Greater Omaha Chamber pitches ‘urban core’ plan that links Omaha and Council Bluffs with streetcar, bridge and large redevelopment projects

Heath Mello, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber, told the Council Bluffs City Council the chamber is promoting a multi‑jurisdictional “urban core” strategy intended to increase density and economic activity across parts of Omaha and Council Bluffs.

Mello said the plan, produced by the chamber and regional stakeholders from 2020 through 2022, aims to add 30,000 jobs and 30,000 residents to the designated urban core within 20 years. "If there's an outcome and a goal that we think about every single day it's to bring people and jobs to our multi state metro region," Mello said.

Why it matters: Mello framed the plan as a coordinated, two‑city effort to spur housing and commercial development and to strengthen the metro’s image and competitiveness. He said transportation investments are central to the strategy and described a set of linked projects — some already underway in Omaha — that the chamber believes will drive additional private investment across the region.

Key projects highlighted

- Modern streetcar extension and multimodal Missouri River Transit Bridge: Mello described the modern streetcar project in Omaha as a foundational element of the plan and said one of the strategy’s signatures is a proposed multimodal bridge to carry the streetcar across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs. He said building that multimodal bridge would be a two‑city, two‑state effort requiring multi‑year coordination.

- Mutual of Omaha corporate headquarters and first‑block redevelopment: Mello pointed to the Mutual of Omaha tower project in Omaha as the first major block redevelopment spurred by the streetcar; he said the tower alone represents roughly $600,000,000 in redevelopment and that the full block will add “a couple hundred million more.”

- University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Project Health: Mello described Project Health — authorized by the Nebraska Legislature in 2020 — as a roughly $2,200,000,000 public‑private project on the west end of the urban core that the chamber expects to create thousands of jobs and to be a major economic driver.

- Dodge Park and other redevelopment sites: Mello said Dodge Park in Council Bluffs was singled out in the plan as one of the few large redevelopment parcels in the urban core and as an opportunity to deliver both housing and commercial uses that would help meet the plan’s density goals.

Chamber role and next steps

Mello said the chamber will continue work to rebrand the geographic area, attract new businesses to the urban core, and coordinate with partners including the Council Bluffs Chamber and Iowa West Foundation on housing and transportation studies. He offered to provide the council copies of the full plan and an accompanying urban core housing study.

Council response and context

Council members asked questions about local engagement and whether Council Bluffs would be “onboard” with pieces of the plan. Mayor Walsh and multiple council members emphasized that the plan is a partnership, not a unilateral Omaha proposal. Mello said the chamber’s urban core committee has included Council Bluffs participants and that the plan is intended as regional collaboration.

Ending

Mello offered to take questions and said the chamber will continue to work with local partners on housing, transportation and business recruitment as the region pursues the plan’s 20‑year targets.