Thought I'd share some photos from my most recent visit to Omaha. It's an interesting small city. they don't really have a competing business district like St. Louis does (Clayton) or Kansas City (Overland Park/Corporate Woods), and it feels as such. Downtown Omaha is the home to FNBO, Union Pacific, and, in a suburban style campus, Conagra. Mutual of Omaha will be moving from Midtown Omaha to Downtown later this year in a new tower overlooking Gene Leahy Mall park. That project was announced alongside a Streetcar that runs from Downtown to the "Blackstone District" near 39th and Farnam with possible future extensions to the University Hospital and to Charles Schwab Field (home of the college World Series) and to a future soccer stadium north of there. Connecting to Council Bluffs over the Missouri River is the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge, which is solid.

Regarding the Streetcar, it's being funded by local money. No federal or state dollars. That project is one that many point to as the reason why 3-term Mayor Jean Stothert lost her re-election campaign as she pushed that project forward against the wishes of the more suburban City of Omaha residents. 

I'll post more pictures later when I have the time.





Gene Leahy Mall Park









Streetcar Construction.









A little piece of Anheuser Busch in town.


The outgoing Mutual of Omaha HQ. Apparently Lanoha, the developer of the new HQ tower, was selected to redevelop this property.




And the new one…





The Flatiron Building.




Millwork Commons. This area will be home to a future soccer stadium.







The ORBT BRT.





Looking down Dodge from Midtown Crossing

everything looks so clean and where are the people i.e. pedestrians?

BarryGlick wrote: ↑

12:36 AM - Jun 28

everything looks so clean and where are the people i.e. pedestrians?

They were concentrated in the Old Market and Capitol District development. The park had people in the later afternoon, but in evening it was quiet.

I was there recently. Very clean, new & nice. Very small feel, but from downtown to the burbs, looks newer. Omaha is doing some nice things, but their residents & companies believe in Downtown. They have several things I wish we had here; a canal into Downtown, walkable/clean riverfront, etc. The city felt very suburban outside of DT, It was not dense at all. NDOT does a good job with interstates & highways, clean, trash free, graffiti free, weeds & brush cut, unlike MODOT. 

Omaha simply.. sprawls.

It's a nice town (and the finishes feel fresh) but Downtown feels similar to Memphis where it absolutely drops off.  And even worse surface parking utilization than us, surprisingly.

The new tower will be a great add.  If only we could get ONE of our F500/1000 companies to go Downtown, I feel the momentum would be unavoidable for others in the business community.  For all the posturing they spout off in regards to fragmentation and regionalism, they don't seem to see the importance of planting roots at the welcome mat of the region.

The Old Market area...





More pictures...

if there are any the homeless are located in another part of town?