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Burlington Station redevelopment by KETV

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 11:56 pm
by Guest
KETV is buying it for their new studio/office.

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 7:47 am
by RNcyanide
How disappointing. Let's hope this never moves outside of a rumor.

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 7:51 am
by cdub
RNcyanide wrote:How disappointing. Let's hope this never moves outside of a rumor.
What would be wrong with this use?

What would you rather see?

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 8:16 am
by NovakOmaha
Seems a bit odd that a TV station would move into a former Burlington Coat Factory but hey...why not?  Which one closed?

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 8:56 am
by RNcyanide
cdub wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:How disappointing. Let's hope this never moves outside of a rumor.
What would be wrong with this use?

What would you rather see?
I don't like the idea of tv/radio equipment cluttering an already cluttered area. I would much rather see it occupied by something that would be open to the public or something residential. Really, anything that would clean the area up.

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:07 am
by NovakOmaha
When it was first redone the hope was that a restaurant would go into the basement with outside seating overlooking the mall.  I don't remember what was the problem but it never happened.

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:14 am
by RNcyanide
NovakOmaha wrote:When it was first redone the hope was that a restaurant would go into the basement with outside seating overlooking the mall.  I don't remember what was the problem but it never happened.

If you're riding a train through the area, it gives kind of a crappy impression of the city because you can't see very much from down there.

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:53 am
by NovakOmaha
RNcyanide wrote:
NovakOmaha wrote:When it was first redone the hope was that a restaurant would go into the basement with outside seating overlooking the mall.  I don't remember what was the problem but it never happened.

If you're riding a train through the area, it gives kind of a crappy impression of the city because you can't see very much from down there.
My bad.  I thought this was about the Burlington Building on the Mall.  

As for the Burlington Station there was a very short discussion about making it part of the Durham Museum.  At this point anything would be an improvement.  Hey, put a Walmart neighborhood market, a subway & a check cashing place.  At least there would be people there.

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 5:29 pm
by Guest
Considering that it is right next to the OM and places south and east of it are making it, what is wrong with this place?

Is it full of moldy asbestos?

Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 6:45 pm
by RNcyanide
Anonymous wrote:Considering that it is right next to the OM and places south and east of it are making it, what is wrong with this place?

Is it full of moldy asbestos?
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington ... _Nebraska))
Remodeled again in 1954, the station saw a major parking plaza erected with lights and canopy, and a circular drive that enabled people to drop passengers at the station. During the late 1960s train travel was greatly reduced and several areas of the station fell into disrepair. Finally, in 1971, passenger service was turned over to Amtrak, which operated the Burlington Station until February 1, 1974. That year the Burlington Train Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Since its closing, the station has seen futile attempts at reopening as business offices, and as a warehouse. In 1985, the interior was gutted by an architectural salvager who removed and sold every interior fitting. The four enormous chandeliers were taken down, one of which was broken and was sold in pieces. In 2004, two investors purchased the building. Renovations were planned to transform the building through adaptive re-use into private residences called "The Burlington".[2] When the economy fell and real estate crisis began in 2008, low pre-sales of condos stopped the project and since then the building continues to languish and decay, its future again uncertain

Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 7:56 am
by bigredmed
RNcyanide wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Considering that it is right next to the OM and places south and east of it are making it, what is wrong with this place?

Is it full of moldy asbestos?
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington ... _Nebraska))
Remodeled again in 1954, the station saw a major parking plaza erected with lights and canopy, and a circular drive that enabled people to drop passengers at the station. During the late 1960s train travel was greatly reduced and several areas of the station fell into disrepair. Finally, in 1971, passenger service was turned over to Amtrak, which operated the Burlington Station until February 1, 1974. That year the Burlington Train Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Since its closing, the station has seen futile attempts at reopening as business offices, and as a warehouse. In 1985, the interior was gutted by an architectural salvager who removed and sold every interior fitting. The four enormous chandeliers were taken down, one of which was broken and was sold in pieces. In 2004, two investors purchased the building. Renovations were planned to transform the building through adaptive re-use into private residences called "The Burlington".[2] When the economy fell and real estate crisis began in 2008, low pre-sales of condos stopped the project and since then the building continues to languish and decay, its future again uncertain
So, now that it is no longer the "historic place" it used to be, how about we tear it down and build a proper AMTRAK station or a Bucky's in it's place?

Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 10:28 am
by Brad
I have been inside.  It absolutely DOES NOT need to be torn down!

Its basically ready to start construction, all the demo has already been done.  Its way cleaner in there than the Barker Building was and they are rehabbing that just fine.  

I have heard that KETV rumor for quite a while know.  I figured there was no way in heck that a local TV station has the budge to pull that kind of renovation.  However a year later and someone else is posting the same rumor, may be it has more legs than I thought.

