by White Holdings, which wants to demolish it to create more parking and a buffer to other homes on Kucera Drive, which borders the property to the north.
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“There is indeed a need to revitalize this part of the neighborhood,” Collins wrote. “However, I would argue that the footprint does not need to expand onto the residential area on Kucera Drive.”
Members of the Planning Commission, some of whom are current or former residents of the Country Club neighborhood where the center is located, generally expressed agreement that the area meets the definition of blight.
“It’s very obvious that this whole area needs to be reworked,” said Commissioner Dick Campbell.
Commissioner Maribel Cruz said she believes the property fits the definition of what would be considered blight.
“And I’m just excited to see what’s going to come up in its place,” she said.
Photos: The Nebraska State Capitol through the years
In April 1930, the Sower is ready to be raised 400 hundred feet to the Capitol’s top. The 19½-foot bronze scuplture by Lee Lawrie “emphasizes the importance of agriculture to noble life and civilization.”
1936 PHOTO: The State Capitol Building, in Lincoln, where people in street clothes sleep on the lawn during hot days of the 1930’s.
2014 PHOTO: The Sower has an ancient agricultural connection. The figure’s headband is Egyptian, to note agriculture’s global reach and ancient roots.
A $106 million renovation project will include replacing windows at the State Capitol Building on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Sower on top of the Nebraska State Capitol building is shown in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Friday, March 25, 2016.
A $106 million HVAC renovation project spanning 8 years is underway at Nebraska State Capitol at the State Capitol Building on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
2019 PHOTO: Pink and blue balloons float past the Sower statue on the Nebraska State Capitol after balloons were released for the 45th annual Nebraska Walk For Life in Lincoln.
Exterior of the scaffolding-clad Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, Wednesday, March 29, 2000. Part of an eight-year, $21 million renovation project to the landmark, the capitol has been surrounded with scaffolding for the first time in its history to aid workers. The custom made work platform cost about $1.5 million, according to project architect Michael Rindone. It should be up another three years.
2019 PHOTO: Pink and blue balloons float past the Sower statue on the Nebraska State Capitol after balloons were released for the 45th annual Nebraska Walk for Life.
The north entrance is closed during the inauguration of President Joe Biden at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln on Jan. 20, 2021.
The Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.
The Abraham Lincoln statue at the west entrance of the State Capitol building is seen here on Feb. 7, 1965, in Lincoln.
The Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln on Thursday, February 25, 2021.
2017 PHOTO: Workers from Davis Erection Company of Gretna and Kingery Construction of Lincoln slowly lower the bowl onto one of four fountains being built at the State Capitol.
The final day of the 106th Legislature at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln on Aug. 13, 2020.
2005 PHOTO: Art deco artist Hildreth Meiere created the marble mosaics on the floor of the rotunda in the Nebraska State Capitol building in Lincoln.
1998 PHOTO: The chamber where senators debate is one of the Capitol’s most ornate areas, with a walnut beam ceiling, gold-leaf artwork, limestone and Guastavino tile walls, and marble columns.
Workers prepare The Sower for installation. At 19.5 feet tall, The Sower is the tallest human figure sculpted by Lee Lawrie.
FEB. 25, 2021: The Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln.
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On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.