Aksarben Village
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox building
|name = Aksarben Village
|image = AksarbenVillageOmahaObelisk.jpg
|image_size =220
|caption = The Obelisk in Stinson Park in 2010
|completion_date = 2008, {{Time ago|2008|spellout=yes}}
|coordinates = {{Coord|41.238|N|96.015|W|display=it|type:landmark_region:US-NE}}
|location = Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
|roof =
|antenna_spire =
|floor_count =
|status = Complete
|floor_area =
|architect =
|developer =
}}
{{Location map
|USA
|relief = 1
|label = Omaha
|lat = 41.238
|long = -96.015
|caption = Location in the United States
|marksize = 5
|position = bottom
|float =
|background =
|width = 230
}}
{{Location map
|USA Nebraska
|relief = 1
|label = Omaha
|lat = 41.238
|long = -96.015
|caption = Location in Nebraska
|marksize = 5
|position = left
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Aksarben Village is a mixed-use development in the central United States, located in Omaha, Nebraska. Measuring over {{convert|1000000|sqft|spell=in}}, it is on the land of the former Ak-Sar-Ben coliseum and horse track. Aksarben is Nebraska spelled backwards.
There is over {{convert|750000|sqft|abbr=on}} of space for research and business office and {{convert|250000|sqft|abbr=on}} of retail and entertainment space. There are over five hundred housing units and a 135-room hotel. There is also a {{convert|4.5|acre|adj=on}} park that features a {{convert|90|ft|adj=on}} obelisk.[http://www.omahabydesign.org/Civic_Omaha/Midtown_AKVillage/Midtown-AkVillage.html]{{dead link|date=September 2010}}
History
Aksarben was one of the "model communities" designed in the mid-1930s by the Resettlement Administration, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal federal agencies, under the direction of Rexford G. Tugwell. The community was intended to be a "'dream city' of thirty-eight green-shuttered houses, each on seven acres of land twenty miles west of Omaha on the Platte River." This plan failed to materialize, as the imagined dream city failed to attract residents. Aksarben quickly became deserted, as Henry C. Glissman, a nearby farmer who observed this project, had predicted: "[I]n time these homes will all be abandoned and stand as a gruesome monument to a government's inefficiency and folly in fostering a movement that to a practical mind has the earmarks of failure from the start."Folsom, Burton W., Jr., New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America. New York: Threshold Editions, 2008.
After the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben turned over the land to Douglas County in the 1990s, the county first tried to keep the horse track and coliseum open, but both failed. The land was then turned over to the Aksarben Future Trust who now owns the land.{{Cite web |url=http://www.aksarbenvillage.com/history/default.aspx |title=Aksarben Village |access-date=2009-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603212844/http://www.aksarbenvillage.com/history/default.aspx |archive-date=2010-06-03 |url-status=dead }}
On June 26, 2005, plans were announced to turn the land into a pedestrian friendly mixed-use development combined with the south campus of University of Nebraska Omaha, Aksarben Campus, and the already built First Data Campus. Construction began in 2006 and the first businesses began to open in 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/real-estate/commercial-residential-property-commercial/12149041-1.html |website=www.allbusiness.com |access-date=26 January 2022 }}
Developments
Aksarben Village is home to some of Omaha's major companies. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska has built and is occupying a 10-story building that opened in 2010 to house their headquarters.[http://www.allbusiness.com/real-estate/commercial-residential-property/12176529-1.html]{{dead link|date=September 2010}} First Data built two office buildings there in the mid-2000s. Other business that have opened offices include DLR Group, Grubb & Ellis/Pacific Realty, and Olsson.
Image:AksarbenVillageOmaha.jpg
Several restaurants such as Jones Bros. Cupcakes,{{cite web|url=http://www.jonesbroscupcakes.com/ |title=Jones Bros. Cupcakes|accessdate=2011-02-11| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110208170422/http://www.jonesbroscupcakes.com/| archivedate= 8 February 2011 | url-status= live}} Godfather's Pizza and Juice Stop have opened, as well as a bank, a Voodoo Taco, a Spirit World wine and liquor seller, a hair salon, and multiple bars and lounges. Two apartment complexes have opened, Broadmoor{{cite web |url=http://www.aksarbenapts.com/ |title=Welcome Home! – Broadmoor at Aksarben Village Apartments |publisher=Aksarbenapts.com |accessdate=2010-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610155904/http://www.aksarbenapts.com/ |archive-date=2010-06-10 |url-status=dead }} and the Pinhook Flats,{{cite web|url=http://www.pinhookflats.com/grounds_of_glory.aspx |title=Grounds of Glory |publisher=Pinhook Flats |accessdate=2010-09-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326211703/http://www.pinhookflats.com/grounds_of_glory.aspx |archivedate=2010-03-26 }} named in reference to the historic horse track which used to occupy the land. Together the apartments add over 500 housing units to the development.
A 135-room Marriott Hotel opened in 2008; Aksarben Cinema,{{cite web|url=http://www.aksarbencinema.com/index.html/ |title=Aksarben Cinema |accessdate=2011-02-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125091703/http://www.aksarbencinema.com/index.html |archivedate=2011-01-25 }} a 10-screen movie theater debuted in late 2010 and shortly after an Aspen Athletic Club fitness center opened in the same complex.{{cite web|url=http://www.aspenathleticne.com/club-locations/aksarben-omaha/ |title=Aspen Athletic Clubs |accessdate=2011-02-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204194945/http://www.aspenathleticne.com/club-locations/aksarben-omaha/ |archivedate=2011-02-04 }} Mojo Steakhouse and Ales, a full-service restaurant and bar, opened in 2011 in the same complex.
The University of Nebraska Omaha has built their south campus, Aksarben Campus, at the north end of Aksarben Village. The university has added ten three-story dormitory buildings, Scott Village, which opened in 2003 and houses 480 units.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottvillage.com/roomtogrow.htm |title=UNO Alumni |publisher=Scott Village |accessdate=2010-09-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808140420/http://www.scottvillage.com/roomtogrow.htm |archivedate=2008-08-08 }} The Scott Technology Center{{cite web|url=http://www.scott-technology.com/default.asp |title=Scott Technology Center |publisher=Scott-technology.com |date=2010-06-25 |accessdate=2010-09-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119085517/http://www.scott-technology.com/default.asp |archivedate=2009-11-19 }} and the Peter Kiewit Institute{{cite web|url=http://www.pki.nebraska.edu/new/ |title=The Peter Kiewit Institute |publisher=Pki.nebraska.edu |date=2009-03-31 |accessdate=2010-09-08| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100922084213/http://www.pki.nebraska.edu/new/| archivedate= 22 September 2010 | url-status= live}} are world class educational and research facilities that partner with UNO and are located on campus. The university has also built the new Baxter Arena at the south end of Aksarben Village.
Within Aksarben Village is Stinson Park, a multi-acre neighborhood and community park named after Kenneth E. Stinson, a former chairman of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben and Kiewit Corporation.{{cite web |url=https://www.boardroominsiders.com/executive-profiles/2378/Peter-Kiewit-Sons-Inc./Kenneth-E.-(Ken)-Stinson |work=Boardroom Insiders |title=Kenneth E. (Ken) Stinson |accessdate=October 16, 2017 |archive-date=October 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017050338/https://www.boardroominsiders.com/executive-profiles/2378/Peter-Kiewit-Sons-Inc./Kenneth-E.-(Ken)-Stinson |url-status=dead }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://aksarbenvillage.com/}}
{{Aksarben}}
Category:Geography of Omaha, Nebraska