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Destination Midtown

Tawanna Black, 30
Director of Diversity
Cox Communications

Doug Bisson, 39
Urban Planner
HDR Planning

Midtown Omaha is home to three Fortune 500 headquarters, two prestigious medical schools, a research complex, large and small businesses, parks, restaurants and nightspots, thousands of people, 16 schools, 22 churches, dozens of historic homes and buildings – and lots of dreams.

Today, many of those dreams are moving closer to reality thanks in part to the Destination Midtown initiative, a cooperative effort of public and private interests working together to return the Midtown area to prominence and make it a destination of choice in Omaha.

The initiative focuses on 3.6 square miles from 24th Street on the east to Saddle Creek Road on the west, Cuming Street on the north to Center Street on the south. Representatives of each aspect of the area, from the largest corporations to the 11 neighborhood associations, have come together with city government and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce to develop a plan of action that promotes economic development opportunities and advances neighborhood goals.

Doug Bisson is an urban planner with HDR Planning, a division of the world-renowned architectural, engineering design and consulting firm HDR Inc., headquartered in Omaha. Bisson became the project manager when Destination Midtown was first conceived.

“It was a combination of some of the major players in the Midtown area planning projects that they knew would impact the surrounding neighborhoods, and a grassroots effort on the part of the residents to redefine their neighborhoods to combine history, culture and progress,” he says. “Those forces merging together led to Destination Midtown.”

The public participation process prior to announcing the initiative took a year and established a framework of more than 100 programs designed to assist in the rejuvenation of the historic area. The process also defined the major issues: neighborhood development, economic development and transportation-corridor development.

“The large scope of the initiative was unique, but so was the discussion process,” Bisson says. “By the time the press conference was held in 2003 to announce the initiative, everyone was already in agreement as to what needed to be done.”

Tawanna Black, a native of Arkansas City, Kan., who held community development positions in Des Moines, Iowa, and Topeka, Kan., was hired as Destination Midtown’s first executive director. Bisson and Black typified the young professionals eager to get involved and drive the efforts to improve and revitalize Midtown.

Black says she was most intrigued by the fact it was the first time in Omaha’s history that so many public and private sector entities were uniting to revitalize one part of the city.

“I hadn’t seen that type of up-front collaboration in Omaha before and I really wanted to be a part of making it work,” she says. “The challenge was certainly a big part of it, and working with a diverse group of people on such outside-the-box ideas was exciting. The whole city will share in the rewards.”

Destination Midtown’s first-of-its-kind partnership of neighborhood organizations, large and small businesses, institutions, the Chamber and city government is registering some pretty impressive results.

Last October, Mutual of Omaha, one of Midtown’s Fortune 500 headquarters, unveiled the $250 million Midtown Crossing at Turner Park development. Anchored by an expanded and revitalized Turner Park, Midtown Crossing will have approximately 200,000 square feet of leasable space for restaurants, retailers and entertainment venues, as well as 600 condominium and apartment units.

“The Mutual of Omaha project is a very important facet of all that is taking place in Midtown,” Bisson says. “It’s a huge shot in the arm.”

Other projects are in the works, including a study to lay the groundwork for a Park Avenue Redevelopment Plan focusing on an area of Midtown plagued by vacant and underutilized properties. In 2008, Destination Midtown will target a similar effort in the Gifford Park area.

Black has moved on to become director of diversity for Cox Communications in Omaha and Sun Valley, Ariz. Bisson has taken on other Omaha revitalization projects, including Aksarben Village, the North Downtown Redevelopment Master Plan and the Omaha Streetcar Feasibility Study.

Although he could live and work just about anywhere, he chooses Omaha.

“Things are happening here,” he says. “It’s great being part of a community in the throws of planning projects that will create a city that is incredibly livable.”

A Denver native who moved with his family to Omaha in the second grade, Bisson works on HDR projects outside the city, “but it’s always nice coming home to Omaha.

“We’ve always heard about Seattle and Portland and all those so-called hip, where-to-be places. Now, all of a sudden, we’re one of those places,” he says. “It’s a neat time to be here.”

HDR Inc.
www.hdrinc.com
Destination Midtown
www.destinationmidtown.org