Burlington Station redevelopment by KETV
Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 11:56 pm
KETV is buying it for their new studio/office.
A Discussion Site for Everything Omaha
https://eomahaforums.com/
What would be wrong with this use?RNcyanide wrote:How disappointing. Let's hope this never moves outside of a rumor.
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.cdub wrote:What would be wrong with this use?RNcyanide wrote:How disappointing. Let's hope this never moves outside of a rumor.
What would you rather see?
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.
My bad. Â I thought this was about the Burlington Building on the Mall. ÂRNcyanide 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.
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington ... _Nebraska))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?
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?RNcyanide wrote:From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington ... _Nebraska))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?
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
Honestly, I'm not sure you'd need to have a lot of budget to pull a renovation for a television studio there. Â 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. Â 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. Â They presumably want a new building due to the infrastructure overhaul required to go to HD broadcasts. Â A big building that has been vacant for 40 years may allow them to do that on the cheap. Â I'd keep my expectations low here...Brad wrote: I have heard that KETV rumor for quite a while know. Â I figured there was no way in heck that a local TV station has the budge to pull that kind of renovation. Â However a year later and someone else is posting the same rumor, may be it has more legs than I thought.
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: I don't mind KETV having a station there if they do it right.
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.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.
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.Brad wrote:They building is stripped bare. It doesn't even have Electricity, Plumbing, or HVAC.
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.Mr.Nuke wrote: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.Brad wrote:They building is stripped bare. It doesn't even have Electricity, Plumbing, or HVAC.
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.
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.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.
Here is the latest rumor that I heard today:Anonymous wrote:What are the actual chances of this happening?
99%. Â 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.Anonymous wrote:What are the actual chances of this happening?
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.iamjacobm wrote:Glad to see the building get a use, but this is on the low low end of the potential it has.
Perhaps an ice rink in lieu of the south parking? Â Think Rockefeller Center complete with seasonal x-mss tree.Brad wrote:I would hope they would include some sort of public space in it.
They are.Brad wrote:They may be announcing this project on the 5pm new tonight.
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.
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.”
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.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.