37 West Farnam - 9 Story Building in Blackstone (SWC 37th & Farnam)

[skinzfan23]

[402MusicMan]

Update from this Saturday. Very nice building

[Vitruvius]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

[Linkin5]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

You’re typically so positive I’m surprised you don’t like this project.

[Renovator2559]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

I think the Brickline is in a tougher situation in this area for the residents...
I scratch my head, on how the Brickline has a parking garage going up every level as the courtyard, which they could of used that space to create natural light for the inner tenants on the eastern half. Instead of having a small courtyard in the west side but at least residents can reach their cars on their level right?

[halgy]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

I think the Brickline is in a tougher situation in this area for the residents...
I scratch my head, on how the Brickline has a parking garage going up every level as the courtyard, which they could of used that space to create natural light for the inner tenants on the eastern half. Instead of having a small courtyard in the west side but at least residents can reach their cars on their level right?

The eastern part of the Brickline doesn't have interior apartments. I think this style is a great way to build, as the parking is entirely hidden from the street, and all of the building's exterior can be used for apartments or retail.

Still, the way that 37 West Farnam is doing this is also good. Until cars go away, buildings this size need parking, and having some public parking in Blackstone is also needed until Omaha puts mass transit everywhere (I'll be taking the streetcar over in a few years, but my friends from SouthO and Lincoln still need someplace to park). Plus, the Blackstone street life is pretty lively (noisy), so starting the residential floors a few stories up will help cut down the noise.

The important part is that we're not wasting space with surface parking lots, or building ugly parking garages by themselves.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Update from this Saturday. Very nice building

I agree.. And looking great..

Thanks for the photo update …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[skinzfan23]

I’m digging the neon green and yellow…they should keep it

[GenX]

I’m digging the neon green and yellow…they should keep it

That’s what they sheath houses with these days. It’s paper-thin and flimsy. I remember when houses were sheathed with plywood, or at least particle board.

[legato9]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

I think the Brickline is in a tougher situation in this area for the residents...
I scratch my head, on how the Brickline has a parking garage going up every level as the courtyard, which they could of used that space to create natural light for the inner tenants on the eastern half. Instead of having a small courtyard in the west side but at least residents can reach their cars on their level right?

The eastern part of the Brickline doesn't have interior apartments. I think this style is a great way to build, as the parking is entirely hidden from the street, and all of the building's exterior can be used for apartments or retail.

Still, the way that 37 West Farnam is doing this is also good. Until cars go away, buildings this size need parking, and having some public parking in Blackstone is also needed until Omaha puts mass transit everywhere (I'll be taking the streetcar over in a few years, but my friends from SouthO and Lincoln still need someplace to park). Plus, the Blackstone street life is pretty lively (noisy), so starting the residential floors a few stories up will help cut down the noise.

The important part is that we're not wasting space with surface parking lots, or building ugly parking garages by themselves.

This.

I hate to ever find myself on the side of parking, but the reality is, it’s needed.

Building it up is dramatically better than building an oceanic parking lot.

Plus it helps the scale of the building. I love the size of this new one. Cities, in my view, look like “cities” when they have mixes of old and new, small and large.

[Vitruvius]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

I think the Brickline is in a tougher situation in this area for the residents...
I scratch my head, on how the Brickline has a parking garage going up every level as the courtyard, which they could of used that space to create natural light for the inner tenants on the eastern half. Instead of having a small courtyard in the west side but at least residents can reach their cars on their level right?

The eastern part of the Brickline doesn't have interior apartments. I think this style is a great way to build, as the parking is entirely hidden from the street, and all of the building's exterior can be used for apartments or retail.

Still, the way that 37 West Farnam is doing this is also good. Until cars go away, buildings this size need parking, and having some public parking in Blackstone is also needed until Omaha puts mass transit everywhere (I'll be taking the streetcar over in a few years, but my friends from SouthO and Lincoln still need someplace to park). Plus, the Blackstone street life is pretty lively (noisy), so starting the residential floors a few stories up will help cut down the noise.

The important part is that we're not wasting space with surface parking lots, or building ugly parking garages by themselves.

This.

I hate to ever find myself on the side of parking, but the reality is, it’s needed.

Building it up is dramatically better than building an oceanic parking lot.

Plus it helps the scale of the building. I love the size of this new one. Cities, in my view, look like “cities” when they have mixes of old and new, small and large.

If the the community keeps building parking garages and putting the car before the pedestrian, legitimate public transportation will never gain any support or be taken seriously.

