Omaha Exploration

While the Rorick Apartments have been all over the news for the deplorable conditions in which its tenants live, it hasn’t always been that way. When Ernest Rorick filed the building permit to build his namesake apartment complex in 1950, it was the largest single structure permit filed in Omaha since 1928.

After receiving a $2M loan from the Federal Housing Administration, he set out to build the 11-story apartment complex at 22nd and St. Mary’s Avenue. To make room for the new complex, two landmark homes-turned apartments built in 1878 and 1888 for James M. Woolworth were razed.

The cross-shaped building with penthouses on the top two floors was designed by architect M.J. Lahr. Rorick Construction Company which Ernest ran alongside his twin brother Forest built it. The steel frame structure had smooth buff brick with spandrels of green marble between the windows. Glass blocks were used to provide additional lighting and the exterior stairs were made of granite. A two story parking garage was constructed on its western end.

The interior, meanwhile, included amenities such as a lounge, rec room, children’s play area and a nursery for the children of working mothers. Of the 235 apartments, most were one bedroom or single room efficiency units though there were a few two bedrooms. Rents ranged from $65 to 125 per month. The owner himself lived in the larger of the two penthouses for much of his life.

When the Rorick opened in 1952, it was the first high rise apartment building in Omaha. The building served as the home to various radio stations including KOIL throughout the years with a 132-foot radio transmission tower installed on its roof. High winds caused the tower to come loose in 1967. In 1980 power storms cracked it in half at which point it was removed.

Ernest was known as a generous and philanthropic man that was beloved by his tenants, many of whom he had gotten to know on a personal level. They even gathered to throw a 79th birthday party for him 1974. While most of its tenants were older, the apartment began running ads to attract college students.

After its owner passed away in 1983, it seems the apartment would slowly take a turn for the worse. There were a series of fires starting in the late 1980s in some cases due to faulty wiring and equipment. After the downtown YMCA closed its residential program in 2002, many of its single and low-income residents moved to the Rorick.

The situation went from bad to worse that led to an attempt to convert the the units into condominiums in 2005. After that failed, they reverted back to apartments. By 2011 it was renamed City View apartments.

Despite its horrid conditions that included faulty plumbing that flooded apartments, broken entry doors, holes in the ceilings and walls, mold, exposed wiring and elevators that only sporadically work, it was the only option for many of its tenants which were largely very low income and/or disabled.

Fortunately those individuals are in the process of being relocated thanks to the extensive assistance of local nonprofits including Reimagine Omaha, Threshold CoC and North Omaha Community Partnership which is now $46,000 in debt. It is due to their efforts that all residents have permanent housing lined up and will avoid being evicted as the apartment complex is closed.

Better days may be ahead for the old Rorick as an Indianapolis bank has taken ownership with a new property management company planning to gut and renovate the building so it can be flipped.

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