Omaha’s Gene Leahy Mall

[EdMc]

It may not be as large as other urban parks, but, its 9.6 acres is as substantial an urban park that you could find. It is infused with features, landscaping and color.
Park mall runs east-west with a promenade section running south.

Named after Mayor of Omaha, Eugene A. Leahy, Mayor from 1969 to 1973. - Wiki

This view is at the west end bordered by 13th Street.
Moving in an easterly direction

Arches Playground

13th Street Plaza

Art piece entitled, Walking Flower Times the Power of Five

Salsa dancing at the Performance Pavilion was on tap for this Saturday evening.

11th Street Promenade

Cascade Fountain

 

[EdMc]

Waiting for their turn to use the slide

Can you find the ping pong ball?

Sculpture Garden

45-story, 634 foot, First National Bank Tower, opened 2002

Sunday Morning Sunrise - beginning my walk westerly

Boat Cove

wall image projection

 

[EdMc]

Downtown Green
Cranes are for constructing the Mutual of Omaha Tower, 677 feet, to be completed in 2026.

The glass facade building is the headquarters for Union Pacific Railroad

Wind Sculpture - ..”the work manifests itself as a large 3D piece of fabric that appears to be captured in a gust of wind.”
- the riverfrontomaha.com under Public Art

Addendum

Another feature included in the Mall is the Dog Park. Restrooms are available, also.

Adjoining riverfront park under construction, scheduled to open later in 2023.

 

[EdMc]

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge (2008) over the Missouri River, linking Omaha with Council Bluffs, Iowa, is farther along the riverfront.

The First National Bank building is attractive.

Downtown’s historic Old Market is just a short distance from the Mall.

Omaha has a fine zoo, too.

“In conjunction with the Mutual project, Omaha leaders have pledged to build a $306-million-dollar, 3-mile-long streetcar line to connect midtown with downtown by sometime in 2026.” - usnews.com, Oct 29, 2022

theriverfrontomaha.com. News and Updates

The Architect’s Newspaper

Here are ten buildings and projects we can’t wait to see in 2023
By The Editors • January 10, 2023 • Architecture, Landscape Architecture, National, Round Up, Transportation

Heartland of America Park and Lewis and Clark Landing
 OJB Landscape Architecture
 Omaha, Nebraska
This summer saw the completion and opening of the revamped 9.6-acre Gene Leahy Mall in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The 50,000-square-foot lawn houses a performance pavilion, playgrounds, and loads of park space. The Mall was designed by OJB Landscape Architecture for the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA) as part of a master plan to oversee the revitalization of park venues across the city.
The other green spaces undergoing a revamp are the Heartland of America Park and Lewis and Clark Landing. Both parks are situated along the city’s riverfront and boast a list of exciting new amenities including a skating rink for winter and summer activity, bocce courts, playgrounds, renovated marina, and an urban beach.


Also, “Putting Omaha on the Map for Outdoor Architecture and Public Lighting”

 

[MrDee12345]

It's a nice looking park. I've never been to Omaha, so I don't know what the rest of the city is like, however.

 

[HenryAlan]

Cool photo essay, really gives me a much stronger appreciation for Omaha's urbanism.

 

[EdMc]

Nothing ramshackle about downtown’s city blocks which surround the Mall. Streets and sidewalks are clean. Three blocks away is First National’s Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness and Pioneer Courage Park. visitnebraska.com - Two sculpture parks combine to form one of the largest bronze sculptures in the world. The park begins with a wagon train heading west, causing a herd of bison to stampede. The bison emerge onto Dodge Street, where they flush a flock of Canada geese.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Java King]

Great summary @EdMc Thank you! I've always enjoyed Omaha. It was the closest big city growing up in a small Nebraska town about 3 hours away. We went there often, and I visited often in college too. (I went to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.) The old market has been a fantastic neighborhood for years. Unfortunately, they did demolish quite a few brick warehouse buildings closer to the river many years ago. I was sad about that.

 

[EdMc]

I arrived at Henry Doorly Zoo around 10:30 am on a Saturday. The zoo has expansive sectional parking and the last section was filling up fast. I was fortunate to find a parking spot. Then, I drove up 13th Street to Old Market and was stunned to see the number of people on the sidewalks. It seemed impossible to find a parking spot. Fortunately, the Hyatt Place hotel had two 15 minute guest parking spots. I arrived about thirty minutes before 3 pm check-in. No rooms were yet available, but, a desk employee gave me a pass for Hyatt’s parking garage - relief! Really enjoyed the buzz at the zoo, park and Old Market. The hotel employee told me that Old Market is always crowded on Saturdays through fall. Based on my brief visit, Omaha rocks!


