Hotels in Nebraska City Scramble to Complete Repairs After Flooding

It’s been over two and one-half months since July 9 floodwaters inundated south Kearney’s hotel district and forced the closure of all but 600 of Kearney’s hotel rooms.

Kearney Visitors Bureau Executive Director Roger Jasnoch has said there now are 1,150 operational hotel rooms, and that Kearney’s ability to host large conferences has all but returned. That’s good news, he said, because the city’s largest convention seasons is approaching.

Paul Younes, Kearney’s largest hotel and conference center operator, reported his 70,000-square-foot Younes Conference Center has been “operating at full capacity.”

Flooding forced Younes to remove carpeting in his conference center, but traffic from convention participants and other visitors is as thick as ever, according to the Kearney Hub.

The crush of business also is returning at Ramada Inn, where restoration efforts have shifted from convention facilities to sleeping rooms, Jasnoch said. “Ramada has carpeting and they are beginning to reopen ground floor rooms, so that’s good news.”

With several large events on the horizon, Jasnoch said it’s a relief to see more sleeping rooms becoming available.

Kearney soon will host the Nebraska Cattlemen’s and Farm Bureau conventions, and Kearney-based apparel retailer The Buckle will have its 600-700 store managers gathering in the city for their annual meetings.

Also, state cross country — set for Oct. 25 at Kearney Country Club — will bring hotel guests and also deliver to Kearney restaurant operators their busiest day of the year.

“State cross country isn’t for almost another month, so more rooms should be available by then,” Jasnoch said.

The Nebraska Association of County Officials will bring 1,000 conventiongoers to Kearney in early December, while the National Audubon Society’s Rowe Sanctuary will begin selling crane blind passes for early February.

When all of Kearney’s rooms have reopened and Younes opens the new 164-room hotel and 100,000-square-foot conference center on west Talmadge Road, Jasnoch said, Kearney’s room count will be about 2,000.

Owners of businesses in the Younes Complex that flooded in July said they either have reopened or are close to reopening.

“We’re going great guns,” owner Brad Rodgers said about UMed Spa, which shares a building with Cunningham’s Journal on the Lake.

The restaurant reopened earlier this week, while the spa anticipates reopening in late November.

“We’ve had a few hiccups,” said General Manager Liam Mendoza at Joy’s Table Pasta & Steaks. “We were aiming for an Oct. 1, opening, but we’re waiting on some kitchen equipment and furniture.”

Joy’s Table will occupy the space at Holiday Inn formerly used by Sozo American Cuisine.

Topics Flood