Dignitaries and bus drivers stood on a 9,000-square-foot platform Thursday to welcome Omahans to a safer and better public bus service.
Local, state and federal elected officials joined to praise Metro Area Transit for building a new transfer station at Westroads Mall. The area already is a busy bus hub, they noted, and the awning-covered transfer station should only add to the appeal of public transportation.
Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Terry said energy consumption is a long-standing concern of his, and MAT is taking the right steps to increase bus ridership. MAT has designed a transfer system "that is more customer-friendly, making it more usable."
The ceremony marked the completion of the first of three new transfer centers in Omaha.
Mayor Mike Fahey said the centers "are a fine example of people working together for the community's good."
The transfer stations reflect the city's growth and development and MAT's efforts to keep pace, he said.
Today I went out to Westroads for an Indoor walk. First I drove around the North side. The Old Younkers store now total gone. Â The lower level, Site of the futures store and shops, are now covered. The “floor” of new Rave Movie Theater complex is nearly poured. The new Theater building appears takes up all the space between Dick Sporting Good and TGI Friday.
I only recently noticed the new DSW... and some other new girls apparel store. Â Westroads has shaken it's beanie baby and local trinket type stores and is finally starting to look like a top flight retail center again.
Shoot for the Moon... if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
Bard, Thank you for the photo update on the Theaters construction.
July 24th 0f 2007, I took this photo of 'enclosure' of upper level Old Younkers mall entrance.
This past Sunday, during a photo shot for the Omaha food bank's CanStruction can display (photos coming soon to the Photography and Videos forum) I took photo of the same area. Now the backside of Rave Movie Theater complex is now lined with clothing stores.
I Thought the Westroads would do something more interesting and attractive here, like they did for the Dick Sporting Goods. Â
Note: Photos were temporarily off line April 28th: Photos are back online today
Last edited by SaOmaha on Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:14 am, edited 3 times in total.
JOHN KEENAN WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:The Rave Motion Pictures 14-screen theater at the Westroads plans to be open in time for the holiday movie season. The goal is to be open for the Nov. 21 release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," said Jeremy Devine, national director of marketing for the Dallas-based chain.
Other area theater projects:
• Southport West, east side of I-80 bordered by Giles Road and 126th Street: 14 screens, no opening date set.
• Midtown Crossing, 33rd and Farnam Streets: Five screens, no opening date set.
• Aksarben Village, 67th and Center Streets: 12 screens, due to open October 2009.
nativeomahan wrote:I thought they were opening on the 14th...
Yes, its the 14th:
Omaha Cowboy wrote:In case anyone missed this past Saturday's show..The VP of Operations from Rave Theaters was interviewed and he stated the new Rave Theater at Westroads will open November 14, 2008..
nativeomahan wrote:I thought they were opening on the 14th...
Yes, its the 14th:
Omaha Cowboy wrote:In case anyone missed this past Saturday's show..The VP of Operations from Rave Theaters was interviewed and he stated the new Rave Theater at Westroads will open November 14, 2008..
..Ciao..LiO....Peace
Are there still plans to build a theater out by Cabela's. Â THis is the wrong thread for sure but wasn't it to be a Rave there too?
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
After we watch the Lancers beat Waterloo tonight we headed out to Granite City for a bite to eat. Â Rave theaters had all their lights and signs on. Â With less than a week until opening they look to be fairly close to being finished. Â There were workers in there tonight. Â I am going to get out there one of these nights and get a photo of the sign, it looks cool all lit up.
Please say this is a second location, and not a relocation from their Old Market store.... Â I've always loved that place (its an amusing place to bring a date after dinner in the OM - really get to see if they're any fun), but wondered how they stayed open selling stuff $1 at a time, in what I'm sure is a fairly high rent location.
KETV wrote:Westroads 14 opens to the public on Friday. On Thursday, the theater will show the summer's blockbusters for $1. The shows run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day. Popcorn and soda will also cost just $1 that day. Proceeds will benefit charity.
Question. Where is everyone going to park on weekends once the theatre opens? Didn't Westroads Mall management think about this? This could be a major clusterfiretruck, and lead to people avoiding the theatre if they have to spend a half hour looking for a place to park. They might also avoid shopping at the mall for the same reason.
I guess you could park at Crossroads and take the bus.......
TitosBuritoBarn wrote:Nobody parks on the north side as it is. Plus it's only 14 theatres which is pretty small compared to most Omaha area theaters.
