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I'm going to keep this relatively short because I don't want to bore all of you haha. Government intervention is always the big factor here. In the post war world, white veterans were given the ability to get cheap houses thanks to the GI Bill. Now, TIF gives the ability to developers to effectively build government subsidized luxury housing. Why is the government subsidizing luxury housing? There are a variety of reasons, none of which are entirely fair to the honest working class people who currently live in these areas. Personally, I think TIF should be given to developments that try to include low income and affordable housing as a certain percentage of the housing developed, but that's just my two cents.

mistergutierrez wrote:If you take a look at European cities such Paris, housing for low income people is located in the neighborhoods in the outskirts. That way they keep city centers atractive for familes and other tennants.

I would phrase it differently, but I essentially agree. The only "trashy" neighborhoods we saw in Paris were on the far outskirts, Where the city bumped into rural France. In my travels last year to Germany and France there seemed very little new construction on the edges of European cities, except near the airports, where commercial and warehouse developments were being constructed.
In Frankfurt our gorgeous new hotel was actually a rehabbed old building in what the guide books warned to be the "red light district." It was a Holiday Inn Express, btw! And it was only a few blocks from the sex shops (no, that's not why I picked it!), but it was also only a couple blocks from the rail station, and a handful of blocks from the Headquarters of the EU, the Opera, the rejuvenated riverfront and the financial district. It was surrounded by many restaurants (mostly Turkish and pizza places), and honest to goodness shops and stores of all manner.

mistergutierrez wrote:If you take a look at European cities such Paris, housing for low income people is located in the neighborhoods in the outskirts. That way they keep city centers atractive for familes and other tennants.

As the oldest urban centers in the US continue to become more popular and gentrify, I think we'll see the same trends here. The first-ring suburbs in most cities are already on the decline and becoming more concentrated areas of low income. With their typical small, mass-produced houses that are out of contemporary fashion,and deteriorating infrastructure, they're on a similar path as the turn-of-the-century neighborhoods were in the early postwar period. It's not being motivated by white flight and structured racism (a la redlining), but it's still occurring.

3036 Marcy:

Midtown Properties LLC has submitted site plans for:

3012 Mason St.
1113 S. 31st St.
1313 S. 31st St.
524 Park Ave.
825 Park Ave.

That's a pretty good chunk of new properties to get started on. They are continuing to acquire new properties, so it appears they're planning on continuing their focus on this area. It's good to see continued reinvestment in an area with so much potential.

Coyote wrote:Midtown Properties LLC has submitted site plans for:

3012 Mason St.
1113 S. 31st St.
1313 S. 31st St.
524 Park Ave.
825 Park Ave.

Add to the list:
518 S. 30th St
912 S. 33rd St
918 S. 33rd St
1102 S. 33rd St

I love what they've done as Urban Village. I'm really excited to see what they do with these properties.

Someone posted the Omaha Crime Map for 2015 on Reddit so far and there is a huge halo of no crime around Midtown/Park Ave. 5-10 years ago I bet that would not be the stoey, very good to see an area change so much.

Some interesting stuff in the agenda about the Kohll's property. Lots of rezoning and rescinding of the parking overlay district.

Thought I'd share this nice little segment that was put together when Urban Village was just taking off. They've jump started so much development in this area!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfYpvJS2LwU[/youtube]

(Produced by the same guy that posted the midtown triangle time lapse FYI)

iamjacobm wrote:Some interesting stuff in the agenda about the Kohll's property. Lots of rezoning and rescinding of the parking overlay district.

What is the parking overlay district? What would it mean for the area if it was rescinded?

Wow, what an amazing transformation. It is sad that those buildings got in that bad of shape in the first place.

The empty lot on the NW corner of 30th and Pacific will be home to the Sycamore Apartments. They will consist of two buildings, the southern one 12 units, the northern 10 units, built by SL Jensen Construction. I really hope the design fits the neighborhood, really hope....

Coyote wrote:The empty lot on the NW corner of 30th and Pacific will be home to the Sycamore Apartments. They will consist of two buildings, the southern one 12 units, the northern 10 units, built by SL Jensen Construction. I really hope the design fits the neighborhood, really hope....

30th ave or 30th street?

30th Ave.

Added to list posted at The Urban Residential INDEX Thread http://www.eomahaforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 35#p243141
and added to the map https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... sp=sharing
I wondered if we were going to see something new on that lot, thanks Coyote.

Coyote wrote:The empty lot on the NW corner of 30th and Pacific will be home to the Sycamore Apartments. They will consist of two buildings, the southern one 12 units, the northern 10 units, built by SL Jensen Construction. I really hope the design fits the neighborhood, really hope....

This is just around the corner from my house. They're finishing up demo and site grading now.

It doesn't seem like SL Jensen has done much urban development, but with the right architect, they could do something nice. The neighborhood is still stuck with the horrible slip-in apartments from the last big redevelopment cycle, and sadly they are still too profitable to go.

They actually just put up a sign at the 30th and Pacific project. I'm very impressed by the rendering. It looks like two-story rowhouses in two separate buildings. It's a perfect fit for the street, as the buildings on the other two corners of this intersection are turn-of-the-century rowhouses. The sign appears to only show the northern building, but I hope the southern one is L-shaped to front both 30th and Pacific. If they have garages in back off of the alley, this project is a home run, and one of the best infill projects in this area so far.

Milestone Property appears to be the mananger of the Himbaugh a block north, but their website on the sign doesn't exist (yet).

Apologies for the horrible photo. This was with my crappy old iPhone into the setting sun as I rode past on my bike. This is why the world needs people like Brad and Coyote.

