Omaha Forums

Might as well start this now... Mayor Stothert was on Grow Omaha this morning talking up why she would like the Downtown Library move to the Tetrad site. She said it would be closer to Central HS and Creighton, but most of all, because the city owns the land and she would like to see a 14 story HQ with a view of the Mall on the site.

She also said she would like to see the Mall built up to be more like San Antonio's River Walk...

Is Catherine33 secretly Mayor Stothert?

The river-walk comparison has been brought up for years as to what "they" would like to see the mall be like. As for the library site, it's not a difficult to connect the dots and extrapolate, with the change in plans of the civic site that the Storhert push is to move the library there and move the early civic site proposed high rise office space to the current library site, with part of it becoming Tetrads HQ.

RNcyanide wrote:Is Catherine33 secretly Mayor Stothert?

Catherine33 also predicted that Keweit and Mutual would share an office building on the downtown library site. Stothert said a long time ago that she wanted to shop the downtown library spot for a HQ. If Catherine33's prediction of Keweit and Mutual sharing an office comes true, then I will eat a container of brown shoe polish.

Isn't the Tetrad office moving to where the Scott foundation is going? Off of Rainwood road?

Guest11 wrote:Isn't the Tetrad office moving to where the Scott foundation is going? Off of Rainwood road?

No. That will just be the Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation HQ building, on Walter Scott's estate, so he doesn't have to travel to Miracle Hills too often.
Tetrad was building their HQ just north of BCBS, until Green Plains made them an offer for the building they couldn't refuse.
Tetrad hasn't said anything about a new spot for their HQ, but wanted to move somewhere in Aksarben Village.

It's really gaining momentum that a high rise will develop eventually on the current library site. I tend to look at plans for this location downtown, along with Lot B and the Civic sites, as cup half full.. I believe within 5 years all of this will sort out and we, as city development and booster geeks, will be very pleased with the results..

Gloom and doom is the easy way out ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Coyote wrote:Might as well start this now... Mayor Stothert was on Grow Omaha this morning talking up why she would like the Downtown Library move to the Tetrad site. She said it would be closer to Central HS and Creighton, but most of all, because the city owns the land and she would like to see a 14 story HQ with a view of the Mall on the site.

She also said she would like to see the Mall built up to be more like San Antonio's River Walk...

What a crock some of that is I'm calling B.S. on any implication that Central High School and Creighton students would suddenly show up at the downtown library if they moved it 6 or 7 blocks closer. That is the same kind of lying misleading talking out of the sides of their mouths they laid on us when they claimed the Century Link needed a huge convention floor for all the big conventions that would be coming soon as it was built. Yeah lets tear down a perfectly good library for an imaginary fortune 500 company that is going to come here to take its place. Show us the company that is going to take the librarys place or shut up. We keep letting our politicians drive the city into debt and we will all be paying taxes up the ying yang. I have already paid thousands and thousands of dollars to that restaurant tax and now they want to milk me for more is the way I read this.

I wouldn't call it a perfectly good library, but if you could exchange that for a State of the Art, Do Space on steroids, with all the bells and whistles... I'm sure the people at Do Space could provide a lot of suggestions based on their experience. I bet they could find some good philanthropic funding if this was the case. What city wouldn't want a Main Library like that to boast about.

Did the mayor really say 14 story HQ tower? Why would she give a specific number or even a number at all. That's just strange. I have no doubts that there will be a new library built at the Civic site, however I really question how this is going to sit with the taxpayers of Omaha. If these plans do transpire they better have their ducks in a row. I mean this better be a no chance of failure, renderings released, papers signed, ready to break ground, type of development. If they demolish a relatively newer, functioning building at the head of the mall and we're left with yet ANOTHER vacant lot for 10 years people are going to lose it. Also, if these plans do come to fruition, are we really going to be happy with a 14 story building here???? Is that the best this city can do???? I sure hope not.

Tornado wrote:Did the mayor really say 14 story HQ tower?

Yes. She said 14 stories.

Thanks Coyote. Am I the only one who thinks it's strange that she would give a specific detail on this potential development already?

Tornado wrote:Thanks Coyote. Am I the only one who thinks it's strange that she would give a specific detail on this potential development already?

