OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — After several postponed trustee sales, the hotel sold last week to a lender based out of California.
Kathryn Pence has lived next to the abandoned hotel for almost 10 years.
"I think it's an eyesore to the neighborhood and it's a dangerous place to be living," said Pence.
When she first moved in, she said she never expected the hotel to still be vacant today.
"Every developer kind of comes in and cleans it up, and then it sits there again. Usually, the developer isn't local, so they don't work to maintain it," she said.
City Council Member Don Rowe said the gates are secured with locks, the first floor windows are boarded up, and some overgrown vegetation was cleaned up.
"It does look a little bit better. I'm still concerned about graffiti and just overall the bad look with the broken windows. I'll probably be having a conversation with the new owner about that," said Rowe.
Rowe told me that the city plans to meet with the new owner's attorney in the next few weeks. But the existing demolition bid will remain in place.
"I think we can use that as leverage so that things can get moved quicker on the site," he said.
The hotel was supposed to become a senior living facility.
It has been cited numerous times by the City of Omaha in the past for broken windows, graffiti, and overgrown weeds. A demolition notice was also sent last year.
Pence said she's moving out after the end of her lease.
"It tends to feel like a forgotten corner down here," she said.
