LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The shell of a house sat cold and vacant, stripped bare of plumbing and its furnace, for more than a decade in Lincoln before attracting some positive interest.
A nonprofit serving the neighborhood nearly a year ago saw more than just an eyesore that attracted squatters and trouble, vandals and police.
“It’s pretty sad,” Isabel Salas, a community builder with the South of Downtown Community Development Organization, said early last year. “It’s caused a lot of problems.”
So the organization bought the property and talked to local residents.
Some wanted the house cleared away, leaving community space for a small park suitable for concerts and food trucks and neighborhood parties.
Others wanted the house saved, but a $145,000 renovation estimate proved to be cost-prohibitive.
The conclusion: The land was being wasted in one of the poorest, oldest and most densely populated neighborhoods in Lincoln, a city that federal officials say needs 5,000 more affordable rental units.
The city’s Urban Development Department recently gave the organization a $21,500 grant to pay to demolish the house. Replacement plans include four rental units.
Organization executive director Shawn Ryba told the Lincoln Journal Star that he envisions two-bedroom units in a duplex designed to blend in with the historic neighborhood. Architectural features would include a gable roof atop two stories and a wraparound porch.
“We want to do a fun design that has all the elements of the older architecture,” he said. “We hope it looks like an older house.”
Ryba hopes to see construction workers on the lot later this year, after the organization jumps through city hoops to develop the property.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
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