Benson
Moderators: Coyote, nebugeater, Brad, Omaha Cowboy, BRoss
Benson
Benson
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1912 Restaurant & Bar - Downtown Benson
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Au Courant
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Beercade
Benson Lights - 3030 N 60th St
Bärchen - 6209 Maple Street - Downtown Benson
Bin 61 - TACK Architects (2922 N. 61st St)
The Benson Theater (6054 Maple Street)
Benson Brewery & Tavern (6059 Maple St)
Bank of the West (60th and Military)
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España
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Infusion Brewing Company
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Joe's Cafe
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Krug Park
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Leo's Diner
Local Ice Creamery (LIC)
Lot 2
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Omaha Bicycle Co.
Overflow Lounge - 1016 Maple - Downtown Benson
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Yoshitomo Sushi (Yo$hitomo Sushi)
St. Andrews Pub
Star Deli
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Taita (seafood - Benson) CLOSED
Ted & Wally's - Localmotive
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The Waiting Room
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1912 Restaurant & Bar - Downtown Benson
-A-
Au Courant
-B-
Beercade
Benson Lights - 3030 N 60th St
Bärchen - 6209 Maple Street - Downtown Benson
Bin 61 - TACK Architects (2922 N. 61st St)
The Benson Theater (6054 Maple Street)
Benson Brewery & Tavern (6059 Maple St)
Bank of the West (60th and Military)
-E-
España
-I-
Infusion Brewing Company
-J-
Joe's Cafe
-K-
Krug Park
-L-
Leo's Diner
Local Ice Creamery (LIC)
Lot 2
-O-
Omaha Bicycle Co.
Overflow Lounge - 1016 Maple - Downtown Benson
-S-
Yoshitomo Sushi (Yo$hitomo Sushi)
St. Andrews Pub
Star Deli
-T-
Taita (seafood - Benson) CLOSED
Ted & Wally's - Localmotive
-W-
The Waiting Room
Benson
More activity thanks to Omaha By Design.
I always thought Benson was eclectic but needed work on its building facades.
I always thought Benson was eclectic but needed work on its building facades.
Destination Benson is their goal
BY JEFFREY ROBB
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Spring brings a sense of new life to Janet Wetovick-Bily's downtown Benson flower shop.
An open front door recently breathed fresh air into Petals by Janet. Easter lilies were starting to bloom inside, and faux flowers provided a splash of color outside until the real thing could grow.
Wetovick-Bily and other community leaders hope to see a similar sense of new life blooming in their neighborhood.
Benson merchants have been envisioning ways to make over their business district. That desire for improvement persuaded the City of Omaha and the influential Omaha By Design effort to work with Benson leaders on a broader neighborhood revitalization plan.
Omaha By Design is turning to Benson for one of its first demonstration projects since the city approved a plan in December to improve city neighborhoods, dress up businesses and develop green space.
The neighborhood is following the example set by Destination Midtown - but Benson is no midtown, which created a neighborhood plan with support and money from major community institutions and Fortune 500 companies.
Benson, by contrast, must rely on small businesses and working-class families.
"It's a very different set of dynamics," said Bob Blair, a University of Nebraska at Omaha urban studies professor who grew up in Benson and who is working on the initiative. "You don't have the big institutional anchors. That's going to be a challenge."
But it's a challenge Benson wants to take on.
"It's a rebirth," Wetovick-Bily said. "There are many good things happening here."
Local leaders say the community has a lot to build on.
Its main street has staples that any small town chamber of commerce would envy: a library; a post office; businesses selling hardware, shoes, musical instruments and health food; plus several taverns and restaurants.
Benson also maintains a strong community identity, a surviving trait from its days as an independent city. The schools, primarily Benson High, also have unified the community over the years.
Bridget Howell, president of the Benson Neighborhood Association, said the community has a growing group of involved residents and young families moving in. Plus, she said, the neighborhood association and Benson Business Association are working together more closely.
