The Rod Kush home that everyone who ever drives Hwy 6/31 North of Gretna is very close to being demolished. Â I do not believe that it has been lived in in over 1 1/2 years. Â IT has been on the market for a lot longer than that. Â A month or so a plan was made public to redevelop the property into a residential development with some commercial along the highway. Â This was table for further review but it looks like it is on the way to approval. The house it 12 years old. Â IMO it is in a terrible location for this type of home and would never sell as a home esp in the current market conditions.
The property had been listed and available to review on line but with the pending development It appears to no longer be there along with the photos that were shown.. Unfortunately since it was "slightly" out of my price range I do not remember the asking price either,
Redeveloping the 36 acres of property owned by Rod and Kathleen Kush north of Gretna is one step closer after the Gretna Planning Commission meeting May 27.
The commission approved three recommendations with a few modifications - the preliminary plat of a subdivision to be known as "Renaissance," the change of zone and a conditional use permit to allow multi-family units with a greater density than allowed as a permitted use.
"We tried to do the best we could with the what we had," said Kevin Irish, developer for Prudential Ambassador Real Estate, at the planning commission meeting about designing the residential and commercial lots in conjunction with streets.
The Kush property is northwest of Highway 6/31 and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad in an "L" shaped parcel and contains the noticeable $1.8 million former home of Rod and Kathleen Kush. It has been for sale for a couple of years.
Irish said he believes there is a higher and better use for the property.
"When Rod and Kathy built their home 12 years ago, that may have been the right idea at the time," Irish said.
Rod Kush's house and 35 acres in Gretna is valued at $2.27 million for tax purposes. But sometimes, beauty is in the eye of the developer.
Kevin Irish of Prudential Ambassador Real Estate has redevelopment plans for a subdivision called "Renaissance," including single- and multi-family lots and commercial space.
What the plans don't include is the 14,384-square-foot, 17-room house the former professional football player and University of Nebraska at Omaha star and his wife, Kathy, built 12 years ago.
"We're tearing it down," said Sheila Kusmierski, Irish's partner. "That house had to go."
Kush put the property on the market for $3.4 million in 2003, and it now is under contract for sale at an undisclosed amount...........................
.......................The developer wanted to build 84 multi-family units, 25 more than the code allows. Councilwoman Sally McGuire's motion to approve the permit request died for lack of a second.
The redevelopment plans include dividing the land into two commercial lots consisting of 2.99 acres, 68 single-family lots and two multi-family lots consisting of 4.92 acres. Villas in the $250,000 range are planned for the single-family lots and would include assessments for services such as mowing and snow removal, Kusmierski said.
Kusmierski said more land might be dedicated to the multifamily space so the number of apartments could be increased. Eighty-four units "is not completely out," she said. "But even if we don't get it, it's not a deal-stopper."
...........................
....................Keith Rohde, owner of Metro Excavating in Omaha, said he is interested in buying the house and moving it to a nearby acreage for his own use. "I haven't even contacted a house mover, so it's really all still up in the air," Rohde said.
When asked why he would consider moving such a large house, Rohde replied, "I'm stupid, how's that?"
..........................
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
However we had a conversation about this today at the Bar(I have a part time job at a "hole in the wall bar" on the weekends). Â One guy told us that this is only one of 4 homes in Sarpy county worth over 1 million. Â I brought up the fact that if I bought or built a house for even close to a million dollars you would not be able to see it from a major 4 lane highway. Â However one guy told me that if he was going to "waste" that much money on a house, he would want EVERYONE to see it.....
I would certainly build my dream home off a four lane highway, that wouldn't bother me. But next to a railroad track, across from a landscape rock store, sharing a driveway with a home that costs three figures less than mine, and in Gretna in general...no.
Published Friday September 26, 2008
Rod Kush's mansion back on market
BY RICHARD EGAN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Rod Kush's Gretna mansion is back on the market.
The 17-room house on 35 acres off Highway 6 north of town was listed for sale Thursday by Prudential Ambassador Real Estate for $1.99 million. The listing asks for a $399,000 down payment on a 30-year loan at 6 percent interest.
When reached by phone, Kush said he had no comment.
VIRGIL LARSON WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Frank Krejci, a veteran Omaha developer, bought Rod Kush’s Gretna mansion and 35 acres of land today for $1.625 million.
Krejci said he might donate the 17-room, 10-bathroom house to charity and develop the rest of the land surrounding it.
He said he has no firm plans for development of the property on U.S. Highway 6 at the north edge of Gretna.
