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Florence Rehab

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:48 am
by Finn
Rejuvenated Florence envisioned
Florence leaders think the key to a prosperous future rests in capitalizing on their area's fascinating past.
They want to raise $220,000, and that is only to begin planning their neighborhood's rejuvenation in earnest.
Florence proposals
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Florence Futures and Councilman Jim Suttle have two ideas for the neighborhood:

A visitors center at Interstate 680 and 30th Street could provide high-tech assistance for tourists, and the campus surrounding it could feature icons, statues and information about the area's history.

Development of a 10-block segment of North 30th Street could include a national-brand motel and restaurant. A study could be conducted to determine which buildings should be kept.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:27 pm
by Brad
Florence revitalization plan unveiled

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10136278
The past could be the key to Florence's future

Florence boosters unveiled an ambitious plan Wednesday to use the rich history of the Florence area as a catalyst for redevelopment throughout the stagnating neighborhood.

The plan also highlights Florence's importance as a gateway into Omaha from the north and Interstate 680.
OWH Image:
Image

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:36 pm
by Uffda
So based on the map the hotel guest could have a nice view of the water treatment plant.  :lol:

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:38 pm
by greenbuilder
This would be the perfect place for a new Urbanism development

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:38 pm
by DTO Luv
My mom used to live up there and I liked the neighborhood. If Florence can make itself a neighborhood destination like Dundee, Benson or South Omaha, that would be cool.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:03 pm
by Brad
DTO Luv wrote:My mom used to live up there and I liked the neighborhood. If Florence can make itself a neighborhood destination like Dundee, Benson or South Omaha, that would be cool.
There is no reason it couldn't.  It has GREAT interstate access.  I bet I could get from village point to Florence in 15 to 20 min.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:11 pm
by Coyote
15 - 20 minutes is about right. 168th to I-80 5, Dodge to Blair High 5, Blair High to 30th 5 provided no traffic lights.

Are there still plans to turn Florence 30th into one lane like they did in South Omaha?

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:16 pm
by Brad
I would take 680 to the last exit before the Mormon bridge.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:28 pm
by Coyote
I should have said 680. That is the route I meant. Dodge 168th to 680, 680 Dodge to Blair High, 680 Blair High to 30th are all 5 minute increments.

It may be anal but having to travel all over the area I have marked 5 minute increments along 6 and 275 to Columbus and Norfolk, along the interstate to Des Moines, and up to Blair. I probably could tell you every exit along I-80 from here to Wyoming or Albuquerque. I have to go to too many meetings.

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:43 pm
by ShawJ
Florence to get long-awaited redo

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120203/N ... aited-redo
A city project to spruce up downtown Florence will get under way in June.

Mayor Jim Suttle and City Councilman Pete Festersen, speaking at a Friday morning press conference, announced the upcoming start of a project long-awaited by Florence community boosters.

The $575,000 renovation will include new landscaping, new, decorative sidewalks and added parking along the two-block stretch of 30th Street from Clay to Willit Streets.

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:13 pm
by justnick
yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.

(and really? only for two blocks? and for THOSE two blocks?)

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:47 pm
by Brad
justnick wrote:yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.
I thought you loved Florence?

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:11 pm
by justnick
Brad wrote:
justnick wrote:yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.
I thought you loved Florence?
I do, but I recognize its faults and know that a pretty little rehab won't help it and it will never become dundee or benson because florence people do not let outsiders in which makes it hard as heck to attract new growth.

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:19 pm
by StreetsOfOmaha
new landscaping, new, decorative sidewalks and added parking
Wow, they found it! The silver bullet that will solve all of Florence's problems.

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:23 am
by Bugeater
justnick wrote:
Brad wrote:
justnick wrote:yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.
I thought you loved Florence?
I do, but I recognize its faults and know that a pretty little rehab won't help it and it will never become dundee or benson because florence people do not let outsiders in which makes it hard as heck to attract new growth.
What do you mean by "don't let outsiders in"? Can you elaborate or cite examples?

