South Kearney is about to get a lot more neighbors. A three-story apartment building planned for West Third Street cleared another step at City Hall on Friday, and crews are already moving dirt on the site.
The Kearney Planning Commission voted unanimously on Oct. 16 to recommend approval of a rezone and Planned Development Plan for a 59-unit apartment complex at 1103 W. Third St., according to Central Nebraska Today. The City Council will take up the project at a future meeting.
Craig Bennett of Miller & Associates presented the plan on behalf of Talmadge Jam LLC and Peanut Butter & Jelly LLC, both run by Paul Younes.
What's planned
The building will be L-shaped and three stories tall, with 104 parking spaces around it. The project needs a rezone of 2.35 acres from C-2 community commercial to C-2 with a planned development overlay. Under the city's rules, multifamily projects with 54 or more units need a Planned Development Plan.
The site is surrounded by a mix of uses. City staff said the city's trail runs along the north side of the property, with Turkey Creek and a single-family home on farmland farther north. There are apartments to the east, commercial buildings to the south and a veterinary office to the west.
Primary access will come off West Third Street, the main road along the front of the property, with a second entrance on the east side that ties into a shared drive on the neighboring property.
Trading setbacks for trees
The developers asked for two breaks from city code. They want to shrink the landscaped buffer yard from 20 feet to 10 feet and cut the west side yard setback by 3 feet, from 25 feet to 22 feet.
To make up for that, Bennett said they're going above the minimum in other places. The plan adds an extra street tree, a five-foot landscape buffer with 24 trees on the west side and a sidewalk connecting the property directly to the hike-bike trail just to the north.
City Planner Melissa Dougherty-O'Hara said staff recommended approval of the rezone and development plan, including the deviations and the added improvements.
This isn't the project's first trip through City Hall. In July, the Kearney City Council unanimously approved tax increment financing for the project, which was described at the time as a 60-unit complex with one- and two-bedroom apartments. The TIF request totaled $1,668,594, covering parking, utilities, fencing, site work and landscaping. The latest plan calls for 59 units.
At the time, the project was expected to start construction this fall and wrap up in the fall of 2027. The property was valued at about $62,325 before the project and is expected to be worth more than $6 million when finished.
Why it matters for Contractors
A 59-unit, three-story building is a solid job for a mid-sized market like Kearney. It'll mean concrete, framing, roofing, windows, siding, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, drywall, flooring, cabinets and paint, plus a big parking lot and the landscaping and sidewalk work the city is asking for.
The TIF budget gives a good look at where some of the early money goes. More than $550,000 is set aside for parking, about $587,000 for site work, nearly $320,000 for utilities and about $185,000 for landscaping. That's work for paving, dirt, utility and landscape contractors right out of the gate.
Dirt work has already started on the property, so the site packages are moving. Neither the developer nor the city has named a general contractor in the coverage we found, and we aren't naming one here. Subs who want to bid the building should reach out to the development team or Miller & Associates to find out who's running the job.
The council's vote on the rezone and development plan is the next date to watch. If it passes, the project can keep moving toward building permits, and a fall 2027 finish means trades will need to keep a steady pace through the winter.
A developer putting nearly 60 apartments on a lot valued at about $62,000 is a sign of confidence in Kearney's rental market. Builders and subs who get in on this one and finish on time will be well placed for whatever comes next on the south side.