August 2, 2023

Besides Omaha, I’ve visited several other sites in Nebraska: Harold Warp Pioneer Village in Minden, the statehouse in Lincoln, the Stuhr Museum in Grand Island (actor Henry Fonda’s birth home), Carhenge in Alliance, camped in Chadron State Park, rode my bicycle from Valentine to the Niobrara River Bridge on the Cowboy Trail, walked the White River Trail from Fort Robinson to Crawford and, my favorite place in Nebraska, Scotts Bluff National Monument (twice).

 

[commuter guy]

Great pics of my hometown!

 

[EdMc]

Thanks!

(Would have responded sooner, but, I sometimes get this message:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access this resource.)

 

[Stlin]

Allow me to drop in a few photos and comments from my own trip to Omaha last year?

I would agree that downtown Omaha is generally pleasant, and an excellent place to spend a few days,though perhaps not the greatest example of urbanism. It felt like people didn't really live downtown, outside of new construction, it felt like much of it was devoted to a more traditional "drive in" model - there's lots and lots of downtown parking between garages and surface lots. The density drop off into single family at the edges of downtown was pretty stark - the hall mark of restrictive zoning. I'd say the historic downtown core between the CHI center and the Durham museum feels like it's designed to cater to out of town visitors, there for a few days of meetings or events. If I were to draw a comparison to a bigger city, the bit between the Mall and the railroad tracks gave off San Diego Gaslamp vibes.

Unfortunately, Omaha's downtown development also has some terrible treatment of historic assets. Back in the early 90s, the City razed all 24 buildings of an entire National Historic Register listed district, Jobbers Canyon, so that they could build a public park and a surburban style office park on the site - the rationale given that it was more important to save downtown through development and job creation than the historic site. These days it's "Heartland of America Park" with Conagra Lake, whose name should give you an idea of exactly how natural that lake is, and Conagra Foods Global HQ - or at least it was until HQ was relocated to Chicago's historic Merchandise Mart in 2016. Oh, the irony.

 

[DZH22]

Great pics everyone! Omaha is currently building a new tallest building, the same height as South Station Tower, in its bid to become the country's most top-heavy skyline.
(scroll to post 72 in this link for some nice new renders) https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249830&page=4

Here's the city's 10 tallest:

 

[commuter guy]

Allow me to drop in a few photos and comments from my own trip to Omaha last year?

I would agree that downtown Omaha is generally pleasant, and an excellent place to spend a few days,though perhaps not the greatest example of urbanism. It felt like people didn't really live downtown, outside of new construction, it felt like much of it was devoted to a more traditional "drive in" model - there's lots and lots of downtown parking between garages and surface lots. The density drop off into single family at the edges of downtown was pretty stark - the hall mark of restrictive zoning. I'd say the historic downtown core between the CHI center and the Durham museum feels like it's designed to cater to out of town visitors, there for a few days of meetings or events. If I were to draw a comparison to a bigger city, the bit between the Mall and the railroad tracks gave off San Diego Gaslamp vibes.

Unfortunately, Omaha's downtown development also has some terrible treatment of historic assets. Back in the early 90s, the City razed all 24 buildings of an entire National Historic Register listed district, Jobbers Canyon, so that they could build a public park and a surburban style office park on the site - the rationale given that it was more important to save downtown through development and job creation than the historic site. These days it's "Heartland of America Park" with Conagra Lake, whose name should give you an idea of exactly how natural that lake is, and Conagra Foods Global HQ - or at least it was until HQ was relocated to Chicago's historic Merchandise Mart in 2016. Oh, the irony.

I think the demolition of the Jobbers Canyon warehouse district was the largest destruction of a National Historic Register District to date. A bit of background to the events leading up to the destruction of the district - in the 1980s Omaha lost a major headquarters to Houston, TX, that company was renamed Enron after the move to TX and we know how that eventually turned out. Nevertheless, the relocation removed a couple of thousand highly paid employees from Omaha to Houston and caused a sort of mini housing market depression for home sellers in Omaha for a few years with an oversupply of homes on the market. Fast forward a few more years and another major corporation, Conagra, was now threatening to leave - I believe to Tennessee for a more business friendly environment. The state legislature passed a series of reforms to improve the state's business climate. In Omaha, the city's political and business leaders were also desperate to prevent another high profile corporate departure and eager to appease Conagra. The CEO of Conagra was dead set on building a suburban type corporate campus near the Missouri River at the site of Jobbers Canyon historic warehouse district (very similar to Fort Point) on the edge of downtown Omaha. The historic buildings were cleared, Conagra built their campus around a large manmade lake and fountain. Like a mini version of our Govt Center/West End It did seem to usher in an era of economic optimism for Omaha but at such great expense of the loss of Jobbers Canyon. My impression is that Omaha turned the corner and has done relatively well over the last 20 years. Similar to many urban areas it has seen an uptick in historic building conversions, many new restaurants, bars, nightlife options in the historic core. Ironically though, as Stlin indicated, approx 15 years later, Conagra moved from Omaha to Chicago for access to a more dynamic and much larger labor market.