The View on 39th - Apartments (39th & Dodge)

[Athomsfere]

And as far as the affordable housing crisis, this project was never about affordability. However, that may change once the market is saturated and competitive.

That is the only real way to work on affordably housing...

And the market can be just as saturated and competitive when housing development is incremental, resilient, thoughtfully designed, and gives the human being priority over automobiles.

Any examples of that? Bonus points if it is in a city analogous to Omaha.

I mostly agree with his sentiment, but with a lot of caveats for being in the USA vs somewhere like the Netherlands.

Dense, incremental, built at the human scale, interesting architecture: All are sort of the polar opposite of what we have been building for 70 years or so.

Can all of these things exist? Absolutely. I'd argue that's even the end goal. But right now: Perfect is the enemy of good.

If we try to do it all at once, you get a band of NIMBYs for each of those points.

There is too much traffic
There is no transit
There isn't enough parking
It doesn't fit the character of the street, block, or area
Its going to bring down property values
It's too expensive, no one will live there.

At best, most modern American developments can choose to try and address one of those items and have a shot at being built. IMO. So I'll take adding density and affordable housing first, because getting people into those areas clears the way to make all the other things easier in the next round of development.

[halgy]

And as far as the affordable housing crisis, this project was never about affordability. However, that may change once the market is saturated and competitive.

That is the only real way to work on affordably housing...

And the market can be just as saturated and competitive when housing development is incremental, resilient, thoughtfully designed, and gives the human being priority over automobiles.

Any examples of that? Bonus points if it is in a city analogous to Omaha.

I mostly agree with his sentiment, but with a lot of caveats for being in the USA vs somewhere like the Netherlands.

Dense, incremental, built at the human scale, interesting architecture: All are sort of the polar opposite of what we have been building for 70 years or so.

Can all of these things exist? Absolutely. I'd argue that's even the end goal. But right now: Perfect is the enemy of good.

If we try to do it all at once, you get a band of NIMBYs for each of those points.

There is too much traffic
There is no transit
There isn't enough parking
It doesn't fit the character of the street, block, or area
Its going to bring down property values
It's too expensive, no one will live there.

At best, most modern American developments can choose to try and address one of those items and have a shot at being built. IMO. So I'll take adding density and affordable housing first, because getting people into those areas clears the way to make all the other things easier in the next round of development.

That is basically my view as well. If we hold off for perfect, nothing will ever get done. I'll settle for building more housing (to alleviate the shortage and bring down prices) and increase density (which will naturally drive many of the other improvements).

[Vitruvius]

And as far as the affordable housing crisis, this project was never about affordability. However, that may change once the market is saturated and competitive.

That is the only real way to work on affordably housing...

And the market can be just as saturated and competitive when housing development is incremental, resilient, thoughtfully designed, and gives the human being priority over automobiles.

Any examples of that? Bonus points if it is in a city analogous to Omaha.

Incremental, resilient, thoughtfully designed?
The townhouses/condos at 49th and Farnam are a good example. Outstanding in many respects. Human-scale. Welcoming facades.
The Cosgrove at 39th and Leavenworth is also a good example.
However, adding 2 or 3 more floors would have provided more value, and at street level, the design lacks consideration for humans/pedestrians.
But the aesthetic is thoughtful and considers the neighborhood character -- the street corners, Leavenworth.
Nothing about it is straining to be clever or trendy. Nothing about it looks cheap and easy.

[iamjacobm]

It is subtle, but I do like the green brick they are using for the facade. Nice change from the usual red/black Omaha sees a lot of.

[Louie]

The townhouses/condos at 49th and Farnam are a good example. Outstanding in many respects. Human-scale. Welcoming facades.

Super late response, I know, but these sold for $500k to $700k a pop. This is not something that can be repeated at scale or anywhere near market rate.