Omaha Forums

Ralston Ice Rink?? (Lancers too??)

Ralston seeks 7th skating venue

http://omaha.com/article/20100218/NEWS01/702189866

Paul Hammel WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:LINCOLN — An old golf course in Ralston might become home for a 3,500-seat hockey and concert arena if city officials there get some help from the state.

State lawmakers were asked Wednesday to amend a law that helped build the Qwest Center Omaha in order to aid construction of a Ralston arena complex that local officials say would host 100 new events a year, create 327 construction jobs, cost at least $25 million to build and generate a yearly payroll of $12 million.

The arena would be built on the former Lakeview Golf Course property northwest of 72nd and Q Streets, said Ralston Mayor Don Groesser, and would help the suburban Omaha community attract new retail development as well as help rebuild its old downtown area.

“We're looking for the best use of that land,” Groesser said. “Our city is landlocked — we don't get very many opportunities to do something like this.”

Paul Hammel WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:Groesser declined to comment on whether the Omaha Lancers might be a potential tenant for the Ralston arena. A 3,500-seat facility would seem to be ideal for the team.

Attempts to reach Lancers team President Ben Robert for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful. He was traveling.

Ralston would make a helluva lot more sense than Richfield/East Gretna for the Lancers.

I'm OK with either location.  Long term the far west has more to offer, the Ralston area is landlocked by other development.  Will also be interesting to see if the neighborhood that borders this land is thrilled that this might be coming.  For the short or midterm, Ralston works better.

Greg

Eh, might as well stay at the Civic.

Stargazer wrote:Eh, might as well stay at the Civic.

As a long term solution?   Whatever ever happened to the what to do with Civic study??

Hopefully it's dead.  It has two sports tenants now... seems to have plenty of other events filling dates in between, circus, dance competitions, etc... great venue for commencements.   This is what we've wanted all along... multiple venues to ensure we can accommodate all events which come our way.

I'm all for the Lancers staying at the Civic.  Best sight lines I've ever seen for hockey.

Greg

I think Ralston can be a little more creative than to add a 4th ice arena to the metro...

Maybe some new urbanism or something.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Omaha doesn't need more ice rinks... I'm just expressing dismay at the thought of yet another sporting event being pulled out of downtown... with UNO apparently a likely loss as well.

Looks like the will get the same benefit as Omaha's subsidized "turn-back" dollars:

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/89486312.html

Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop, who represents the Ralston area, said smaller cities deserve the same economic opportunities that helped build the Qwest Center Omaha

This just kills me.  It's *RALSTON*!! We're not talking about Ord here.  It's 15min from the Qwest - the residents are not missing out.  I know this.  I live there.

Hastings Sen. Dennis Utter expressed concern about siphoning away state sales taxes for local projects. He also questioned whether a new Ralston arena would generate new economic activity or just shift it from elsewhere.

And not like Hastings would really complain if the siphoned dollars happened to land in their neck of the woods.  But at least he brought up the issue of new activity vs relocated activity.  In 10yrs, Omaha could be the only city under 1,000,000 people that has enough arenas and stadiums to host Live-Aid, the Olympics and a Pan-American baseball tournament on the same day.

almighty_tuna wrote:

Hastings Sen. Dennis Utter expressed concern about siphoning away state sales taxes for local projects. He also questioned whether a new Ralston arena would generate new economic activity or just shift it from elsewhere.

And not like Hastings would really complain if the siphoned dollars happened to land in their neck of the woods.  But at least he brought up the issue of new activity vs relocated activity.  In 10yrs, Omaha could be the only city under 1,000,000 people that has enough arenas and stadiums to host Live-Aid, the Olympics and a Pan-American baseball tournament on the same day.

I agree completely with this.  Prove that you generate new tax revenue for the state and you get the dollars.  It is not like people in Omaha were hoarding money and then, when the Qwest was built, they ran down their and spent this money.  The VAST VAST majority of revenue "generated" around the Qwest was simply shifted from somewhere else in the city.

Same thing applies here.

Arena bill skates through vote

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100330/N ... rough-vote

Paul Hammel WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:LINCOLN -- Legislation that would help the City of Ralston develop a $25 million, 3,500-seat ice hockey/entertainment arena skated Monday to easy initial approval.

Ralston Mayor Don Groesser, who is seeking to redevelop a former golf course, smiled broadly after 36-0 first-round advancement of Legislative Bill 779.

The measure would give smaller cities the same opportunity now offered to Omaha and Lincoln: to use sales taxes generated in the vicinity of an arena to help pay off the facility's debts.

Paul Hammel WORLD-HERALD BUREAU wrote:Under LB 779, sales taxes generated by all retail businesses within 600 yards of the arena would be tapped to pay off arena bonds.

All state sales taxes collected by businesses that open up to 24 months before and after the arena's opening could also be used, as could the increased state sales taxes generated by existing businesses.

Seventy percent of the state sales tax would be “turned back” to the city to retire arena debts. The remaining 30 percent would go into a fund providing grants to community improvement projects in other cities statewide.

I hear they MAY be an announcement in the next hour or so.

I'd rather see $25 million in improvements to the Funplex across the street.

They announced the Lancers and the Beef are moving to the new Ralston Ice Rink

Brad wrote:They announced the Lancers and the Beef are moving to the new Ralston Ice Rink

Does that spell doom for the Civic to anyone else or is that just me?

iamjacobm wrote:

Brad wrote:They announced the Lancers and the Beef are moving to the new Ralston Ice Rink

Does that spell doom for the Civic to anyone else or is that just me?

A year or two ago, a master plan for downtown proposed an office tower to replace the Civic.  It's been doomed for some time.

Brad: there's nothing on any other web site about any announcement about the Ralston arena.

