Erin Grace / World-Herald columnist wrote:Want to buy a funeral home?
You could make 1234 S. 10th St. your home, sans the funerals. Owner Bill Johnston is selling the property, which includes the 16-room mansion, a large carriage house and a slice of history. At least one prominent Omaha family once lived there.
Spoke to the owner today and apparently is close to selling the house to an unnamed buyer for 500k. In that case, the house will most likely be demoed. The buyer didn't even tour the interior.
SaveOmaha wrote:Spoke to the owner today and apparently is close to selling the house to an unnamed buyer for 500k. In that case, the house will most likely be demoed. The buyer didn't even tour the interior.
Probably would build an apartment building with that much investment coming in. I wonder if that house has been chopped so much that it is really unreasonable to rehab it for any non insane amount of money.
SaveOmaha wrote:Spoke to the owner today and apparently is close to selling the house to an unnamed buyer for 500k. In that case, the house will most likely be demoed. The buyer didn't even tour the interior.
One of my co-workers lives right by it and he said they would not sell to anyone with plans to demo it?
SaveOmaha wrote:Spoke to the owner today and apparently is close to selling the house to an unnamed buyer for 500k. In that case, the house will most likely be demoed. The buyer didn't even tour the interior.
One of my co-workers lives right by it and he said they would not sell to anyone with plans to demo it?
That was my impression, but I guess the owner changed his mind. It's too bad. I've toured the house myself, and it's awesome. The house looks to be in solid shape.
Last edited by SaveOmaha on Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Former Kountze Mansion now Johnston and Son Mortuary at 1234 South 10th Street in Omaha has been sold for redevelopment. This beautiful historic property is being razed to make room for new structures. At auction we have the contents and the salvage rights to this gorgeous Omaha Icon.
This home was originally built by John F. Coots for Augustus and Catherine Kountze in 1886. It has been meticulously maintained and, to this day, contains what we believe to be the original woodwork in Quatersawn Oak, Mahogany and Maple.
It features period correct lighting fixtures, marble sinks and claw foot bath tubs. Vintage funeral parlor items and mid-century modern furnishings including an equipped embalming room are contained in this structure.
Everything including 5000 square feet of hardwood flooring, nine foot pocket doors, fabulous crown moldings, wainscoating, baseboards and stair rails in Oak, Mahogany and Maple go to auction. Special salvage terms and short time frames apply at this auction.
This auction will be conducted on Sunday March 1st at 10AM. Bidding can be done live on site or online using Proxibid.
I know this is a relatively new concept, but I have to wonder about the history if funeral homes in Omaha. This map have been one of th first around...
SaveOmaha wrote:If the email claims that this house is so beautiful and an Omaha icon, why is it being razed? There are other vacant lots already around the area.
I am guessing the number of Ghosts per square foot is a bit high for the neighborhood?
SaveOmaha wrote:If the email claims that this house is so beautiful and an Omaha icon, why is it being razed? There are other vacant lots already around the area.
I am guessing the number of Ghosts per square foot is a bit high for the neighborhood? :;):
This is really becoming a valuable area for new development, but there are many, many lots nearby with far less significant architecture on them. It's a shame this is going to get the wrecking ball.
Clarity Development is behind the project here. They are also working on the two Blackstone projects and the recently announced CB project that includes a historic preservation. I would imagine they tried to consider the building's worth and if it were possible to save.
A cluster of row houses is planned to replace an old mansion-turned-funeral home south of the Old Market — a developer’s $7 million effort to help fill a dearth of new homeownership opportunities near the city’s core.
Clarity Development Co., which is buying the property at 1234 S. 10th St., says market studies show so much appetite that the partners expect to sell all the dwellings within four months.
“They will feel like a traditional home, with access to all you have in an urban lifestyle,” said Tom McLeay, Clarity president. “To me it’s the best of both worlds.”
City planners and real estate experts also have said that newly constructed, single-family homes are the next logical housing wave following the proliferation of multifamily apartment buildings that in recent years have helped changed the face of downtown Omaha and its fringes.
Clarity plans to begin construction this spring at the site of the John E. Johnston & Son, Miller and Salanitro Funeral Home, which was built as a 6,400-square-foot home in 1886.
Hopefully this is done right. I hope they don't make them look to cheap. Granted the funeral home is the best looking from the street, so maybe anything is an upgrade. Just sad to see another piece of Omaha history gone with a 125+ year old home demolished.
Shame to see it go, but those rowhouses look great. Considering the neighborhood they're in, I don't feel like being built cheaply would be a big concern.
When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you're doing his will.
RNcyanide wrote: Considering the neighborhood they're in, I don't feel like being built cheaply would be a big concern.
Whats that mean?
For whatever reason, I thought that it was in a different part of town, near the cathedral. Missed that bit. It made me think that they would have to build with better quality to avoid complaints from the neighbors.
When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you're doing his will.
Glad they might replace it with something decent. Definitely sad to see the old house go. It will be real hard to ever match the craftsmanship that went into that.
Some of the details on the rendering look kind of fussy and tacky...like those brick entry-way columns with the little shingled roofs and cornices at the entry to the courtyard. Why not do something a little simpler that won't be a maintenance issue in a few years? ...just my opinion.
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings" ...and then they were gone.
Yes, as RNcyanide suggests, the name duplex implies (Latin: duo (two )+ -plex (-fold), is housing with shared walls. Row houses (townhouses) are more than two units, generally differentiated from apartments since they do not have a neighboring unit above or below them, most generally two or three story complexes.
This is the type of rendering where the houses will either end up looking really neat or really cheap. Let's hope they end up looking good. It would be nice to get 10th street bustling again. A couple of projects like this along 13th would be good too.
GetUrban wrote:Glad they might replace it with something decent. Definitely sad to see the old house go. It will be real hard to ever match the craftsmanship that went into that.
Some of the details on the rendering look kind of fussy and tacky...like those brick entry-way columns with the little shingled roofs and cornices at the entry to the courtyard. Why not do something a little simpler that won't be a maintenance issue in a few years? ...just my opinion.
Genuinely wouldn't be surprised if the idea behind them is to act as a mental barrier from the sidewalk to keep nonresidents out. Gives the idea that past that threshold you entering a private housing area rather than a thoroughfare.
Garrett wrote:Yet another project for the 10th Street Corridor eh? That area must be getting close to some form of critical mass.
Lots of other opportune properties left. This area offers the connivence of downtown living without the nightlife noise and commotion. I expect a lot of people will "graduate" from their downtown apartments to a small house or row home in this area south of downtown in the coming years.
Garrett wrote:Yet another project for the 10th Street Corridor eh? That area must be getting close to some form of critical mass.
Lots of other opportune properties left. This area offers the connivence of downtown living without the nightlife noise and commotion. I expect a lot of people will "graduate" from their downtown apartments to a small house or row home in this area south of downtown in the coming years.
That's kinda what I was alluding to. The more developments that happen in this area, the more developers will be interested in developing it, like the growth we're seeing in Midtown now.