Krejci said he hasn’t even looked at the multiple-use development plan for the 35 acres that has been approved by the City of Gretna.
Bugeater wrote:Donate a house to charity? How the heck does that work?
You donate it, they auction it, you write off the contribution on your taxes.
My guess is the buyer intends to develop the surrounding land and wants nothing to do with the house.
(Edit: and apparently, if I actually read the article, it says just that!)
Another donation  option that the first developer that fell through talked about was also donation of the house.  As I understood it the house would be donated  to be dismantled to some extent and the salvageable building materials would be removed.  sinks, light fixtures, windows, appliances etc.
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
Bugeater wrote:OK, so it still gets demolished. I can't imagine what little that could be salvaged would have a significant value. What an incredible waste...
Waste - probably.
Bottom line it is the wrong house in the absolute wrong location. Â On top of that now it is sold in the wrong economic conditions. Â Too close to the highway, way too close to the RR tracks. Â Poorly situated on the property IMO with regard to the items mentioned. Â When it originally went on the market at a much higher price nobody bit. Â At the price it sold at I am sure it would been gone if it would have originally been listed close to this. Â If you want this house it the Gretna area it should have been built a couple of miles to the South and West along there bluff or ridge where there are some really nice homes and acreages. Â Nothing of this level but it would have worked and had resale value over there.
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
There have been a few episodes of This Old House in the past several years where they have "deconstructed" houses rather than demolish. Â I forget the exact numbers but they are able to salvage 70 to 80 percent of the materials in the house and recycle about 99% of whats left. Â Very little landfill impact.
Oh, I believe it is possible to some extent,, but 70-80% sounds like a bit of a reach, and I have to wonder how cost effective it would be. Plus in order to re-use a lot of the stuff you would almost have to build a brand new house designed with using the salvaged materials in mind. I'm not so sure anyone is going to be willing to go thru all that effort.
And as far as the location, I thought you guys might have been exaggerating a bit about that, so since I was working in the area today I decided to drive by it and apparently that's what it takes to truly appreciate how out of place it is. Yikes.
Life is the sh*t that happens while we wait for moments that never come.
Sounded like he should have taken the deal from the Mart! Â Hindsight is 20/20. Â His property on 72nd and L st is a disgrace though. Â I'm about to turn him in on that damn flashing broken piece of |expletive| sign. Â :)
cdub wrote:Sounded like he should have taken the deal from the Mart! Hindsight is 20/20. His property on 72nd and L st is a disgrace though. I'm about to turn him in on that darn flashing broken piece of |expletive| sign. :)
I thought I was the only one that sign. Â Piece of |expletive| Â :lol:
Between the Theisen/Wattanabe mansion demolished in December, the Witherspoon mansion (99th & Pacific) partly burning recently, and the demolition of the Kush home, what "mansion" is even left in Omaha? Â I'm sure there is a historic one, and I wouldn't think they would completely tear down the Witherspoon mansion (who knows), but it kind of interesting how there has been a "BAM BAM BAM!" on three mega homes in Omaha lately...
GRID wrote:Between the Theisen/Wattanabe mansion demolished in December, the Witherspoon mansion (99th & Pacific) partly burning recently, and the demolition of the Kush home, what "mansion" is even left in Omaha? I'm sure there is a historic one, and I wouldn't think they would completely tear down the Witherspoon mansion (who knows), but it kind of interesting how there has been a "BAM BAM BAM!" on three mega homes in Omaha lately...
There's still some mansions around, but probably not of the size of those 3. The Storz Mansion  is one that comes to mind with a decent amount of history. My brother's fiance's parents own it right now, and they're doing a great job restoring the entire inside.
Bugeater wrote:Whatever ended up happening with this?
From what I have been able to gather from the Gretna paper the plan to turn this into a group home is still hung up in getting zoning approval at all levels needed. Â That being said it has been a while since I have seen an update there either.
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
GRID wrote:Between the Theisen/Wattanabe mansion demolished in December, the Witherspoon mansion (99th & Pacific) partly burning recently, and the demolition of the Kush home, what "mansion" is even left in Omaha? I'm sure there is a historic one, and I wouldn't think they would completely tear down the Witherspoon mansion (who knows), but it kind of interesting how there has been a "BAM BAM BAM!" on three mega homes in Omaha lately...
The largest home in Omaha, Walter Scott's house near Lake Cunningham still stands. Â Phil Schrager has a 18k square foot 70s style home near 101st and Center. Â The former Mandolfo mansion (22k square feet) in Linden Estates, which is for sale right now also. Â I know of a few other 15k and 20k square footers. Â The Theisen house was about 24k and Witherpoon about 19.5k roughly.
