Another well known Omaha landmark is now on its way to becoming a memory after crews started tearing down the building that housed the Storz Trophy Room and Rick’s Boatyard Café.
The city plans to make room for new development on the Riverfront and the 19,000 square foot building has to go.
Anderson Excavating started working on demolition on Monday. The building has been vacant for a year due to a pile up of bills and debt.
“My wife and I will run and walk down here and you will see people sleeping underneath and it turns out to be seedy in the morning,” said Kyle Fowler.
Some pieces from the building, like metals and concrete, will be saved and recycled.
People were excited about the possibilities fro the area.
“I would love to see the walking trails extended and I would like to see more restaurants and more businesses down here,” said Ann, who lives in the Omaha area.
The city said an engineering company is looking into what can be built and they have been taking input about what should be built in the 100,000 square foot area.
“We are looking at multiple restaurants, sand volleyball courts, destination playground; we are looking at a lot of different options,” said Brook Bench, Director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Bench said the goal is to bring life back to an area that doesn’t see much traffic, “when it is all said and done we will have a good area.”
Crews will work on demolition for about a month, Bench said they hope to have development plans by next spring.
