OMAHA — It’s been 15 years since an Omaha developer bought the dying Crossroads Mall with expectations to create a bigger and better commercial centerpiece for Nebraska’s largest city.

Plans came and went. Then four years ago, with city approvals and public incentives in hand, that developer led a team in demolishing most of the stores on the 42-acre site to make way for a proposed multimillion-dollar live, work and play area northwest of 72nd and Dodge Streets.

But the mostly vacant corner lately has sat largely idle. A fire that broke out last week in an abandoned structure on the site again stirred questions about the project’s progress.

Tuesday, Omaha’s mayor and a new development team announced an update on what they describe as a $900 million, mixed-use campus buoyed by $105 million in city-approved public tax-increment financing.

They said the city and Utah-based Woodbury Corp. are to officially take ownership Wednesday of a third of the Crossroads site from the local partnership previously working on the development, KJ Ventures, made up of Chip James’ Lockwood Development and the late Frank Krecji’s Century Development.

Spring Groundbreaking

Set to start rising next spring under the Woodbury development team is the first phase: a 92,000-square-foot entertainment complex; a 40,000-square-foot outdoor plaza surrounded by retail and office space; and a residential building with ground-floor retail. As part of that initial phase, the City of Omaha has committed to build, own and operate three parking garages, two of them below ground, that contain 1,500-plus stalls.

“It has had some slowdowns and it has had some startups,” Mayor Jean Stothert said of the project during a news conference. “It is a really important corner, and we are really excited this development is moving forward at the pace that it is now.”

Calling the Wednesday real estate transaction a milestone, she also acknowledged criticism about project delays from taxpayers as well as from her mayoral opponents.

At one point under Krejci, a makeover of the mall was projected to open in late 2013. The proposed KJ Ventures-led hub of entertainment, office, residential and retail activities was once expected to open in 2024. KJ did complete much of the infrastructure, interior streets and site preparation work.

Stothert said the city was limited in its ability to accelerate redevelopment, as the Crossroads property was privately owned.

She and developer Jeff Woodbury, whose Woodbury company also has projects in Lincoln and Grand Island, praised the centrally located site as pivotal to the city’s social and economic vitality.

“This is something that we like to do, take over old shopping centers,” said Woodbury, senior vice president of development and acquisitions. “It’s usually the best real estate in most communities.”

To the south of the site, a $158 million new library facility is under construction. On the northeast corner, a “big development” is brewing, Stothert announced, but declined to provide details.

Key Elements

The Mayor’s Office held the news conference hours before the City Council’s scheduled public hearing on revised agreements that are to guide the latest version of the Crossroads development plan.

Omaha lawyer David Levy, who is representing Woodbury, described the revisions as “cleanup” of some language in agreements the council previously approved.

Among key elements:

• The City of Omaha will issue $40 million in bonds to help pay for the redevelopment, and will use $38.8 million of those bond proceeds to pay for land. Woodbury will repay the city using about $39 million of its tax-increment financing revenue.
• In a condominium arrangement, the City of Omaha will own the parking structures. User fees for the parking also are to help in funding and maintaining the garages. The first two hours of parking at the site are to be free to visitors and shoppers, Woodbury said.

With the city having an ownership role, Levy said, its leadership has a higher level of control than before over how the Crossroads development moves forward.

Of the city’s commitment, Stothert said: “There is no city general fund money going into this project. It’s funded with TIF and it’s funded with user fees.”

Mum On Stores, Other Tenants

The development team anticipates that first phase to be complete in two to three years, Levy said, and the entire site by 2032.

Woodbury declined to identify any tenants, saying he will wait until leases are signed.

He said the company has the remaining two-thirds of the Crossroads property under contract to buy from KJ Ventures, and those phases have yet to be detailed.

Krejci and his Century Development company purchased the deteriorating Crossroads mall in 2010, raising hope among city residents and leaders that Omaha’s first mall west of 42nd Street would return to glory.

Eventually — after various plans that Krejci and a former partner presented to the city fizzled — Krejci joined forces with Lockwood. The resulting KJ Ventures won approval from city officials to proceed with a redevelopment.

Krejci died in 2022. The privately held Woodbury, founded in 1919 and now managing $5 billion in assets across 16 states, entered the Crossroads picture about two years ago to start discussing a possible role, its leaders said.

Woodbury thanked KJ Ventures for its “invaluable” work in bringing the project to this point and also to Stothert and city leaders for laying the groundwork for development activities.

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/2024/12/17/lengthy-effort-to-remake-omahas-...