"It's just starting to really blossom and take hold," she said.
Benson has struggled over the years to revitalize, and local leaders are excited about the makeover possibilities.
The Benson study will cover broad topics, from business and homes to parks and streets. Using Destination Midtown's model, the study will call together neighborhood groups, businesses and organizations with a stake in the area's success.
Benson, which has a community makeup much like the city as a whole, is expected to become a model for other parts of Omaha.
The issues facing Benson vary across the Benson Neighborhood Alliance territory, whose boundaries will run from Sorensen Parkway to Western Avenue, between 72nd Street and Fontenelle Boulevard.
In one spot, the Benson Park Plaza shopping center at 72nd Street and Ames Avenue is succeeding. Farther east, Ames Avenue is struggling.
While Benson has wonderful homes and strong neighborhoods in places, it also has some substandard housing, said Doug Bisson, a community planner with HDR Inc. engineering and design company and manager on the midtown project.
Those areas, Bisson said, provide a challenge in building home ownership and offering help for housing rehabilitation.
"That's what makes Benson Benson," he said. "You've got that diversity of the residential base."
Along Maple Street, the business district has some empty storefronts. Downtown Benson's success has been mixed.
Rae Suverkrubbe, manager of Sprigs, a former Benson restaurant, said the area "just needs a little bit more spotlight."
Though Sprigs thrived in Benson, it eventually relocated to a stand-alone building. Suverkrubbe, daughter of one of the owners, said the lack of convenient parking discouraged people from coming to Benson.
But the Sprigs owners later filled the gap they left with another restaurant, Hot Tamales.
"We love the area," Suverkrubbe said. "We really think it's got potential to take off."
Friday and Saturday, a group of local leaders, architects and urban planners will draft a vision to improve and unify downtown Benson's appearance. That could be as simple as adding historic street lights or as complex as dropping out the middle lane of Maple Street and expanding sidewalks.
Bisson said merchants need to go beyond physical improvements to find a niche that draws in shoppers and foot traffic.
"It's one of those strips you just wish would explode," he said. "You just see the potential there."
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OWH wrote: Some have designs on Benson improvements
Wider sidewalks, 1940s-style streetlights, uniform signs and gateway entry points were some of the ideas discussed Saturday as Omaha By Design unveiled plans to make the Benson neighborhood a destination point.
"This was our first real neighborhood partnership, and it was encouraging to see so many people come to see the designs," said Connie Spellman, director of Omaha By Design.
The downtown Benson neighborhood and business leaders, architects, landscape architects, urban planners and architecture and planning students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln met Friday and Saturday for a "design charrette," or intense planning session.
By 3 p.m. Saturday, five design groups presented their plans at American Legion Post 112, 2737 N. 62nd St. Each group concentrated on a specific area of the neighborhood.
All of the groups agreed that eliminating the center turn lane on Maple Street would be a simple solution for widening the sidewalks from their current 7 feet to 14 or 15 feet. That width would match the sidewalk size in the Old Market and allow, for example, for sidewalk cafe dining.
The change would facilitate diagonal parking and slow down traffic that normally speeds through Benson, organizers said. Wider sidewalks also would make for a more pedestrian-friendly business district.
Mike Thompson, an architect with Alley Poyner Architecture, said his group would like to put "a landmark column" at the eastern end of Benson to mark the start of the neighborhood.
Thompson's group also hit upon "social notes" such as restoring brick facades on the businesses lining Maple, old-style street lights and signs that incorporate the Benson name.
Another group suggested more trees along the broader sidewalks for shade, converting some housing within the business district into townhomes and developing storefronts along the Northwest Radial Highway.
Other ideas included adding markers to note four key entry points to Benson, replacing traffic lights with four-way stop signs to slow traffic and re-routing the state highway that runs through Benson to the Northwest Radial Highway.
"There were really a lot of good ideas," Spellman said. "This was the greatest number of planners and largest number of residents to have participated yet, so maybe we're catching on."
