Omaha By Design: Omaha, Only Better

November 18, 2009
NEIGHBORHOOD LEAF RECOGNIZES REVITALIZATION EFFORT

OMAHA – Two neighborhood associations and two individuals are the 2009 recipients of Omaha by Design’s annual neighborhood award for their collective efforts to revitalize S. 10th Street.

The Neighborhood Leaf – which recognizes an individual, organization or business that has worked to preserve and enhance the metropolitan area’s neighborhoods – was presented to the Deer Park Neighborhood Association, the Old Market South Neighborhood Association, Bill Seidler Jr. and Syl Orsi at the Nov. 18 meeting of the Omaha by Design Advisory Committee.

The Deer Park and Old Market South groups began looking at ways to improve S. 10th Street in 2006, said Jason Smith, president of the Deer Park Neighborhood Association. They held a series of Place Game and Place Definition workshops to help shape their vision of what this corridor could be come. The Place Game workshop, a free service of Omaha by Design, is an organized way of brainstorming potential improvements to public spaces by listening to the people who use them. The Place Definition workshop, a follow-up step, helps refine the ideas generated during the Place Game workshop.

Since 2006, the two neighborhood groups have reached out to others to help implement their vision. Seidler Jr. founded the Bancroft Street Market, located at the intersection of 10th and Bancroft. The annual market features art, fashion and a traditional farmers market from May through October. He purchased the building in 2005, and the first outdoor farmers market was held in 2007. The interior remodeling was completed in May 2008, and the first art show was held that October. Seidler Jr. also co-founded the Bancroft Bayliss Loop, a bicycle ride and cultural exchange that engages cyclists and artists between Omaha’s Bancroft Street Market and the Bayliss area of downtown Council Bluffs.

Orsi is the developer of Dunsany Flats. Located at 10th and Pierce, this restored structure offers condo residents a unique blend of progressive urban design, technology and historic charm. Features include a green roof, ornamental iron window boxes and a European-style courtyard. The Dunsany Flats moniker comes from two sources – the historic name of the building is “The Dunsany,” and its apartments were designed in “railroad flat” style, a chain of rooms linked to one another.

The Neighborhood Leaf is part of a trio of Omaha by Design awards recognizing the goals of Omaha’s Urban Design Element, a planning tool that establishes the city’s long-range policies, goals and standards to guide its physical development. Each is presented annually in addition to Omaha by Design’s highest honor, the Laurels Award, which recognizes an individual, organization or business for significant contributions to great public spaces in the metro.

For more information about Omaha by Design’s awards program, call 402.554.4010 or email info@omahabydesign.org. For more information about the Bancroft Street Market, visit www.bancroftstreetmarket.com. For more information about the Bancroft Bayliss Loop, visit www.bancroftbaylissloop.com. For more information about Dunsany Flats, visit www.dunsanyflats.com.