Jobbers Canyon Research

[bigredmed1]

To be fair to ConAgra and Mike Harper who is hated on this forum, it was a group of buildings that were not very attractive, often little more than a big brick building with creosote soaked beams and floors so they were never going to meet modern fire codes without jillions of dollars in reconstruction.

The other thing not remembered about the condition of this area is that the soil samples from the Heartland park and Jobbers canyon were way worse than published and required far more soil removal before it was considered safe for ConAgra, the park or the lake’s construction.

The sum of this is that history is written by the victors and in modern times, by the hotheads. JC was dark, poorly lit, and it would seem grossly unlikely that OM and the area by the CHI center would have become anything close to what it has become had the buildings stayed and had the EPA concluded the superfund site investigation, it is possible that JC would have been removed due to the soil contamination and the contamination of these buildings as well as the cost of rehabilitation.

The soil analysis of the Heartland park should be somewhere, my dad worked in ConAgra and used to comment that the lake was dug 12 feet deeper than the lake ultimately was in order to get all the contaminated soil out. It would be helpful to find this data as it may lead to recognition that JC was doomed by Pediatricians at UNMC more than Mike Harper.

[bigredmed1]

The pediatricians found a bunch of kids in south Omaha that had lead poisoning. One of them climbed the fence around ASARCO and then took the dirt sample back to the lab where they matched the isotope profile of the lead in the ASARCO plant to the children. The health dept was notified as was ultimately, the EPA and I suspect that JC’s fate was sealed and Mike Harper’s demands were seen as a “two birds, one stone” opportunity (or maybe 4 stones, getting ConAgra downtown, a park, a bunch of contaminated buildings removed, the EPA not crawling up our backs, and the mayor and city council get to be seen as progressive on urban redevelopment.)

[Busguy2010]

To be fair to ConAgra and Mike Harper who is hated on this forum, it was a group of buildings that were not very attractive, often little more than a big brick building with creosote soaked beams and floors so they were never going to meet modern fire codes without jillions of dollars in reconstruction.

The other thing not remembered about the condition of this area is that the soil samples from the Heartland park and Jobbers canyon were way worse than published and required far more soil removal before it was considered safe for ConAgra, the park or the lake’s construction.

The sum of this is that history is written by the victors and in modern times, by the hotheads. JC was dark, poorly lit, and it would seem grossly unlikely that OM and the area by the CHI center would have become anything close to what it has become had the buildings stayed and had the EPA concluded the superfund site investigation, it is possible that JC would have been removed due to the soil contamination and the contamination of these buildings as well as the cost of rehabilitation.

The soil analysis of the Heartland park should be somewhere, my dad worked in ConAgra and used to comment that the lake was dug 12 feet deeper than the lake ultimately was in order to get all the contaminated soil out. It would be helpful to find this data as it may lead to recognition that JC was doomed by Pediatricians at UNMC more than Mike Harper.

Everything you've said sounds plausible. I was not breathing yet when Jobber's Canyon was demolished, so I have no actual testament to the condition of the buildings. It sounds like they may not have been in the greatest conditions and maybe saving them was a bit of a stretch. Definitely sounds like they could have been saved, but kinda sounds like it wouldn't have been worth it, per-se.

[GetUrban]

Bigredmed, you’re obviously entitled to your own opinion, but the experts who nominated the district and granted NRHP status carry much more weight in this area, which is outside of your area of expertise, with all due respect.

https://landmark.cityofomaha.org/image ... yon_HD.pdf

Asarco was at Lewis and Clark Landing and the Gould Battery plant was at 555 Farnam, east of JC. The effects from Asrco were much more far-reaching than JC.
Also, as stated before, the wood beams and floors of the timber buildings in JC were not creosote-soaked. You’re thinking of railroad ties which have the treatment to prevent rot when in direct contact with soil. Approx half of the buildings in JC built later in the period were concrete structures with brick cladding.

[Globochem]

This has been litigated over and over again. But to recap:
1) JC had enough merit to be included in the Natiomal Register IN ITS ENTIRETY. There were dozens of buildings and encompassed almost 9 city blocks.
2) They were most certainly in “good shape”. Harper and his crew had demo crews poking hole through support walls despite court injunctions so that they could argue they weren’t stable. Many were still in use up until the moment of demolition.
3) Conagra didn’t build on JC. They built to the east. On a large rail yard. The buildings “impeded their view of downtown”. Claims of poor soil are preposterous given where they chose to build. Their grand lawn is where JC once stood, not the reservoir.
4) $25 million (a vast sum at the time) had been offered to spur development of the buildings. Harper rejected the offer.
5) Larger development of downtown occurred after JC, but the heart and soul of the city still feels disjointed without JC
6) JC fit seamlessly with the OM. Perhaps in hindsight Conagra could have found a better home on the lake and JC could have found commercial developers to convert it. Tough to say.
7) It was a tough time in Omaha. Conagra leveraged that to max effect. But almost all civic redevelopment has gutted downtown for the 20 previous years making a sudden change of heart in favor of preservation seem capricious and unconvincing.
8. JC was inevitable given Omaha’s gnawing contempt for a historic downtown. Once gone, prevailing attitudes have shifted. It’s just such a shame it had to get that bad.

