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Not sure which of the addresses listed is the Colonial hotel - I hear that was purchased recently and is also being renovated.

jjjjhskr wrote:Not sure which of the addresses listed is the Colonial hotel - I hear that was purchased recently and is also being renovated.

That would make sense. With the demand for this area, I imagine the investment potential of this for this has easily tipped past the income it's making in it's current use.

jjjjhskr wrote:Not sure which of the addresses listed is the Colonial hotel - I hear that was purchased recently and is also being renovated.

That would be this building, at 38th and Farnam, next to Brothers. Great potential here, is it still actually used as a hotel?

I believe these are currently apartments.

mj3141 wrote:I believe these are currently apartments.

Lowest level of apartments is what I understand. I think you can rent by the week with little to no background checks so sex offenders end up here(rumors I have heard). My mother was a counselor for OPS and she said when she visited there a few times b/c of student issues the inside was absolutely disgusting. Trash everywhere, awful smells ect.

This will be about as gentrified as gentrification gets.

They are advertising as recently as 30 days ago as "sleeping rooms starting at $99 per week plus tax" So they are operating as a hotel.

Working that quasi-legal gray area between operation as a hotel and an apartment.

Sounds like whoever is renovating may have their work cut out for them.

Colonial TIF request before planning board. A number of the other smaller projects TIF is before them as well.

Conversion to upscale apartments hopes to restore Colonial Hotel to former glory

Cindy Gonzalez - World-Herald staff writer wrote:Developers GreenSlate and Clarity have proposed turning what now are 100 or so boarding rooms that go for roughly $100 a week into 40 upscale apartments commanding monthly rents between $850 and $1,400.

Coyote wrote:Conversion to upscale apartments hopes to restore Colonial Hotel to former glory

Cindy Gonzalez - World-Herald staff writer wrote:Developers GreenSlate and Clarity have proposed turning what now are 100 or so boarding rooms that go for roughly $100 a week into 40 upscale apartments commanding monthly rents between $850 and $1,400.

They mention that there used to be a lounge/bar in the building that is also going to be re-opened. Is this along 38th Street?

Also, this article brings up some tough issues, with gentrification ongoing at a massive pace in this area. I don't want to derail the topic too much, but should projects that use TIF be required, in some way, to provide a certain number of lower income units?

That's a greate point it's something NYC has been trying to do. I'm not sure if a market as small as Omaha could pull something like that off or not.

Does anyone know anything about the Red Lion Club that used to be here - for nostalgia sake...?

mattl181 wrote:

Coyote wrote:Conversion to upscale apartments hopes to restore Colonial Hotel to former glory

Cindy Gonzalez - World-Herald staff writer wrote:Developers GreenSlate and Clarity have proposed turning what now are 100 or so boarding rooms that go for roughly $100 a week into 40 upscale apartments commanding monthly rents between $850 and $1,400.

They mention that there used to be a lounge/bar in the building that is also going to be re-opened. Is this along 38th Street?

Also, this article brings up some tough issues, with gentrification ongoing at a massive pace in this area. I don't want to derail the topic too much, but should projects that use TIF be required, in some way, to provide a certain number of lower income units?

That's a good question--I don't believe Omaha's TIF scheme requires any sort of set-aside for low-income units (maybe because in many instances TIF is being used on an affordable housing project?). It's a fair question though. TIF can be used in a lot of different ways, soit might not be so easy to impose affordable housing conditions every time TIF is sought. That certainly would seem to be within Omaha's power though.

Also, since this article says this is a project seeking historic tax credits but with no low income housing tax credits all of the units can be market rate without issue.

A part of the TIF approval process is showing the city that the development would not be possible without the subsidy. Giving them less rent income would in theory make their property even less profitable and need more subsidy.

Coyote wrote:Does anyone know anything about the Red Lion Club that used to be here - for nostalgia sake...?

I have not found anything on the Red Lion Club, but in the search process I found this fun old book on line from 1948. It is the Checker Cab City Directory and Guide to Omaha. Lists the location of a lot of older buildings and the original names. http://www.historicomaha.com/checkercabdirectory.pdf

Seeing how long those homes have been there it puts that little bit of dislike to see them being brought down now. It is too bad they got so chopped up and run down over the years.

asherballa wrote:

mattl181 wrote:

Coyote wrote:Conversion to upscale apartments hopes to restore Colonial Hotel to former glory

Cindy Gonzalez - World-Herald staff writer wrote:Developers GreenSlate and Clarity have proposed turning what now are 100 or so boarding rooms that go for roughly $100 a week into 40 upscale apartments commanding monthly rents between $850 and $1,400.

