[rpontillo]

Why does downtown Omaha think they can ask the prices they are asking on some of those condos in the Old Market district..there is not that much to do...I dont care how much money they pour into redevelpment ..Omaha will never be a vibirant urban cosmopolitan city ..its just a farmers town that thinks its gotten sophisticated...

[mattpoulsen]

I would guess because that's what the market dictates. They charge what they can get out of it and apparently that's what they can get!!

Omaha is absolutely not a farmers town! I'm not sure where you even get that characterization. A metropolitan area that is approaching a million people is NOT a "farmer's town".

Have you been to Omaha????

[MattDen]

I think downtown Omaha has potential but where it stands now the downtown area needs to improve alot on vibrancy. They do have a good building stock and downtown Omaha has a unique feel which are positives but the lack of vibrancy of downtown Omaha is a major problem.

Omaha has fairly nice suburban areas and the job market is good which is some of the positive aspects of Omaha but I agree that downtown Omaha has not done enough in the way of pedestrian-friendly and sustainable devolopment.

It would also be nice if Omaha became progressively more pedestrian friendly as it stands not many people walking around the downtown area.

Omaha in my opinion is behind the curve in with their downtown and the same with Council Bluffs. There seems to be a lack of vision with both downtowns as far as getting people down there. Although it seems like they are in the midst of steady slow improvement. I am sure in a decade downtown Omaha will be better with the improvements they are trying to make.

[kosnebbear]

Hey rpontillo why not check out what Brad in Omaha posted. You can see all of the terrible areas of downtown Omaha that MattDen is talking about. Brad took several pictures of the Omaha downtown area from a helicopter and you can clearly see all of these areas that MattDen is talking about for yourself. For me I just can't seem to see them at all. Maybe MattDen you can point them out by looking at the pictures and tell us about all of the terrible areas of downtown Omaha. I would like to know where they are.

[M TYPE X]

It sounds like Warren Buffett was right: there is gold on the plains! ... if you are a real estate developer.

[WARNYOU]

I have a question then......If Omaha is such a Cosmo Town... Why is all the art new art work downtown animals, covered wagons, old fashioned looking musicains? Even the modern peices in the Gene Leahy Mall is geared towards Indians. We need to stop looking at the past for Art Idea's. I guess the Farmers like that sort of thing. That is just one example why folks think of Omaha as a farmer town.

[rpontillo]

Dont get me wrong the buildings downtown are great historic pieces which give it a great feeling but it depends on what we decide to do with them..there used to be more and even more beautiful ones but Omaha decided to use TNT on them back in the 80's and 90's..

[WARNYOU]

There still is a few more building that need to come down. They are fire traps, that have no sprinkler systems. They are Grandfathered in with the fire marshal so it is not a requirement to have them sprinkled. The Old market is a fire just waiting to happen.

[rpontillo]

they just need to rewire them ...but keep the face intact

[brad_in_omaha]

Yeah... Its a farm town alright?

Look at this great city: