CENTRAL OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV – The Center Mall near 42nd and Center streets has been a fixture since 1955, but a proposal from a local development company shows plans to redevelop the property into 500 apartment units.
- Lockwood Development aims to turn Omaha's Center Mall into a mixed-use space featuring 500 apartments and offices.
- Current businesses and nonprofits in the mall are shocked by the news and concerned about having to relocate.
- Developers and city officials will discuss the project and answer questions at a public meeting on May 21 at 6 p.m. at the Field Club Ballroom.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Nonprofits and businesses in the Center Mall are learning they may need to find a new place to go after Lockwood Development proposed to build 500 apartments in its place.
GK Rhoads is the general manager of House of Cards.
"We are anxious to hear where the process is," Rhoads said.
Lavon Stennis-Williams is the founder and executive director of Reconnect Inc., a nonprofit that helps prisoners transition back into life. The organization has been in the building since 2016, and she was surprised to hear about the proposal.
"I didn’t know anything about it," Stennis-Williams said.
"I’m just shocked, my mind is immediately going to where are we going to relocate and how can find a space that will accommodate both our adult program and our juvenile program," Stennis-Williams said.
Lockwood Development is proposing a mixed-use development with both market-rate and affordable units, along with some office spaces.
Omaha City Council Member Danny Begley says affordable housing is needed in the metro, and the Center Mall location is in need of redevelopment.
"It is what's needed for our community, in desperate need of that, and this one of the many ways we address that, this is several acres here. It’s in the middle of town, accessible for downtown," Begley said.
Begley says public works traffic engineers will work with Lockwood Development to make sure the area would be safe for the added traffic before the proposal makes it to the City Council.
The City Council will also need to decide whether to take steps to make the project eligible for tax increment financing, or TIF, like projects in other neighborhoods.
For tenants and neighbors in the area with questions, there will be a public meeting to learn more about the proposed project and talk with the city and developers. The public meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on May 21 at the Field Club Ballroom.
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