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:36 am
by justnick
Bugeater wrote:
justnick wrote:
Brad wrote:
justnick wrote:yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.
I thought you loved Florence?
I do, but I recognize its faults and know that a pretty little rehab won't help it and it will never become dundee or benson because florence people do not let outsiders in which makes it hard as heck to attract new growth.
What do you mean by "don't let outsiders in"? Can you elaborate or cite examples?
it's not as xenophobic as it sounds, it's just a weird thing where everytime a non-local starts a business, it is doomed to fail because for some reason it won't get support from Florence people. it's like a cute little cult of old people and mormons.

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:12 am
by SaveOmaha
I think Florence is a great neighborhood. There are businesses there that I think are good for the community. Hopefully more investment happens in the future.

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:20 am
by Bugeater
justnick wrote:
Bugeater wrote:
justnick wrote:
Brad wrote:
justnick wrote:yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.
I thought you loved Florence?
I do, but I recognize its faults and know that a pretty little rehab won't help it and it will never become dundee or benson because florence people do not let outsiders in which makes it hard as heck to attract new growth.
What do you mean by "don't let outsiders in"? Can you elaborate or cite examples?
it's not as xenophobic as it sounds, it's just a weird thing where everytime a non-local starts a business, it is doomed to fail because for some reason it won't get support from Florence people. it's like a cute little cult of old people and mormons.
Ah, I see. I know the city pretty well but Florence is this mysterious little area that I don't know much about, and rarely even think about. And from the way it sounds, the people of the area like it that way.

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:40 am
by justnick
Did I ever tell my marvelous story about all the mormons I've seen blowing each other in the creek down at 36th and Forest Lawn.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:51 pm
by Brad
I drove through Florence today.  The renovations are looking nice.

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 10:10 am
by OldGeorge
Brad wrote:I drove through Florence today.  The renovations are looking nice.
Yep, they're coming along nicely (I hit up the Florence Zesto recently).

The one major obstacle for Florence, is that they HAVE TO get the heavy truck traffic diverted off North 30th Street.  There is nothing cool about sitting on a bench, noshing a Zesto Sundae, and having a semi loaded with hogs rumble by.

So until they figure out a way to divert the truck traffic, Florence will not flourish again.

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:26 pm
by BRoss
OldGeorge wrote:
Brad wrote:I drove through Florence today.  The renovations are looking nice.
Yep, they're coming along nicely (I hit up the Florence Zesto recently).

The one major obstacle for Florence, is that they HAVE TO get the heavy truck traffic diverted off North 30th Street.  There is nothing cool about sitting on a bench, noshing a Zesto Sundae, and having a semi loaded with hogs rumble by.

So until they figure out a way to divert the truck traffic, Florence will not flourish again.
Well the plan is to eventually expand the North Freeway along the Storz Expressway to 16th Street and then along 16th Street across the river to I-680. When they are going to actually do this I have no idea, but I think it's on the 20 year plan.

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:14 am
by OldGeorge
justnick wrote:
Brad wrote:
justnick wrote:yawn. I'm glad they're throwing money and pretty sidewalks at us and all, but Florence is beyond |expletive| and I don't see it helping.
I thought you loved Florence?
I do, but I recognize its faults and know that a pretty little rehab won't help it and it will never become dundee or benson because florence people do not let outsiders in which makes it hard as heck to attract new growth.
There is no such thing as "Florence people."  I do a lot of work up in that area, and there is no homogeneous clique that dominates the area.  It's just a bunch of random people that live in the same geographic area.

Sounds to me like what you're doing is looking in the mirror and seeing paranoia.

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:23 am
by OldGeorge
OSILayer8Support wrote:
OldGeorge wrote:
Brad wrote:I drove through Florence today.  The renovations are looking nice.
Yep, they're coming along nicely (I hit up the Florence Zesto recently).

The one major obstacle for Florence, is that they HAVE TO get the heavy truck traffic diverted off North 30th Street.  There is nothing cool about sitting on a bench, noshing a Zesto Sundae, and having a semi loaded with hogs rumble by.

So until they figure out a way to divert the truck traffic, Florence will not flourish again.
Well the plan is to eventually expand the North Freeway along the Storz Expressway to 16th Street and then along 16th Street across the river to I-680. When they are going to actually do this I have no idea, but I think it's on the 20 year plan.
I've heard lots of little rumblings like this.

