The Henry Doorly Zoo formally announced expansion plans Monday for the land where Rosenblatt Stadium now stands.
The zoo is ready to relieve the city of more than $11 million in bonds in exchange for Rosenbaltt Stadium. It's money taxpayers would have been responsible to pay back for NCAA improvements at Rosenblatt.
The stadium will come down once the new downtown ballpark is built.
It addition to expanded parking, the zoo is planning a variety of new attractions, including an Arctic exhibit and larger elephant exhibit.
One part of the wish list has been granted, a $7.5 million Madagascar exibit zoo director Dr. Lee Simmons hopes would be finished in a year after the zoo buys and tears down the stadium, but that wont happen for some time.
"Rosenblatt Stadium would not be demolished until they knew for sure that they could play the 2011College World Series in the new stadium downtown," says Dr. Simmons.
There’s a possibility that nothing could happen at Rosenblatt until 2012 and when it does, it’s because the zoo will step to the plate with $14 million, $12 million to pay off bonds.
"It gives the citizens an opportunity to get an obligation taken care of that was taken on a number of years ago, primarily driven by the improvements that the NCAA required of the city," says John Boyd of the Omaha Zoological Society.
Boyd says that means no tax increase within the city of Omaha and no tax burden.
“I am pretty excited about that,” says Wendy Kinkel, who lives in the shadow of Rosenblatt Stadium. While she is happy that some tax relief may come in the future, she hates to see it come at the expense of Rosenblatt and the College World Series.
“During the World Series, it’s such a fun atmosphere and all the neighbors kinda come out whether they're selling parking in their yards or just getting out to know everybody, there’s just excitement."
The zoo also conducted a study on its economic impact to the city of Omaha and the state of Nebraska. It attracted 1.3-1.6 million visitors last year, bringing in more than $86 million to the city and $74.5 million to the state.