HskrFanMike wrote:Brad: there's nothing on any other web site about any announcement about the Ralston arena.

I know.  I am just going off what a co-worker said who was at the meeting.

Brad wrote:They announced the Lancers and the Beef are moving to the new Ralston Ice Rink

Indoor football on ice?  :shock:  That should be interesting!

What's the status on this???

Is there any truth to a Ralston Ice Rink???

Lancers skating to Ralston

http://www.omaha.com/article/20101123/N ... to-ralston

Adam Klinker WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE wrote:The Omaha Lancers are skating to Ralston in 2012.

AdvertisingAt a press conference Tuesday morning at Ralston City Hall, Ralston Mayor Don Groesser and Lancers President Ben Robert announced that the junior hockey team will make the move to Ralston's planned $25 million, 3,500-seat sports and entertainment complex at 72nd and Q Streets.

“Ralston couldn't ask for a better partner in this project,” Groesser said. “We're extremely excited to be able to bring the Lancers home.”

The Lancers will have a lease option at Ralston's venue for 10 years — the team signed a five-year lease with a five-year renewal option.

Ben Robert wrote:The Lancers are returning to 72nd Street, to midtown Omaha, to the place where we belong

Psst, Ben...Ralston is a different city.  It's not Omaha and you probably shouldn't say that in front of the mayor of Ralston.  


Also, Ralston, no matter what number street you talk about, is not midtown.

While I think the Lancers at the civic is better for the metro, I'm glad that they went here as opposed to BFE Sarpy Co.

The lancers are going to get a reputation of being skanky the way they are getting around town

Oh boy here come the idiots who think there are giant walls between cities in the Metro and who apparently never cross into those cities to shop and eat.

almighty_tuna wrote:

Ben Robert wrote:The Lancers are returning to 72nd Street, to midtown Omaha, to the place where we belong

Psst, Ben...Ralston is a different city.  It's not Omaha and you probably shouldn't say that in front of the mayor of Ralston.  


Also, Ralston, no matter what number street you talk about, is not midtown.

That's exactly what I thought.  With these reporters' sense of geography, I'm expecting someone to call Utah the "midwest."

Maybe calling Ralston Omaha is an omen to future annexation, lol.

[quote="cp jay 07"]Oh boy here come the idiots who think there are giant walls between cities in the Metro and who apparently never cross into those cities to shop and eat.[/quote]

You mean there are not giant walls between cities in the Metro??? And if I go downtown I won't get mugged or murdered (or worse!) or if someone from downtown ventured into the disgusting suburbs their car won't automatically transform into a mini-van and produce 2.5 children for them??? What an amazing world we live in . I like living in the metro and don't care at all where things wind up- I do think that the Metro benefits from things being a little spread out and that will produce growth in different areas as opposed to trying to cram everything into downtown or West O or Sarpy.

Back to the topic at hand, I'm stoked for the new ice rink and the Lancer's being there. I might even buy season tickets again.

Twiztid1 wrote:http://www.omaha.com/article/20110223/N ... on-complex

They've released some renderings of the arena, one inside view and one outside view.  It's a nice little arena, perfect for the Lancers. I love the seamless glass.

I can't imagine they will have seamless glass in the new arena. The glass is dangerous as it has very little give to it. The remaining NHL teams that have seamless glass will be replacing it this summer. I believe they are allowed to keep the seamless glass on the sides but behind the goal line the glass will be replaced. From an article online:

" From Darren Dreger of TSN: "The six remaining NHL arenas with seamless glass are scheduled for a makeover in the offseason. Sources tell The Dreger Report that Calgary, Montreal, Minnesota, Nashville, Colorado and Phoenix will have their end zone boards and glass retro-fitted to acrylic glass to comply with the rest of the league. Acrylic glass is flexible and helps absorb the energy of a bodycheck, while conversely, the traditional glass system provides no energy absorption."

Ralston arena vote nears end

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110505/N ... -nears-end

WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE wrote:With days to go before votes are tallied on the question of the $29-million bond issue to build a sports and entertainment complex in Ralston at 72nd and Q streets, the committee organizing the push for the arena is making one last effort to make sure the city's voters are sending in their ballots in this mail-in election.

Weird...  I thought it was a done deal and they already started construction?

Ralston voters OK new arena

By Jeffrey Robb WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:In election results released Tuesday, Ralston gave 80 percent support to funding the ice and events arena at 72nd and Q Streets. The Douglas County Election Commissioner’s Office said 1,511 voters supported a $29 million bond issue to fund the arena’s construction, while 369 opposed it.

Good for Ralston!  With the Qwest and Two new Ballparks, I am like a kid in a candy store right now!

Brad wrote:

Good for Ralston!  With the Qwest and Two new Ballparks, I am like a kid in a candy store right now!

I agree, I think it is amazing that the area continues to build these complexes...there are not many other cities in the country that could rival that kind of building, if any at all.  I am definitely enjoying all the development that is going on and taking it in!

Ralston arena gets state OK

Ralston's proposed $32 million arena will commence construction immediately after a state board approved state arena incentives for the project.

A five-member state board, which included Gov. Dave Heineman and State Treasurer Don Stenberg, unanimously signed off Monday on plans for state financing to support the ice and events arena at 72nd and Q Streets.

http://omaha.com/article/20110621/NEWS0 ... s-state-ok

Ground Broken on New Arena

WOWT wrote:Ground was broken this morning on a $32 million dollar arena and sports complex in Ralston. The project is expected to be completed and open October 2012.

By the looks of it they are driving pilings currently.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110920/M ... 09838/1001

While the Mavericks are staying on campus at the Sapp Fieldhouse for 2011-12, their future home, beginning in 2012-13, will be the Ralston Sports and Event Center — not the Civic.

This place should be a much much better fit than the Civic.