The Omaha Performing Arts Society's 'Douglas Street Heritage Development Project', which was announced several weeks ago, may now be hitting a snag. The society's general concept of the project includes the use of a two block area bounded by Douglas, Dodge, 11th and 13th Streets. It also calls for the acquisition of all businesses in that area and the demolition of several historic buildings. The owners of those buildings, however, are objecting to the idea of demolishing their buildings and feel the arts center could be built alongside them (all of which were built in the 1800's). This objection by the owners has forced the City Council to postpone their decision on the proposal for 30 days to see if the buildings can be saved.

The buildings in question include Frankie Pane's at 1112 Douglas St., the Christian Specht Building, 1110 Douglas St., the Happy Hollow Coffee Building, 112 S. 11th St., and Alvine and Associates, 1102 Douglas St. The Christian Specht Building which was built in 1884, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Frankie Pane's tavern business which originally opened in 1955 on the corner of 12th and Douglas Streets, has already relocated once to it's present location when the city encouraged businesses on the block to relocate to make room for the Central Park Mall, now called Gene Leahy Mall.

Because these buildings reside in an area designated in 1996 as the Downtown Northeast Redevelopment Area, the city could force the owners to sell and move under eminent domain law. Last January, the building owners asked for their land to be removed from the redevelopment district. Much of Omaha's architectural history has already been lost due to the development of the mall.

Other owners besides Pane include: Todd Simon, senior vice president of Omaha Steaks International Inc., who owns the Specht and Coffee buildings and Raymond Alvine who owns the Alvine building. Though they are all worried about the future of their buildings, Simon and Pane are said to be excited about the possibility of a new arts center. They do feel there are other options to be considered such as designing the center in a way that will allow the city to retain the historic buildings.

The postponement of the society's proposal will prevent any fund raising from occurring until after they have assumed responsibility for the Orpheum, thus causing quite a stir in city hall. The fear is that the society might try to terminate the Orpheum lease.