The Regis (312 S 16th St)

Downtown, Midtown, and all parts east of 72nd.

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eomaha
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Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:29 am
Location: West Omaha

The Regis (312 S 16th St)

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From the World Herald...

Downtown living: Regis goes condo

The Regis Building is the latest to offer downtown dwellers a chance to own rather than rent their homes.

The 1918 hotel-turned-apartment building near the Orpheum Theater advertised its 54 units for sale beginning in March and already has 48 units sold or under contract. Fifty percent of the deals have closed.

The highest-priced unit - with the most space, highest floor and best view - sold for $175,000. A smaller, one-bedroom unit sold for $75,000, and two studio apartments are going for $50,000 each.

"We created our own niche," said Stephanie Borgmann, who owns the 10-story building at 16th and Harney Streets with her father, Steve Borgmann of Norfolk, and her brothers, Aaron and Ben of Omaha.

"We thought, with all the riverfront development and plans for high-end condos, the average downtown employee couldn't afford those," Stephanie Borgmann said. "We thought it couldn't be just executives who want to live downtown."

The Borgmanns also were influenced by outside forces. Low interest rates were prompting more renters in the $700- to $1,100-a-month range to become homeowners, creating vacancies.

And the Borgmanns wanted to try going condo before downtown was flooded with new units. Developers have announced plans for 105 condos and town homes on the riverfront and 83 row houses on the south edge of the Old Market near 12th and Leavenworth Streets.

Tim Steinbach, one of the agents listing the Regis units, said the Borgmanns had great timing. People wanting to live downtown have faced waits - waits for individuals to put units on the market or waits for announced new projects to be built, he said.

At the time of the Regis listing, he said, "We really were the whole market. In our price range, we were as close to the Old Market as you can get."

The Old Market usually has one or two units available, but they're typically in the $400,000 price range, said Steinbach, who works with an NP Dodge team specializing in downtown residences. Other planned developments will go for $200,000 and up, "and there's nothing you can live in for at least a year, best case."

Steinbach and Stephanie Borgmann said the Regis units have appealed to what they called typical condo buyers - first-time buyers, empty nesters and young professionals.

Buyers, they said, have included people being relocated from St. Louis by Union Pacific Railroad, a ConAgra transfer, a doctor headed for work at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and officers stationed at Offutt Air Force Base.

Six or seven of the existing tenants bought their apartments or another one in the building. The Borgmanns said they are selling units as leases run out.

Some buyers have chosen to take on renovations themselves or decided to contract for custom work. Others have selected from four packages of upgrades that include new cabinets, appliances, flooring and counters and, in some cases, exposed brick walls.

Earlier this month, Aaron and Ben Borgmann were tearing out drywall to expose brick around tall windows facing 16th Street in a two-bedroom, two-bath unit with cherry cabinets, a curved entryway and stacked washer and dryer.

Some units have parking stalls in an adjacent garage shared with other area buildings. The studios have 540 square feet, while two-bedroom, two-bath units typically have 1,274 square feet.

The Regis, after sitting vacant for 14 years, was one of the first downtown buildings renovated for residential living in the 1980s as the city began its push to redevelop downtown. Then-owner Milt Coffey planned the 54 units for eventual sale as condominiums, providing the legal descriptions for the sales being conducted today, Stephanie Borgmann said.

Since then, more than 1,500 housing units have been created downtown.

Steinbach understands the lure. He moved to Omaha nine months ago after living and working in downtown Seattle, and now he's bought one of the Regis' top-floor units, planning an October move with his fiancee.

"I just like the lifestyle," he said.
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