Grow Omaha
Projects

Construction has gone vertical on The Nook Apartments near 8th & Pine Street in Little Italy. This new multi-family development will take up much of the vacant land left over from the defunct Grace University. The project will have 250 market-rate apartments and townhomes in a total of 10 new buildings.

The Baby Bob bridge is nearly complete, but there’s one thing holding it up. The final pieces of hardware for the decorative railing have been delayed by the supplier. As soon as that equipment is ready to go, the bridge can be completed. The bridge will connect North Downtown with the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge and will further activate the Riverfront.

Photo by Brad Williams

Workers this week raised the tower crane over Mutual of Omaha’s future headquarters building near 14th & Farnam Street downtown. The tower crane goes up as the building goes up. The crane will eventually reach a height of approximately 750 feet before the building is complete in 2026. The tower crane is already taller than the Woodmen Tower. When the 44-story Mutual tower is done, it will be 677 feet tall.

Photo by Brad Williams

Construction is already underway along the RiverFront for the CHI Health Center expansion. In the November election, Omaha voters approved a bond issue for a $146 million project to increase the number of meeting rooms at the 21-year-old convention center. The expansion will add 94,000 sq. ft. and 25 meeting rooms spread across the third and fourth floors. Additional common space and restrooms will also be added. The addition will help Omaha compete more effectively in the lucrative convention industry.

The east side of the building has long served as a behind-the-scenes area with loading docks and massive, emergency-exit, external stair towers. Crews are now removing those stair towers to make way for the new construction. When completed in 2027, the east face of the CHI Center will be a sprawling glass wall with panoramic views of the RiverFront.

Photo by Brad Williams

This 5-story apartment building is being designed by BVH Architecture and built by Ronco Construction at 36th & Leavenworth Street, two blocks east of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The building will use VRBO and Airbnb as one of its primary leasing tools for 75 percent of the building, while also focusing on the short-term, traveling medical professional. The development contains 28 units. The seven top-floor units will be traditionally leased apartments or possibly for-sale condo units.

Hubbell Realty Company is making fast progress on its first Omaha-area industrial warehouse at 156th & Schram Road. The $25 million, 260,000 sq. ft. building is the first in Infinity, a Class-A industrial park that will span more than 156 acres and is anticipated to have 10 buildings when complete. Construction on Infinity I is expected to be completed in late summer. Rotella’s Italian Bakery Inc. plans to occupy more than 100,000 sq. ft. in the building.

Infinity I will have 20 bays, up to 56 dock doors and 32-foot clear heights throughout the building. Hubbell Construction Services, the general contractor for this project, has built more than 2.2 million sq. ft. of commercial industrial space throughout Iowa for major national and international clients. This is their first in the Omaha area.

Hubbell, a 168-year-old West Des Moines, Iowa-based company, has developed more than $2.1 billion in project volume, built more than 7,000 multifamily units and manages more than 10,000 apartments in the Midwest.

Photo credit: Hubbell Realty Company

Christian Brothers Automotive is wrapping up construction on a future location at 20111 P Street. Hiring is now underway. The tentative opening date is March 10th. Houston-based Christian Brothers has existing Nebraska franchises in northwest Omaha, Gretna and Papillion.

The future Coneflower Creamery building in Olde Town Elkhorn is coming along nicely. The new building is going up in a previously empty spot directly north of the Little Scandinavia shop. Opening is expected by the middle of this year. The award-winning, “farm-to-cone” ice cream shop has been recognized as one of the best in the nation. The original Coneflower Creamery opened in 2016 at 3921 Farnam Street in the Blackstone District. A second location opened last year in North Downtown’s Millwork Commons district.