1973 and Prior Downtown Proposals-interesting stuff

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:01 pm

1966 Proposal for 16th Street

1973 Plan for Central Park Mall

1973 Central Park Mall

Downtown Layout 1

Downtown Layout 2

Marina City Sideview

Marina City Plan

Old Market/Jobbers Canyon 1973

1973 Old Market Plan Overview

1973 Old Market Plan 2

UNO 1973 Plan 1

Uno 1973 Plan 2

Too bad some of it never happened, good some of it didn't. Marina City died partially because some said it was impossible to have a marina off the river there. Check out the underground road & parking in the Old Market plan. Also, the original plan for the Central Park Mall called for a lot more retail, restaurants and a bigger lagoon than what ultimately happened.

Anyway, fun to look at after all this time.

justnick · Post by **justnick** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:05 pm

Some of that looks rather nice, other bits not so much.
Very interesting, all of it.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:10 pm

look how even more sunken the lake was going to be! The would have been cool with the shops and the old woodman building still there...

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:21 pm

That would have been cool to have UNO DT.

Some parts look nice but other things I'm glad didn't materialize. Too many ugly 70's buildings.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:21 pm

I just did the math. Marina City would be around 35 years old now.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:18 pm

I think I like all of these ideas except for the one which seems to make the Old Market a pedestrian mall. That would probably have killed it. The underground parking aspect of it is pretty cool though. We probably wouldn't have as many surface lots today if we'd built underground parking.

Interesting how in 1973 there was a plan for warehouse to residential conversions. I thought that was something that sprung from the '80s.

ShawJ · Post by **ShawJ** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:26 pm

Holy moly, thanks for that! Like others have said, some would have been cool and others not so much. Underground parking would have been great!

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:46 pm

DTO Luv wrote:That would have been cool to have UNO DT.

True, but it would have been in place of the UP and World Herald buildings, so where would have those gone?

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:15 pm

marina city would have been cool. Think about how much development may have come, had they done that. Well, that, and moved conagra somewhere else.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:43 pm

thenewguy wrote:marina city would have been cool. Think about how much development may have come, had they done that. Well, that, and moved conagra somewhere else.

Maybe they would have even built a tower, doubt it but possible.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:54 pm

Axel wrote:
DTO Luv wrote:That would have been cool to have UNO DT.

True, but it would have been in place of the UP and World Herald buildings, so where would have those gone?

Because there aren't blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks of useless surface lots all over downtown?

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:39 pm

Axel wrote:
thenewguy wrote:marina city would have been cool. Think about how much development may have come, had they done that. Well, that, and moved conagra somewhere else.
Maybe they would have even built a tower, doubt it but possible.

Probably not. One of the things that ConAgra asked for if they were to stay downtown, was the ability to build a suburban style office park. Whoever was CEO at the time thought Jobber's Canyon was a craphole and had a suburban mind-set.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:01 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:Whoever was CEO at the time thought Jobber's Canyon was a craphole and had a suburban mind-set.

Mike Harper. Called Jobber's Canyon a "bunch of ugly brick buildings".

Don't get me started.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:45 pm

Mike Harper was suffering from a common brain disorder known in architectural circles as the "Brasilian Syndrome", referring to the capital city of Brasilia, Brazil-----1960's modernism on steroids. I guess you could say that Con-Agra's campus is a symptom of this highly curable disease, but it has to be treated in it's early stages (usually with electro-shock therapy) or the chronic (and ugly) symptoms could last for 100 years.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:59 pm

Big E wrote:
TitosBuritoBarn wrote:Whoever was CEO at the time thought Jobber's Canyon was a craphole and had a suburban mind-set.
Mike Harper. Called Jobber's Canyon a "bunch of ugly brick buildings".

Don't get me started.

I know seriously, that campus is hideous, and Jobbers Canyon would have done much more for the city.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:08 pm

Unfortunately, "Marina City" may have planted the seeds which led to a green light for Mike Harper's destruction of Jobbers Canyon and everything east of 10th St. There were conceptual plans for Conagra that would've kept Jobbers intact, but Harper would have none of it, and had to make his mark on the city.

Marina City would have been far better than what we ended up with. Overall, those are some very well drawn, ambitious plans indeed. Fortunately many of the architects involved turned their focus even more toward preservation.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:31 pm

GetUrban wrote:Overall, those are some very well drawn, ambitious plans indeed.

No kidding. What CAD program were they using in 1973?

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:40 pm

#2 pencil

Post by **Brad** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:44 pm

Big E wrote:No kidding. What CAD program were they using in 1973?

Cad version #2

A little different than the drafting I am doing today....
(My desktop at work)

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:47 pm

i should have finished up my engineering schooling. :?

RockHarbor · Post by **RockHarbor** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:15 pm

How neat seeing these! Thanks for posting. Funny, I just started a thread last night (over in General Discussions) about "Omaha in the 60's and 70's", and I didn't even see this until tonight.

