Slow sales sends Riverboat adrift

The former River City Star is again a ship in search of a port.

The riverboat left Omaha for Plattsmouth nearly two years ago amid great fanfare over its future there as a restaurant and clubhouse.

Now the boat's owners have put it up for sale on Craigslist.

Plans to use the boat ran aground when sales at Castaway Pointe, an upscale riverfront residential development at Plattsmouth, got off to a slow start.

Jeff Rensch, a partner in the Castaway Pointe project, said Wednesday that the 65-foot-long, 30-foot-wide riverboat will be sold “if someone meets our price.”

Rensch said the Castaway group is asking $375,000 for the former River City Star. The boat, originally known as the Belle of Brownville, was sold to the Castaway group in 2008 for an undisclosed amount after having been used as an excursion boat in Brownville, Neb., and later in Omaha. The boat has multiple decks.

Larry Richling, owner of Keystone Group, which operated the boat, is also a partner in the Castaway group. At the time of the boat's sale, he said that new Homeland Security regulations for boats capable of carrying more than 300 passengers would have required $500,000 in improvements.

Those requirements wouldn't apply if the boat was permanently docked.

A smaller 149-passenger riverboat, also known as the River City Star, continues to operate in Omaha. It's available for public and private excursions from Miller's Landing, 151 Freedom Park Road, just north of the Gallup campus.

Rensch said the Castaway Pointe group decided to sell the River City Star after home sales for its resort-style development got off to a slow start. Plans for Castaway Pointe include log cabin cottages, luxury homes and a 150-slip marina.

Rensch said interest in luxury homes costing more than $350,000 has slowed in a tough economy.

“The demand we are seeing is for a more affordable price range,” he said.

Rensch said he and his partners could not foresee building a permanent location to dock the riverboat until at least 2011.

“It would not really be cost effective to hold onto the boat until demand (for property) fills,” Rensch said.

Rensch said his group had planned to ask Plattsmouth city leaders for a temporary zoning permit to operate the River City Star as a restaurant and marina without permanently anchoring the boat. But city leaders told him that it does not issue such temporary permits.

The Castaway group, Rensch said, is working on a new zoning request to reconfigure several estate lots into smaller parcels.

Erv Portis, Plattsmouth city administrator, said a street into the subdivision has been completed along with work on a sanitary sewer and water main. Some electricity and natural gas lines have been completed, he said.

“This project has enormous potential, and the city has done everything we can to help (Castaway Pointe) succeed,” Portis said. “We are certainly willing to sit down and look at any new zoning requests.”

Contact the writer:

444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com