Today, we look back at the major development happenings in the city during calendar year 2024.
Eppley Terminal Expansion
Back in January, the Omaha Airport Authority released long-anticipated plans to expand and renovate Eppley Airfield’s outdated passenger terminal. The nearly $1 billion plan caused a lot of jaws to drop.
The project will nearly double the terminal’s square footage while adding two new gates and an international arrivals hall. Other highlights include a centralized security and ticketing area, one long concourse instead of satellite terminals, and substantially more restaurants and retailers beyond the security checkpoint.
Completion is scheduled for 2028, but much of the new concourse will be in operation well before the final completion date. Construction crews have already made impressive progress since the announcement.
UNMC Development
The University of Nebraska Medical Center campus remains one of the most vibrant epicenters of Omaha growth and development. In 2024, UNMC unveiled the Edge District, a 30-acre development west of Saddle Creek Road. That’s where much of the campus’ growth will occur over the next several years.
The Edge District includes the Catalyst, a high-tech research and innovation center that will open early this year in a 119-year-old steel factory. Construction began on the 6-story Campus Operations and Research Excellence building in 2024 on the southwest corner of Farnam Street & Saddle Creek Road. A 750-stall parking garage is now under construction on the western part of the Edge District.
UNMC released a rendering of its planned $2.2 billion hospital to be constructed on the southeast corner of Farnam Street and Saddle Creek Road. The 1.27 million sq. ft. hospital would have 556 beds. The 18-to-20-story building could be as high as 400 feet, making it the fourth tallest building in Omaha. The NU Board of Regents in 2024 approved $50 million to pay for design costs. Foundational construction work could begin as early as next May. Because of the size and scope of the hospital, opening likely wouldn’t occur until well after 2030.
Finally, UNMC started construction in 2024 on its first-ever student residence hall, a $66 million, 200,000 sq. ft., 6-story building that will accommodate 300 students when it opens in 2026.
Children’s Museum
The Omaha Children’s Museum announced it will move to a 4-story building to be constructed at 8th & Douglas Street along the north side of Heartland of America Park at the Riverfront.
The museum will continue to operate at its current location at 20th & Howard Street during construction of the new building, with the goal of transitioning to its new home in late 2027. The state-of-the-art building will be designed by the internationally renowned architecture firm Snøhetta, which also designed Joslyn’s recently completed addition.
NuStyle Development Announcements
2024 was a banner year for NuStyle Development, the real estate firm that has become famous for renovating countless buildings in Omaha’s urban core over the past 30 years.
In March, NuStyle announced it would renovate the twin towers of downtown’s Central Park Plaza. The $163 million project is already underway and moving at a rapid pace. The complex will be converted into 700 apartments plus retail space. Sullivan’s Steakhouse will remind in the south tower. The old Park Fair Mall — on the west side of the complex along 16th Street — will be torn down and replaced with a city-owned parking garage. Some of the apartments (150 units) will be constructed on top of that new garage.
This past summer, NuStyle announced it will build The Beam, an $87 million, 16-story tower that will rise immediately east of the aforementioned Children’s Museum on the Riverfront. The Beam will include a city-owned parking garage on the lower floors and 261 apartments with great views on the upper floors. It is expected to open in the spring of 2028.
Toward the end of the year, FNBO announced it plans to sell its 22-story, 1970s-era, old “main bank” building at 1620 Dodge Street to NuStyle Development. The bank no longer uses the building. NuStyle plans to covert it into 300 market-rate apartments with retail and commercial space on the bottom two floors. The project will cost between $75 and $85 million and could be completed in 2026. The Omaha Press Club, a long-time tenant on the building’s top floor, will likely remain.
New Crossroads Developer
The long-anticipated Crossroads project moved forward this year when the previous owners sold a major part of the project to Salt Lake City-based Woodbury Corporation. It now looks like vertical construction will start this spring. The previous developer already completed underground and surface infrastructure work.
The project will be built in multiple phases and is now estimated to cost $900 million. The first phase will include a 92,000 sq. ft. entertainment venue that will be operated by a major national chain. Woodbury is already in negotiations with that yet-to-be-named company. Phase one will also include the construction of residential, retail and office buildings as well as a public plaza and public parking facilities.
Mutual of Omaha Tower Progress
You can’t talk about 2024 development progress without addressing the building that will someday be the tallest skyscraper in a multi-state region. The $600 million, 800,000 sq. ft. Mutual of Omaha headquarters will be 44 stories and 677 feet tall when it’s completed in 2026. Construction on the central core tower has reached the 27th floor. That means the partially completed tower is already the third tallest building in town.
Millwork Commons
The 50-acre Millwork Commons district north of Charles Schwab Field is booming with development. Work is wrapping up on the Dizzy Mule project on a block bounded by 12th, 13th, Nicholas and Izard streets. It consists of historic buildings along Izard connected to two new 5-story buildings. In total, Dizzy Mule will have 172 apartment units and 18,000 sq. ft. of retail space.
Just to the east of the Dizzy Mule, construction has started on Nova, a 5-story, building along the east side of 12th Street between Nicholas and Izard Streets. It will have 78 market-rate apartments and 12,429 sq. ft. of commercial space divided into six bays.
We learned in 2024, that an historic, 3-story building on the northeast corner of the Dizzy Mule block will become The Millwork Hotel. The 135-room boutique hotel would cost $57 million and would also include 7,000 sq. ft. of retail space plus an atrium. A 4th floor would be added, including a rooftop bar.
In December, construction began on the Frame Apartments, a $44 million building immediately west of the Ashton Building. The 5-story, 146-unit building will have 55, 2-bedroom units and 94, 1-bedroom units. The ground floor will have a single 10,000 sq. ft. retail bay and 65 covered parking stalls. The building will also have two large decks on the second-floor roof.
Finally, we learned that the City of Omaha plans to build a multi-level, 600-stall parking garage that would serve this burgeoning district. The garage will be located just east of the Ashton building on a parcel bounded by 11th, 12th and Nicholas streets and Millwork Avenue. The estimated cost is $25 to $30 million.
