Lumberyard District (Downtown Millard)

[Stargazer]

M.A.A. expansion.

[nebugeater]

M.A.A. expansion.

OK, I will bit.  I am probably missing the obvious but what is MAA.... I doubt very much in this market it is Millard Ave Auto.

[Coyote]

Millard Athletic Association?

[Stargazer]

Heh heh... yeah, just kidding.   Although it wouldn't surprise me to see them put the Millard Days 'midway' there in the interim.

[Brad]

Looks like the Walgreen's Plat is going before the City Council today.
135th and Q
http://co.douglas.ne.us/omaha/cityclerk ... ng/521.pdf

[huskerJay]

Better then nothing.

[huskerJay]

Better then nothing.

[joeglow]

This was the topic on the Grow Omaha Wednesday update this morning.  They said they are priming the land to make it more attractive.  Still some work to do.

[Coyote]

Thanks for that info Joe!

[Stargazer]

Didn't want to start a thread for such a little observation... just pleased to see the on-street (132nd) parking for the new Walgreens at 132nd and Q.

[RNcyanide]

I don't know if this has been discussed before, but does anyone know anything about the old Millard Lumber site on 135th between Millard Ave and Q? With the condition it's in, I wouldn't be surprised if that whole neighborhood has been marked as blighted.

I think it has the potential to be a really neat development if they could clear that mess out of the way.

[NathanT]

There was talk of turning it into a sort of town square and trying to reinvigorate downtown Millard, using downtown Ralston as a model.  I know them pulling up the railroad tracks that bisect the lumber yard was a part of that, but since then, there's been nothing but silence on the topic.  If I remember right, part of it involved tearing down the old Millard Lumber building itself, and it's occupied by a new hardware store (one that I almost never see used), so as of right now, I don't think anything's going to happen.

I really wish something would.  Downtown Millard is a dump.

[RNcyanide]

There was talk of turning it into a sort of town square and trying to reinvigorate downtown Millard, using downtown Ralston as a model.  I know them pulling up the railroad tracks that bisect the lumber yard was a part of that, but since then, there's been nothing but silence on the topic.  If I remember right, part of it involved tearing down the old Millard Lumber building itself, and it's occupied by a new hardware store (one that I almost never see used), so as of right now, I don't think anything's going to happen.

I really wish something would.  Downtown Millard is a dump.

Ain't that the truth... I see so much potential on 135th and Millard Avenue. Millard Avenue won't even need that much work, really, just trying to draw in more retail-based businesses and cleaning up store and streetfronts.

135th St on the other hand is going to be a beast...

[Brad]

I don't know if this has been discussed before

Everything has been discussed here before

Merged.

[guitarguy]

Haha isn't that the truth Brad  :lafcry:

[RNcyanide]

I knew this thread existed, but I guess I didn't think to post my question here. I wanted to feel important and have my own  :mrgreen:

[Coyote]

Seriously lame!

[TitosBuritoBarn]

One thing I really dislike about the Omaha area is that practically all of the downtown areas of our suburbs and former suburbs that were annexed are pretty neglected and crappy. Downtown Council Bluffs is about the only solid suburban downtown we have. I guess Ralston's is pretty decent. Here in the Chicago area, most suburbs have a nicely preserved downtown (if they're old enough to have one) filled with meticulous landscaping, fountains, quaint shops, ornate..everything, and people milling about constantly.

[RNcyanide]

I have noticed that about Omaha. It was kind of weird, though, that Millard's 'Downtown' was more or less industrial in nature, with Old Millard Lumber, Tyson Foods, and that concrete place.

[Brad]

I have noticed that about Omaha. It was kind of weird, though, that Millard's 'Downtown' was more or less industrial in nature, with Old Millard Lumber, Tyson Foods, and that concrete place.

Historically Old Downtown Millard was/is Millard Ave.  Unfortunately most of the old building are gone.  Look at the Duck In, Piccolo's, Roadhouse, and Olympia Cycle buildings.  Probably built in the 30's and 40's

Tyson and the concrete plant are later additions. Tyson in the mid 1960's and the concrete plant even later.

EDIT:
Found a cool PDF of Millard history.
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres ... illard.pdf

[iamjacobm]

One thing I really dislike about the Omaha area is that practically all of the downtown areas of our suburbs and former suburbs that were annexed are pretty neglected and crappy. Downtown Council Bluffs is about the only solid suburban downtown we have. I guess Ralston's is pretty decent. Here in the Chicago area, most suburbs have a nicely preserved downtown (if they're old enough to have one) filled with meticulous landscaping, fountains, quaint shops, ornate..everything, and people milling about constantly.