It is interesting seeing the concepts back then, and funny seeing that lake proposed, which is very much like Con Agra's current lake on the riverfront. I don't like seeing pics of Jobbers Canyon, as I think of "what could have been." Unfortunately, many didn't have the intense "preserve" mindset back then, that a lot of us have nowadays (I'm guilty of that, myself). I really am fond of historic buildings, more and more as I get older, as I feel (along with many others, I suppose) they are a very important, satisfying part of the urban fabric and environment. I feel you seem to enjoy the new buildings downtown more, when older ones are around to make a contrast. That Jobber's Canyon would have made a neat loft district, with a riverfront boardwalk and park and stuff. But, no sense dreaming about what could have been. Of course, Con Agra's downtown campus is very nice, and many Omahans enjoy that riverfront lake and fountain and park.

Torsten Adair · Post by **Torsten Adair** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:30 pm

Axel wrote:
DTO Luv wrote:That would have been cool to have UNO DT.

True, but it would have been in place of the UP and World Herald buildings, so where would have those gone?

You have the wrong blocks, which are one block further north.

When the Central Park Mall was built, the two buildings on the north side were the Northwestern Bell building (still there) and the Campbell factory (since demolished for the Holland Performing Arts Center).

I did attend the hearings for Jobbers Canyon and the Con Agra development, but the bigger architectural mistake was demolishing the old post office building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Post_O ... _Nebraska)) and turning 16th Street into a bleak streetscape, erecting a giant wall (the Hilton) to block off Downtown from North Omaha.

The architecture for Marina City and other unrealized projects are on display:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20130308/N ... 89932/1734

(Omaha's big failing: no sense of architectural worth. The buildings we get are functional, but aesthetically boring.)

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Jun 04, 2014 8:58 pm

I was watching the documentary Omaha Since WWII: The Changing Face of Omaha, and did a search online for "Marina City" Omaha, but found a lot of OWH pages down. This thread was really the only thread with much info on the former plans for Downtown. Is there anything else that could be posted here that people have to keep this conversation going here?

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:56 am

I remember the OWH in the 80's showing something like Marina City on the area where the Century Link Center is now. They also had plans for a Natural History Museum and either arena or dome on the complex. I remember one of the big hurdles was they did not want to lose Asarco......

Greg

cp jay 07 · Post by **cp jay 07** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 10:26 am

Greg S wrote:I remember the OWH in the 80's showing something like Marina City on the area where the Century Link Center is now. They also had plans for a Natural History Museum and either arena or dome on the complex. I remember one of the big hurdles was they did not want to lose Asarco......

Greg

When I was in High School and College and had access to the News Databases in the library I would look up old OWH articles and I remember quite a few articles about a dome, not a large one, I think it was about 30'000 seats that was going to built DT. I think this was about the time Minneapolis was really pushing for the series and I think quite a few games had weather issues one year so the dome concept was thought up. I cannot seem to find any more info on it now without date base access.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:41 am

They don't show it in any of the pics I originally posted but I remember a rendering similar to the one with marina city where there was a 100,000 seat dome proposed about where the Clink is. Remember, the proposals for Marina City, the Market and the Mall were just those...proposals meant to spur interest in redeveloping downtown. The planning department and mayor's office and others were wanting to resuscitate downtown. It was dying. Crossroads, Westroads and other suburban growth were killing downtown retail and Regency and Old Mill and other office development were emptying downtown office buildings. They were casting for ideas. Nothing was certain or even a possibility. It was all pipe dreams. In the end it takes a mountain of cash and the will to do it. The Old Market happened because that family did it. The Arena and Convention Center happened because Hal Daub pretty much went door to door. The Gene Leahy Mall happened because Gene Leahy made it happen. Simple as that.
More recently, the Mutual of Omaha development happened because, and only because, Mutual had the cash and desire. Nobody else had a clue.
Aksarben Village happened because pretty much every major real estate company wanted to be a part of it.
In OKC the Devon Tower was built because the owner of the company's ego, or pecker, wanted to be the biggest in OKC.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:42 am

Bob from Omaha wrote:They don't show it in any of the pics I originally posted but I remember a rendering similar to the one with marina city where there was a 100,000 seat dome proposed about where the Clink is. Remember, the proposals for Marina City, the Market and the Mall were just those...proposals meant to spur interest in redeveloping downtown. The planning department and mayor's office and others were wanting to resuscitate downtown. It was dying. Crossroads, Westroads and other suburban growth were killing downtown retail and Regency and Old Mill and other office development were emptying downtown office buildings. They were casting for ideas. Nothing was certain or even a possibility. It was all pipe dreams. In the end it takes a mountain of cash and the will to do it. The Old Market happened because that family did it. The Arena and Convention Center happened because Hal Daub pretty much went door to door. The Gene Leahy Mall happened because Gene Leahy made it happen. Simple as that.
More recently, the Mutual of Omaha development happened because, and only because, Mutual had the cash and desire. Nobody else had a clue.
Aksarben Village happened because pretty much every major real estate company wanted to be a part of it.
In OKC the Devon Tower was built because the owner of the company's ego, or pecker, wanted to be the biggest in OKC.

Pecker. That's funny, p e ni s is offensive?

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