“I expanded the boundaries of Gifford Park western ward to Saddle Creek to capture a small sub neighborhood of Midtown that is not well defined as a neighborhood.

The neighborhood is named after Gifford Park, which was a green space donated by Harold Gifford, who gave his property to the City in 1912. The park to this day is the heart of the community offering various recreational facilities, including tennis courts, a playground, and community gardens. The neighborhood was developed in the late 19th and early 20th century as Omaha expanded further and further out of Dwtn thanks to the streetcars. Gifford Park boast a nice array of architectural styles with larger and grander homes the further west you go. The intersection of 33rd and California was historically a busy commercial center. While nothing like it was in the past, this is a decent mixed-use commercial node in the present day and the best urban business district in Gifford Park. The other commercial districts (Cumming Street, Grand and Saddle Park) are much more autocentric. Gifford Park’s proximity to Creighton University and downtown Omaha makes it a desirable location for students.

Gifford Park also excels with quality public transit, excellent proximity to dwtn, great housing diversity with lots of affordable options, solid park amenities and decent retail and cultural amenities, albeit generally not located in a quality urban business district. For Gifford Park to become a great urban neighborhood it needs to densify and urbanize its stroads, create a legitimate bike network, and create more walkable school options.

Click here to view my Gifford Park Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good urban density.
* Good ADA and sidewalk instructed throughout the district.
* Solid public transit access.
* Very convenient access to Dwtn being only about 2 mile away. One can even walk to Dwtn in 40 minutes.
* Overall good connectivity including plenty of short blocks, alleyways and even some pedestrian paths.
* Great economic and decent racial diversity. Lots of students and young adults live here so not a ton of generational diversity or that many family households.
* Nice for sale diversity. Decent number of 1-bed condos selling in the 100Ks, 2-beds for 100K-300K with nice diversity of housing types. 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 125K-500K.
* Lots of rentals as well leasing anywhere from $700 to the low 1Ks. 2-beds lease in the low-mid 1Ks, and plenty of 3-beds leasing anywhere from 1.5K-3K.
* Decent # of small-medium sized parks including Turner Park, Gifford Park, Bemis Park, and Clarkson Park.
* Overall a safe community with some grit along the eastern edge of the district.
* Decent but not great cultural amenities including a handful of restaurants, bars, & cafes, and a brewery. Lots of restaurants & bars a couple blocks south of Gifford Park in Midtown Crossing. Also a couple art galleries, a couple small neighborhood performing arts centers, and the Josyln Castle Historic home.
* Decent retail amenities but much of it is autocentric shopping malls and power centers along the western border of Saddle Creek Rd. This includes a Walmart, Ace Hardware store, a couple supermarkets, and a drug store.  Lots of retail in Midtown Crossing just south of Gifford. Within Gifford Park some retail along 33rd is a bike store, Mexican grocerias, and laundry mate. Other amenities include a bakery, a couple churches, several medical offices, a post office and a major hospital.
* More modest hoes on the eastern half. Grander historic homes on the western half.
* A couple decent blocks of mixed-use urban for centered on California and 33rd St.
* Good tree canopy throughout most of the neighborhood.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• A couple good Catholic schools in Gifford Park but public schools are located on the edges of the neighborhood and generally not well rated.
• Limited bike lanes and the segments that do existing on disconnected and not helpful towards building a larger bike network. A couple dedicated bike stations however.
• Grand street is the largest commercial district in Gifford Park but is a pretty autocentric 5 lane street. Lots of in-fill here, a mix of quality urban infill and autocentric infill. Cumming Street on the northern is very much a 6 lane stroad with mostly residential but some commercial, which is mostly autocentric. The western edge of Gifford Park Saddle Park is the worse stroad in the neighborhood.”