Airport Ramada Inn To Be Closed

OmahaChef · Post by **OmahaChef** » Mon May 30, 2005 8:55 pm

Today I learned that the Ramada Inn Hotel at the south end of Eppley Airfield is to be closed. Apparently, the airport is exercising their right to eminent domain. Ramada is contacting other downtown hotels to transfer contracted banquets to other venues. Could this be the first step in an expansion of the airport facilities? Time will tell....but the airport is taking over the property.

Minneapolis Boy · Post by **Minneapolis Boy** » Mon May 30, 2005 9:14 pm

Sounds promising for futrue expansion work.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon May 30, 2005 9:42 pm

Hmmm..

The talk has been that serious Eppley expansion wont occur until the airport reaches the 5 million passenger count..If the 9+% passenger increase rate continues throught the rest of this year, Eppley will smash the 4 million mark for 2005..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Mon May 30, 2005 11:47 pm

Like everyone has stated,

Yea, sounds like Eppley expansion could be the reason for this.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Tue May 31, 2005 12:42 am

Where does the Ramada fall in this rather difficult to discern site plan?

OmahaChef · Post by **OmahaChef** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:00 am

It is the odd shaped yellow box on the far lower right. It is right across the street from the park with the pond that has been under construction for about 2 years now, and is bordered by the airport perimeter road. According to your map, the Ramada actually falls outside the airport property line, so it would have to have been an acquisition, not eminent domain.

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:23 am

Before we all get out the shovels & start building that 75 gate terminal, let's check into the hotel reality for a minute.

Think about this:
The airport ramada has seen, in the last couple of years, a huge quantity of competition built nearby.

The property has been for sale for months.

It's possible that there was a buyer that wants to do some other redevelopment of the land.

It IS possible that Eppley did buy the property with an eye on the future.

With the old Abbott Airport Parking Lot for sale across the street the value of land in the area may not be the highest.

I wouldn't mind seeing an on-airport hotel. The old airport inn was about the closest thing Eppley had, and it was a nice hike from the terminal.

Lastly, Don Smithey is no dummy. We've never seen him shoot from the hip on anything. IF he did buy it, whatever he has planned could be years off. He's a sharp guy, as evidenced by the fact that Eppley did all this without any taxing authority AND without offering financial incentives to any airline...as is the case in Lincoln, Des Moines, Wichita, etc.

As an aside, Delta pulled almost all of its flights out of Wichita as a protest of that airport basically bribing AirTran to fly from there. I think I saw the story in the Wichita Business Journal at bizjournals.com.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Tue May 31, 2005 10:11 am

Good points Novak. It makes a ton of sense that because the land was for sale, Eppley was just thinking ahead and getting the land now before it gets too expensive or can't be purchased because its redeveloped.

To that bribing thing, I never heard of that. I can't believe that an airport would do that. Man how desperate is that. Good thing we can grow without throwing cash in airlines faces, becasue we're cooler than that

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:25 am

I really don't have a problem with a small airport using incentives to induce an airline to serve them. In many cases, such as Wichita, the funds are held to insure that the first years are profitable. Without the incentives Airtran wouldn't have come to Wichita. With incentives airtran was able to help lower fares to selected markets.

If I'm not mistaken, Des Moines recently used incentives to bring Des Moines-Orlando service via Allegient Air. The service is to Orlando Sandiford Airport, not Orlando International which would allow connection to other Florida cities, but nonetheless it's Orlando service.

By the way, under most incentives the funds aren't used unless the route isn't profitable. In the case of Lincoln, if the funds for Northwest aren't used they could be used for other service. In that case it's a good thing. You've got to give Mr. Wood in Lincoln credit. He's brought Lincoln service to Detroit and Memphis recently. Lincoln could have simply folded under pressure from Omaha. They didn't and worked hard to bring the service that they could get.

That Omaha hasn't used incentives is a very good thing. It's also a tribute to Smithey that Omaha doesn't charge a ticket surcharge, as is it's right. Other airports do and use the funds for infrastructure.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue May 31, 2005 5:21 pm

Well, one thing is for sure. The gateway to Omaha will be less one more eye sore.

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Tue May 31, 2005 6:03 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:Well, one thing is for sure. The gateway to Omaha will be less one more eye sore.

Exactly.

I have no idea how the occupancy rates are but this may help in determining if another higher quality hotel will be built between the airport and downtown. Novak's comments regarding having a hotel attached to the airport would be nice.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:23 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:Well, one thing is for sure. The gateway to Omaha will be less one more eye sore.

Maybe we should get rid of the houses around Carter Lake, then make an office park around it. Oh yea, Novak's hotel idea was pretty sweet too.

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:23 am

and there you have it....

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=46&u_sid=1425077

It's always nice to get the news from eomaha before Omaha.com

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:09 am

From the W-H piece:

'Smithey declined to comment on what the authority would do with the property or what prompted negotiations to begin now.

In 1998, a master plan for Eppley indicated that another terminal building would be needed once Eppley's annual passenger traffic reached 5 million. The plan recommended that a $53.6 million terminal be built just south of the current terminal, with a "people mover" connecting the two buildings.

"We've still got to grow some more before we do that," Smithey said Tuesday.'..

Backs up what I had posted earlier (and info that many of us already knew)..Undoubtably it would seem that Smithey and the OAA are taking a proactive approach in anticipation of future airport expansion..A good signal of healthy growth for the future of Omaha air travel..

Along with a 9+% increase in passenger traffic this year over last

..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:48 pm

Something struck me while I read the OWH story. I enjoy hearing anything Don Smithey has to say, but didn't anyone at the local monopoly fishwrap think to call the current owner of the property? Wouldn't their take on the situation be newsworthy? Perhaps the fact that they are the same people who used to own the New Tower Inn? This isn't rocket science folks. Even a call to the manager, who if it's the same manager as a few years ago used to manage the Holiday Inn Central. The Blazek family has a long and storied history in this town. Yet, nothing about them or the property merits a word.

This is the paper you get people...

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:08 pm

In 1998, a master plan for Eppley indicated that another terminal building would be needed once Eppley's annual passenger traffic reached 5 million. The plan recommended that a $53.6 million terminal be built just south of the current terminal, with a "people mover" connecting the two buildings.

Anyone remember a while back when there was some guy who came on the forum claming hes seen the expansion master plan and it had a people mover system. Looks like he was right...

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 8:27 pm

The new terminal will incorporate mustard, maroon, and tan colors to tie in with the existing terminal decor.