The session was sponsored by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
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Has this taken a whole 2 years to get here?
Benson beautification takes first step
Benson beautification takes first step
Omaha World Herald wrote:Omaha By Design and the City Planning Department are launching a study of the Maple Street corridor that will look at traffic patterns, parking and sidewalks. Once that information is collected, planners will develop conceptual ideas for improving the area, although the study will not have any detailed designs.
"This is the first stage of a streetscape project, similar to what was done on North and South 24th Streets," said Omaha Planning Director Steve Jensen. The study, conducted by RDG Planning and Design, will cost about $128,000. The Omaha City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a $50,000 grant for the project, and Omaha By Design is raising funds for the remainder of the cost, said Director Connie Spellman.
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Benson targeted for revitalization
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10406304
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10406304
May be the can build the Royal's  a ballpark there....CAROL BICAK WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:The beat goes on in Benson.
Mayor Mike Fahey, City Councilman Jim Suttle, State Sen. Lowen Kruse and about 50 others were on hand this morning for the unveiling of the city's newest redevelopment effort: the Maple Street Corridor project.
CAROL BICAK WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:The goal is to revitalize Maple Street from the Northwest Radial to 64th Street, and Military Avenue from Maple to the Northwest Radial.
Fahey said the Benson project is important to Omaha because "these kinds of destinations can be developed across the city."
Along with the revitalization effort, a new community "brand" is being coined: the Benson Beat. The slogan represents three ideas: Benson has a "main street," it has a cool and emerging culture of music and art; and the area will be a thriving, eclectic and vibrant self-sustaining destination. Benson businesses have latched on to the idea and have put up signs with several variations on the theme, said Connie Spellman of Omaha By Design.
Omaha By Design is a partner in the Maple Street project along with the Benson Business Association, the Benson Neighborhood Association, the Omaha Departments of Planning and Public Works, and the Benson-Ames Alliance.
Work to transform Maple Street has been going on for the last couple of years, with new tenants filling in empty stores and efforts to promote Benson's reputation as a music district.
IMAGE FROM THE OWH:
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MIDNIGHT BREAKFASTS FOR THE AFTER-BAR BUNCHFnord Explorer wrote:But they need a diner or something that's open late. The Benson Grind seems to have "we'll be open when we feel like it" hours. Boo.
Nichole Aksamit - Omaha World-Herald wrote:The Benson Grind is adding night-owl hours. Starting tonight, folks on the town Friday and Saturday nights can get breakfast at the coffeehouse from midnight to 3 a.m.
“In light of the bars closing at 2 in the morning, I think Benson stands a good opportunity to have a late-night cafe,” Grind owner Allan Zeeck said this week.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110405/N ... ot-forward
The main drag into Benson soon will be getting a makeover. Â New sidewalks, landscaping and public green space will spruce up the turn into the historic district from the Northwest Radial onto Maple Street.
I agree with that 2nd quote a lot. Â That block is all nightlife right now. Â A day time presence would do wonders for the area.Allan Zeeck, owner of the Benson Grind coffeehouse at 6107 Maple St., said he’s eager to see the changes. However, he said, Benson also needs more stores to support a daytime crowd who would enjoy the new green space. Â Right now, he said, the area is hopping only at night, when it draws diners, bar patrons and lovers of live music. Â “Anything is an improvement,” Zeeck said. Â “But we need the shopping. Otherwise, it’s a gateway to nothing.”
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Hy-Vee is testing a neighborhood market concept at 48th & Leighton in Lincoln. It's a better alternative to Wally-World, especially given the stigma, and rightly given, that Walmart drives out the "little guy" who owns the grocery store just down NW Radial.riceweb wrote:I'll probably get slammed for this, but Wal-Mart's new mini store concept would be perfect for this area.
Maybe a Trader Joes to appease the dissenters? Â :;):riceweb wrote:I'll probably get slammed for this, but Wal-Mart's new mini store concept would be perfect for this area.
