KCRag Forum

normalthings wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:45 am

Better image...

The existing library on the location has been moved elsewhere downtown. Not being familiar with this, I noted some comments against demolition. The existing building is from 1976 and pretty fugly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Pub ... y_branches

Even if it doesn't appeal to you, the building is less than 50 years old. Tearing it down is wasteful. The planet is heating up, and things like this contribute to it. Tearing down a perfectly functional building to put up a office tower when there are large empty sites just blocks away. It's likely 80 percent of the buildings existing on the planet presently are considered ugly by someone. We can't be tearing functional buildings down based on this criterion.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+F ... 95.9659686

https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+F ... 95.9659686

That new MoO tower is nice!
Would look great in KC but could never happen here cuz we have no one that would do it.

Sherwin William's new building in Cleveland is another example.
I don't see anything as significant happening in KC in the next decade. I hope I'm wrong.
We're overjoyed at the 13 floor 27th/Main building and even that was a struggle.
Cerner could have created a monument in KC. Neal Patterson once had the option. His only legacy is sprawled at 87th and nowhere to be seen by few. It will be forgotten as soon as the Cerner name goes away.

FangKC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:59 pm Even if it doesn't appeal to you, the building is less than 50 years old. Tearing it down is wasteful. The planet is heating up, and things like this contribute to it. Tearing down a perfectly functional building to put up a office tower when there are large empty sites just blocks away. It's likely 80 percent of the buildings existing on the planet presently are considered ugly by someone. We can't be tearing functional buildings down based on this criterion.

They wanted it immediately adjacent to the streetcar line. Not sure if that was mentioned here.. at the same event the city announced a $300 million streetcar line between the ball park/arena and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

The workers of MoO can't walk two or three blocks to a streetcar?

FangKC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:36 pm The workers of MoO can't walk two or three blocks to a streetcar?

No.

It's a sad state of affairs when humans aren't willing to walk two or three blocks to mass transit.

I respect your opinion and I get the want to save buildings. Far too many have been demolished in KC and Omaha especially that I wish could have been saved. I am not sure why the specific site was chosen. It seems like the City owned it and it was along the proposed Streetcar route. Although it may be less than 50 years old, it is not deemed architecturally significant and not renovated recently due to some reason. At least in Omaha they have a building to replace one, here we Demo our stuff and just let it turn into parking lots or vacant lots.

^The site might have been chosen since it bookends the Gene Leahy Mall. Have a nice public green space with your signature corporate office tower looking over it. Also might mean your building will appear in photos and what not from that area. Just a thought though

This is awesome for Omaha. I agree with Chris; I'm sure the site chosen had much more to do with bookending the mall (which itself is receiving a massive, multi-million dollar update/rethink) than being immediately on the streetcar line. This is a prime spot downtown for a tower and will anchor the updated mall as the center of downtown for the next generation.

Follow up for the Omaha folks - is MoO keeping their campus at Midtown Crossing?

rxlexi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:41 am ..I agree with Chris; I'm sure the site chosen had much more to do with bookending the mall (which itself is receiving a massive, multi-million dollar update/rethink) than being immediately on the streetcar line.

"(Mayor) Stothert agreed the two plans work in tandem. “James (MOA CEO) has made it very clear that they would not be able to build this tower . . . if the streetcar wasn't part of the plan,”

Follow up for the Omaha folks - is MoO keeping their campus at Midtown Crossing?

Mutual plans to completely vacate Midtown, selling the properties which they own. If you've visited the area, you'll have noted that all of Farnam Street from Midtown Crossing through Blackstone district immediately to the west is doing very well, lots of new construction. It should have no problem absorbing the space MoA leaves behind, even more so with promise of coming street car line.

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:45 am ^The site might have been chosen since it bookends the Gene Leahy Mall. Have a nice public green space with your signature corporate office tower looking over it. Also might mean your building will appear in photos and what not from that area. Just a thought though

rxlexi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:41 am ... I agree with Chris; I'm sure the site chosen had much more to do with bookending the mall (which itself is receiving a massive, multi-million dollar update/rethink) than being immediately on the streetcar line. This is a prime spot downtown for a tower and will anchor the updated mall as the center of downtown for the next generation.

It is the endless stupidy of humans that will hasten our demise. Giving these types of excuses for tearing down a fully-functional building when there are already-cleared large parcels a couple of blocks away. Multiply this by thousands of other functional buildings demolished nationwide/worldwide when vacant lots are nearby--ad infinitum, and we will never solve the climate crisis. I'm nearing the end of my lifespan, so it likely won't affect me. But I'm surprised how many on this board still disregard so easily this challenge, and give such trite cheers for the practice.

I've wasted my time on this board explaining how so many vacant lots downtown are a result of tearing down viable buildings HOPING the parcels will someday get developed. I've posted photo threads showing how some parcels have been vacant for 50, 100 years without any structure and that's downtown -- not the eastside.

When you tear down a viable building to erect another, it just means the nearby vacant lots sit empty longer.

No one seems to learn anything from the past.

Some of the older buildings could be converted to residential. Wonder who would be interested in that underground building?

Council Bluffs streetcar extension to be studied it sounds like

The head of the Streetcar Authority is a major developer in Omaha and regionally. In addition, the project has the backing of most of the larger companies and donors in Omaha. While nothing is guaranteed this appears to be a go.
Here's a video from the Streetcar Authority's first meeting.

https://youtu.be/arW4zfvLBmE

normalthings wrote: ↑Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:40 pm

Council Bluffs streetcar extension to be studied it sounds like

Hosted a group from there last week. They seem very motivated!

More info on the proposal. Exciting stuff, somewhat similar to our efforts in NKC or Kansas. Regional cooperation is always key. Very ambitious plans...



https://omaha.com/news/local/plans-call ... ad9a9.html

Don't worry. As soon as they get going some group will pop up start killing all their development.