A new bill in the Nebraska legislature would allocate a one-time fund of $60 million to help build a convention center in Lincoln. State Senator Anna Wishart introduced LB709 on Wednesday that creates a new convention center fund for cities of the primary class, which includes Lincoln.
If passed, that bill would allocate the $60 million to build a new convention center in a qualified census track in the city. Five sites in the downtown areas have been proposed for the new convention center.
They include the former Journal Star production building at Ninth and Q streets, the current site of Midwest Steel at Eighth and N streets, a site adjacent to the Cornhusker/Marriott Hotel, the site of the current downtown post office next door to the Pinnacle Bank Arena and a location in the Telegraph District east of downtown.
“Lincoln is really lacking in having the type of convention space that would meet the needs not only of our city but regionally and across the country as well,” Wishart tells KLIN News. “This would be the type of economic development catalyst that Lincoln should be working to achieve with state funding.”
A new report from a national consulting firm finds that a convention center in downtown Lincoln would be a catalyst for significant economic growth, with net new spending – personal income, job creation and tax revenues of just over $18.5 million in economic output annually.