Lancaster County waits on approval from Pillen-led board for tax assistance; approves land swap with city for proposed convention center

Lancaster County officials took a step forward this week in a quest to build a long-sought-after convention center, but are still waiting on a state decision on vital tax incentives.

On Tuesday, the County Board approved a $4.2 million land deal for the south half of Block 65, which is bordered by 13th, 14th, M and N streets in downtown Lincoln. The board also agreed to a purchase option for the northeast corner of the block. If it opts to purchase that corner, it will cost the county $1.6 million.

Both those sites will be used in some capacity for the convention center, said County Commissioner Sean Flowerday, which is proposed for a site at 13th and M streets, across from the Cornhusker Hotel. The likely use will be a parking garage.

“This is a really important first step in getting this project going, and seeing, seeing a real, a real catalyst, a real revitalization of that area,” Flowerday said.

But the main catalyst for getting the convention center project off the ground is approval of a state turnback tax, which would allow the city and county to take a portion of state sales taxes and redirect them into the project.

The decider on if that gets approved is a five-person committee led by Gov. Jim Pillen. The board oversees two facility financing assistance acts: convention centers and sports arena facilities.

“When the governor decides to give us approval on the turnback tax, we can develop the whole area, right… The whole point of the Lancaster County Convention Center is it's going to be a catalyst to help develop and revitalize this part of downtown that, frankly, needs some help,” Flowerday said.

The Convention Center Facility Financing Assistance Act board chose not to vote on the county’s turnback tax application at its most recent meeting on May 7. The next meeting has not been announced yet.

The convention center has been in the works for several years, with two feasibility studies done back in 2022 and 2023 commissioned by the Downtown Lincoln Association, Lincoln Downtown Rotary #14 and Visit Lincoln.

In May 2025, Assemble Lincoln, a Lancaster County committee overseeing the convention center’s development, picked the 13th and M streets site over two others.

As part of the deal with the City of Lincoln for land adjacent to the Garfield site, the county also sold Block 146 — bounded by Ninth, 10th, G and H streets — to the city for $3.3 million.

That’s where the city plans to build a new StarTran Multi-modal Transportation Center.

“We saw value for Lancaster County there, and so working with the city to get an agreement where we would do, in effect, kind of a land swap instead of just an outright sale was one complication that we dealt with through the process that was part of it,” Lancaster County Commissioner Rick Vest said.

The swap does come at the cost of losing parking for those participating in drug testing and employee parking on the south side of the County/City building. Despite concerns over losing that parking and potential safety concerns with the bus stop move, the board moved forward with the transfer.

“This really started four years ago when I was chair at that time, and our first considerations were community safety, safety for those wanting to ride the buses, and how do we take care of the employees here, and now we've got the parking garage to the north side,” Christa Yoakum said at the board meeting. “We will have additional parking there that will help both the public and the people who work in this building and on this campus. So, there's been a lot that has gone into this.”

The Lincoln City Council will consider the land sale agreements at its June 29 meeting, according to a press release.