I don't mind KETV having a station there if they do it right.  However if its a boarded piece of junk like the currently building, they need to stay away!  I would hope they would include some sort of public space in it.

I agree with a lot of people that think it would make sense to be a intermodal passenger station.  Last night they said on the news the the current greyhound station was purchased by the county and would be made in to yet another parking lot.  Trailways (I think that is what its called) has said they want to join forces with Amtrak in Omaha.  If they can get with Metro, things could be go.  

However for now, I see nothing happening until I hit the lottery.

Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 11:04 am
by RNcyanide
Fingers crossed for a train station. It would be a wonderful front door for the city.

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:49 pm
by Mr.Nuke
Brad wrote: I have heard that KETV rumor for quite a while know.  I figured there was no way in heck that a local TV station has the budge to pull that kind of renovation.  However a year later and someone else is posting the same rumor, may be it has more legs than I thought.
Honestly, I'm not sure you'd need to have a lot of budget to pull a renovation for a television studio there.  At a bare minimum all you would need to to do is build a control room and create a set which you could technically do on the cheap on either floor if that is all you wanted to do.  They aren't going to go through and make this a Durham like restoration and do the local news from the boarding area one night or the main hall the other night.  They presumably want a new building due to the infrastructure overhaul required to go to HD broadcasts.  A big building that has been vacant for 40 years may allow them to do that on the cheap.  I'd keep my expectations low here...
Brad wrote: I don't mind KETV having a station there if they do it right.
What is doing it right though as far as a television station occupying the building?  We are talking about relatively cardboard sets that are constructed only to occupy a camera frame.   That is the extent of a standard tv studio.  I can't imagine Hearst/KETV spending a bunch of money "fixing up" the building when it really serves them no purpose in their business.  
Brad wrote:  However if its a boarded piece of junk like the currently building, they need to stay away!  I would hope they would include some sort of public space in it.
Kind of like what I said above, it is going to be a television station.  The whole idea of a public space sort of goes against that business model when you want things isolated and quiet to produce your news broadcasts.  The building does seems like a lot of space for a tv station, but the notion of having a tv station in a mixed used building isn't exactly brilliant either.

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:03 am
by Brad
They building is stripped bare.  It doesn't even have Electricity, Plumbing, or HVAC.

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:10 pm
by Mr.Nuke
Brad wrote:They building is stripped bare.  It doesn't even have Electricity, Plumbing, or HVAC.
I too have been inside.  This is where it almost makes more sense for someone like KETV to go there than anyone else.  Like I said in my last post, KETV isn't going to have to make this a Durham like restoration.  If you use the building for any other purpose: condos, mixed use, a transportation hub, etc.  You are going to have to restore or redo absolutely everything in the building.  For a television station you may not.

A Wichita Kansas tv station.  Note how the set is designed only to fit the camera frame. For sound purposes it may matter slightly, but you could leave the existing bricks or tiles in the building in theory; knowing full well you are constructing a prop-set and that is all people are going to see when they watch your news.  

Hearst (KETV's owner) has a history of moving buildings when the go HD.  They did it with KETV's sister station in KC as well.  I'm not sure why exactly, but there is probably a tremendous am mount of work on the back-end technical equipment and presumably a new set.  WOWT did their news from a green screen for months during their transition.

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:41 pm
by bigredmed
Mr.Nuke wrote:
Brad wrote:They building is stripped bare.  It doesn't even have Electricity, Plumbing, or HVAC.
I too have been inside.  This is where it almost makes more sense for someone like KETV to go there than anyone else.  Like I said in my last post, KETV isn't going to have to make this a Durham like restoration.  If you use the building for any other purpose: condos, mixed use, a transportation hub, etc.  You are going to have to restore or redo absolutely everything in the building.  For a television station you may not.

A Wichita Kansas tv station.  Note how the set is designed only to fit the camera frame. For sound purposes it may matter slightly, but you could leave the existing bricks or tiles in the building in theory; knowing full well you are constructing a prop-set and that is all people are going to see when they watch your news.  

Hearst (KETV's owner) has a history of moving buildings when the go HD.  They did it with KETV's sister station in KC as well.  I'm not sure why exactly, but there is probably a tremendous am mount of work on the back-end technical equipment and presumably a new set.  WOWT did their news from a green screen for months during their transition.
Would they get clearance from the planning board to build a tower there?  Would they just microwave their signal to the top of the Woodmen or FNB and then off to Crown Point?  Cox would get their signal right off the control room out line like they do now, but I wonder how they would feed their beast of an antenna out on 72nd without their current antenna to act as a microwave link.   I guess they could donate their current building to the Lutherans for the back up food bank run by Kountze or the Salvation Army and in so doing take a huge tax deduction and keep the down town antenna and some workspace at their current site and cable their signal from the Burlington.

