Western Heritage Expansion

Post by **Brad** » Tue May 17, 2005 1:23 pm

*****RUMOR******

The Durham Western Heritage Museum is looking to expand. The Museum is looking to expand in to the Burlington Station. Plans call for a new skywalk to connect the two buildings like the one that was origonally in place back when they were active passanger stations. Plans also call for Amtrak to also move back into the burlington station to help cover some of the cost of the renovation!

This is from a very reliable source!!!!

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Tue May 17, 2005 1:34 pm

I would welcome this, especially since Myriel Boes apparently got in over her head.

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Tue May 17, 2005 1:45 pm

I am having a hard time believing the Amtrak part though, given the current financial situation they are in... and with the talk there has been about splitting the Zephyr line broken east and west routes (and leaving Omaha out... ala Greyhound).

Sodak · Post by **Sodak** » Tue May 17, 2005 2:13 pm

I've heard this in the past as well. The talk centered around utilizing the Burlington for a science museum of sorts. It may happen.

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Wed May 18, 2005 7:02 am

About 3 years ago I had a tour of the WHM by someone in the development/marketing dept. at the WHM and she stated that we would hear something within the next few months about the museum purchasing the Burlington and making it a science museum. She made it sound like they were close to getting a donor (or donors) who were going to provide most of the funding. Obviously that didn't happen. It seems like a great way to utilize the Burlington, add traffic to the area, and really create a "museum district." Maybe finally it's falling into place - it would be great if it did.

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Wed May 18, 2005 9:35 am

Perhaps new forum visitor jhiner can give us some insight into whats happening here. It looks like this person is involved with 'ontrakdevelopment'.

jhiner1 · Post by **jhiner1** » Wed May 18, 2005 10:19 am

Thanks for everyones interest in the Burlington but I feel I should put an end to a few rumors.

1. The Western Heritage has not made an offer to buy the building, although we would like to talk to them about putting the foot bridge back into place in the future.

2. Amtrak: We Started to talk with them and we found that they have interest in moving back into the building, however with all that is going on with the Amtrak at this time, we believe that it is not in our best interest to try and pursue them.

3. The Architects are done with our new plans and the contractor has been picked. Clean up and Demolition will begin very soon this summer.

Does anyone else have any questions that I can answer?

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed May 18, 2005 10:40 am

jhiner1 wrote:Does anyone else have any questions that I can answer?

Yes. Is the Burlington going condo? What about the Culinary Institute - are they still in the plans? Besides Amtrack are there other tenants that are in the plans?

jhiner1 · Post by **jhiner1** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:37 pm

There are going to be 14 Condos, 2 restaurants, Spa, 1 Store.

We are taking the lobby back to its original pre 1930s look with the spiral star case in the middle. The lobby will be like a high end hotel with a newsstand, bar, and a small museum with pictures and items from the station.

As far as the Culinary Institute goes they are not in the plans at this time.

We are working hard on putting together packets and the website.

Sign up for updates on http://www.ontrackdevelopment.com
I am working hard on a website that I am very excited about. It will be like a journal of our progress as well as any other information you might need.

And I forgot to mention the Coffee shop in the old baggage cart storage building, which believe it or not has some wonderful architectual features as pictured below with the lion head

Expect more of these shots in the near future

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Wed May 18, 2005 1:18 pm

That is great news jhiner. I was worried this project was falling by the wayside. Do you have a timeline?

jhiner1 · Post by **jhiner1** » Wed May 18, 2005 1:51 pm

As far as time goes we have set a strict budget, so that what happened in the past with this building doesn't happen again (which is go by the 'track side'.) We are a small group of people who on top of this project have full time jobs so we are making things happen as fast as we can, But slower if you know what I mean so it gets done right. Our main goal is bring back this building to the people so that all can enjoy it and use it. The Train station has a rich history, and it was a shame that a lot of the inside and outside was stripped away, but going forward the best we can do is to bring back the train station as best we can. There are many beautiful things planned and we are all very excited (possible hints include solar, many plants and gardens, remote controlled elevators etc..). So as far as a timeline goes, we dont have one, but we are very motivated to move things along. I will have the website up by the end of the month with some more info about square footage and hopefully prices, as well as send out our first email newsletter.

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Wed May 18, 2005 2:17 pm

Thanks for all the information jhiner and good luck with the project. It sounds like it will be a great and unique addition to the market.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed May 18, 2005 3:02 pm

Thanks jhiner1. It will be great having this station operational again.

Post by **Brad** » Wed May 18, 2005 7:16 pm

WOW did I open a can of worms! It is great to hear that someting is being done with the building. At least it will be saved before it is too late. Last time I was down there there was some large cracks in the exterrior and broken windows.

With the return of the spiral staircase(actually had 2 sets of stairs in it) are you also going to replace the skylights in the roof or leave them covered?

jhiner1 · Post by **jhiner1** » Thu May 19, 2005 12:00 am

You are correct the spiral stairs has two going down opposite of each other. (or will again) As far as the skylights we are going to be putting those back in.. I did not know that there where skylights before. Our skylight will run the length of the peak of the roof running east and west on both sides of the main center area. As far as the middle lobby area we we wanted to add a glass dome but the cost is way to much, so what we are going to do is leave the center area where the stairs are all the way to the ceiling open and round, with a dome in the ceil that will have nice lighting.

Post by **Brad** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:13 am

The origonal Sky lights are still there, or so I was told, they are just covered over.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:40 pm

Brad wrote:With the return of the spiral staircase(actually had 2 sets of stairs in it) ...

Here is a postcard from my collection.

Post by **Brad** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:32 pm

Thats the best picture I have ever seen of it. Its a shame it was removed in the re-model to "modernize" the structure to compete with the Union station that was newly built at the time. Did you know... The building is actually wider now that when it was orignally built. When they remodeled it they widened it and removed most of the columns and sent the columns to Lincoln are now part of Memorial Stadium!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:41 pm

^ NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Post by **Brad** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:59 pm

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Mon May 23, 2005 7:33 pm

Brad wrote: When they remodeled it they widened it and removed most of the columns and sent the columns to Lincoln are now part of Memorial Stadium!

Sorry DTO, sad but true.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Mon May 23, 2005 8:04 pm

lets face it, the burlington is about to fall down. it is too late to fix the building unless you have millions upon millions of dollars.

The paxton was about ready to come down, now look at it, its being rehabed into condos.

Post by **Brad** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:13 am

The paxton was about ready to come down, now look at it, its being rehabed into condos

Go look at the starion. It is way worse off than the paxton was.

jhiner1 · Post by **jhiner1** » Wed May 25, 2005 11:07 am

As far as the shape of the building is concerned we realize that it doesn't look good, but then again nothing does when its been sitting around for as long as it has. Believe it or not, the building is a monument and is in really good shape. The only parts that look bad are the over hang on the north side and some of the door ways that were stripped on the inside.

Yes this project is a large development, but it doesn't scare us one bit, we like the challenge and look forward to it.

It takes a certain person to have vision, and their is a group of us that see it and man it looks good!

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Wed May 25, 2005 11:19 am

Thanks for the update jhiner! What all does this plan include?

Post by **Brad** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:57 pm

Looks good. Are you going to try to salvage the concourse that is currenty just a frame on the north side of the building or do you plan on stripping is off and starting new?

I cant wait to see this project!

Omaha Forums