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Work continues on several future additions to the Omaha riverfront, including a new pedestrian bridge. The City of Omaha will contribute another $10 million to The RiverFront project.
Work continues on the Omaha riverfront. The City of Omaha will contribute another $10 million to the RiverFront project.
Work is in progress on several future additions to the Omaha riverfront, including a new pedestrian bridge and skate ribbon.
Work continues on several future additions to the Omaha riverfront, including a new pedestrian bridge. The City of Omaha will contribute another $10 million to The RiverFront project.
As the Gene Leahy Mall again breathes life into downtown Omaha, an outline of what’s to come for the city’s two remaining downtown parks is beginning to take shape.
Visitors to the newly opened Gene Leahy Mall can stand on the eastern edge of the park — past the children playing, the downtown workers typing away on laptops and ducks splashing in the mall pond — and watch as construction on Heartland of America Park continues to expand toward the Missouri River.
With a glance toward the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, visitors can see that work also is underway on the northernmost component of the riverfront, Lewis & Clark Landing.
The construction sites are part of a public-private overhaul of Omaha’s downtown parks.
Work continues on the Omaha riverfront. The City of Omaha will contribute another $10 million to the RiverFront project.
In addition to the city’s $50 million contribution to the $400 million, three-park project collectively called The RiverFront, another $10 million from the city likely will be used to expand a trail system along the riverfront.
The Leahy Mall reopened last month with accolades and excitement after a more than three-year overhaul.
Heartland Park and Lewis & Clark Landing are on track to reopen in the summer of 2023. Even with a year to go, key features of both parks are beginning to take shape.
In Heartland of America Park, decorative concrete, similar to the sidewalks in the Gene Leahy Mall, is being installed. The park’s first shade structure has been built, and concrete walls for the skate ribbon have been poured, said Kristyna Engdahl, a spokeswoman with the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, which manages The RiverFront project.
Work is in progress on several future additions to the Omaha riverfront, including a new pedestrian bridge and skate ribbon.
The skate ribbon will be about the length of a football field and will offer ice skating in the winter and roller blading in the summer.
Crews continue to work on a maintenance building that will house an ice resurfacer and chillers that will keep the ice cold enough to skate on.
The park also will feature a lakeside amphitheater, bocce courts and Farnam Pier, which will stretch over the Missouri River.
“It’s starting to come together and is looking more like a park every day, which is exciting,” Engdahl said.
At Lewis & Clark Landing, foundations have been set for planters, shade canopies and an urban beach.
A restroom structure has gone up and construction crews hope to see some of the park’s play structures arrive in coming weeks.
Work is in progress on several future additions to the Omaha riverfront, including a new pedestrian bridge and skate ribbon.
Also in the works is a $101 million riverfront science center funded by philanthropists called the Kiewit Luminarium.
The museum structure is expected to be completed in September, with exhibits to be installed over the following six months.
Among the attractions of the new center will be a “geometric climber,” in which visitors will be able to learn about the art and symmetry of geometry by walking and climbing through a two-story exhibit.
Another two-story exhibit space will be devoted to the science of materials. Visitors will explore the weight, strength and other qualities of materials used for construction and other purposes.
If all goes as planned, the state-of-the-art science center will be open to the public in April.
An aerial view of downtown Omaha on July 29, 1974, looking west from Eighth Street and the Jobbers Canyon area. The Central Park Mall would later take shape on the blocks east of the Woodmen Tower, seen near the top of the image.
Aug. 12, 1975, World-Herald: “The former Omaha Typesetting Co. building at 1119 Douglas Street gained a final distinction Tuesday — it became the first building to be demolished in what will become the Central Park Mall.”
Aug. 28, 1975, World-Herald: "Demolition continues in the blocks planned for the Central Park Mall. ... This picture of the demolition was taken looking west from the north side of the street between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets on Farnam Street."
1976: Downtown Omaha is rapidly changing. The library in the upper right is under construction as several blocks to the east are cleared for Central Park Mall. The Woodman Insurance building is shown in the upper right hand corner.
Speakers dedicate Central Park Mall as spectators look across the pool at them on June 3, 1977.
People listen to the Ogden Edsl Band at Central Park Mall on July 5, 1977. The performance was the first in the 18-concert SumFun '77 series.
"The summer of 1977 on the Central Park Mall ... Fountains are fun, and cool."
May 1979: Steel from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, arrived in Omaha to be installed as part of the 13th Street Bridge over the Central Park Mall.
The 13th Street bridge of Central Park Mall under construction in August 1979.
Dec. 28, 1979 World-Herald: "Work has started on the southern gateway to the Central Park Mall that is to serve as a symbolic connection between the mall and the Old Market business district."
May 10, 1980 World-Herald: "Only two walls remain of the Pendleton Woolen Mills Building at Ninth and Douglas Streets as crews from Andersen Excavating Co. continue their work on the project. The Pendleton and the adjacent A.C. Nelson Building are being demolished for the city to make way for the final two blocks of the Central Park Mall."