One could conjecture that she may know something she let slip about who might occupy the building, or it may be the aesthetics of that site, with the Central Park Plaza twins being 16 stories (213 ft.) a building of that height would make for a better skyline.

If you're going to build a tower on this high visibility plot it has to be higher than 14 stories, hopefully that was just a random number thrown out.

Kiewit Tower

choke wrote:Kiewit Tower

No better, a 14 story garage for OPAS.

RNcyanide wrote:

choke wrote:Kiewit Tower

No better, a 14 story garage for OPAS.

valet parking at that

guest2 wrote:

RNcyanide wrote:

choke wrote:Kiewit Tower

No better, a 14 story garage for OPAS.

valet parking at that

And the city will give it to them on a silver platter.

RNcyanide wrote:

guest2 wrote:

RNcyanide wrote:

choke wrote:Kiewit Tower

No better, a 14 story garage for OPAS.

valet parking at that

And the city will give it to them on a silver platter.

And it will sit empty even though OPAS will say it desperately needs the land for expansion

I just really hope it's not a 14 story building that takes up the entire block. If they really want a San Antonio riverwalk feel, they need to have smaller commercial bays for restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc.

Also, I would go to the downtown library a few times a month when I was a Central High student ~15 years ago so I wouldn't say it's far fetched that some students would take advantage of a closer main library.

Dundeemaha wrote:I just really hope it's not a 14 story building that takes up the entire block. If they really want a San Antonio riverwalk feel, they need to have smaller commercial bays for restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc.

Also, I would go to the downtown library a few times a month when I was a Central High student ~15 years ago so I wouldn't say it's far fetched that some students would take advantage of a closer main library.

If they replicate DoSpace then I think the city is right on. DoSpace has caught interest nationwide and has been a success. The current library is a dinosaur.

Dundeemaha wrote:I just really hope it's not a 14 story building that takes up the entire block. If they really want a San Antonio riverwalk feel, they need to have smaller commercial bays for restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc.

Also, I would go to the downtown library a few times a month when I was a Central High student ~15 years ago so I wouldn't say it's far fetched that some students would take advantage of a closer main library.

Agreed.

There is plenty of room for more than one building on a 1 block site. I think a combo office/residential/commercial/underground parking garage solution is the way to go. It would be a huge mistake to underestimate what the demand for some residential tower component would be with a fantastic view of GLM.

GetUrban wrote:

Dundeemaha wrote:I just really hope it's not a 14 story building that takes up the entire block. If they really want a San Antonio riverwalk feel, they need to have smaller commercial bays for restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc.

Also, I would go to the downtown library a few times a month when I was a Central High student ~15 years ago so I wouldn't say it's far fetched that some students would take advantage of a closer main library.

Agreed.

There is plenty of room for more than one building on a 1 block site. I think a combo office/residential/commercial/underground parking garage solution is the way to go. It would be a huge mistake to underestimate what the demand for some residential tower component would be with a fantastic view of GLM.

Honestly, because of that view, or the perception of that view, I could see that being the only real place a true Residential tower might be explored.

Either case I'm just hoping they get rolling on something. The prospect of having Shamrock, Tetrad, Lot B, ConAgra, Osarko, River's Edge, NEDO, CHI/NuStyle, GLM overhaul, The Yard, baby Bob, MTC east, expanding CU campus and everything in between has me almost giddy.

MTO wrote:Either case I'm just hoping they get rolling on something. The prospect of having Shamrock, Tetrad, Lot B, ConAgra, Osarko, River's Edge, NEDO, CHI/NuStyle, GLM overhaul, The Yard, baby Bob, MTC east, expanding CU campus and everything in between has me almost giddy.

...Who are you and what have you done to our MTO?!

MadMartin8 wrote:

MTO wrote:Either case I'm just hoping they get rolling on something. The prospect of having Shamrock, Tetrad, Lot B, ConAgra, Osarko, River's Edge, NEDO, CHI/NuStyle, GLM overhaul, The Yard, baby Bob, MTC east, expanding CU campus and everything in between has me almost giddy.

...Who are you and what have you done to our MTO?!

No kidding, someone must have beat the cry baby right out of him...

