Meghan Ehrke loved to stop by The Mill in College View for coffee and check out the shoes and accessories at Pattino down the street.
"I got to know the neighborhood in that regard, and you could tell there was such a community feel here," she said.
So when Ehrke decided to fulfill a dream and open a women's clothing boutique, she knew right where she wanted to be.
"I've been blown away by how people have responded to a new business," she said.
Ehrke opened Select Style last fall at 3945 S. 48th St., further building College View into a destination for women -- both shoppers and entrepreneurs.
Diane Cooper owns two businesses in College View -- The Basket Bunch and Cooper & Co. Interiors, both operating out of older white houses.
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"Basket Bunch has seen tremendous growth, and with that, we've been able to start this new venture," said Cooper, whose newer shop opened in January.
One daughter, Shane Olson, manages Basket Bunch. Another, Natalie Cooper, runs Cooper & Co.
"It's very convenient for us, and our customers, to have the two places close together," Diane Cooper said. "And our customers have all these other places to check out."
Across 48th Street from the business corridor sits Union College, the Seventh-day Adventist school that is celebrating growth as well.
The Krueger Center for Science and Mathematics, a $14.5 million classroom, laboratory and research center, was the first new academic building to open on campus since 1980.
For the first time, space inside the 55,000-square-foot, two-story building anchoring the northeast corner of campus could be dedicated to research.
But its activities don’t stop there.
Networked computers and cameras allow students on campus and others spread across the country to participate in “blended classrooms,†religion professor Tom Toews said.
“Sometimes we have students who are completing internships in other states who need to connect in for a class that is only offered during a specific semester,†he said. “With the technology available, this allows them to log in and participate in class just like they were here.â€
Recently, Toews taught a biblical Hebrew language class with students connecting by webcam from Iowa and Montana. From the front of the class, Toews, in his fourth year at the private college, manages the cameras and distributes classroom materials from his desktop computer.
“This is something we were able to do before, to a degree, but never to this level of sophistication,†he said.
Union College is hoping the new science center will bolster enrollment, which reached 911 students in 2013. College spokesman Ryan Teller said the number of full-time students at Union College is up from five years ago.
The College View institution annually ranks among the top tier of regional colleges, coming in at No. 49 in the Midwest rankings released by U.S. News and World Report last fall.
The college drew Matthew Roque from Arkansas to Lincoln in 2001. He stayed after graduation and now works at the school. The college, he said, is developing a master plan with involvement from the College View Neighborhood Association.
"There's optimism in the community," said Roque, who hopes more young families will be drawn to homes in the area.
The business growth is an encouraging sign, he said, noting plans to build a new, larger Casey's General Store at 48th and Meredeth streets and a new building for LaMar's and Colby Ridge at 48th Street and Pioneers Boulevard.
Rogue enjoys the walkability of the area and says it's a benefit for students, many of them newcomers to Lincoln. Longtime residents take advantage of it as well.
"What I love about College View is I see the same people walking their dogs every day," said Ehrke, who has made it a point to learn the names of dogs and handlers alike. "What we have here is so great."