Civic Square (former Civic Auditorium)

daveoma · Post by **daveoma** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 2:26 am

Midwestern wrote:
NEDodger wrote:Part of this site has an area for a civic/government building. Any hope that the Kiewit Center/Nebraska State Offices move here and that ugly brick building is flattened for a new development?
Getting rid of that current building and opening that block up for development is super high on my wish list for Omaha.

In my opinion either that block or library block would be the perfect location to put a ground floor grocery store with apartments on top

Absolutely agree, the dark brick building needs to go.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 2:29 am

I would make a bet that it ends up a new DT library. The people doing the "Do Space" is the philanthropic arm of Tetrad. I think we see a hybrid traditional/tech library at that spot.

NEDodger · Post by **NEDodger** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 2:33 am

I'd kind of be bummed about that - didn't the main branch just spend a fortune on renovations? Those ugly State Offices ruin what would be a fantastic site for just about anything else....

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:45 pm

They have extended the RFP deadline for demo to Aug 5th.

daveoma · Post by **daveoma** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:53 pm

iamjacobm wrote:They have extended the RFP deadline for demo to Aug 5th.

Is that a bad sign?

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:03 pm

Not really. It may be due to environmental protection issues.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:29 pm

Sometimes bid dates are extended to get more bidders to submit bids. They often ask for more time and say they won't bid unless an extension is granted. Could be the reason on this one....dunno for sure.

Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 6:28 pm

KETV will have a segment at 10:00 tonight on the new timeline here, on what needs to happen on the Civic site before it can be taken down.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 6:32 pm

Coyote wrote:KETV will have a segment at 10:00 tonight on the new timeline here, on what needs to happen on the Civic site before it can be taken down.

KETV doing work on development stories lately.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 7:02 pm

Well they are in that game now.

Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 7:42 pm

KETV has had a new backdrop picture of Omaha from their viewpoint lately. I don't know when they started posting it, but get used to it...

Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:26 pm

My bad, the KETV article on the Civic will be Sunday at 10...

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:29 pm

Damn you Coyote!

Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:56 pm

MTO wrote:darn you Coyote!

Sorry bro. I was wondering why this wasn't the first or second featured article till the ad for it during the sports section... I'm just glad the Storm Chasers game ended before the broadcast...

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:25 pm

http://www.ketv.com/news/whats-hiding-i ... e/34332380

An engineering study commissioned by the city will show exactly what's inside the Civic Auditorium, which city leaders say is essential on a project in the heart of downtown Omaha.

It will also help demolition companies accurately price the project.

"Making sure that we don't do anything to damage any of the other infrastructure downtown is a big priority," Brook said.

The Civic sits on a 10-acre plot at the corner of 17th Street and Capitol Avenue.

The study, which the city expects completed in the next 30 to 45 days, will pinpoint exactly where huge utility lines run under the streets surrounding the Civic.

Post by **Coyote** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:37 pm

Don't forget about the Asbestos...

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:48 pm

This city loves it's studies. I would assume the companies hired would be entirely responsible for all this.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:50 pm

MTO wrote:This city loves it's studies. I would assume the companies hired would be entirely responsible for all this.

You can't make a bid without knowing what the work will entail.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:56 pm

Fair enough and in that case the city should have done this long ago.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:45 am

Coyote wrote:Don't forget about the Asbestos...

I did not realize they had not taken the asbestos out in the 90's when it was remodeled/redone.

Greg

Joe_Sovereign · Post by **Joe_Sovereign** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:57 am

MTO wrote:This city loves it's studies. I would assume the companies hired would be entirely responsible for all this.

Easier to get a kickback from a "study" then a competitively built construction project.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:25 pm

Greg S wrote:
Coyote wrote:Don't forget about the Asbestos...
I did not realize they had not taken the asbestos out in the 90's when it was remodeled/redone.

Greg

Look, they're doing asbestos they can.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:02 pm

Louie wrote:
Greg S wrote:
Coyote wrote:Don't forget about the Asbestos...
I did not realize they had not taken the asbestos out in the 90's when it was remodeled/redone.

Greg
Look, they're doing asbestos they can.

You...

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:42 pm

Greg S wrote:
Coyote wrote:Don't forget about the Asbestos...
I did not realize they had not taken the asbestos out in the 90's when it was remodeled/redone.

Greg

I talked with a guy in the testing business who said they did take it out in the 90s. Maybe they still need to test more areas that weren't remodeled.

Sounds like there might be some other utilities passing through the site that they don't want to disturb. Surprising they wouldn't have anticipated that before it went out for bids.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:05 am

My dad is a cable splicer for OPPD, and he said there are a lot of underground power lines under there.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:43 pm

And the thing was built like a bunker.

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:34 pm

iamjacobm wrote:
MTO wrote:This city loves it's studies. I would assume the companies hired would be entirely responsible for all this.
You can't make a bid without knowing what the work will entail.

Well, you can, but the price goes up with the risk (unknowns). A wise owner will have complete enough preliminary studies/reports (like geotechnical investigations for new construction, etc) so that the unknowns for the site are minimized, and contractors don't have to price a lot of uncertainty outside their control into the bid. My impression for the KETV story is that the city managers didn't have a good grasp of the impacts of demo until the contractors started asking questions.

Overall, I think it's the right move. It will be a far more utilized study than the transportation studies that are repeated every 5 years and then ignored.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:29 pm

Plus they'll know exactly where Hoffa's corps is before digging, save some time.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 10:52 pm

Whatever gets built here it probably wont look like the proposals to the city. Hearing HDR is not going to be the final architect.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:09 am

I could see that. There are some details that looked very ambiguous in the original renderings. Do you know when we could see an updated rendering or timeline?

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:00 am

RNcyanide wrote:I could see that. There are some details that looked very ambiguous in the original renderings. Do you know when we could see an updated rendering or timeline?

This is on a long long timeline.

yellowcolumbia · Post by **yellowcolumbia** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 12:07 pm

Olsson Associates on site yesterday and today doing soil borings.

Post by **Coyote** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 2:03 pm

yellowcolumbia wrote:Olsson Associates on site yesterday and today doing soil borings.

Great to hear. Thanks!

Have they accepted a demo bid yet?

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 2:38 pm

Are they probing on behalf of the pre-bidding analysis or is this for a specific contractor?

Post by **Brad** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 2:49 pm

MTO wrote:Are they probing on behalf of the pre-bidding analysis or is this for a specific contractor?

The Geotechnical Engineering reports usually says on the cover "Prepared for (Insert Developers/Owners Name Here").

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:52 pm

The haven't put the RFP for demo back out yet, so I would assume this is the city.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:23 pm

KETV's story

http://m.ketv.com/news/city-prepares-to ... %2BContent

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:37 pm

Sounds like bids are being accepted through December 16.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 9:28 am

18 month demo. Construction could start two years from now at the very earliest.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 11:58 am

I'm kinda excited to watch the demo I think it'll be fun to see such a massive structure slowly disappear.