Regency Hotel (now Comfort Inn)

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Sun May 08, 2005 9:13 pm

One of my parents friends bought the regency hotel (the one on 72nd and Grover with the purple lights) and he has already started gutting the thing for a huge remodel project. He was telling me that he was toying around with the idea of building an indoor waterpark connected to the hotel as well, similar to the one in KC. As of now, he seems pretty set on doing it., more details later on...

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Sun May 08, 2005 10:44 pm

I assumed someone would be doing something with it... given it's been vacant for several weeks(months?) now. Give him my regards for turning the purple lights off!

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Mon May 09, 2005 12:50 am

I actually dont mind the purple lights too much, i guess it might give it some character, but i doubt he will keep them

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Mon May 09, 2005 1:38 am

Yeah, I kinda liked them. Made an otherwise nondescript interstate hotel stand out a bit.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Mon May 09, 2005 10:55 am

The Regency is the former Ramada Inn Central. The Executive Inn is the former Howard Johnsons. In its day that corner was "the" corner for lodging in Omaha...then AkSarBen closed.

The Regency was bought a few years ago & let go. It was taken back by the bank & they tried 3 times to auction it off. No bids the first 2 times. Your friend's folks must have bought it at the latest auction try. It's a good building & a great location. A guy I know in Michigan looked at it with the idea of assisted living, but during the due diligence took a pass.

The Executive Inn(former HoJo) is now for sale as well.

Oh, by the way, so is the Sheraton downtown.

Anybody want to be a hotel magnet in Omaha?

Post by **nebugeater** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:43 am

http://www.ketv.com/news/5143190/detail.html

Here is a story on KETV's web site that will allow this to be moved out of the Rumor Catagory. Looks like they wan't tax $$$$ and it is in front of the city now.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:34 am

Ill move this into the development section..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Post by **Admin** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:18 pm

It's too bad we don't have an option to join threads.

http://www.eomaha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2618

Post by **Brad** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:05 pm

It's too bad we don't have an option to join threads.

But we do have a search button to use before starting a new thread. Its not entirely fail safe, but about 99% accurate.

Post by **Admin** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:20 pm

I found it be searching for "I told" (recalling stylee's bragging)

Post by **nebugeater** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:32 pm

Well, the search is what I DID use to bring this back to life rather than start a new thread today. Looked to me like today's news fit nicely here.

adam186 · Post by **adam186** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:07 am

bump...

adam186 · Post by **adam186** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:11 am

This was posted in another thread:
it looks like the 72nd St. hotel/waterpark has been approoved for tax increment financing and is getting ready to start re-development.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=46& ... nd=7937461

This good news that things are really happening now.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:41 pm

Two water slides (for big kids) wow quite smaller than I thought it would have been.

Post by **Brad** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 6:03 pm

4/16/2006

notice the new windows on the lower left.

j4nu · Post by **j4nu** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:43 pm

I used to be concerned that too many of these indoor parks would lead to a saturation, but in traveling more and more lately, I'm not as concerned. It seems that the bar is just being raised and what hotel pools were in the past where just having one was a luxery, these waterparks are the same thing today.

I like the look of the redesigned Regency Hotel, I think it will look great from the interstate.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:55 pm

Sunday 7-16-2006

Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:38 pm

The hotel will open in a few weeks as a Comfort Inn and Suites and has been totally remodeled.

The water park is still in the development stages.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:55 pm

Brad;
Is this the one that is supposed to be quite large now?

Post by **Brad** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:41 pm

MTO wrote:Brad;
Is this the one that is supposed to be quite large now?

They didn't give a size for this one..

However The Holiday Inn
http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2618

Is Big!

cdub · Post by **cdub** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:59 am

This water park is dead at the present time. They said they couldn't compete with the Holiday Inn park.

Post by **Brad** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:17 am

cdub wrote:This water park is dead at the present time. They said they couldn't compete with the Holiday Inn park.

Thats not what WOWT Channel 6 reported last night on their 6 and 10 pm news. They said still in the development phases.

cdub · Post by **cdub** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:28 pm

Yes, they also just realized that Holiday Inn was building a water park when the city issued permits weeks ago.

It is possible that revenue after the rehab will get this project back off the ground but as of right now it is dead. They are not pursuing the TIF that was deemed necessary to fund the project.

Post by **Brad** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:25 pm

cdub wrote:Yes, they also just realized that Holiday Inn was building a water park when the city issued permits weeks ago.

It is possible that revenue after the rehab will get this project back off the ground but as of right now it is dead. They are not pursuing the TIF that was deemed necessary to fund the project.

Here is the video from YESTERDAY..... They don't seem to say anything about it being dead?

whatsallthefuss wrote:Yes, but they have the cool video :

http://ww2.wowt.com/global/video/popup/ ... d1=1108506

cdub · Post by **cdub** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 4:21 pm

All that shows is that the last thing they heard officially was that it was a go. They finally figured out that Holiday Inn is building one too and decided to run a story (or perhaps they have known that too but decided now was the time to talk about it.) When projects get put on hold or killed indefinitely there aren't press releases or city council approvals so seems like they could pretty easily be uninformed.

Post by **Brad** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:59 am

cdub wrote:All that shows is that the last thing they heard officially was that it was a go. They finally figured out that Holiday Inn is building one too and decided to run a story (or perhaps they have known that too but decided now was the time to talk about it.) When projects get put on hold or killed indefinitely there aren't press releases or city council approvals so seems like they could pretty easily be uninformed.

Thats fine and all, I guess I am wondering.... Do you know this for sure? Inside scoop?

whatsallthefuss · Post by **whatsallthefuss** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:51 am

It does seem like a poor decision to build two of these things within a block of one another.

Ingersoll1978 · Post by **Ingersoll1978** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:09 am

It would be kind of dumb for this hotel to build a $4-5 million water park (I believe that is what WOWT said)...when there is a $25 million water park across the street. At least this property has been improved! It'll look a lot better when you drive by on I-80.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:15 am

Just to clarify, the Regency people made their announcement WELL in advance of Holiday Inn. I'd say it's safe to assume however, that Holiday Inn has much more in terms of financial resources to see their project through (heck, it's already well underway). I'd be very surprised if Comfort Inn moves forward with their project... instead, we'll probably just see a 'really nice' indoor pool.

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