Florance, Dundee, Benson and South O all had downtowns that are doing quite well now a days.  Ashland has a nice little downtown area, downtown Plattsmouth would shock people if they ended up seeing it they just spent a lot of money on the streetscape and it looks incredible.

Our main connected suburbs are really lacking though.

[bigredmed]

I "summered" in Millard Lumber in college, mowed the ditch weekly and painted nearly every building on the site at least once.

Even in the late 70's, downtown Millard was not much.

The Stockade (now Millard Road House) was a meth lab with a few people eating there as cover.  The bars were sketchy.  

Frankly, I would love to see either a park and ride for bus service set up there, or move the Amtrak station from east 6th and Stabwound to the Historic Old Main Line.  Would need to get UP to let them bring a spur from the Lane cutoff back down there (extend a couple of blocks), or get Burlington to assume the right of way connecting it back to Portal and then east/west.  We could have a cool Amtrak station that would be central enough to west Omaha to make it useful for those folks to park and ride the train to Lincoln for games or go east or west on Amtrak.

If they tear down the old lumber yard, they need to keep the nail shed.  That was a historic landmark (the coal depot for the waterstop on the OML that later became Millard Lumber and Coal.)

[RNcyanide]

Which is the nail shed?

[bigredmed]

Which is the nail shed?

Tall narrow building on the little cross street (Wier?).

[RNcyanide]

I'll have to look next time I drive by.

[Coyote]

Tall narrow building on the little cross street (Wier?).

Tried finding that on Google maps but couldn't. Was it on the Q St end or Millard Ave end? or the L St end?

[jessep28]

This one? If so, this is on 135th and Potwin, which is 3 blocks North of Q.

[MadMartin8]

This would be an amazing spot for another Hotel, Brewery, or Arena. Call all of them "The Nail Shed"

[Coyote]

So its this one?:

[guitarguy]

One of the things I was continually impressed with in NYC is that even though there is hundreds of individual little towns each town has a beautiful Main St area that is done up like the quaint New England styling that everyone loves.. really made me wish Omaha did more of this.. maybe someday but I won't hold my breath..

[cdub]

One of the things I was continually impressed with in NYC is that even though there is hundreds of individual little towns each town has a beautiful Main St area that is done up like the quaint New England styling that everyone loves.. really made me wish Omaha did more of this.. maybe someday but I won't hold my breath..

Its a little more organic than that, usually.  All those NY towns were real towns, probably all bigger than the Omaha burbs, and had the real mainstreets from the start.  The burbs all did, just smaller and less impressive.  In the case of Millard particularly, the streets ate some of it.  I think people see the value in them though and mostly there is a bit of investment going towards them all.  Millard does have the rare opportunity to build a whole new one between Millard ave and Q.

[Omababe]

The Stockade (now Millard Road House) was a meth lab with a few people eating there as cover.

Uh, care to elaborate?

[bigredmed]

Tall narrow building on the little cross street (Wier?).

Tried finding that on Google maps but couldn't. Was it on the Q St end or Millard Ave end? or the L St end?

It is closer to Q street.  Across the street from the main building and next to the quonset hut that was the saw shop.

[bigredmed]

So its this one?:

Yes.   Lots of nails got stacked in that building.

[bigredmed]

The Stockade (now Millard Road House) was a meth lab with a few people eating there as cover.

Uh, care to elaborate?

Up to the early 70's, it was a quiet place to eat (like it is now), the the cooks and some of the managers started selling coke and other stuff.   If memory serves, it was eventually raided by the DEA, ending the Stockade.

[omenaconnects]

Join the Old Millard East Neighborhood Association for updates at http://www.omenaconnects.com [/img]

[omenaconnects]

See them here http://www.omenaconnects.com/photos/ Millard once was a city of progress (as the sign states)  Let's get back on those lines of thinking.  We have 3 interstate access points within 3 minutes, a great piece of vacant land just begging for development and a large group of homeowners and renters who would SUPPORT any effort to further the development of the area.

[Admin]

Thanks omenaconnects! We hope to move this thread out of Projects Never Built sometime!

[BPHusker]

See them here http://www.omenaconnects.com/photos/ Millard once was a city of progress (as the sign states)  Let's get back on those lines of thinking.  We have 3 interstate access points within 3 minutes, a great piece of vacant land just begging for development and a large group of homeowners and renters who would SUPPORT any effort to further the development of the area.

That is a really cool photo gallery. Are there any more?

[Brad]

Wow, thatn's for the photos!

In the photo "135th Street, looking West", I really wish they would make 135th street look like that again!