[billiefan2000]

Possible CVS angers bar patrons
By Christine Laue
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
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Dundee residents and patrons of the 49'er, a longtime neighborhood bar, are organizing to protest possible plans to demolish several buildings on the northeast corner of 49th and Dodge Streets and build a CVS pharmacy.

Although plans for the block are uncertain, many worry that a national chain would hurt the neighborhood's aesthetics and locally owned businesses.

CVS representatives and an Omaha attorney representing the development company that builds stores for the national chain did not respond to questions about plans for the property.

Colin Bishop, who owns four properties east of the 49'er, including the Maids International headquarters building, said that his property is under contract with CVS and that the company is in the due-diligence phase before a sale.

“They have the right to purchase it based on the agreement,” Bishop said. “They have to complete their due diligence prior to the final transaction. They have six months to do that.”

Bishop said CVS, based in Woonsocket, R.I., plans to demolish several buildings and build a pharmacy that would open in 2011. His negotiations with the company started in August and resulted in the signed sales contract Jan. 4, Bishop said.

Patrons of the 49'er heard of the bar's possible fate over the weekend, and a “Save the 49'R” page emerged on the Facebook social networking Web site on Monday. By late Thursday, more than 500 people had signed up as “fans” of the page.

The page encourages people to join if they object to losing the 49'er and believe “that the strip mall mentality” has finally gone too far in Omaha.

Mark Samuelson, owner of the 49'er business and building, did not return a phone call and several requests through bar employees for an interview. Employees referred all questions to Samuelson.

Chad Weaver, Omaha's assistant planning director, said the City Planning Department has not received any applications for rezoning or replatting of the property from CVS or the development company that builds its stores.

The block bordered by 48th and 49th Streets, from Dodge Street to Capitol Avenue, currently has a mix of zoning, including commercial and multifamily residential.

Because any building site would need a single zoning designation, “there probably would be rezoning and replatting for something the size of a CVS,” Weaver said.

Additionally, the city has designated that block's frontage on Dodge Street as an “area of civic importance.” That means that in addition to regular zoning rules, there are special zoning rules that would dictate how a newly constructed building would look, how it would be placed on the block and how the site would be used, with the goal of ensuring that any new development maintained and enhanced the neighborhood's character, Weaver said.

Any rezoning and replatting would go through the City Planning Board and the City Council, meaning the public would have opportunities to comment, he said.

Solomon Kleinsmith, 30, a program coordinator for the Neighborhood Center, which assists community nonprofit groups, said he has talked to several people who don't think CVS fits the neighborhood.




Kleinsmith, who works two blocks away, said his experience running voter registration drives and the Omaha for Obama campaign will help him mobilize concerned citizens.



“I just don't want these buildings that are valuable to people in the neighborhood to be replaced with this big eyesore big-box building,” he said.

Eric Williams, 28, who rents a town house at 48th and Davenport Streets, said he is concerned about how a large parking lot and a large store's bright lights would affect the cozy combination of local businesses and houses, many of which are subdivided into apartments.





“I don't want to see a large nonlocally owned business move in and take that entire strip,” he said.



Aaron Bolay, 29, a native of the Dundee neighborhood who lives three blocks away from 49th and Dodge, said he goes to the 49'er only a few times a year but would hate to see it disappear.



“It's been kind of a Dundee institution for a long time. It's got it's own flavor,” said Bolay, an NP Dodge real estate agent. “It would be really sad to see that go just so another pharmacy can go in there. We've got enough pharmacies.”



Some wondered if the buildings should be saved for historical reasons.



The first reference of the 49'er in World-Herald archives appears in a 1953 article about a fire that damaged the tavern. A 1918 city directory indicates that a bakery operated there.



Douglas County assessor's records show that the building was constructed in 1917 and that the houses behind it on Capitol date to 1890. The Maids International building was built in 1934.






Local musicians and music fans are particularly disturbed by the 49'er's possible fate because of the demolition of two other entertainment venues:


the Ranch Bowl at 72nd and Hickory Streets, for a Walmart; and the Music Box at 77th and Cass Streets, for a 24 Fitness.

“A similar thing happened to the Ranch Bowl, and that was terrible in my opinion,” said Mike Bechtel, 40, a business analyst at First Data. “It's just another place that people can't enjoy live music because a large corporation dangled enough cash in front of the property owner to make it appealing to sell.”

Josh Dunwoody, 33, a local musician who lives in the Benson area, said there are other nearby empty buildings, like the former Target on Saddle Creek Road, that would be suitable for a pharmacy instead of tearing down “part of midtown history.”



To lose the 49'er would be a major blow for the local music scene, he said.

“It seems like we lost the Music Box, we lost the Ranch Bowl,” Dunwoody said. “It seems for every three or four of them that get torn down, we're lucky to get one to sprout back up.”




Samuelson, the 49'er owner, also owns the building that formerly housed Mojo's Coffeehouse, immediately west of the 49'er.