I think the 6 single family houses that face Binney could go for a development that fits the rest of the area better. Â I haven't read up much on those Mini Wal-Marts. Â Do they still stand alone or include apartments above it? Â I would think apartments in that area would be pretty popular.
Wal-mart SUCKS! Â You go there and spend 5 min shopping then wait in line for an additional 30+ min to pay for what you are buying. Â Time is Money so if you think about it, you are actually paying more when you shop there!
May be Wholner's needs a third location? Â What if someone bought Louie's and cleaned it up... Wouldn't that work for a grocery store?
May be Wholner's needs a third location? Â What if someone bought Louie's and cleaned it up... Wouldn't that work for a grocery store?
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Wal-Mart is going to test the waters in Arkansas with locations that look like your typical CVS, with a couple rows of parking around two sides and the store coming up fairly close to the intersection. But in more urban areas, I believe they may opt for mixed-use approaches. Probably just depends on civic leadership. They have tons of cash to float.... it'd be great if we as a city could partner with them and direct how they build, hopefully in a more mixed-use manner.iamjacobm wrote:Maybe a Trader Joes to appease the dissenters? :;):riceweb wrote:I'll probably get slammed for this, but Wal-Mart's new mini store concept would be perfect for this area.
I think the 6 single family houses that face Binney could go for a development that fits the rest of the area better. I haven't read up much on those Mini Wal-Marts. Do they still stand alone or include apartments above it? I would think apartments in that area would be pretty popular.
It's my understanding that Wohlner's is SuperValu-supplied. I'm guessing they provide much of the infrastructure needed to get a grocery store off the ground, like not worrying about a bajillion different suppliers; everything just comes from SuperValu.iamjacobm wrote:I think Louie's uses the same supplier as Wholner's. That would be a pretty easy transition I would think!
Is that open yet? I'd love to check it out.almighty_tuna wrote:Hy-Vee is testing a neighborhood market concept at 48th & Leighton in Lincoln. It's a better alternative to Wally-World, especially given the stigma, and rightly given, that Walmart drives out the "little guy" who owns the grocery store just down NW Radial.riceweb wrote:I'll probably get slammed for this, but Wal-Mart's new mini store concept would be perfect for this area.
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I believe it has been open for a while now:riceweb wrote:Is that open yet? I'd love to check it out.
http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8360
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Looks like a huge improvement! I love that the Sinclair gas station is virtually obscured from view.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
I was talking to one of the owners of the Waiting Room this weekend. Apparently they purchased a building across the street and just a bit west. They are planning 7 apartments on the second level. On the main level there will be a bar and some type of burger place. They have talked to Stella's about opening there.
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That was on one of the local stations the other night. Â I will look and see if I can find the story.ThatGuy wrote:New bar from the owner of Jake's.
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Missed that. Here are some pics of their awesome mural.
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Edco/b ... 6393.phtml
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Edco/b ... 6393.phtml
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Wow, that mural is obnoxious. I'm surprised they got away with it. I wonder if there will be complaints or even law suits.
So, including Krug Park, there are or will be 3 new bars in Benson? And a few apartments on Maple to boot.
So, including Krug Park, there are or will be 3 new bars in Benson? And a few apartments on Maple to boot.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
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Seriously? That mural is sooooo creative. And how the heck could there be lawsuits over it? That makes no legal or even logical sense what so ever. It's their property and that mural is breaking no laws whatsoever. Let's think for a minute streets. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean its breaking any laws.StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Wow, that mural is obnoxious. I'm surprised they got away with it. I wonder if there will be complaints or even law suits.
So, including Krug Park, there are or will be 3 new bars in Benson? And a few apartments on Maple to boot.
OMA-->CHI-->NYC
So are 1/2 the buildings in Benson. Â Way too many of those buildings up there have their brick all covered up. Â They really need to start removing all the coverings and get the historic brick exposed again.Linkin5 wrote:That mural is extremely ugly.
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