Redevelopment Would Mean Another Hotel For Downtown Lincoln – Lincoln Journal Star

A hotel is back in the plans for the Gold’s Building.

Mike Works, who bought the building at 11th and O streets for $5 million last fall, said he’s planning a ”limited-service hotel with first-floor restaurant and retail opportunities.”

The hotel will have approximately 100 rooms and will take up the six-story north part of the building.

Works, who has experience developing other hotels in Lincoln, including the Holiday Inn Express at Ninth and O streets that opened last year, declined to provide any other details about the hotel planned for the Gold’s Building.

A redevelopment plan announced for the building in 2019 had originally included a hotel, but that plan fell through because of the coronavirus pandemic. A subsequent plan to turn the building into apartments also fell apart when developers failed to get approval to use historic tax credits to help pay to add windows on the south side.

The previous owner, Gerard Keating, had said he might demolish the whole building after the redevelopment plans fell through.

Works’ plan would save the northern half of the building, but he does plan to demolish the southern half.

Representatives of Works who spoke to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission on Thursday said the south part, which had housed a number of state government offices, now is completely vacant and needs too much work to make a redevelopment feasible.

Demolishing the building will provide space for some hotel parking, but Works said he does plan to eventually redevelop the site with a mixed-use building that would include apartments.

Works indicated that a formal redevelopment plan will likely be coming forward in the next few weeks that will focus on the hotel plan, which if all goes as planned could open sometime in late 2023.

A potential sticking point is the StarTran bus transfer station on the 11th Street side of the building.

The representatives who spoke to the Historic Preservation Commission, attorney Andrew Willis and Justin Hernandez of NGC Construction, said the hotel plan might not happen if the bus station can’t be moved.

Urban Development Director Dan Marvin said the bus transfer station has been part of the city’s discussions with Works, just as it has with previous developers, but he declined to offer any specifics.

The city wants to move the station to the former police station building at 233 S. 10th St. and authorized $500,000 in tax-increment financing as part of a previous Gold’s redevelopment to pay for demolition.

The plan for a new transfer station is dependent on getting a federal grant, something the city so far has not had any success with.