By Brent Hardin

PLATTSMOUTH - People who enjoy downtown Plattsmouth will have a chance to own condominiums along Main Street within the next month.

Developers of the historic Fitzgerald Building unveiled 19 new condominiums inside the structure at an open house Tuesday afternoon. The residential portions of the building, located at the corner of Main and 6th, had been vacant for two years.

Omaha real estate developers Brett Clure, Andy Forney and Tom Monteith partnered with Cass County Bank to transform the 21 former apartments into one-bedroom and two-bedroom units complete with granite countertops, fresh carpet and stainless steel appliances. Clure said Tuesday he and the other two KKM Real Estate Investments developers are optimistic about the building's future.

"We're pretty excited about it," Clure said. "We think it's going to be something that will really be nice to have here in town."

Monteith heard about the availability of the building from a business associate last year and talked to Clure and Forney about the prospects of remodeling the structure. The three partners later took a tour and liked what they saw.

"This one seemed too good to be true," Clure said. "This building has a lot of historical features, it's in the middle of downtown and there's a lot of natural light coming in from all of the tall windows in the units. It was a great opportunity."

The 19 units range in price from the low-$60,000s to the mid-$90,000s. There will be an elevator off of Main Street that can take residents to their second- and third-floor condos. Clure said developers are now taking reservations and will be able to begin closing paperwork on units within three to four weeks.

Tuesday's open house was the latest step in the city's plan to revitalize the three-story building. Plattsmouth City Council members approved a redevelopment plan in July 2008 after the prior landlords struggled to fill the former apartments.

Plattsmouth gave a $350,000 Community Development Block Grant loan to Cass Partners LLC in 1991 to repair the structure and create low-income residential units. Cass Partners LLC repaid less than half of the loan and had not made any payments in the past five years.

The 1870s-era building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.