It's 3000 seats. Â Maybe 1000 vehicles, assuming a busy Saturday or Sunday. Â Plus parking for employees. Â That's a lot of parking to accommodate. Â It could easily double the foot traffic at the mall. Â We shall see soon enough how it will go.
I think parking will be an issue. Â I usually park on the north side between Younker's and Friday's. Â If Younkers has one of their better sales going it gets pretty crowded over there. Â I can only imagine what it will be like with a big movie weekend opening.
I'd hate to think that a person would have to walk from the far reaches of the lot. Â The horror. Â
We should definitely have enough parking to accommodate the busiest possible day of the year AND a huge movie opening all at the same time. Â But |expletive|, that would put some stalls far away still, what a conundrum.
JOHN KEENAN AND BOB FISCHBACH WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS wrote:All 14 screens of the 130,000-square-foot theater have digital projectors, making it the first theater in the Omaha area to not use any film.
Rave officially opens Friday with a lineup of first-run movies that includes the new James Bond action flick, "Quantum of Solace."
Rave spokesman Jeremy Devine listed a number of amenities the new theater will offer, including digital surround sound, stadium seating with 18-inch risers from the front row to the back, and 48 inches from seatback to seatback to allow more legroom.
Devine said another distinguishing feature is digital posters in the lobby that will play trailers from upcoming films. Westroads 14 also has satellite capability to offer showings of live sporting or concert events, he said.
Devine declined to say how much Rave is investing in the project, but he said an industry guideline was $1 million per screen.
Interesting History:
JOHN KEENAN AND BOB FISCHBACH WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS wrote:When Westroads Mall opened in 1969 it included a six-screen complex, the AMC Six West. According to World-Herald reports at that time, it was the world's first six-screen theater multiplex.
The single-screen Fox Theater also operated at the Westroads. Mann Theaters purchased and remodeled it into a two-screen theater in 1977. AMC bought the Fox in 1983 and operated the two theaters as one eight-screen complex.
The AMC Westroads 8 closed in December 1997 when AMC opened Oak View 24 near Oak View Mall.
Parking was fine. Â It's fairly nice inside and nothing like our other theaters but I expected something more extravagant "RAVE" like the outside. Â I went and saw Madagascar with my niece and nephew so I can't really tell you much about the digital part. Â The seating was excellent though. Â Deferentially my favorite theater now.
windsor wrote:With one week under their belt, has anyone been to Rave yet? What was it like? How was the parking? What do you think of the digital projection?
We went Friday night and saw Zack & Miri which was very funny, btw. Parking was OK but it would be better if they got those two trailers out of the way and painted the lines an even distance. I have a hard time believing that THAT many people can not do angle parking properly, especially in Omaha. Digital projection was OK, I think unless you're a real film nut you'd never really appreciate the difference. (Other than when a film melts which has happened to me twice) Popcorn was OK but they need more combo deals. We'll probably go again just because it's pretty close to our apartment. I did think that they'd make a new theater bigger though. Fourteen screens doesn't seem too big too me. *shrug*
Oh, but I did like the seats. They're a bit wider than most other theaters, you get more leg room, and the arm rests flip up. Overall the seating was a lot more comfortable.
My friend went to see Twilight last week during the afternoon and the computer used for that theater crashed (apparently they run everything on Windows Vista, no surprise there) so everyone had to go to a later showing and they gave everyone 2 free passes. Â I wonder if that will be a regular occurrence.
I went and saw Quantom of Solace on opening night (for both the theater and the movie.) It is a pretty cool theater and the seating is designed so that there isn't a bad seat in the house. They had trouble with the projector at first; the sound was playing, but not the film. Luckily they fixed it within 10 minutes. Parking wasn't a problem, although there wasn't the crowd I was expecting there to be for an 8pm showing of Quantom of Solace on opening night.
If memory serves me correctly from childhood The Westroads was at one time the second largest shopping mall in the country. Â It would have been some time during the early to mid 70's. Â Does anyone else ever remember hearing this?
Westroads Mall was built in 1968 (first multiplex theater in Omaha, and had its own helipad). I think at the time I remember something about it being the 8th largest mall in the world or country or something like that---still quite a feat. Â I thought it was all very groovy and Jetson-ish.
We'll probably go again just because it's pretty close to our apartment. I did think that they'd make a new theater bigger though. Fourteen screens doesn't seem too big too me. *shrug*