2501 Center

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mr. omaha
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2501 Center

Post by mr. omaha »

Anyone know the history of this building? It's attached to a warehouse, but looks more like apartments with stained glass on the upper floors.
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Coyote
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by Coyote »

Built in 1970 as an office building.
nebraska
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by nebraska »

Searching myomahaobsession...

I know it was part of Salvation Army, but now belongs to Virgil Anderson 53,000 sqft of office space. Built 1970. The original warehouse behind it was built in 1945.

Virgil Anderson of Anderson Excavating seems to own 127 properties in Douglas County and is good friends with Mayor Stothert (turns up in a lot of news stories). Virgil owns the big lot just north of there, too, on which you can see lots of excavation equipment.

Larson Auction may have had office there at one point.

In 1887, there was a house at that address

Salvation Army moved to Dundee in 1990. I wasn't living in Omaha that year, so does anyone remember if SalArmy moved office from 2501 Center to Dundee at that time?
GRANDPASMUCKER
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by GRANDPASMUCKER »

The Salvation Army's main headquarters is in the old Methodist hospital on 36th & Cummings. That is kind of close to Dundee but not really. That building in the pic was where they housed down and out folks for years. The building behind it for years was a collection warehouse where they brought donations from all over and then sent the goods they thought they could sell out to the Salvation Army stores around town. They used to have a dock sale at that building back in the 70's and 80's every Saturday morning at 8:00 AM. For 1 dollar you could buy everything you could fit in a paper grocery sack. It was a great deal and since it was so early most of the losers were still home in bed so the mob wasn't to bad :lol: It could get pretty wild though. They would open the big garage door at 8AM sharp and there would be 100 people just storm in like it was a rock concert. I saw a few people get ran over by the herd more then once.
choke
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by choke »

I now recognize the building behind it. Yes, that was a Salvation Army store. It wasn't ten years ago that they were still using it to sell retail. First, it was like a regular thrift store, then as GRAMPASMUCKER noted, you could buy big bags of clothes for a buck, then they tried to auction off donated automobiles after they stopped selling donated clothing. I could of swore there was a wrecking ball down there for a while but nothing ever came of it. I bet the inside of the old halfway house is deplorable. That's just a guess. But I would imaging it smells like stale urine.
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Brad
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by Brad »

choke wrote:could of swore there was a wrecking ball down there for a while but nothing ever came of it.
I think its still there laying on the ground in pieces...
MadMartin8
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by MadMartin8 »

mr. omaha wrote:Anyone know the history of this building? It's attached to a warehouse, but looks more like apartments with stained glass on the upper floors.
Looks like a gift from 1960s North Korea to the people of Omaha.
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daveoma
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by daveoma »

MadMartin8 wrote:
mr. omaha wrote:Anyone know the history of this building? It's attached to a warehouse, but looks more like apartments with stained glass on the upper floors.
Looks like a gift from 1960s North Korea to the people of Omaha.
:lol:
ita
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Re: 2501 Center

Post by ita »

https://www.cityfeet.com/cont/listing/i ... /cs7700503

This lot is being advertised for sale. The posting says that it could qualify for TIF and would be best suited for low income housing redevelopment. It does have very good visibility from US-75, so I hope someone is able to do something with this lot.
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