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ODID Foundation Awarded $12,500 for Alley Project

The Omaha Downtown Improvement District Foundation (ODIDF) was awarded $12,500 from the Douglas County Visitor Improvement Fund to be utilized for an alley revitalization project.

Posted 8/16/19

The ODID has been working with the Old Market Association (OMA) to enhance the alleys in the Historic District. Alleys are often somewhat blighted and overlooked spaces, but when cleaned up and presented correctly can be turned back into essential community spaces.

The grant funds will be used to consolidate the dumpsters in a selected Old Market alley, clean and power wash, add additional lighting, additional amenities such as seating, and give local artists an opportunity to create something special in this previously overlooked space.
When the work is completed, the space will be reintroduced to both residents and visitors with a party highlighting the businesses whose front doors open onto the alley.

“We are thrilled to have received this grant from the Douglas County Visitors Fund. It shows the commissioner’s understand the value of placemaking in unexpected places, which is of the upmost importance in the urban core where public space is often limited to sidewalks and alleys,” says Holly Barrett, ODID Association Executive Director. “We are very much looking forward to taking a forgotten space and turning it into an active public space. We hope that this will be the first of many alleys to be revitalized!”

The project goal is to return the alley back to the neighborhood in a functional way. This successful project will likely open up the opportunity to revitalize additional Old Market alleys in addition to beginning conversations around the future projects such as dumpster consolidation throughout the Old Market and potentially Downtown.

Stay up to date on the project’s progress at OmahaDowntown.org.

Updates

January 2020 - News Article: ODID wants to breathe life into Old Market Alleyways