- Lockwood Development wants to redevelop a mall at 42nd and Center into apartments and offices
- Mall tenants fear displacement and a struggle to find affordable alternative spaces
- The project needs Planning Board and City Council approval to qualify for tax increment funding
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) – Developers are planning to redevelop a mall at 42nd and Center in Omaha, converting it into apartments and office spaces, but tenants and neighbors are raising concerns about displacement and affordability.
Lockwood Development is behind the project. A lawyer representing the company says the area would need to be designated a community revitalization area before the project can move forward.
Jon Blumenthal, a lawyer representing Lockwood Development, said the designation would make the project eligible for tax increment funding, known as TIF.
"It will be hard for any developer to make a project work here without TIF," Blumenthal said.
That designation must be approved by the Planning Board and City Council. The Planning Board meeting is scheduled for June 3 at 1 p.m. If approved, it will go to City Council later this summer.
Two tenants at the mall, Anna Hunter and Cammy Watkins, said they do not want to lose their spaces.
Hunter said she is worried about the cost of finding a new location.
"It's going to be really hard for all of us to find new spaces with our tight profit margins," she said.
Watkins said she is concerned about the accessibility of the current mall location.
"[It's] so central on a bus line and affordable for the social services, the churches, the small businesses that are inside there," she said.
Neighbors are also questioning how many affordable housing units would be built as part of the redevelopment.
Mary Packett, who lives a few blocks from the mall, said she is worried about what the project could mean for her neighborhood.
"They move here, find a target like the mall, and then deem a whole mile as blighted," she said.
The redevelopment plans come on the same day Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner visited Omaha to discuss the Trump administration's push to lower the cost of building new homes through deregulation.
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