LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A foundation has pledged to donate $1 million for a proposed park in downtown Lincoln that city officials hope will encourage more development in the area.
Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler and city officials recently announced the J.A. Woollam Foundation’s donation to the estimated $9 million project to build a 6-acre (2-hectare) urban park, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The foundation is tied to the Lincoln manufacturer by the same name that makes high-tech scientific instruments.
The green space will extend near a previously announced housing project in the South Haymarket development, which will include 194 market-rate apartments and 41 affordable housing units.
The West Haymarket Joint Public Agency, which is a three-member quasi-government group that includes the mayor, is giving the land proposed for the park to the Lincoln Parks Foundation. The foundation will then sell the park property to the city for $1.1 million, said J.J. Yost, an official with the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department.
The city will make the purchase by using funds from the city’s Urban Development Department.
With donations and the land exchange, the city has roughly $4 million out of the $9 million needed to create the park, Beutler said.
City parks officials plan to seek public input on what should be included in the park this summer.
Local business owner Stephanie Jarrett said the proposed park will be a “destination for adults and families, and will be a catalyst for housing, offices and commercial development.”
Jarrett, who runs the health and nutrition company Bulu Box, lives downtown near the planned park with her husband, their two sons and two dogs.
“This (park) is something we will use every day,” she said.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
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