During a recent trip to Omaha, I stayed downtown in the Old Market hoping to find some urban feel in the midwest. While it felt lively during most of the day and the nearby Gene Leahy Mall showed that the city cared about revitalizing the downtown, the area in Omaha that ended up impressing me the most was about 12 minutes away near the University of Nebraska Omaha and St Mary’s College campuses.

Aksarben Village was previously the site of a horse race track and coliseum. The land was all redeveloped about 8 years ago into what it is today, a mixed use neighborhood with multiple modern glass office buildings, first floor shopping and restaurants, and alot of condos and apartments mixed in and surrounding the area.

What surprised me the most was not just that they built it, but they’ve managed to cultivate an actual community here. While I am sure a good number of people were driving into the area as a destination place, it was clear by the number of kids walking around that it was also a local community. It was quite lively, with a diverse age range of people all enjoying the evening.

While walking around, it felt alot like some of what I’ve seen in Asia. It was basically a scaled down version of the Nankang Software Park in Taipei or High-Tech Zone in Chengdu. The sidewalks were extremely wide, more like plazas where restaurants could setup for outdoor seating without taking all of the walking space. There was plenty of landscaping and open spaces, with on street parking that helped keep the road noise and presence down. I saw a group of 20 or so playing beach volleyball next to a parking garage, people eating in a spacious corridor between buildings, and a concert area setup on a grassy commons. They also had something like the Bentonville 8th Street Market with a variety of food choices inside.

All of this created a place that felt very safe with small children and a welcoming atmosphere with groups of people going about their activities. The fact that there was no specific event going on is what made this area really shine.

Downtown Bentonville and Rogers already have a bit of this atmosphere, but it’s something that Pinnacle Hills and Uptown lacks. Aside from the Amp concerts, Uptown is somewhat of a ghost town especially with the lack of housing in that district. Even with the events, there isn’t much reason to go and walk around the area. Unlike Aksarben, the office buildings do not have ground floor shopping or restaurants, and the restaurants are mostly all in stand alone buildings surrounded by parking lots. It’s not a particularly inviting place and something that hopefully the city of Rogers can address in the future.