Flats leased in record time
Matt Olberding, Lincoln Journalstar, Nov 8, 2021
Leighton District at 48th Street and Leighton Avenue is a mixed-use development. It has 234 apartments, which are fully leased, and commercial space that will soon be partially filled by three new-to-Lincoln restaurants.
It took a long time, but the vision Chris Erickson had for the dying strip mall at 48th Street and Leighton Avenue is finally coming to fruition.
Erickson and his partner Danny White bought the property in 2014 and decided to redevelop it after Hy-Vee closed its Mainstreet small-format grocery store the following year.
In 2016, they announced a $35 million project that was going to bring 184 apartments and 28,000 square feet of commercial space to the corner.
Over time, the project, called Leighton District, grew to $50 million and 234 market-rate apartments.
Last fall, those apartments, called The Flats at Leighton District, opened and were leased in "record time," Erickson said.
"Most of the units were actually leased before we finished them," said Erickson, who along with White co-founded City+ Ventures, an Omaha-based investment firm.
With the apartments fully leased, the company has turned its attention to leasing the commercial space in the development.
Enter one of the companies it is an investor in: Dead President's Group.
Though the name might not give it away, Dead President's Group is a restaurant company, with about a half dozen concepts either open or in development.
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Three of them will be setting up shop in the retail space on the first floor of the building: Franco's Fresh Mexican, a fast-casual authentic Mexican eatery; The Daq Shack, an island-themed restaurant serving lobster rolls, fried chicken sandwiches, island drinks and signature daiquiris; and Lincoln's Pub, which serves typical bar food such as pizza and burgers, along with craft beer and cocktails.
This rendering shows what the interior of Daq Shaq at Leighton District will look like. The island-themed restaurant is scheduled to open before the end of the year in the development at 48th Street and Leighton Avenue. Those three restaurants also will be going into La Vista City Centre, a similar development that City+ Ventures is working on in the Omaha suburb.
Ryan Mann and Jon Nelson, who founded Dead President's Group, called the chance to partner with City+ Ventures a "dream opportunity."
"Aligning ourselves with City+ Ventures and its business platform will allow us to grow organically and showcase our strengths as restaurateurs for even more communities to enjoy,” they said earlier this year in a news release.
Erickson said tenants in the Leighton District building are "incredibly excited" for the new restaurants, which will fill more than half the commercial space.
The Flats at Leighton District has a large pool for residents to use.
One of the unique features of the restaurants is that they will share a kitchen, which makes operations more efficient and also opens up extra room for seating. And Daq Shack will have a patio area that borders the apartment's pool, with a window for people to order from the outside.
City+ Ventures also plans a facelift for the existing strip mall on the north end of the propertv that will involve redoing the facade, and Erickson said it is looking for tenants to fill several open spaces.
"That's kind of the next step," he said.
