It has been voted one of the ten best neighborhoods in the nation. The ranking comes as no surprise to the people who live there.

The people who live in the Dundee – Memorial Park Neighborhood are very proud of the top ten ranking and they say they’ve known for a while that they lived in a great area.

Dundee is considered by some to be Omaha’s first suburb and as it developed over the years a variety of architectural styles emerged giving the area a unique feel.

Taking advantage of a summer like day in the fall Allison McKamy brought her children to the Memorial Park playground to spend some quality time with friends.

The neighborhood’s high ranking comes as no surprise to her.

Allison McKamy says, “I chose to live here because I love the neighborhood.”

Originally from west Omaha Allison fell in love with the Dundee – Memorial Park Neighborhood. McKamy says the location means they are close to everything and within walking distance of great restaurants and a variety of architectural styles.

Allison McKamy says, “My husband and I were looking for houses and I knew the area I wanted to live in so we just drove around the area and found the house.”

The McKamys aren’t alone; Carole Souza has been selling homes for ten years and says she can tell the Dundee – Memorial Park area is popular because people are willing to do a little more to get one of the Midtown addresses.

Sometimes a little hard work comes with the price of a home.

Carole Souza says, “So people are maybe more willing to take on a little bit of a project to redo the bathrooms or the kitchens if they’re not already done.”

The appeal of the Dundee-Memorial Park Neighborhood is actually a mix of style and proximity and perhaps a little nostalgia. Souza believes the area reminds people of their neighborhoods growing up and they may be trying to reconnect with their past.

Bruce Knight of Champaign, Ill., immediate past president of the American Planning Association, presented an award to Dundee-Memorial Park as one of America’s 10 best neighborhoods. Such areas, Knight said, are places where civic planners “stop and take pictures to bring back to our communities.”

Mayor Jim Suttle, city and state elected officials and about 75 others attended the award ceremony at 50th Street and Underwood Avenue, the middle of the Dundee business district.

Marty Shukert, former city planning director now in private practice, paid tribute to those he called “heroes” in preserving the neighborhood: Lannie McNichols, the late State Sen. Peter Hoagland and the late Don McVaney, who owned the former Baum’s pharmacy.