What do you mean by "across the river to I-680"?  Are you talking about a separate bridge across the river, or are they going to bring heavy traffic back up to the 30th Street Exit?

Personally, I've always been a bit puzzled by there being no exit off I-29 that leads straight to the airport.  Seems as though that would a great industrial infrastructure improvement.

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:29 am
by Brad
When Suttle was running for Mayor, he wanted a new road that ran north of the Airport, Across the River to that first I680 exit East of the Missouri River in Iowa.

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:45 am
by BRoss
Something like this:

Image

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:03 am
by OldGeorge
OSILayer8Support wrote:Something like this:

Image
That would actually make a lot of sense.  The interchange on 680 is already there.  

I suppose what's holding them back is that little issue of a couple hundred million dollars...  :)

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:02 pm
by Coyote
Council votes on Florence streetscape work

I missed this on today's agenda...
Florence is set to get a $42,000 makeover. Business owners in the area are excited about the changes

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:43 pm
by Coyote
Without knowing the scope of this project, it just sounds like
Better lighting
Better parking
Better infrastructure for the $42k question.

Would this just include N 30th from Mormon to Fillmore?
Will Florence DT turn into one lane with a turn lane and perpendicular parking?
Parking meters? Time limits? How far can $42k actuallygo after lights?

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:34 am
by BRoss
I doubt they reduce lanes until/if the North Freeway is extended along 16th.

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 9:52 pm
by BRoss
Renaissance in Florence: New life and momentum for Omaha's ‘oldest business district
Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:Downtown Florence, one of the oldest parts of Omaha, is trying to become the latest historic neighborhood business district to be rediscovered by the rest of the city.
New businesses are beginning to trickle in, led by a couple of unique restaurants that are attracting people from around town to North 30th Street near Interstate 680, about five miles north of downtown Omaha.
I was waiting and waiting for them to mention something about extending the North Freeway along 16th St so they could take highway 75 off of 30th and make it more main street like.

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 10:35 pm
by Coyote
Thanks for posting that, I was going to re-read this after quickly going through the front page this morning. And that was one of the issues I was hoping to see, if Florence wants a better streetscape, let's start at re-routing truck traffic, they deserve a better chance at becoming a destination district.

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:39 pm
by U R my Helix
Does anyone know of progress or details on this proposed conversion?
2016/04/05 OWH "The worn-out Morman Trail Motel is being renovated into apartments." location is 8419 N 30 ST

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:49 pm
by choke
U R my Helix wrote:Does anyone know of progress or details on this proposed conversion?
2016/04/05 OWH "The worn-out Morman Trail Motel is being renovated into apartments." location is 8419 N 30 ST
It's been done already. They changed the sign from "Motel" to "Apartments." That's it. Ghetto.

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:35 pm
by FrankJones
U R my Helix wrote:Does anyone know of progress or details on this proposed conversion?
2016/04/05 OWH "The worn-out Morman Trail Motel is being renovated into apartments." location is 8419 N 30 ST
Yeah it's done.

The problem in Florence is that for there to be a thriving "downtown" like there is Benson, they're going to have to re-route heavy traffic off North 30th Street. Having 12 trucks full of hogs go rumbling by, when you're on the patio at Enzo's, is kind of a killer.

Unfortunately, the honest truth is that the City of Omaha doesn't give a rat's butt about North O and Florence, and Ben Gray & Pete Festerson do nothing to represent us. In other words, this is as good as it gets.

Re: Florence Rehab

Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 3:21 pm
by choke
FrankJones wrote:
U R my Helix wrote:Does anyone know of progress or details on this proposed conversion?
2016/04/05 OWH "The worn-out Morman Trail Motel is being renovated into apartments." location is 8419 N 30 ST
Yeah it's done.

The problem in Florence is that for there to be a thriving "downtown" like there is Benson, they're going to have to re-route heavy traffic off North 30th Street. Having 12 trucks full of hogs go rumbling by, when you're on the patio at Enzo's, is kind of a killer.

Unfortunately, the honest truth is that the City of Omaha doesn't give a rat's butt about North O and Florence, and Ben Gray & Pete Festerson do nothing to represent us. In other words, this is as good as it gets.
Right. We sit across the street with our Zestos ice cream and hog and cattle trucks constantly go by. It's not very attractive.