Allan Zeeck, owner of the Benson Grind coffee shop in Benson, bought the Dundee coffeehouse in 2008 and planned to open it this spring as Wake'N'Bake, a coffee and potato bar. Zeeck was scheduled to meet with Samuelson late Thursday and declined to comment.

Matt Dougherty, one of two partners renovating the former Reniers Pianos & Keyboards west of the former Mojo's into retail space and apartments, said he has been talking with businesses that might need to relocate.

Dougherty declined to comment on the speculation surrounding CVS, but he said he is excited about the possibility of redevelopment on that corner.

He plans to move his State Farm Insurance agency into the former piano store building and is negotiating with a chiropractor, a bank and a real estate office for other retail space there.

Bishop, of Maids International, which has cleaning franchises in 42 states, declined to disclose what CVS has agreed to pay for his four properties. He said he hasn't made plans to move the Maids International headquarters office, which employs 40 people.



Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Money - Possible CVS angers bar patrons

[billiefan2000]

my comment:

why not put CVS in the old target on saddle creek. that and the now empty cici's pizza building are a eyesore IMO on saddlecreek. revitlizing saddle creek road would be a good idea.

the empty quinzo's reste...raunt on saddle creek I would love to see something in there too.


the old target store on saddle creek road

and the old bakers on 72nd and blondo both grip me cause nothing has ever been put in those buildings and they have been empty for years.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by billiefan2000

the now empty cici's pizza building

When the hell did that happen?

the old target store on saddle creek road

and the old bakers on 72nd and blondo both grip me cause nothing has ever been put in those buildings and they have been empty for years.

I'd love to see something done with the old Target and that Baker's, but I think both are probably too large for a CVS store. The only way I see that being feasible is if they tear down the buildings and start fresh.

[billiefan2000]

bosco


the cici's on saddlecreek closed around thanksgiving time

the only one left is at oakview


the one at 114th closed a couple years ago

and the one at 72 and ames didnt last long

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

I'd love to see something done with the old Target and that Baker's, but I think both are probably too large for a CVS store. The only way I see that being feasible is if they tear down the buildings and start fresh.

I think tearing both buildings down and doing something fresh with the land

would be good for the old target storeon saddlecreek

and the old 72nd and blondo bakers store



at least there will be something in the old blockbuster at 50th and ames

a bank


I think the 50th and ames area could use a grocery store and maybe a dollar theatre (like Stockyards has)

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by billiefan2000

bosco


the cici's on saddlecreek closed around thanksgiving time

the only one left is at oakview


the one at 114th closed a couple years ago

and the one at 72 and ames didnt last long

Bastards!

I love Cici's, and I was looking forward to having one in the part of town where I'd be spending most of my time when I get back to Omaha.

at least there will be something in the old blockbuster at 50th and ames

a bank


I think the 50th and ames area could use a grocery store and maybe a dollar theatre (like Stockyards has)

As a kid we did most of our shopping in that Baker's there. I'd like to see the area get some revitalization.

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

Bastards!

I love Cici's, and I was looking forward to having one in the part of town where I'd be spending most of my time when I get back to Omaha.



As a kid we did most of our shopping in that Baker's there. I'd like to see the area get some revitalization.

I was po'd cause I was going to go there on the 1st after going to see Sherlock Holmes at mid-town movie theatre

instead had a sandwich and fries at mid-town theatre.




isnt Jerram the councilman for the Saddlecreek area.

I would like to see him explain why we have so many empty buildings near saddlecreek and dodge for so long.






I know Hollywood Diner and Pamida both closed on 90th street and maple recently.




and the omaha world herald's office on sorenson and 56th closed shop and merged with another (I work for OWH btw)



a lot of business arent doing well in the Omaha area.

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

As a kid we did most of our shopping in that Baker's there. I'd like to see the area get some revitalization.

me too. I am 29 and that is in my area of town.



Omaha Forums :: View topic - Ames Plaza / Ames Bo


has a discussion on that area


56th and ames is a even bigger eyesore with those abadoned buildings (one of which was a bowling alley at one time)

[DOUBLE H]

Bosco55David is right. I have a close friend who runs Kanesville Kollectibles in Council Bluffs, he lives in Omaha. I visit him twice a year. Lots of local musicians frequent his business, I got to meet several of them there.

I wish they had CiCi's in my area, I have a high school buddy who lives in the Oklahoma city area as they have CiCi's as well there. The food is always good, prices have ALWAYS been reasonable. I can't believe they would close due to poor business.

I'd been in the one on Saddlecreek several times, and every time there was no lack of business. Food was always good.

My friend live maybe minutes from the 49er. We have been in the 49er a few times.

I don't have a real positive view of these huge behemoths. It just got more negative if this goes through.

[billiefan2000]

double h:


something stinks about the saddlecreek cici's being closed.

I was in there a number of times and it was always almost packed.



mad the only one there is at oakview.

I am betting panera bread on saddlecreek will be gone soon cause that is all that left there in the old cici's and target plaza