Jan. 8, 1980 World-Herald: "This week's cold weather hasn't slowed demolition of buildings in the path of the Central Park Mall, City Planner Greg Peterson said. In this photograph, taken with camera pointed northeast from Ninth and Farnam Streets, the partially razed Carrier Air Conditioning Building is in the left foreground. The Henningsen Foods Building to the right of the Carrier structure has been leveled, and wood timbers from the Omaha Baker's Supply Building at far right are being stripped and recycled. Being razed this week, Peterson said, is the Canar Manufacturing Building in the right enter of the picture, site of a four-alarm fire last week. The Ford Storage Building remains untouched."
April 10, 1980 World-Herald: "Downtown visitors soon will be able to walk through a rebuilt slice of Omaha history. Two arches from the former Solo (Corey-McKenzie) Building at 12th and Farnam Streets have been blended back to back in the Central Park Mall on what was 11th Street between Farnam and Douglas Streets. When plans were made to demolish the Solo Building, architect Gary Bowen suggested saving the arches."
Sept. 12, 1980 World-Herald: Work continues on the 13th Street bridge over the Central Park Mall downtown.
Dec. 10, 1980 World-Herald: "Work is nearly done on the 13th Street Bridge over the Central Park Mall. City Planner Greg Peterson said the $1 million bridge should be open to traffic before Christmas. The bridge originally was to have been completed more than a year ago. After most construction was complete, engineers decided the bridge was unsafe and needed modification." Mark Lordemann sandblasts the concrete side of the bridge in this photo.
From the March 19, 1981 World-Herald: Windmill idea spinning on downtown mall: Planners stand atop mound where windmills would be placed. ... "They would serve as an interesting sculptural form, and they would be functional, because they could be used to pump water," said Don Carter (second from right) of the firm Carter, Hull, Nishita and McCulley.
April 10, 1981 World-Herald: "It takes a mighty bit of strength to lift, lug and set in place enough big rock blocks to make a retaining wall around the waterway in the Central Park Mall downtown. But laborer Bob Ring, left, and bricklayer Ron Mraz, employees of A. Borchman Sons Co., appreciate a little help from a crane in building the south wall. Once the water is let loose, the stones will do their job -- maintain a calm waterway instead of the Central Park Swamp."
Two slides near completion in the downtown Central Park Mall in August 1981.
Oct. 27, 1981 World-Herald: "Workmen are completing a $100,000 pedestrian bridge in the Central Park Mall."
From the June 17, 1983 Morning World-Herald: "Central Park Mall ... Four blocks long with lagoon, waterfall and sandy play area. Plans call for it to be extended south two more blocks."
Central Park Mall in January 1984.
Tom Keritinger taking a break at the Central Park Mall in September 1984.
Sept: 22, 1984: "'Heritage,' a statue of a pioneer family formally dedicated at the Central Park Mall Saturday morning, is a gift from the Mid-America Council of Boy Scouts."
May 10, 1984. "Making room for expansion: Another step involved with expansion of the Central Park Mall is taking place at private expense near Eighth and Douglas Streets east of the mall. Workmen from Anderson Excavating & Wrecking Co. are tearing down what used to be Burlington Northern Railroad freight houses, said Greg Peterson, city planner involved with downtown planning. He said the railroad is paying for the demolition. When completed, an area one block wise and three blocks long between Jackson and Farnam Streets will be available for future private development in what will be known as the Central Park East Project. The area will be set aside for residential and office use, Peterson said.
The Santa Lucia Festival at Central Park Mall on Aug 12, 1986.
April 24, 1988: "The Central Park Mall has become a showpiece of downtown Omaha."
April 1989: "Omaha's Central Park Mall, with its lagoon, well manicured lawns and trees ... is a pleasant place to stroll on a sunny day. Beyond the mall is the massive riverfront development project, home to Union Pacific's dispatch center and the future headquarters of ConAgra."
The Gene Leahy Mall in 1998.
The Gene Leahy Mall in 1998.
Gene Leahy Mall holiday Christmas lights in 2000.
The "Heritage" statue by Herb Mignery is seen in 2000 at the Gene Leahy Mall.
The First National Tower rises in May 2001 with the Gene Leahy Mall in the foreground.
Tara Maulsby, 6, of Omaha goes down a slide at the mall in December 2003.
Downtown Omaha, including the Gene Leahy Mall, are seen from the east in August 2004.
Downtown Omaha, including the Gene Leahy Mall, are seen from the east in August 2004.
The Gene Leahy Mall in 2007.
A warm fall wind whips leaves near the arch on the Gene Leahy Mall on Nov. 10, 2012.
The Gene Leahy Mall is seen from above in April 2014.
Logan Johnson of Omaha and Ian LaFollette of West Des Moines, Iowa, pose for a selfie at the Gene Leahy Mall on June 9, 2018.
Blake Welchert, 10, right, of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, lands in the gravel while playing on the slides at the Gene Leahy Mall on June 7, 2018.
Originally published on omaha.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.