Two build-to-rent neighborhoods are changing the way people live in west Omaha while helping alleviate the metro area’s chronic housing shortage.
Aerie Blue Sage, located at 204th & Blue Sage Parkway west of Elkhorn South High School, is partly completed and already home to hundreds of residents. Aerie Heartwood Preserve is under construction southwest of 144th & Pacific Street with first units available by this September.
Build-to-rent developments are relatively new to Omaha. Instead of a traditional apartment complex, these neighborhoods offer a variety of housing options such as single-family homes, apartment villas, townhomes and cottages. These rental communities offer the privacy associated with single-family houses with the flexibility and maintenance-free lifestyle of traditional apartment living.
Construction on Aerie Blue Sage started in the summer of 2024. The first residents moved in more than a year ago, but construction continues on another phase on the property’s south side. When the entire development is completed this summer, the 40-acre Aerie Blue Sage will have 327 units divided among single-family homes, multi-level townhomes, detached cottages and apartment villas.
Many of the features found in upscale, build-to-rent neighborhoods are of the quality normally found only in ownership units.
“We tried to hit one notch higher than anything else in Omaha,” said Joe Slosburg, owner of Spruce, the development company building both Aerie Blue Sage and Aerie Heartwood Preserve.
Every residence at Blue Sage features a private entrance, which eliminates shared common hallways and elevators. Each residence also offers a private outdoor living space. The single-family homes and cottages each have private fenced yards. Townhomes come with private roof decks and patios. The apartment villas have private patios or balconies.
The apartment villas differ from traditional apartments in that each unit features a private entry, outdoor space, and most include a private garage. Furthermore, the apartments are built in a “low-density” layout of just eight to 12 units per building. Most of the apartments are corner units with windows on two sides.
Overall community amenities include green spaces, pickleball courts, a heated outdoor swimming pool with poolside cabanas, an off-leash dog park and a dog-wash station.
The clubhouse offers a fitness center, co-working space, “living room” area with a fireplace and a rec room that can be reserved for private gatherings.
Rents range from $1,640 to $3,800 per month depending on the housing type chosen.
As Aerie Blue Sage nears completion, Aerie Heartwood Preserve is not too far behind. The 22-acre development is one part of the broader Heartwood Preserve, the 500-acre, mega-sized, mixed-use development that stretches from West Dodge Road on the north to Pine Street to the south.
Aerie Heartwood Preserve is a little south of Millard North High School and immediately east of Applied Underwriters’ future headquarters building. The exact address is 14645 William Court.
The Heartwood Preserve community offers many of the same housing types as its sister development in Elkhorn but without the cottage option. Single-family homes come with private, fenced yards and balconies. Townhomes come with private balconies, but half of them feature private rooftop decks. The apartment villages have private balconies or patios.
Aerie Heartwood Preserve’s, community amenities are similar to Blue Sage – pickleball, pool, dog park, outdoor grilling stations, etc. It too will have a clubhouse offering a health club, conference room, co-working space and a club room with a fireplace.
Spruce, and its general contractor Ronco Construction, broke ground on the Heartwood project in May 2025. Many of the building foundations are already in place, and vertical construction will be noticeable this spring. The first single-family homes will be available this August, while the apartment villas will come online in late November. The clubhouse and some of the townhomes are scheduled for completion at the end of this year. Built in phases, the entire project will be completed by early spring of 2028.
Both Aerie Blue Sage and Aerie Heartwood Preserve will help address Omaha’s housing shortage. The metro added a net gain of nearly 10,000 people last year to an area already short on housing.
Aerie Blue Sage, the larger project further along in its development, is increasing the number of available rental homes by 1,260 percent in Elkhorn and the number of available townhomes by 3,600 percent.
According to Spruce, there were a total of 350 single-family rental homes available in all of Omaha as of March 22nd. For perspective, Aerie Blue Sage is adding 42 single-family homes and 109 cottages (which are like single-family homes in that they have four exterior walls). Aerie Heartwood will provide 76 single-family homes.
Similarly, Omaha had a total of 83 townhomes for rent as of March 22nd. The Aerie communities will add 36 townhomes in Elkhorn and 75 townhomes in Heartwood Preserve.
Photo above by Brad Williams