None of them as famous as the Theisen and Witherspoon houses though.
Per the Gretna Guide & News the home was sold to Catholic Charities in December rather than the donation of the use that had been reported all along before this. Â It also says in the story that a special use permit has been approved.
The former Rod Kushmansion and land, just north of Gretna on Hwy. 6/31, was sold to its tenant just prior to the new year. Frank Krejci purchased the home in November of 2008 for $1.65 million on an auction, after plans by Kevin Irish to develop the land for residential use failed earlier that year. Five months after purchasing the mansion, Krejci entered a 15-year lease agreement with Catholic Charities.
The lease with Catholic Charities was for 25 of the 35 acres of the property as well as the two houses. Krejci retained 10 acres for himself; those ten acres are to the north of the property near Lincoln Road, he had no plans for use of the land. The property was leased to Catholic Charities, and was not deeded to them or sold at the time. Krejci sold the mansion to Catholic Charities for $1.34 million in late December, according to the Sarpy County Public Property Database.
The initial plan for the property by Catholic Charities was to make the mansion the new home of their Journeys program, an alcohol and substance abuse rehabilitation center for teenagers. The Journeys program estimated $500,000 worth of renovation that would be required before the Gretna house could be the new home for their program. Much of the cost was converting the five-bedroom mansion into a 16-bedroom facility with offices for support staff. Included in the cost was mold abatement in the house, filling in the pool, and other minor costs affiliated with the conversion.
Currently, Journeys is housed in a former school at 42nd Street and Giles Road. "There is something to be said about a quiet area. Getting out of the city, into a quiet, serene environment will really be an opportunity to enhance success for those youth," Teri Speck, program director for Journeys, said in a previous interview with the Guide & News.
Journeys attained the Conditional Use Permit required to make use of the house for Journeys purpose in early September amid steep opposition from members of the community, namely the Lincoln Place development which abuts to the property Journeys would occupy. The program has not attained the building permit to begin work on the new facility, but has one year to begin action on their Conditional Use Permit before they would have to come back before the council to attain a new permit.
Catholic Charities was unavailable for comment before press time, but look in next week's issue for an update on the Journeys move to Gretna
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
Catholic Charities of Omaha had planned to open a 16-bed youth substance abuse treatment center at the former Rod Kushmansion by the end of 2009.
But nearly six months after Gretna approved the project, the social service organization hasn’t taken out a building permit.
Officials with the city and Catholic Charities say the organization has put the project on indefinite hold. Gretna met recently with Catholic Charities representatives for an update on the project. Months had passed without communications from the group, Lawry said.
Fundraising problems and a change in Catholic Charities’ leadership are factors in why the treatment facility remains in limbo, city officials said.
Catholic Charities has said that it must raise about $700,000 for capital improvements to renovate the house. Under new leadership, the social service agency is re-evaluating its programs and long-term plans, Lawry said.
Gretna City Attorney John Green said Catholic Charities can’t proceed with renovations until it obtains a building permit.
“The special-use permit gave them a year to get started,” Green said. “We’re already about halfway through. If they don’t do anything by August, they can either ask for an extension of the permit, seek renewal or start the entire process over.”
On the positive side, the former Kushmansion remains structurally sound and is not deteriorating, said Lawry, the city administrator.
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
THe youth home never happend and I belive the property changed hands again some time ago.
Over the last few weeks many of the trees that have stood in front of the former dwelling have been taken down. Â I am guessign someone must be planning to try and do something with the property. Â It has not looked good for a while buth with these trees out and in piles it looks even worse.
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
The Omaha World Herald wrote:The former Kushmansion will go up in flames as part of a fire training exercise.
The Gretna Volunteer Fire Department discussed its plans during last week's City Council meeting.
The Omaha World Herald wrote:No date or time has been set for the burn, but Fire Chief Rod Buethe said the fire department will use the 17-room house for a room-to-room test burn in a residential setting.
The Omaha World Herald wrote:The former Kushmansion will go up in flames as part of a fire training exercise.
The Gretna Volunteer Fire Department discussed its plans during last week's City Council meeting.
The Omaha World Herald wrote:No date or time has been set for the burn, but Fire Chief Rod Buethe said the fire department will use the 17-room house for a room-to-room test burn in a residential setting.
The "care takers" house or whatever you want to call it that sat near the hwy in front of the big house was moved a couple of weeks back. Â Many of the treas that were near the house have been taken out over the last month.
For the record NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER !!!!!!!