They mention that there used to be a lounge/bar in the building that is also going to be re-opened. Is this along 38th Street?

Also, this article brings up some tough issues, with gentrification ongoing at a massive pace in this area. I don't want to derail the topic too much, but should projects that use TIF be required, in some way, to provide a certain number of lower income units?

That's a good question--I don't believe Omaha's TIF scheme requires any sort of set-aside for low-income units (maybe because in many instances TIF is being used on an affordable housing project?). It's a fair question though. TIF can be used in a lot of different ways, soit might not be so easy to impose affordable housing conditions every time TIF is sought. That certainly would seem to be within Omaha's power though.

Also, since this article says this is a project seeking historic tax credits but with no low income housing tax credits all of the units can be market rate without issue.

Without tax credits, no one will build low income units, which I'm sure you all already know and the reality of it is that, for the most part, banks are the investors in tax credit projects, and not necessarily for the tax credits, but more for the CRAs, which, if you can satisfy a banks CRA requirements AND get tax credits, why wouldn't you. So, because Nebraska is a low-population state, few banks need to worry about CRAs in Nebraska (of course some do) and therefore it isn't all that common to see low income units incorporated into major developments in Nebraska because the incentive isn't there for big time banks to invest. It does happen, with the highlander project in North Omaha being the most recent example.

Coyote wrote:

image.jpg

I love seeing the streetcar in the photo!

What is a CRA?

daveoma wrote:What is a CRA?

CRA is the Community Reinvesment Act, which was enacted in 1977 and outlawed redlining, and strongly encourages banks to ensure that credit is available to everyone, particularly low income people. Essentially, it attempts to make sure banks aren't discriminating against low income people in matters of housing.

Coyote wrote:Does anyone know anything about the Red Lion Club that used to be here - for nostalgia sake...?

Renovations are beginning on the Red Lion Lounge at the Colonial and it looks like they mean business, it's a $165k project.

Coyote wrote:

Coyote wrote:Does anyone know anything about the Red Lion Club that used to be here - for nostalgia sake...?

Renovations are beginning on the Red Lion Lounge at the Colonial and it looks like they mean business, it's a $165k project.

Is this thing all finished up? I think they've done everything right....except for those awnings. That shade of pink makes them look sunwashed and dated imo.

I believe the Red Lion Lounge opened last week...

Coyote wrote:I believe the Red Lion Lounge opened last week...

Ever find any info from the original Red Lion lounge? The operators of this place I know were searching for something, but because of its unscrupulous past, I don't think much exists.

Sounds like this place was a lounge for an upstairs brothel, at one point, Mob ties and all

Back in the 70's a little office on the 1rst floor was the home of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. It was a telemarketing boiler room ran by a 400 pound weasel con man. They ran an ad in the paper almost year round. They would call people up implying they were the police to solicit donations and were raking it in. I think the 400 pound man ended up with 90 % of the donation and the police lodge got 10%. I lasted about 3 days

GrandpaaSmucker wrote:Back in the 70's a little office on the 1rst floor was the home of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. It was a telemarketing boiler room ran by a 400 pound weasel con man. They ran an ad in the paper almost year round. They would call people up implying they were the police to solicit donations and were raking it in. I think the 400 pound man ended up with 90 % of the donation and the police lodge got 10%. I lasted about 3 days

At least you have something interesting to say. Sure seems like nobody else does

GrandpaaSmucker wrote:Back in the 70's a little office on the 1rst floor was the home of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. It was a telemarketing boiler room ran by a 400 pound weasel con man. They ran an ad in the paper almost year round. They would call people up implying they were the police to solicit donations and were raking it in. I think the 400 pound man ended up with 90 % of the donation and the police lodge got 10%. I lasted about 3 days

Those were the MOST annoying calls! They would send you on a huge guilt trip if you refused to donate. It was always something like: they needed cash donations so they could take some kids to see a show. I fell for it once. They would tell you to tape an envelope with the cash to your front door and they would show-up 10-15 minutes later to pick it up.

We went to the Red Lion Lounge last night. It was a really cool place. It was all brand new, but had that old school dark and coyz lounge feel. Red velvet booths, old school lounge chairs and nice jazz music. Definately worth checking out next time you are in the area.

Brad wrote:We went to the Red Lion Lounge last night. It was a really cool place. It was all brand new, but had that old school dark and coyz lounge feel. Red velvet booths, old school lounge chairs and nice jazz music. Definately worth checking out next time you are in the area.

Sounds incredible!

It was accessibly priced too. Not trying to be overly fancy with craft cocktails. This looks to be a really nice addition to Blackstone if you want to sit and have a conversation and not fight the shoulder to shoulder crowds at Social or Sullivan's.