Omaha Forums

nativeomahan wrote:I won't get my hope up until there is a ground breaking.  Maybe not even then.  Lol

The Council Bluffs City Council, in a 4-1 vote Monday evening, approved the contracts for services involving the construction of the Playland Park project.

The council authorized Mayor Matt Walsh to execute an agreement with the Council Bluffs office of HDR Inc. for engineering services for the project. A similar agreement was approved with Omaha-based Noddle Development Co. for the implementation of the project. . . .

The planned Playland Park development, a $100 million residential/commercial investment in western Council Bluffs across the Missouri River from downtown Omaha, could be in jeopardy because of a citizen’s petition opposing $2 million in bond money to build the roads for the development, Mayor Matt Walsh said Tuesday.

The signatures had to come from people living within the Council Bluffs city limits, according to Walsh. A petition with 612 signatures has been presented to the city, it was mentioned at Monday’s City Council meeting. To be valid, a minimum of 610 signatures from Council Bluffs residents is needed, Walsh said, meaning three or more nonresident signatures would cancel the petition.

iamjacobm wrote:So they want to hold a special election to vote on the city putting in infrastructure here?  Am I reading this wrong or is that borderline the dumbest thing ever.

Also that comment at the end about serving interests across the river is a head scratcher.  If anything a development like this will pull a tax base from the Nebraska side of the river wether it be people wanting a more urban setting in the more liberal and lower taxed Iowa to simply having more riverfront options than Omaha.

iamjacobm wrote:So they want to hold a special election to vote on the city putting in infrastructure here?  Am I reading this wrong or is that borderline the dumbest thing ever.

Also that comment at the end about serving interests across the river is a head scratcher.  If anything a development like this will pull a tax base from the Nebraska side of the river wether it be people wanting a more urban setting in the more liberal and lower taxed Iowa to simply having more riverfront options than Omaha.

GetUrban wrote: I would think.

The Playland Park project can now move forward as planned.
At a special Council Bluffs City Council meeting Wednesday afternoon, a citizen’s petition questioning the use of $2 million in general obligation bond money to build the roads in the development was declared invalid because it did not have the required number of eligible signatures.

However, upon review, first by the City Clerk’s staff and then Wade’s own staff, it was determined the petition fell short of the required number of signatures from eligible voters residing within Council Bluffs, Wade said. He said those who signed the petition were also required to put down their addresses.
“A few addresses were incomplete, and at least five (of the petition signatures) had no addresses at all,” Wade said, adding that more than a dozen signatures came from people living outside the city.

Among those is the planned River’s Edge development on the former Playland Park, which is expected to bring about $100 million in business and residential investment to the Iowa side of the riverfront. City officials expect grading to begin this summer.

The Playland Park redevelopment continues moving forward.

“It’s going to be a great project with between $100 million and $200 million in new assessed valuation,” said Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh.

The design features a living, working and retail environment with a park-fronting piazza and a “porch” that proves a formal and active link to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. Situated adjacent to the piazza and porch will be two medium-sized office buildings overlooking the riverfront and two mid-rise condo towers that sit atop a pedestal base that contains community space, retail uses and townhomes.

Further to the east, apartments, townhouses and mixed-use buildings will line the new streets with the hope to encourage retailers to open shop there. Parking will be available on-street, in-surface parking lots tucked behind buildings and in parking structures.

“The intent is to start soon after July 1,” Walsh said. “It will be the initialization of the redevelopment of West Broadway.”

"You’ll start seeing a lot of grading taking place and, within a couple of months, you’ll see actual construction,” said Omaha-based developer Jay Noddle. “Around Labor Day, people should start seeing actual construction beyond the grading.”

Beyond the grading, construction will start on what Noddle called the “signature building of the development,” a four-story office building providing 65,000 square feet of space.
An adjacent parking garage will start around that time with completion date on both being the fall of 2016, he said. He said it is hoped the other office building, which will have three to seven floors, will be under construction at that time.

GetUrban wrote: Noddle  

KETV wrote:Playland Park is being called one of the most unique development projects in Iowa history.

The story of what will eventually happen to Playland Park begins about 7 miles to the West, on the other side of the Missouri River in Aksarben Village.

The park is still an empty parking lot, but there's an updated timeline for construction, which was helped along with millions of dollars in TIF financing. The master plan begins with dirt work after Labor Day.

"Then shortly after that, probably before Halloween, we'll try and get the first few buildings started," Noddle said. "By spring of 2016, the community will see structures there."

Structures like the flagship building. There will also be apartments, condos, commercial spaces with room for storefront shops.