Lincolnite

Someone refresh my memory, how was Talent Plus able to secure such prime real estate from the City.  I’m sure they paid a fair amount for it but I wonder how they cut the deal and if other City-owned parkland is available for private development?

As a general rule I’m not in favor of parkland going away but I don’t know the details of this deal.

Someone refresh my memory, how was Talent Plus able to secure such prime real estate from the City.

The short story: the City swapped 4 acres of not-very-useful land for 70 acres of better land.

I am not in love with the architecture of the building either, but I don’t mind its presence terribly.  I absolutely don’t mind the development and the business-friendly stance.

My favorite LJS comment on the topic was an old one about it “ruining the architecture of the neighborhood.”  What?  What exactly is the architecture of Colonial Hills?  Late 70s split level?  Since I live there, I can make fun.  😊

Who cares about a few peoples view if we can add 100 jobs.  That is the problem with this city people refuse change.

I think they should be business friendly unless the business will negatively affect the quality of life, e.g. hog confinement in College View. Just because you purchased property with a ‘view’ doesn’t mean much to the person whose property abutts yours-the ‘view’ is not in your deed and you don’t own it. I appreciate the modernness of the building so Mr. Wilson and I disagree there, but overall I am a home owner too, about a mile from them just off 56th. I dont appreciate my neighbors renovation going on at all hours, either or the debris from it, but you know what? I didn’t ‘buy’ quiet, any more than HWY 77 property owners did when they purchased acreages adjoining the city’s edge. You own and control YOUR property, not your neighbors.

I actually like the architecture of the building, but it would be way less obtrusive in more natural hues than white. What an eyesore in white. Sadly, it’s a testament to the big ego of the head honcho of the company. Since we already have a tall building shaped like a phallic symbol here, he had to come up with something unique.

My problem with it is just common sense, as would be the case to the people at LPS when they build schools. The Talent Plus people could certainly look back at their growth in recent years and figure out that they would need much more room sooner rather than later. Why not take that into account when building the first building, and create it in such a way that it can simply be added on to when the time is right? Churches figure this out all the time. When LPS build the last round of elementary schools around a decade ago, they could have done the same thing and left room for an additional wing instead of room to park trailers.

Oak View Mall did such a thing when it was built. They could easily just add on to the rear of the Talent Plus building if they own the land and it wouldn’t change the look.

Maybe the guy just needs another testament to his huge ego and tiny you-know-what.

Wait, I’m a little confused. Shouldn’t the people across the way from the new Catalyst One be complaining as well since it’s going to block their view?

Then again this is Lincoln afterall. Let’s complain about pushing businesses out of Lincoln and then complain about businesses-that want to provide jobs to Lincolnites-because they block a view.

Cedric has it right, you own your own property not the people’s around you. At my former residence, I had an awesome view until another house was built. My view turned into the rear end of my backdoor neighbor’s house. If I wanted to prevent that from happening, I should have bought the land.

Build it Talent Plus

Maybe a compromise:
Build it with a more eye appealing appearance. 

Ialso agree you don’t/can’t control your view.  We had a great view of the capitol; the view was replaced by the townhouse of a very nice woman who works at LSE.  Both of the kids found her to be great at LSE and she’s a great neighbor.

I am across the way from the Catalyst One project, I will lose my view, but I will not complain about it.  I think it will be pretty cool to have a few 10+ story buildings on the block.  Then again, when I leave work, I can think of something else.  Those people can’t escape T+‘s presence.  I feel for them, but there isn’t much they can do about it.

Sorry you don’t appreciate the pureness in the architecture of the Talent+ building. I would agree it’s unique not only to the neighborhood, but to all of Lincoln. However, it’s nice to see a design carried all the way without something being compromised.

Too many times recently I’ve seen buildings in Lincoln go half way then stop, throw some brown brick on it call it good. For instance the Douglas Grand theater—what kind of cobbled up mess is that? Can anyone explain to me why there are very small art installations being swallowed up by 25 foot display windows?? What we’re they initially planning on using those windows for anyways? Another recent find is the new building going up at 33rd and Pioneers. Once again started out a modern diagonal lined roof, now they are adding timbering on the walls similar to a Tudor design—ok?

It’s ok if we don’t use all the traditional colors and materials that are on a large percentage of buildings in town. Not everything has to blend in. Look at other cities be it Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis or smaller towns like Savannah or even some of the newer buildings in downtown Racine which have found ways to embrace architecture beyoned their traditional building styles.

I will say Lincoln does it right in many cases—The NBC/Wells Fargo building downtown is a treasure; Forcing strict design standards on big box stores like Wal-Mart and Lowes and creating shopping malls like Williamsburg that look amazing compared to the boring strip mall designs of Omaha.

I agree with Darren.  I think Talent Plus is a stunning building and a real visual assest to Lincoln’s generally conservative (read: unadventurous, boring) architecture.  I can’t think of many (any?) better recent commercial buildings in town.  We are lucky that someone had the guts to spend the bucks to put a beautiful piece of archeticture like that here.  I also love the starkness of the all-white structure in total contrast to the lush green backdrop that surrounds the building.  It functions as sculpture almost as much as it does as a building.  Normally, you would only see something like that in a large metropolitan city.  Granted, it doesn’t exactly “blend” with the surrounding homes, but where in Lincoln would it fit in?  No where.  So, I guess Holmes golf course is as good as anywhere.  It’s kind of a shame it’s not in a more prominent location where it could be viewed by more people more often. However, I think the backdrop of the golf course is part of what makes it “work” visually.  I feel bad for the people that had their views ruined, but such is progress.  I guess there are always going to be winners and losers when commercial buildings are built.