Civic Square (former Civic Auditorium)

[Dusty]

Not all is lost. Bring a few trash cans and place them throughout the lot. Bam! We have ourselves a temporary Disc Golf course.. lol

[GenX]

Photo from last Thursday Night.

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Wow, there’s just so much… street…

[InTheRoom]

I mean, can we surmise that the developer actually had a leg to stand on in its fight against the city if all of that went away?

They're back to just sitting on their hands here following their little charade/ruse of pouring a sidewalk.

[NEDodger]

What a bunch of naysayers! I, for one, fully believe that this will be metropolitan-changing! Why, just imagine the possibilities with that 20 feet of paved street!

[CrankyOldDude]

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[Brad]

Seriously.... If you are going to do that, at least erase my watermark!

[Brad]

I'm gonna throw this photo from tonight out there... If someone would build a decent high rise on the back side of the Civic Auditorium lot, they would have one heck of a view!

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[thenewguy]

you ain't lyin! And that's a heck of a shot Brad!

[remline]

I'm gonna throw this photo from tonight out there... If someone would build a decent high rise on the back side of the Civic Auditorium lot, they would have one heck of a view!

Really excellent photo! But I feel kind of sorry for Trinity Episcopal there. It is really smashed between those parking garages.

[BIGO88]

I wonder if something happened here? The website is no longer working and the listings are no longer listed by White Lotus.

https://civicsquareomaha.com/

[Louie]

I wonder if something happened here? The website is no longer working and the listings are no longer listed by White Lotus.

https://civicsquareomaha.com/

Good

[djc311]

This should have been shut down a year ago... better off sodding the lot and mowing it each week than let it sit like it does.

[Garrett]

Knowing White Lotus they just let the domain expire out of laziness but are still fighting

[BIGO88]

They are no longer on there listings on Crexi and Loopnet either so guessing something happened. Re reading the reddit post from a few months ago it basically stated that White lotus had 2 grocery stores commit and fell through so they were trying to switch the original plans but the City wasnt letting them because Susie Buffet now wanted the land to build a new swimming pool for CHS. I wonder if there trying to do something similar to the last 3 OPS schools and do a partnership with the YMCA and build a new on there while opening up the old location for development to go along with the childrens museum block.

[nebport5]

They are no longer on there listings on Crexi and Loopnet either so guessing something happened. Re reading the reddit post from a few months ago it basically stated that White lotus had 2 grocery stores commit and fell through so they were trying to switch the original plans but the City wasnt letting them because Susie Buffet now wanted the land to build a new swimming pool for CHS. I wonder if there trying to do something similar to the last 3 OPS schools and do a partnership with the YMCA and build a new on there while opening up the old location for development to go along with the childrens museum block.

Interesting. That's not a bad plan if it doesn't take up the whole space which it shouldn't. A swimming pool and new Y could fit easily on 1/3 of the space(or less) and leave the other 2/3s for something that generates tax revenue.

[ita]

Knowing White Lotus they just let the domain expire out of laziness but are still fighting

From what I can tell, the litigation is ongoing.

[Garrett]

As noted by Mr. Engineer in the planning board thread:

Looks like there is an item for Civic Corner TIF approval on the meeting agenda for November.

The agenda item is from the city, not White Lotus. Interesting interesting.

[OutoftheCanyon]

As noted by Mr. Engineer in the planning board thread:

Looks like there is an item for Civic Corner TIF approval on the meeting agenda for November.

The agenda item is from the city, not White Lotus. Interesting interesting.

From my understanding the city has completely backed off of getting the site back. No idea what this could be.

[CompSci99]

As noted by Mr. Engineer in the planning board thread:

Looks like there is an item for Civic Corner TIF approval on the meeting agenda for November.

The agenda item is from the city, not White Lotus. Interesting interesting.

From my understanding the city has completely backed off of getting the site back. No idea what this could be.

Absolutely ridiculous that the city already made this mistake once and never learned from it. Guess the civic site is destined to have a couple 4 over 1's and a 2 story megasaver convenience store, probably with its own surface parking lot.

[Garrett]

As noted by Mr. Engineer in the planning board thread:

Looks like there is an item for Civic Corner TIF approval on the meeting agenda for November.

