The City of Omaha is excited to move forward on improving the Lewis and Clark Landing and the riverfront.
The Omaha Parks and Recreation Department is now taking bids to demolish the former Storz Trophy Room, which is more a than 16,000 square foot building,
In 2015, Storz was evicted by the city for not paying rent. Rick's Boatyard also had problems before they moved out. The city says the building is no longer worth saving, though its only 14 years old.
“There's so many things that this building needs, it needs a new roof, it needs new heating and air conditioning, it needs new plumbing, we just felt that starting over would probably be better. We're not looking at that site, we're looking at the whole site down on the riverfront,” Omaha Parks and Recreation Director Brook Bench explained.
The city says demolition should cost about $100,000, but it will pave the way to improving the landing.
Bench says they hope to utilize the marina more with 340 boat slips up the river at Dodge Park.
There's still one more day for the public to give input at “reimaginetheriverfront.com.”
Ideas for the area include building new restaurants or mixed use places, a hotel, or concert stage, or build a dog park. Bench says it has to be a different and more progressive vision for the landing,
"We're right next to the Bob Kerrey Bridge, right next to downtown so we feel it's very important to have a place that's inviting and we want people to come in and enjoy the marina and enjoy what we have to offer," Bench concluded.
Demolition wouldn't start until late summer which would be after all the festivals, College World Series, and swim trials.