Sounds like a lot more on the way for this hood. At least 20 more row homes in a handful of projects. Some of the next phases will be more modern design and have rooftop decks. Apparently the developers really want ownership in the area. Was told this area is as high as 90% rental and they want to get it to about 50/50 owner rental over the next decade.

One thing is that it sounds like a number of the single family homes will be torn down for these projects.

Thanks Brad and Coyote

Where is this exactly?

iamjacobm wrote:One thing is that it sounds like a number of the single family homes will be torn down for these projects.

Don't recall too many, if any single family homes torn down in the area. Are you talking about single family house-to-apartment conversions?

MTO wrote:Thanks Brad and Coyote

Thanks MTO...

MTO wrote:

Thank you! It looks like it'll be a great addition to the neighborhood. I'm really excited that many of these great old buildings are being preserved.

Yeah going through there yesterday I saw the grip of new and renewed projects, I was very impressed.

SaveOmaha wrote:

iamjacobm wrote:One thing is that it sounds like a number of the single family homes will be torn down for these projects.

Haven't seen too many, if any single family homes torn down in the area. Are you talking about apartment conversions? I've seen plenty of those get demoed. Why would developers want to demo an owner occupied home to increase homeownership? Not everyone wants a modern townhome or row house.

The lot where this project had a number of structures demolished, but even as a big preservationist, I don't feel bad about them. Here's what was on that lot previously:
1. A mansion on the corner that was split up into a ton of apartments, run into the ground, then burned about 5 years ago
2. A large house split up into 5 or 6 apartments, run into the ground
3. Another large house split up into apartments, and run into the ground
4. A small rundown house (1.5 story shotgun-style, in poor shape and nothing special)
5. Another house same as #4
6. Several ramshackle garages, including one that had been converted into several apartments

I'm pretty sure a lot of the former tenants were immigrants, likely undocumented, as they're willing to accept poor conditions for the cheap price, and also unlikely to call and report building code violations (or even know they can). The slumlords that prey on these people are pretty sad.

Ultimately, most of the structures in this neighborhood were once grand homes, but they were destroyed 50 years ago by shoddy apartment conversions. What we see now are mostly vinyl-covered ghosts. There are definitely some that can still be saved, but generally, it's not financially viable, so only the occasional house is returned to single-family by some old-house enthusiast who doesn't mind investing more than they can get back out.

iamjacobm wrote:Apparently the developers really want ownership in the area. Was told this area is as high as 90% rental and they want to get it to about 50/50 owner rental over the next decade.

Increasing owner-occupancy was one of the goals of the Park Avenue Redevelopment Study done by Destination Midtown 6 or 7 years ago. I think developers are realizing that outside of certain areas with long-term stable rental markets (e.g. Downtown, Old Market, near the colleges), you need enough of an ownership base to keep a neighborhood stable. What can be a hot in-demand rental area can quickly decline when popularity or tastes change (or one crime gets blown out proportion, etc). Having owner-residents provides a damper for those short-term fluctuations, and increases responsibility for the area by those who live there.

SaveOmaha wrote:

iamjacobm wrote:One thing is that it sounds like a number of the single family homes will be torn down for these projects.

Haven't seen too many, if any single family homes torn down in the area. Are you talking about apartment conversions? I've seen plenty of those get demoed. Why would developers want to demo an owner occupied home to increase homeownership? Not everyone wants a modern townhome or row house.

The plans I saw included a lot more row house projects by at least 3 different developers. The land grab in this neighborhood is very real right now.

More good news for Park Avenue living. This rehab by HD-Omaha is far enough along that they are advertising the new units. One bedrooms start at $825 this property was renting one bedrooms at $365 in 2000 when it was called Tel-Star Apartments. The area is certainly on an upswing. The apartments are at 1133 Park Ave and 1135 Park Ave.

H-D has really committed to this neighborhood. I especially like that they have their offices in the rehabbed building next door.

There is scaffolding up around the corner of this building. Something is afoot there.

Well didn't the corner unit get burnt out about 6 months ago or more or perhaps some one drove into the building? Time to fix it, or has it already been done? looks like 1001 Park, Jamison Condos? remember when it looked like this? here it is on the inside http://www.tourbuzz.net/public/vtour/display/419807?a=1

My guess is that they're doing a more intensive exterior rehab and stripping paint (which most likely contains lead).

The current brown color scheme is far from correct for this architectural style, but it's a heck of a lot better than that previous picture! Yuck! The cheap white vinyl windows still look pretty tacky, though.

That may be, but something must have happened here a while back. If I can get the street view link to work you will see it was shuttered. If you zoom in it looks like a water issue or a crack in the building on the corner. Glad it is being looked after.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/1001+ ... 05!6m1!1e1

I live across the street from this building, and it has in the last year gone from boarded up, to open with a big sign saying call to lease, to draped in plastic...

No clue what has led to the changes. But I love this building. And the Mexican complex down the street... And really the whole stretch including Park 1 & 2

Since I pass by it every day, I figured I'd post a couple recent photos of the new buildings going up on at 30th and Pacific. These are going to look great along 30th street. My only gripe with the site layout is the big open stretch on Pacific street. Most of the surrounding buildings front Pacific, and I think this would have looked fabulous if they corner building had been laid out as an L to front both streets. It seems rare that buildings, be they apartments or single-family homes, are really designed to take advantage of corner lots anymore.

In any case, I'm glad to see this project going in. It fits so much better than the suburban complexes and slip-ins that have been built in this part of town in recent decades.

Really good seeing this midtown density build up.