The agenda item is from the city, not White Lotus. Interesting interesting.

From my understanding the city has completely backed off of getting the site back. No idea what this could be.

Well, most optimistically, the city has made a feasible plan with White Lotus to get something built on the site. Most pessimistically(realistically?), that plan is gonna suck.

[ita]

As noted by Mr. Engineer in the planning board thread:

Looks like there is an item for Civic Corner TIF approval on the meeting agenda for November.

The agenda item is from the city, not White Lotus. Interesting interesting.

From my understanding the city has completely backed off of getting the site back. No idea what this could be.

Well, most optimistically, the city has made a feasible plan with White Lotus to get something built on the site. Most pessimistically(realistically?), that plan is gonna suck.

It's a bummer, isn't it? The developer initiated litigation over the city's attempt to exercise it's right to buy it back. They have been in the thick of litigation this whole calendar year. Yet, here they are with a TIF application on the planning board agenda.
My understanding is that the planning department submits applications to the planning board with a recommendation to approve or deny the application. Pretty much, if the developer presents a feasible plan that adheres to both TIF and building code/zoning requirements, the planning board really does not have a basis to recommend denial.
We'll see, but I highly doubt White Lotus provides anything but what has already been shown, if not worse. If they had something better, or had tenants secured, would that not have been in the news or one of their arguments in the litigation? I saw no such argument in the complaint. And with the property being tied up in litigation, there is very little chance a better plan was put together as I would imagine White Lotus would not be able to secure commitments from commercial users since filing its complaint. Hopefully I am proven wrong, but I think we should be prepared for the worst.

[djc311]

As noted by Mr. Engineer in the planning board thread:

Looks like there is an item for Civic Corner TIF approval on the meeting agenda for November.

The agenda item is from the city, not White Lotus. Interesting interesting.

From my understanding the city has completely backed off of getting the site back. No idea what this could be.

Well, most optimistically, the city has made a feasible plan with White Lotus to get something built on the site. Most pessimistically(realistically?), that plan is gonna suck.

It's a bummer, isn't it? The developer initiated litigation over the city's attempt to exercise it's right to buy it back. They have been in the thick of litigation this whole calendar year. Yet, here they are with a TIF application on the planning board agenda.
My understanding is that the planning department submits applications to the planning board with a recommendation to approve or deny the application. Pretty much, if the developer presents a feasible plan that adheres to both TIF and building code/zoning requirements, the planning board really does not have a basis to recommend denial.
We'll see, but I highly doubt White Lotus provides anything but what has already been shown, if not worse. If they had something better, or had tenants secured, would that not have been in the news or one of their arguments in the litigation? I saw no such argument in the complaint. And with the property being tied up in litigation, there is very little chance a better plan was put together as I would imagine White Lotus would not be able to secure commitments from commercial users since filing its complaint. Hopefully I am proven wrong, but I think we should be prepared for the worst.

Even if White Lotus is the only one with a plan, I would feel they can deny the approval/application simply due to them not following the "completed by" dates under the current agreement.

I'd rather have it sit with no movement than to give that clown show a chance to do anything again.

Easily one of the dumbest decisions made by city personnel in the past 10-20 years.

[nebport5]

In the wagers for "will anything ever get built here?"

Crossroads for the win.

[Hawkeye]

In the wagers for "will anything ever get built here?"

Crossroads for the win.

You're all such pessimists.

Just wait and see. In six to nine months, that one-lane superhighway will extend almost halfway across the entire property!

Then you'll be eating crow.

[nebport5]

In the wagers for "will anything ever get built here?"

Crossroads for the win.

You're all such pessimists.

Just wait and see. In six to nine months, that one-lane superhighway will extend almost halfway across the entire property!

Then you'll be eating crow.

Unless of course that fine superhighway continues to crumble and doesn't make it through the winter...

[Brad]

Concrete Curb? I thought Granite Curbs were required in the Urban Core?

[Hawkeye]

In the wagers for "will anything ever get built here?"

Crossroads for the win.

You're all such pessimists.

Just wait and see. In six to nine months, that one-lane superhighway will extend almost halfway across the entire property!

Then you'll be eating crow.

Unless of course that fine superhighway continues to crumble and doesn't make it through the winter...

Such a clown show. JFC.