This Ain't Your Momma's Haymarket

     The Haymarket District of Lincoln, Nebraska - so named for a "Market Square" area being designated between 9th and 10th, "O" and "P" Streets for exchange of livestock and produce in the original plan of the city - has undergone many changes since the inception in 1867 of the now capitol city of the state.
     For those of my time frame growing up in Lincoln, The Haymarket was where places like The Tubbery, Andy Pasto's, and Starship/Stooges were located, bums hung out (I distinctly remember one peering out at me from a containment area under the front of one of the old warehouses there), the monolithic main Post Office lorded over all, and where Amtrak made their daily stop.  It was also a place of a self mortar-lobbed empty gallon bottle of wine out of a moving car about a block east of the aforementioned Post Office back in about 1979 or so.  No, we were not drinking and driving but the truth is what the truth is.

     Approximately six months from now, the Haymarket District will undergo another major change with the opening of the Pinnacle Bank Arena.  A gargantuan structure to the eye, "The Pin" will be home of the University of Nebraska men's and women's basketball teams.  (Note:  Lincoln's hockey team plays in a structure called "The Ice Box" and I started an unofficial campaign to have the new Pinnacle Bank Arena called "The Deposit Box" as sort of a companion structure but the idea never took flight, genius never being properly rewarded.)  It will also host concerts of major acts, most likely the state high school basketball championships, and other civic events.
     I recently visited the site for the first time since construction began, and the change in the area is striking and profound.  The arena appears to be so closely built to the old Main Post Office that one could jump from the roof of one structure to the other, although it would be a James Bond-like feat to try it.  It seems to be all circular shape, windows, and ramps and it has a big-time feel to it.

     Off to the south of the site, construction also looms large and in progress.  Parking garages, hotel construction, and development of something called Canopy Street are underway.  Canopy Street is a commercial and residential development that is being billed as a place to play and permanently stay to experience the new Haymarket.  One, two, three, and four bedroom lofts will be available in the area and, although I'm guessing the prices will not be cheap, I'm thinking that at least initially they will be snatched up by the eager.  On paper, it all looks very impressive.  For nearly a half a billion dollars of public and private investment, it had better be.
     The "Pin" will fill Lincoln's need for a concert venue, the Devaney Center having outlived its usefulness in that regard and the aging Pershing Center for the same reasons times 100.  Devaney's roof structure couldn't hold the weight of the setups of today's modern concerts, and Pershing for the longest time has only held concerts of used-to-bes and up and comers.  The new arena will bid for and host major acts.  One problem:  In researching this blog post, I found on one arena promotional site an informal poll asking respondents to vote on who should be the first act to play there.  Among the choices were Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kings of Leon, The Zac Brown Band, and Kenny Chesney.  Chesney is the only one of the bunch that I'd even remotely want to see, and that's not by much.  But to all of the blogosphere, this I swear:  If Lady Gaga christens that thing?  I'm personally grabbing the torches and pitchforks and leading the charge to barricade the doors.

     But this is a sports-driven venture.  Lincoln is all about the University of Nebraska, and if you don't believe that ask those who tried to save the old state fairgrounds from the clutches of the uppity-ups at the "U" who wanted that land for the new Innovation Campus.  They never stood a chance, although the preservers of history did manage to save at least in some form the trapezoidal Industrial Arts building from the wrecking ball.  It will remain at least in part, to be connected up with the old 4-H Building in some sort of "modern" (read:  improved) structure, the future use of which is to be determined.
     The arena when finished will form the third point of a sort of sports triangle, the other two anchors being Haymarket Park (the baseball venue used by the professional Lincoln Saltdogs and the U of N's team) and the venerable and historic Memorial Stadium where football reigns in the fall.  It is quite the sight driving into Lincoln from the north on I-180 at night (see a virtual look at the drive along with views from the finished Haymarket here), with Memorial Stadium to the left and Haymarket Park and the nearly-done arena to the west and south, respectively.  But I'm prejudiced:  A lifelong Nebraskan, university alum, and sports fan in general would feel no other way.
     I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished "Pin" for the first time.  I'm guessing that I'll feel the same way about it as I felt the first time I walked into Haymarket Park for the Husker's NCAA baseball tournament game that Shane Komine started, completed, and won.  My thought was this:  This is too good a facility for Lincoln to have.  We don't deserve something this good.  Of course, we did.   But that's how I felt.
     I've no doubt that the new arena will make me feel the same way.  Winston Churchill said this once in regards to rebuilding the House of Commons after it had been destroyed in The Blitz:   "We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us."  Talented workers have formed and continue to form the new venue on the edge of west Lincoln, but in the end the building will form and shape us and our lives through memories and experiences.
     I can't wait.