Greater Omaha Chamber presents Urban Core strategic plan emphasizing streetcar, bridge and housing opportunities

Heath Mello, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber, told the Council Bluffs City Council that the Chamber’s Urban Core strategic plan aims to add 30,000 jobs and 30,000 residents to the Omaha–Council Bluffs urban core over 20 years.

Mello said the plan, developed with business and community leaders from 2020 through 2022, treats transportation as a “driving connector” between Omaha and Council Bluffs. “For better or worse the core and its surroundings also serve as the region’s image to the world,” Mello said.

The presentation highlighted several flagship projects in or adjacent to the plan area. Mello described the modern streetcar project in Omaha as a foundational investment that spurs other development along its route. He noted the Mutual of Omaha corporate tower as part of an initial redevelopment block and said that the tower — a roughly $600,000,000 component of the first-block redevelopment — will be followed by additional mixed-use development east of the tower.

Mello identified Project Health, a public–private initiative anchored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center that the Nebraska Legislature approved in 2020, as another large driver. “This is a project that is nearly about a $2,200,000,000 project,” he said, and estimated it would generate between 8,000 and 12,000 jobs over its build-out.

A central element of the plan is a proposed multimodal Missouri River Transit Bridge that would allow the modern streetcar to operate between the two cities. Building the bridge would require two-city, two-state coordination, Mello said, and would be a long-term, multi‑year project analogous to the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge in the region.

Mello also pointed to Dodge Park, the former Omaha Civic Auditorium site and other large parcels as key redevelopment opportunities — places where dense mixed-use and housing could be created. He said a separate urban-core housing study underpinned conclusions that Council Bluffs must participate in housing work to meet the plan’s density goals.

Mello said the Chamber is working on a rebrand of the geographic area called the urban core, and that the Chamber plans to support businesses affected by streetcar construction. He closed by offering to provide the council a PDF of the Urban Core strategic plan and an urban-core housing study as follow-up materials.

Mello acknowledged Council Bluffs participation on the Urban Core committee and emphasized that the plan is regional, not “Omaha’s plan.” Councilors and staff did not take any formal action on the presentation; the item was presented for information and discussion.

Mello’s presentation included material on projected population and job growth and a list of 11 “big moves” in the strategy; council members asked for the plan documents to be provided to them for review.