NORTH OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - A once thriving street corridor is looking to make a comeback with a project when developers unveil its design Tuesday.
Expect two multi-story buildings to feature housing, retail and art spaces at the Artist Lofts at Lake Street just east of the 24th Street Corridor, according to Michael Maroney, president of Omaha Economic Development Corporation.
"I like to think there's a sense of urgency," he said. " Although, it's moving a lot slower than we would like but it is moving."
The corporation, along with the Omaha Planning Department and Union for Contemporary Art, received a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to be used in the planning and design phases.
Last September, Maroney said OEDC hosted a series of public meetings for input. It also asked artists to weigh-in on what the spaces should include. Local based-firm Actual Architecture Co. partnered with SO-IL out of Brooklyn to use the feedback for the conception design.
It's a development created by the people for the people.
What they could see is a mixed-used space incorporating the empty Showcase building east of the Union and vacant lots right next to it.
According to OEDC, designs do not include the former Great Plains Black History Museum site.
The group will unveil renderings Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Union where people can get a first-look of what could come when OEDC breaks ground as early as next Spring.
The firms will tweak the designs after the meeting before the corporation finalizes plans, Maroney said.
He said he wasn't surprised by the input from people.
It was only a re-enforcement, he said, that people wanted to see something happen.
