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Construction of apartment building to replace Lincoln's Pershing Auditorium underway

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This rendering shows the proposed 90-unit apartment building that will be built on the site of the former Pershing Auditorium in downtown Lincoln. Developer White Lotus has filed a building permit and hopes to start construction in early June.

Courtesy image

Construction of a five-story apartment building with first-floor commercial space is underway and by December 2025 will fill the spot in downtown Lincoln where Pershing Auditorium stood for more than half a century.

Construction began this summer on the building, which will be called MURAL, a tribute to the giant mural that had graced the city auditorium since 1957.

Four years ago, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird chose White Lotus Group, an Omaha-based company, to redevelop the lot, bounded by Centennial Mall, 16th, M and N streets.

MURAL will include 90 apartments on the top four floors of the building along with a furnished community room and exercise equipment, according to a White Lotus news release.

The first floor will include the residential lobby and a variety of commercial spaces, including health care services. The building will offer 47 underground parking spaces, accessible via a ramp off M Street.

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The building will run along 16th Street on the eastern side of what was once Pershing. 

White Lotus officials touted the project as “a cornerstone of Lincoln’s revitalization efforts,” near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, the State Capitol, the Historic Haymarket and the Telegraph District.

The apartments are the first phase of the project, which has been downsized from the original $54 million plan, but if both phases are finished, it would ultimately involve most of the block.

Construction has begun on five-story mixed-use building that will include 90 apartments on the former site of Pershing Auditorium.

KATY COWELL, Journal Star

The company had earlier said all the apartments will be rent-restricted for people who make 60% of the area median income or less. Last year, for a two-person household, that was $46,080.

Financing for the $27.5 million-$30 million project includes federal low-income housing tax credits and tax-increment financing, which allows developers to use future property taxes the redevelopment generates to pay for certain upfront costs.

The city has retained a lot on the southwestern portion, which initially was envisioned as a new central library to replace the downtown's Bennett Martin Library, though it was never a part of the White Lotus project.

Library officials have recently restarted discussions about building a new downtown library, though city officials aren’t saying whether the Pershing lot will end up being the location.

The mural — which inspired the name of the project — was saved by a small group that raised enough money in four months to have the 763,000 tiles removed. The mural will be reinstalled at a park at Wyuka Cemetery grounds. 

Adam Helmerichs, owner of Diamond Concrete Cutting, talks about the removal of the Pershing Center mural, Wednesday, July 20, 2022.

Photos: Pershing Center mural

Pershing Center mural-trapeze artists

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting circus trapeze artists on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star file photo

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting ballet and basketball on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting circus performers on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting rodeo and ballroom dancers on the facade of the Pershing Center.

LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO BY FRANCIS GARDLER

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting hockey players on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting boxing on the facade of the Pershing Center.

Journal Star file photo

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star

Pershing Center mural

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting wrestlers on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star

Pershing Center mural-musicians

Detail of the mosaic mural depicting musicians on the facade of the Pershing Center.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star file photo

Contact the writer at mreist@journalstar.com or 402-473-7226. On Twitter at @LJSReist.

Margaret Reist

Margaret Reist

Local government reporter

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Pershing Site, 10.3

Construction has begun on five-story mixed-use building that will include 90 apartments on the former site of Pershing Auditorium.

This rendering shows the proposed 90-unit apartment building that will be built on the site of the former Pershing Auditorium in downtown Lincoln. Developer White Lotus has filed a building permit and hopes to start construction in early June.