Cultural Centers of Lincoln Collaborative starts construction this week on new building

The Cultural Centers of Lincoln Collaborative is one step closer to its new home. The community initiatives are breaking ground on a new building Wednesday, with a goal to finish it by 2027.

The building, located on a site at 21st and Vine streets, will connect four initiatives: the Good Neighbor Community Center, the Asian Community and Cultural Center, El Centro de las Américas and the Malone Center.

Tom Randa, executive director for the Good Neighbor Community Center, said he is both relieved and excited to see construction start for the project.

“It's been years and years of planning, lots of partnerships involved, and we have formed a lot of great partnerships,” Randa said. “I'm excited because more people are aware about what the cultural centers are doing in Lincoln, and more importantly is the fact that we are finally getting facilities that are meeting the needs for those that we serve in our community.”

Randa said his organization, the Good Neighbor Community Center, plans to move the food program it runs into the new building and still utilize its current building. The Malone Center will move its early childhood program to the new site, and the other two initiatives will finally have a place to call home. He added that there will be additional office spaces that people and organizations can rent out, as well as spaces for an art gallery and to host community celebrations.

“The way we look at it is that the Cultural Centers of Lincoln building is not just a building for those who are coming for needs. We are also trying to connect our neighbors,” Randa said. “You don't have to be in need to come and visit the culture center. You can come and just experience the culture.”

The cultural center will be located on the site of the former Cushman golf cart manufacturing plant, which is owned by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and being developed by WRK based in Lincoln and Woodbury Corporation based in Utah.

Greg Frayser, WRK chief operating officer and general counsel, said WRK wants to build a development that will benefit the community, including a grocery store, housing and the cultural center.

“We've taken this place that was concrete and had some pollution issues, and we mitigated the pollution, and we removed the concrete, and we made it a space where there's 16 acres that people can live and work and do their grocery shopping and enjoy both the development that we've created, and also enjoy where it's located because it's connected to the community around it,” Frayser said.

While WRK and Woodbury Corporation are still figuring out the details for the rest of the development, Frayser said the cultural center was always a key component for the area.

“The cultural center is an important piece because… having a group of cultural initiatives in our city come together and pool their resources to really make one plus one equal five is something that we love and we want to be a part of,” Frayser said.

The cultural center project is expected to cost $24 million, and Randa said they have about 70% of the funding needed. He said they are asking community members to help them get to the finish line.

“There are some people who may wonder what is happening over there, and we are telling them, come check it out,” Randa said. “If it's something that you feel that you can support us with, we would definitely appreciate all the support that we can get — financial support, moral support, and even coming to our current centers because we are still not moved over there. We are still operating every day, so there's still needs at the individual centers that are going on.”