OMAHA —  Backhoes digging out a future apartment site in Omaha’s urban core unearthed some unexpected remnants of an old dairy factory that once distributed milk to doorsteps via horse-drawn wagons.

Among the surprises: mysterious tunnels; intact ice cream bottle lids that spilled out when a vault was struck and an entire foundation of a brick building.

“We knew there’d be debris, but not to this degree,” said Tom McLeay of Clarity Real Estate Companies, a co-developer of the 194-unit Oxworth apartment complex that will span an entire city block. “It’s almost like we’re amateur archeologists, discovering this century-old dairy foundation that hasn’t seen the light of day for 40 years.”

McLeay spoke Thursday — as site work paused for a ceremonial groundbreaking — about challenges as well as anticipated rewards of developing the market-rate dwellings and garage facility southeast of 27th and Leavenworth Streets, west of the downtown of Nebraska’s biggest city.

$43 Million Project

The $43 million project, expected to open in 2027, is buoyed by $6.5 million in public tax-increment financing, a statewide tool aimed at spurring development and jobs in blighted areas.

McLeay said TIF — controversial because it uses increased property tax revenue from the new development to pay for eligible redevelopment costs — is vital to projects such as the Oxworth.

Without the incentive to defray expenses, he said that he and codeveloper Assurity Life Insurance of Lincoln would not pursue such a venture in a tight, infill area where construction risks are greater than in the green fields of suburbia.

“You don’t deal with this if you go out to a cornfield and put an apartment building on top of it,” said McLeay, noting that his crew had to dig a huge hole about 40 feet deep to remove what was left of the Alamito Dairy, razed in the 1980s.

A TIF-assisted project must meet eligibility criteria, including that it would not be possible “but for” the aid. The tool has both staunch supporters and opponents, with critics saying that some city governments have gotten too generous in approving TIF.

The state auditor has warned lawmakers about downsides of the fast-growing incentive.

In Streetcar Zone

The Omaha City Council has approved the financing mechanism for the Oxworth project. Because it is in a so-called “zone of influence” near the coming Omaha streetcar route, 10% of the project’s TIF proceeds must, under city ordinance, go to construction of the streetcar initiative.

The Oxworth is so named to honor both the dairy factory formerly at the site (an ox is in the same genus as cows) and the street upon which it sits (Leavenworth).

When completed, the 1.45-acre site that had been largely vacant for decades, will offer apartments ranging from studio to two-bedroom dwellings with rents from about $1,000 to $2,000 a month.

The complex will include various amenities, including a courtyard with a firepit and picnic area. Also at the site will be a clubhouse with a gym and community rooms repurposed from a 125-year-old former cold storage building that was left from the Alamito Dairy operation. Most recently that structure was used as an upholstery shop.

About 150 parking stalls will be available, all but a dozen of them inside.

Area Has ‘Evolved’

According to the Omaha World-Herald, the Alamito business moved to a new three-story concrete building at the 27th and Leavenworth site in 1914, and closed in 1977. It was known as the city’s first modern milk producer-distributor that operated from 1902 to 1977, and apparently named for a trotting stallion.

McLeay said his company has owned the property for about a decade but believes now is the time to build — particularly with the projected 2028 start of the streetcar that is to run along nearby corridors, from downtown to midtown.

“The neighborhood has evolved so nicely,” said McLeay, adding that the free streetcar and Leavenworth Street bus line should offer new residents and workers convenient access to downtown and midtown events, restaurants and attractions.

He imagines Oxworth residents as bus riders, streetcar riders, cyclists, scooter users and drivers.

McLeay said he sees continued redevelopment and transportation options in the urban core as ways the city may be able to stop “brain drain” and retain or pull talent to Omaha — including his own two daughters who left the state for college or a job.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/05/08/43m-omaha-apartment-project-beco...