An "oceanic parking lot" is just as mindless as this titanic parking garage with apartments on top.

Considering the scale of everything surrounding it, the ocean liner completely overwhelms the streetscape. Unless, of course, there's a plan to raze everything around it, which I'm sure is someone's future goal.

[Vitruvius]

Ah, living on top of a parking garage. How myopically car-centric.

I think the Brickline is in a tougher situation in this area for the residents...
I scratch my head, on how the Brickline has a parking garage going up every level as the courtyard, which they could of used that space to create natural light for the inner tenants on the eastern half. Instead of having a small courtyard in the west side but at least residents can reach their cars on their level right?

The eastern part of the Brickline doesn't have interior apartments. I think this style is a great way to build, as the parking is entirely hidden from the street, and all of the building's exterior can be used for apartments or retail.

Still, the way that 37 West Farnam is doing this is also good. Until cars go away, buildings this size need parking, and having some public parking in Blackstone is also needed until Omaha puts mass transit everywhere (I'll be taking the streetcar over in a few years, but my friends from SouthO and Lincoln still need someplace to park). Plus, the Blackstone street life is pretty lively (noisy), so starting the residential floors a few stories up will help cut down the noise.

The important part is that we're not wasting space with surface parking lots, or building ugly parking garages by themselves.

Actually, it is wasting space, and more importantly, it's continuing the nonsense of putting the automobile before the pedestrian.
The Brickline is nothing more than a wrap-around or Texas Donut, and arguments against the Texas Donut are pretty solid, unless you're an automobile.

http://www.civicconservation.org/casestudy

[legato9]

A garage and a parking lot are dramatically different.

A garage takes up far less surface area.
Which means it takes generally less time (often considerably) to walk past. And it encourages density (particularly when there are a ton of apartments on top of it).

A garage - particularly one with street level businesses - is orders of magnitude more interesting to walk by than a flat ocean of concrete.

One can argue that they’re both “bad.” Fine. A hammer to the fingertip and a hammer to the forehead are also both “bad.” But one is profoundly more desirable than the other.

As for the scale of the building in the neighborhood? I’ll strongly agree to strongly disagree.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

You can’t really un-autocentericize Omaha without first providing desirable multimodal alternatives. There are some, but they only get you so far. One of the better ways to go about it might be to scale up multimodal transportation while simultaneously scaling down parking.

Along with scaling down parking, driving has to become at least somewhat annoying to do. But again, that only works well when there are solid multimodal alternatives and benefits that outweigh being able to drive and park everywhere.

[nativeomahan]

You can’t really un-autocentericize Omaha without first providing desirable multimodal alternatives. There are some, but they only get you so far. One of the better ways to go about it might be to scale up multimodal transportation while simultaneously scaling down parking.

Along with scaling down parking, driving has to become at least somewhat annoying to do. But again, that only works well when there are solid multimodal alternatives and benefits that outweigh being able to drive and park everywhere.

I totally agree.
I’ve never considered myself a friend of slapping up parking structures but they are definitely preferable to an acre of concrete. If and when cities like Omaha devote serious monies to expanding mass transit then parking structures will become unnecessary. But that has not happened, and I don’t know when it ever will.

[Renovator2559]

You all raised valid points, the Brickline is a perfect compromise, it is a nice building that blends the modern, as well as the rustic feel of the old market, this building integrates well. It also hides parking well and a reduction of ugly surface lot area.
The Brickline, is the right height from the HoA park, to allow a perfect backdrop of FNBO tower.

And yes, residential projects come in a variety of shapes and sizes according to the need of the immediate area.

[OracleOfOmaha]

You all raised valid points, the Brickline is a perfect compromise, it is a nice building that blends the modern, as well as the rustic feel of the old market, this building integrates well. It also hides parking well and a reduction of ugly surface lot area.
The Brickline, is the right height from the HoA park, to allow a perfect backdrop of FNBO tower.

And yes, residential projects come in a variety of shapes and sizes according to the need of the immediate area.

We need to remove bots from the forum

[skinzfan23]

Taken from near 48th and Dodge. You can see this building and also the View apt building on the far left at 39th and Dodge.

[Renovator2559]

The building sure is coming in nicely from the east, up above.
This building sure is adding some nice skyline density to the Midtown cluster!

