Arts
STORY BY MELANIE MENSCH
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY
NATE WAGNER
A possible megaplex
stirs reaction from
downtown businesses
Downtown Domination
The proposed entertainment megaplex would
take up the entire block bordered
by O. P. 11th & 12th /
streets. > 'h
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O Street
Street
Street
Street
QarnP'
With 16 possible
movie theaters
and 75.000 sq. ft. of
retail shops, the
megaplex could be the
most noticable draw in
downtown Lincoln.
Delan Lonowski/DN
A proposed downtown entertainment
megaplex could revitalize the heart of Lincoln,
but some adjacent stores worry the project
could harm area businesses.
The $30 million revitalization initiative,
developed in 1998 by the city of Lincoln, the
Downtown Lincoln Association and
the Chamber of Commerce,
would construct a three-story,
one-block building cover
ing the area between O, R
11th and 12th streets.
Accessible on all
sides to visitors, the first
floor would contain
75,000 square feet of
retail shops - such as
restaurants, coffee
shops, book stores and
clothing stores. Upstairs,
the megaplex would offer
14 to 16 two-story, state-of
the-art movie theaters with
stadium seating and digital
sound.
Polly McMullen, director of the
Downtown Lincoln Association, said she
wanted the heart of Lincoln to keep up with
entertainment trends like the shopping center
at South Pointe Pavilion, 27th Street and Pine
Lake Road
“We want downtown Lincoln to remain
competitive,” she said “There are currently 22
movie screens in the downtown, but most of
the screens are outdated, and we want to bring
in new products so it’s more appealing.”
But smaller businesses in the area had
mixed reactions to the proposed entertain
ment megaplex.
Terrance Reis, co-owner of Coffee Culture,
1324 P St, said the city could better revitalize
downtown by strengthening existing busi
nesses rather than attracting competitors.
“I understand the need to keep the down
town area vital,” he said, “but it’s taking busi
ness away from mom and pop businesses like
(mine). I’d like to see more effort put into small
businesses than big businesses."
Kristina Tiebel, co-owner and manager of
Crane River Brewpub and Cafe, 200 N. ll^St,
said. “Anything that brings people (down
town) is a good thing.
“An entertainment destination has more
than one possibility,” she said. “It’s getting
people down here that is the hurdle.”
Susie Sup, co-owner of the Post and
Nickel, 144 N. 14th St., called the project a
“marvelous idea,” citing the megaplex as an
additional attraction to bring more business
to local shops.
But some long-time business owners fear
the megaplex will fail, as did the Centrum, an
equally huge downtown revitalization project
during the late- 1970s.
Located on ll^1 and O streets, the retail
shopping center lacked easy accessibility and
was inwardly oriented because of a lack of
windows, McMullen said.
In the mid-1980s, the retail stores slowly
relocated, leaving the center partially vacant
until five years ago. Now called Energy Square,
the building houses Southeast Community
College classrooms and office space for the
Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska.
Duane Krepel, owner of the Avant Card,
1323 O St., predicts the megaplex will suffer
the same fate as the Centrum.
“I don’t see what’s changed,” he said. “I can
only look at the past, and I can look at the pres
ent situation.
"It’s the same people base that was here 10
to 15 years ago - the university and banking,
insurance and government offices. There’s
only so much business to do downtown.”
But the developers and the Downtown
Lincoln Association are confident a big down
town retail project will succeed this time.
McMullen said the DLA surveyed three
major consumer groups of the downtown area
- downtown employees, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln students and general
Lincoln residents - through a Toronto-based
research firm last April and May.
Outof211 UNL students surveyed, almost
100 percent said they visit downtown, and
more than half visit twice a week or more.
Most students said they venture downtown to
dine out, shop and go to a bar, dub or movie.
More than half of the 300 area residents
polled said they visit downtown at least once a
week, and 86 percent said they had visited the
downtown in the past year.
McMullen said entertainment complexes
thrived in other college towns - such as
Manhattan, Kan., Boulder, Colo., and
Burlington, Vt. - and she hoped to make a
“closer connection between the downtown
and the university community.”
“Lincoln is uniquely blessed to have a col
lege campus so close it’s almost part of the
downtown,” she said.
Dallas McGee of Lincoln Urban
Development said the megaplex would com
plement the array of restaurants, bars and
shops downtown.
“It’s a building that will fit into the down
town,” he said.
If anything, McGee said, it reinforces
downtown as a culture and entertainment
center.
“There’s plenty of market for new facilities
as well as those here today,” McGee said.
Developer Bryan Hall, in conjunction with
Douglas Theater Company, said he hopes to
begin construction as early as the summer of
2001.
Negotiations between developers and
property owners on the proposed site are still
underway.
Most of the businesses on the block of O, V,
11th and 12th streets will relocate or integrate
themselves into the megaplex, which will con
tain a mix of nationally and locally owned
shops, McGee said.
Only two buildings, Sartor Hamann
Jewelers and The Grotto, both on O Street, will
remain.
Nader Sepahpur, owner of the Grotto for
nearly 20 years, said a megaplex would posi
tively affect his business, but it makes Lincoln
a carbon copy of other cities laden with corpo
rate retail chains.
“The downtown is the identity of our city,”
he said. “Franchise growth takes that away.
There’s no character.
“I’d like to see more mom and pop shops,
maybe an alternative movie theater. It's sad,
but it’s better than not having anything on my
block.”
Dan Ladely, director of the Mary Riepma
Ross Film Theater, said the megaplex has
potential for both success and failure.
“It could be really beautiful or really
awful,” he said. “But it has to be done carefully.
“We have a lot of choices in a city of
Lincoln’s size. We don’t want to ruin what we
have already. If it's not broken, then don't try to
fix it”