[Omaha Cowboy]

To add to the current discussion, I’ll repost a quote I used from my last post in this thread from the detailed 6/27/2021 Jobbers Canyon W-H piece (the complete W-H story link is still available in that post). The following speaks volumes-

“As then-Omaha Planning Director Marty Shukert recalled, a city team met on Conagra's turf to present what he thought was a slam dunk design for a new downtown headquarters. The plan featured a glassy corporate high-rise and other new facilities near the Missouri River. It would have saved much of Jobbers Canyon, so named for its dense corridor of buildings for wholesalers, or jobbers. The district had just earned national historic status.

Instead, Harper balked at sharing a site with what he considered unsightly warehouses that he thought would wall off the company from the rest of downtown.”..

This entire debacle, which included the eventual demolition of JC, included these simple basic human elements- fear, power and ego..

Mike Harper used the climate of the time (1986) to his complete advantage. Enron had uprooted in 1985 and moved their corporate HQ’s and 2000 jobs to Houston TX. This was quite a body shot for a (at the time) 600,000 population Omaha metropolitan area to absorb. All Harper needed to do (which he did) was intimate that Omaha was not necessarily the only city on his list for a new ConAgra corporate HQ’s..The city/state were scared sh!tless (fear) when they heard this (first we lose Enron, now we could lose ConAgra?!)- in 1987 the state passes LB775 which allowed the corporate tax breaks Harper needed to build his new HQ’s in Nebraska (power)..Now it was a matter of getting the HQ’s he wanted (ego)- and this, unfortunately, was at the expense of an NRHP designated historic district- Jobbers Canyon..a cluster of buildings he obviously hated and had little, if any, historic perspective for..and Viola! demolition and a “campus-style” HQ’s downtown was the triumphant result..

In the name of progress, the rest is history. The big business CEO got what he wanted. From a certain perspective, one has to appreciate how Harper played this game to the exact outcome he wanted..and how can we fault moving 2000 ConAgra jobs into the downtown core?..

Except- it really didn’t have to or need to happen the way it went down. Harper had ZERO resistance from city/state/business leaders who would dare lean on him to reconsider demolition of JC as part of his HQ’s “vision”. The only resistance? A small but vocal citizen group which cared about history, preservation and the potential what could become of JC if it was allowed to be preserved and redeveloped in the near future..

Fear, Power and Ego squashed JC like a bug hitting a windshield as a car drives along the interstate in the summer..

As I’ve stated before, I was an eye witness to the demolition debacle in 1989. I remember it like it was yesterday. It sickened me at the time and still sickens me today. The difference is, I’ve come to grips with it now..and am optimistic we can learn from this episode 32 years ago and course correct with new developments occurring (and will occur in the future) within our downtown core; with an appreciation of our architectural spirit and history moving forward…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[bigredmed1]

The lead plume was north and east, but the contamination spread to far west of even the OM. Not saying that it was the only factor, but I was around when the buildings were there and they were not great. This was also at a time when it seemed that every building built before 1960 was given historical status. The mere fact that a board of people paid to slap historical status on buildings and thus gain power for themselves wanted to give JC historical status is not persuasive. 10 years later, the entire historical status machine got called into question due to the restrictions and cost burdens these designations brought to owners and tenants.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Again, people are entitled to their opinions, as am I. So I’ll address a couple of things recently posted here-

First, no, at that time (mid 80’s) not “every building” erected before 1960 was “slapped” with a Historical tag. The entire Jobbers Canyon cluster was, but not all. That may be ones perception, but it is also not factual..

Second, I was also around when Jobbers Canyon was still standing..and I can remember multiple times in the early 80’s, long before the riverfront campus was a glimmer in Mike Harper’s eyes, walking through that warehouse area during a Friday or Saturday early evening when the place was completely absent of people and I can say, from my own eye test, those buildings were in pretty darn good shape. We’re they perfect? No. But they were not even close to being in poor shape and were certainly not in a dilapidated condition..

Third, I do not believe, at all, there was a lead or soil contamination issue within the specific JC District area. Just my opinion, but I’ve never read or heard about that as an issue. So I’d welcome some cited, documented intel which supports lead and or soil contamination as an issue in the specific Jobbers Canyon District and I’ll gladly stand corrected on this point…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[GetUrban]

For those curious about how the NRHP process really works here is a great source of info. Notice that NHRP designation is non-binding and can sometimes be beneficial to property owners.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalre ... web508.pdf

Disclaimer: I've spent over 35 years in the new Architecture and Preservation professions, so I am naturally biased toward preservation.

[Omaha Cowboy]

For those curious about how the NRHP process really works here is a great source of info. Notice that NHRP designation is non-binding and can sometimes be beneficial to property owners.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalre ... web508.pdf

Disclaimer: I've spent over 35 years in the new Architecture and Preservation professions, so I am naturally biased toward preservation.

Thank you for sharing that link …

Ciao..LiO…Peace