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Now nearing its 100th birthday, an old downtown Omaha Chevrolet dealership that later served as a storage facility, banquet hall and parking garage is preparing for its most dramatic metamorphosis yet.

The roof of the structure at 20th and Dodge Streets — which, in its heyday, drew nighttime crowds to watch motion pictures under the stars — is about to get a lid. Add floor-to-ceiling glass walls, furnishings and balconies with views toward the riverfront, and the property would transform from garage to modern office space.

“The timing is right,” said Ryan Anglim, whose family wants to redevelop the property they’ve owned since 1996 but first are looking for a tenant. “As downtown grows and buildings are getting remodeled, this seems a perfect fit.”

Poised to bring about 36,000 square feet of new office space to the city’s core, the Anglim project is a sign of optimism and better times for a downtown Omaha market that’s been filling business space at a faster rate than a year ago.

According to Colliers International, the office vacancy rate in downtown Omaha has dropped from about 10 percent at the end of 2017 to 5.7 percent today. Some of that decline is attributable to the fact that some empty office space was turned into hotel rooms or apartments.