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:25 pm
by Mr.Nuke
bigredmed wrote: Would they get clearance from the planning board to build a tower there?  Would they just microwave their signal to the top of the Woodmen or FNB and then off to Crown Point?  Cox would get their signal right off the control room out line like they do now, but I wonder how they would feed their beast of an antenna out on 72nd without their current antenna to act as a microwave link.   I guess they could donate their current building to the Lutherans for the back up food bank run by Kountze or the Salvation Army and in so doing take a huge tax deduction and keep the down town antenna and some workspace at their current site and cable their signal from the Burlington.
I'd imagine they'd want a smaller tower onsite and would easily get permission to do so to relay it to the 72nd tower.

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:15 pm
by Guest
What are the actual chances of this happening?

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:24 pm
by Brad
Anonymous wrote:What are the actual chances of this happening?
Here is the latest rumor that I heard today:
-Channel 7 is buying the building
-It will be announced with in the next 15 Days
-They are restoring the exterior
-Estimated cost $30-$45 million
-The parking lot on the south side will be removed

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:29 pm
by jessep28
If this does come true, hopefully there will be some public use space so Omaha's residents can enjoy a piece of history.

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:10 pm
by Guest
Anonymous wrote:What are the actual chances of this happening?
99%.  Building products have been spec'd at local places, an environmental assessment as been done at the site per this forum, and there was a KETV vehicle on site last week.

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:12 pm
by iamjacobm
Glad to see the building get a use, but this is on the low low end of the potential it has.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:36 am
by nebport5
iamjacobm wrote:Glad to see the building get a use, but this is on the low low end of the potential it has.
Better than condos but yes, even more museum space would've been better but not as good as the obvious transit hub we're unlikely to see anytime soon.


Brad wrote:I would hope they would include some sort of public space in it.
Perhaps an ice rink in lieu of the south parking?  Think Rockefeller Center complete with seasonal x-mss tree.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 12:34 pm
by HskrFanMike
Could something more be done with it?  Yes.

Is it currently an eyesore?  Yes.

Realistically, is anybody else going to do something better than what KETV is planning?  Sad truth is no.

It's pretty much a no-brainer.  If KETV wants to do something where nobody else has been able to do anything for decades, then more power to 7.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:55 pm
by Brad
They may be announcing this project on the 5pm new tonight.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:59 pm
by Mr.Nuke
KETV just confirmed they bought the building.  They'll have parts of the building open for public access.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:00 pm
by Mr.Nuke
Brad wrote:They may be announcing this project on the 5pm new tonight.
They are.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:02 pm
by jessep28
http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/ket ... swatch%2B7

They want to move in by 2015 and there will be public use space.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:04 pm
by Omaha_Gabe
A two-year multi-million dollar renovation project will be launched, and another Omaha institution – the architectural firm of Leo A. Daly – will be in charge of turning the landmark into a state-of-the-art electronic media facility.

Leo A. Daly and KETV anticipate a 2015 move-in, which will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the Burlington Station’s glorious history.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:17 pm
by Coyote
KETV moving to Burlington Station in downtown Omaha
Steve Jordon WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Roblin said. “We looked at all kinds of options, but this one really made sense to us because it exemplifies what we do. Bringing back an old building to something beautiful and used and honored is important to us.”

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:43 pm
by jessep28
This is a great lifestyle choice that KETV is making.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:50 pm
by RNcyanide
Dern it. Dern it all to heck.

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:31 pm
by Collin
Image

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:08 pm
by Brad
Here is a photo of the station I took the other day.

Image

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:36 pm
by skinzfan23
I am really excited to see this building have new life.  With the Blue Barn Theather going in across the street the 10th St. Corridor just keeps getting better!

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:38 pm
by Brad
I was really excited to see how much they talked about the history of the building.  I really seems like they are excited to be part of history and not just looking for a building!

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:57 am
by MTO
We have all been pining to see this building get used for something, thank you channel 7.  I think this is would be an appropriate time to use a projected logo on to the building, something that is done to preserve the architecture.

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:51 am
by ItsAllAboutMe
Though I'm thrilled to see something happen I cant help but think of better options.  I know that one developer hoped to turn it in "W" hotel, now that would have been awesome.

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:56 am
by RNcyanide
ItsAllAboutMe wrote:Though I'm thrilled to see something happen I cant help but think of better options.  I know that one developer hoped to turn it in "W" hotel, now that would have been awesome.
I agree. As much as I would have loved to see it converted back into a train station or something commercial or residential, anything at this point is better than what the Burlington has become now.