[Flyer14]

I don't see an up to date picture showing it, but the East side now has a shaft attached to the building. With two elevators running up and down carrying supplies. Hard to see unless you walk/ drive right by, but it they were moving up and down pretty quickly this morning when I went by.

[ita]

The building sure is coming in nicely from the east, up above.
This building sure is adding some nice skyline density to the Midtown cluster!

This is a great view of Midtown! In 10 years from now, I am optimistic that this view will be show even more development around the MoO campus. So much potential here!

[Renovator2559]

This is a great view of Midtown! In 10 years from now, I am optimistic that this view will be show even more development around the MoO campus. So much potential here!

I know! So excited for how Midtown is primed for connecting to downtown properly and getting rid of some of the wasted space by the i480 ramps, to be tweaked for space use. And also the current empty lots on 30th N. It will be a "T" of high density buildings! We have good momentum.

[skinzfan23]

Getting closer to being finished on the outside:

[Cermak]

I hope they don’t build to many more of these in Blackstone, one is fine. But several more could takeaway the feel and charm that the Blackstone area has. Except for one house that sat on this block this was already just a parking lot, so this is a good improvement.

[skinzfan23]

I kind of agree. Although there is a need for more housing near UNMC. I hope to see buildings in the 10-20 story range but a little closer to downtown.

[Athomsfere]

A lot of oppurtunity for nice incremental builds without this scale in the area.

The lots behind Meatball, Coneflower could use some 4 story mixed uses.

The two blocks roughly across from the Pella could be used for something better than the nothing that is there now.

The two lots next to Oliver and Tate could be massively improved with another 5 over 1, but maybe a 3 story one.

Just keep it all at the human scale.

[skinzfan23]

I noticed in another camera view that there is another large crane on site. Could they be dismantling the crane?

[skinzfan23]

Yep, definitely coming down today. One less crane for Omaha. Hopefully we get some more up with a residential tower.

[skinzfan23]

Making quick, steady progress:

[skinzfan23]

[almighty_tuna]

That parking garage facade looks .... low effort. I'll cross my fingers and hope it looks better when everything is finished, but oof.

[Louie]

That parking garage facade looks .... low effort. I'll cross my fingers and hope it looks better when everything is finished, but oof.

There is some sort of cover/sheathing that will be going over the outside of the parking levels.

[skinzfan23]

I thought there would be some sheathing too but looking at this latest rendering, I am not too sure:

[Brad]

I thought there would be some sheathing too but looking at this latest rendering, I am not too sure:

Is that the most recent rendering? I thought there was something before the planning board a few months ago that specifically related to the garage cover?

[skinzfan23]

Maybe it’s not the latest. I pulled it from a post from June 2023.

[Brad]

Maybe it’s not the latest. I pulled it from a post from June 2023.

Found it. May 2024 Planning Board:

The open air sections of the garage will be screened using 2 inch by 12 inch extruded aluminum sections oriented
vertically. The aluminum sections, or “fins”, will be placed at 24 inches on center with no additional method of
screening. Open air garages, in urban design districts, are required to screen parking areas when incorporated
into buildings.

ANALYSIS: The proposed changes, as conditioned in the UDRB approval, will match the quality and function
of the originally approved design. The Planning Department supports the Major Amendment subject to submittal
of acceptable final plans prior to forwarding to City Council:
1. The precast concrete, with a color treatment, will exhibit a finishing treatment that resembles stone.
2. The proposed screening of the garage utilizes the proposed vertical fin solution demonstrating a 2:1 width
to depth ratio.

RECOMMENDATION: Approval of the Major Amendment to the PUR-Planned Unit Redevelopment Overlay
District subject to submittal of acceptable final plans prior to forwarding to the City Council.

Planning Board Documents:
https://planning.cityofomaha.org/images ... May/14.pdf

[FishFighter92]

Planning Board Documents:
https://planning.cityofomaha.org/images ... May/14.pdf

A bit of prison bars, fireman pole vibe.

In reality, I bet it's more like the garage at UNO south campus, https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEKajxCD4Mq4CN8u9

[Louie]

Planning Board Documents:
https://planning.cityofomaha.org/images ... May/14.pdf

A bit of prison bars, fireman pole vibe.

In reality, I bet it's more like the garage at UNO south campus, https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEKajxCD4Mq4CN8u9

At least the first floor will have commercial so its not quite as uninviting.

[Flyer14]

The south side along Harney now has a “mural” on the facade covering the garage. It’s a nice touch in my opinion.

[skinzfan23]

Quick drive by: