Elkhorn May Get Convention Center, Hotel, Water Park.....

nebrwesleyan · Post by **nebrwesleyan** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 8:54 am

http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/4862193/detail.html

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:05 am

Highlights...

-Entirely privately funded
-Highway 275 and Skyline Drive
-128,000 sq ft of convention space (Qwest = 254,000)
-300 room hotel
-water park with indoor and outdoor features
-enclosed amphitheater

I wonder what La Vista/Hammond thinks of this?

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:24 am

WOW, those are pretty substantial numbers for out there… My favorite part is the water park. Since OMAHA can’t build one equivalent to G.I.’s and Hastings maybe Elkhorn can do it for us.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:43 am

Make sure they get this thing built before we annex them. ;)

My Favorite Quote:

<<<<
"It's not always easy to get downtown to the Qwest Center or Civic Auditorium -- nice to have a venue out here," a western Douglas County resident said.
>>>>

Apparently there's far too much parking and the interestate dumps out far too close to the front door. Weiners.

-Big E

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:57 am

With all the divisiveness we're seeing with regards to annexations, etc and this latest development news (and reference to 'distant' downtown), perhaps we're seeing the beginnings of an 'Overland Park' dilemma.

Raraavis · Post by **Raraavis** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:26 am

Cool Development.

I never thought of the West Center and Skyline intersection of being in Elkhorne.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:32 am

I'm sure we could use some more convention space in the metro.

FatGuy · Post by **FatGuy** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:23 pm

'Overland Park' Dilemma? I am not familiar enough with K.C., what does this mean?

Ingersoll1978 · Post by **Ingersoll1978** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:06 pm

I'd say the Omaha market is getting way over-saturated with convention centers. Doesn't the Embassy Suites include a convention center as well?

omahapropertymanager · Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:43 pm

Ingersoll1978 wrote:I'd say the Omaha market is getting way over-saturated with convention centers. Doesn't the Embassy Suites include a convention center as well?

I belive that it will, and I agree with you about Omaha being over saturated with convention centers. As successful as the Qwest Center has been so far, even it is struggling to get enough conventions. For some reason I don't see a whole lot of reason for a convention organizer to pick Elkhorn over Qwest or the MAC.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:31 pm

Other convention space in the metro....

Civic Auditorium - 122,000 sq. ft.
Holiday Inn Convention Center - 61,000 sq. ft.
Hilton (next to Qwest Center) - 30,000 sq. ft.
Doubletree - 28,000 sq. ft.

We seriously don't need another 120,000+ sq. ft. of convention space right now.

OmahaChef · Post by **OmahaChef** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:35 pm

Yeah, and don't forget the new 15,000-17,000 sq.ft. convention/banquet space at the Forte Banquet and Conference Center in beautiful North Downtown. (Shameless plug!) Seriously, I'd love to see the business projections to support financing for this project. That is a lot of convention and hotel space that far out west. The hotel alone would need to have 200 of it's rooms occupied every night!

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:42 am

"'Overland Park' Dilemma?"

I see west Omaha increasingly becoming detached from the city of Omaha, especially if the annexation fails in court. The same thing is happening in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, like Overland Park. Not only are they building their own convention centers, but carving out their own niche by doing things like getting their own minor league baseball team. Although given the way KC is playing right now, maybe that isn't such a bad idea.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:47 am

It's one thing when the suburbs in another state want to get a piece of the pie, but in the SAME COUNTY? I just can't see this garnering the financial support it will need (unless it's Warren Buffett or Bill Gates underwriting the project).

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:06 pm

I've wondered about West O being like OPKS too. One leg West O doesn't have to stand on is being it's own seperately governed entity. OP in Kansas is trying to be/is what Clayton is to St. Louis. KC and STL will always be the name cities, but they are losing power and influence to more 'wealthy' suburbs that have office space and workers that rival the DT's of the main city, build their own convention centers and arenas, and can attract the amounts of retail that some DT's would kill to have. That's why I'm upset that with all of the develoment DT and in the East, no one is pushing as hard to bring residents and businesses in to counter the sprawl.