I need to listen to that Grow Omaha episode...

Brad wrote:

MadMartin8 wrote:

MTO wrote:Either case I'm just hoping they get rolling on something. The prospect of having Shamrock, Tetrad, Lot B, ConAgra, Osarko, River's Edge, NEDO, CHI/NuStyle, GLM overhaul, The Yard, baby Bob, MTC east, expanding CU campus and everything in between has me almost giddy.

...Who are you and what have you done to our MTO?!

No kidding, someone must have beat the cry baby right out of him...

Bet it was that H.R. PuffNstuff dude that comes in here all the time. Or is that H.R. Pumpkinseeds? It goes something like that!

iamjacobm wrote:I need to listen to that Grow Omaha episode...

Here you go: http://kfab.iheart.com/media/play/27583665/

And would someone please ban the troll...this is just getting ridiculous.

HR Paperstacks wrote:

iamjacobm wrote:I need to listen to that Grow Omaha episode...

Here you go: http://kfab.iheart.com/media/play/27583665/

And would someone please ban the troll...this is just getting ridiculous.

Are you talking about that Brad guy, I agree.

Coyote wrote:

Guest11 wrote:Isn't the Tetrad office moving to where the Scott foundation is going? Off of Rainwood road?

No. That will just be the Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation HQ building, on Walter Scott's estate, so he doesn't have to travel to Miracle Hills too often.
Tetrad was building their HQ just north of BCBS, until Green Plains made them an offer for the building they couldn't refuse.
Tetrad hasn't said anything about a new spot for their HQ, but wanted to move somewhere in Aksarben Village.

I take that back, I just talked to Zach Wiegert and he confirmed that Tetrad is moving to that building on Walter Scott's estate.

Confirmed - European Village coming to library site with world's first 1 mile high Farris Wheel announcement coming soon.

Joe_Sovereign wrote:Confirmed - European Village coming to library site with world's first 1 mile high Farris Wheel announcement coming soon.

Will i be able to carry open containers on this mile high ferris wheel? Will there also be ground level parking??

RNcyanide wrote:

Joe_Sovereign wrote:Confirmed - European Village coming to library site with world's first 1 mile high Farris Wheel announcement coming soon.

Will i be able to carry open containers on this mile high ferris wheel? Will there also be ground level parking??

If you can't carry brewskis to the ferris wheel, then what's the point?

No, there will be no ground parking as the monorail will move people from Millard to downtown in 10 min or less.

RNcyanide wrote:

Joe_Sovereign wrote:Confirmed - European Village coming to library site with world's first 1 mile high Farris Wheel announcement coming soon.

Will i be able to carry open containers on this mile high ferris wheel? Will there also be ground level parking??

You will be able to carry open containers and open carry firearms on the mile high Farris Wheel.

No parking needed Robot Valets will just drive your car around for Uber until the time you want your car back.

Joe_Sovereign wrote:

RNcyanide wrote:

Joe_Sovereign wrote:Confirmed - European Village coming to library site with world's first 1 mile high Farris Wheel announcement coming soon.

Will i be able to carry open containers on this mile high ferris wheel? Will there also be ground level parking??

You will be able to carry open containers and open carry firearms on the mile high Farris Wheel.

No parking needed Robot Valets will just drive your car around for Uber until the time you want your car back.

Sorry no firearms on the wheel without either a CCW or an NRA hat.

Joe_Sovereign wrote:

RNcyanide wrote:

Joe_Sovereign wrote:Confirmed - European Village coming to library site with world's first 1 mile high Farris Wheel announcement coming soon.

Will i be able to carry open containers on this mile high ferris wheel? Will there also be ground level parking??

You will be able to carry open containers and open carry firearms on the mile high Farris Wheel.

No parking needed Robot Valets will just drive your car around for Uber until the time you want your car back.

What about carrying open containers of firearms? Asking for a friend.

Actually it looks like plans have changed from this rendering I found. They're going to keep the library because of its architectural significance. The tower will be larger and built on top of it.

Dundeemaha wrote:Actually it looks like plans have changed from this rendering I found. They're going to keep the library because of its architectural significance. The tower will be larger and built on top of it.

The library actually looks better than the tower...

What is that tower even from??