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Organizers and city officials confirmed during a Friday press conference at the CenturyLink Center that the 50-meter pool would be staying in Omaha. It will be taken apart and placed in storage in Omaha by Myrtha Pools USA, which manufactured the pools for both the 2008 and '12 U.S. Trials in Omaha.

The pool eventually will be reassembled at the planned sports complex. Besides the pool, the new complex will include tennis courts, a soccer field and an eight-lane running track.

The money for the pool -- $1 million -- has been raised by a group of community leaders spearheaded by Mike Cassling and Lisa Roskens. The group is looking at four potential sites for the sports complex, but as of now there is no time frame for starting the project.

The pool structure would include seating for 1,800 to 2,000 people. It will be reconfigured into a 10-lane pool.

nebport5 wrote:Awesome...now in keeping with the DT master plan, the UP land north of Cuming would be ideal.   The Union Pacific Natatorium and and Tournament Complex?

Linkin5 wrote:Glad to see they didn't cut corners and put a warmup pool in there.  Hopefully it will double as a diving well with towers.

iamjacobm wrote:

nebport5 wrote:Awesome...now in keeping with the DT master plan, the UP land north of Cuming would be ideal.   The Union Pacific Natatorium and and Tournament Complex?

I like it!

Organizers have raised about two-thirds of the money needed to buy the warm-up pool used by Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin and other Olympians during this summer's U.S. Olympic Swim Trials.

University of Nebraska at Omaha land south of Center Street is still a potential site.

Once they've demonstrated how it will cash flow, they'll begin raising the estimated $13 million — depending on costs of the 20-acre site and other variables — to erect the complex. They hope to start construction in 2014.

The facility would house a 52-meter pool with two movable bulkheads, allowing the pool to be configured at 50 meters, 25 meters or 25 yards.

Plans call for possible seating for 1,800 to 2,000 in the pool facility. That would allow Omaha to go after events on the scale of a USA Swimming Grand Prix, along with regional and national meets.

The Omaha Multi-Sport Complex organization hasn’t received any specifics on bids for the pool, project manager Travis Stensby said Thursday afternoon.

However, Mike Cassling, the board chairman for the organization, has said he’s heard about interest from landowners with property in Bellevue, La Vista, Gretna and Omaha.

Last month, organizers announced they were putting out a formal request from landowners interested in the facility. The venue, which would go on a site at least 10 acres in size, would be used for state and national competitions in swimming and tennis.

Along with the Olympic-size pool would be 18 tennis courts, a smaller warm-up pool, seating for 2,000 swimming spectators and 6,500 tennis spectators, weight-training rooms, pro shops and other amenities.

MadMartin8 wrote:A complex like this could really help in landing other Olympic Sports, or help the city to become a training ground for Olympic Athletes. It would be neat in the area just north of the Century Link Center.

Linkin5 wrote:

MadMartin8 wrote:A complex like this could really help in landing other Olympic Sports, or help the city to become a training ground for Olympic Athletes. It would be neat in the area just north of the Century Link Center.

This would be a facility that most every city has comparable in size to Omaha, and actually quite a few smaller places.  If anything Omaha is finally catching up by having a quality indoor 50 meter facility (UNO has a 50 meter indoor but it is six lanes and has minimal deckspace).

nebugeater wrote:Remebered reading this story about a month ago and with the news that the Trials are comming to Omaha again for 2016 it gout me thinking about it again.  Found this from March 29 and a follow up on June 23 that said about the same.

It sounds like from this story that we will know where the pool that was purchased after the 2012 trials will be located on May 21.    RFQ went out in Feb and were do in Apr 5.  Wounder how many proposals they ended up getting?

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130329/N ... 79849/1123

The Omaha Multi-Sport Complex organization hasn’t received any specifics on bids for the pool, project manager Travis Stensby said Thursday afternoon.

However, Mike Cassling, the board chairman for the organization, has said he’s heard about interest from landowners with property in Bellevue, La Vista, Gretna and Omaha.

Last month, organizers announced they were putting out a formal request from landowners interested in the facility. The venue, which would go on a site at least 10 acres in size, would be used for state and national competitions in swimming and tennis.

Along with the Olympic-size pool would be 18 tennis courts, a smaller warm-up pool, seating for 2,000 swimming spectators and 6,500 tennis spectators, weight-training rooms, pro shops and other amenities.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120623/NEWS/306239981

Erin Golden: World-Herald staff writer wrote:One of the pools used in last summer's U.S. Olympic Swim Trials is headed for a new, permanent home: northwest Omaha's Tranquility Park.

The 50-meter pool will be a key piece of a larger sports complex that will also include tennis courts, weight-training facilities and seating for thousands of spectators

guitarguy wrote:Who's bright idea was it to close both Military and State street at the same time? Thats an awful lot of traffic for little Fort St to handle.. I experienced this the other day too..

guitarguy wrote:Who's bright idea was it to close both Military and State street at the same time? Thats an awful lot of traffic for little Fort St to handle.. I experienced this the other day too..

After months of meetings with local sports clubs, organizers expanded the project to include five pools: the indoor 50-meter pool, a warm-up pool and diving well, a therapy pool, a “learn-to-swim” pool and a second, outdoor 50-meter competition pool.

Tennis courts still are part of the plan, but now they’ll sit next to an expanded and improved soccer complex. Tranquility Park is already home to several soccer fields, but Multi-Sport Complex organizers want to overhaul them all into more durable artificial turf fields.

A proposal to build a multisport complex at Omaha's Tranquility Park has been nixed.

The private group that had planned the project asked the City of Omaha for $20 million, according to a press release from Mayor Jean Stothert.

Stothert said Monday that she couldn't agree to that and other requests from the Omaha Multisport Complex Board of Directors.

The release does not say what will become of the pool that is left over from Omaha hosting the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials.

"We worked hard to make this project a success at Tranquility Park," Stothert said in a statement. "In the end, it became cost-prohibitive."

Coyote wrote:Wasn't there a second (backup) plan for that pool, or am I thinking of another project?

Linkin5 wrote:

Coyote wrote:Wasn't there a second (backup) plan for that pool, or am I thinking of another project?

I believe the first thought was they were going to put it in a complex that would have been right next to the UNO arena.

WOWT wrote:According to the Mayor, the OMC Board has asked the City for a $20 million cash contribution for the project and other conditions including a 99-year lease.