OMAHA — The team trying to revamp Omaha’s Crossroads mall site has redesigned the plan for the area and is seeking also to increase the initial tax-increment financing package by nearly 33%, to $105.5 million.

Change in the public tax incentive request is due largely to a new parking plan, which now has the City of Omaha owning and operating multiple parking facilities within the development at the 72nd and Dodge Streets site.

Instead of remaining as part of the layout, as earlier planned, the existing garage structure with about 2,000 stalls, on the northeast corner of the 40-acre site, is to be demolished.

The overall price tag for the vision also has grown about 55% — to a whopping nearly $862 million.

“Cost increases and other extraneous factors threatened the economic viability of the project,” the development team said in documents to be considered Wednesday by the Omaha Planning Board.

The amendments must be approved by the City Council, as well. They constitute updates to a redevelopment plan OK’d in 2021, and a more detailed agreement adopted last year that called for $79.4 million in TIF financing.

Talks between the city and developers to overhaul the site of the dying indoor mall that opened in 1960 go back even farther, to 2011.

That was shortly after longtime real estate developer Frank Krejci bought the Crossroads property, located at one of the highest-profile intersections in the state’s largest city. He and then-partner Rod Yates at the time announced a makeover that was projected to open in late 2013.

Several iterations came and went after that.

The latest update reveals a 2027 projected completion date for the first 12-acre phase, which is to include some residences, shopping, dining and entertainment.

It also describes a change in leadership and ownership, something officials said led to the key shifts and delays in the project.

The site today remains largely vacant, but for a Target store and the non-functioning parking structure on its way out. Since the original Crossroads structures were demolished in 2020 and 2021, the development team has completed about $30 million in site preparation, sewer, utility and street construction throughout the property, according to a statement from Mayor Jean Stothert’s office.

Now part of the team is Woodbury Corp., described in city documents as a fourth-generation, privately held real estate developer with $4 billion in assets under management and more than a century of experience.

Woodbury, headquartered in Salt Lake City, opened a new office recently in Omaha. The company said it has two hotels under construction in Nebraska and is working on a mixed-use development with the University of Nebraska.

Krejci, who died in 2022 at age 97, earlier enlisted the partnership of Lockwood Development, owned by Chip James. Lockwood remains on the team, but officials there declined to comment on the proposed changes.

Woodbury offered a statement, saying it was excited to be a part of the Crossroads project and that it hoped “to soon begin Phase 1” of housing and retail construction:

“Our vision is a pedestrian-oriented development that is attractive to all and brings great value to Omaha,” said Josh Berger of the Omaha office. “We love doing business here, and we see Crossroads as a fantastic extension of that success.”

While the latest update does not alter the mixed-use nature of the site envisioned by developers, it adds density and provides more detail related to layout and tenant mix.

Among updates to the plan, according to city documents:

The number of residences proposed has now more than doubled, from 596 to 1,277, reflecting more apartments and adding 118 condominiums.

Office space declined from 526,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet.

Retail space increased from 239,000 square feet to 380,000 square feet.

Entertainment-related space decreased from 156,000 square feet to 105,000 square feet.

Parking went from a total of 4,900 stalls (many of those had been in the soon-to-be-demolished garage) to between 3,500 and 4,500 scattered throughout the site and integrated into other components.

Amendments to the plan also call for a change in revenue anticipated from an “enhanced employment area” tax to be collected on hotel rooms and other retail sales within the approved boundaries.

Initially the tax revenue amount was $64.9 million and has grown to $66.8 million. The City Council must approve the developer’s power to levy that added enhanced employment area  tax.

The increased TIF revenues are being sought to help support infrastructure improvements and construction of the parking facilities within the Crossroads mixed-use district.

TIF, a redevelopment tool established by the Legislature around 1980, is praised by many as a way to spur investment in “blighted areas.”

The incentive also has critics, who say it is used too often and for projects that would have been approved even without the public boost.

Typically under TIF, the developer of a city-approved project takes out a loan to help cover eligible redevelopment expenses. The loan is paid back by using the increased property taxes generated on the new development.

Normally, property tax payments go to support schools and other tax-reliant bodies, but during the 15 to 20 years of the TIF period, those payments go toward paying off the developer’s TIF loan.

The property owner during that period continues to pay a portion of property taxes to local governments based on the valuation of the site that existed before the improvements.

After the loan is repaid, property taxes collected on what then should be a higher-value, improved property starts flowing to those local governments.

The amended Crossroads plan also expands the redevelopment area to include the site of the city’s new central library, which is under construction on the southwest corner of 72nd and Dodge Streets.

City documents say the library remains a separate project and will not receive any of the TIF generated by the Crossroads project.

Inclusion of the library site in the redevelopment area boundaries, however, will allow the city to issue redevelopment bonds to pay for the city’s $20 million contribution to library construction, said City Finance Director Steve Curtiss.

He said the $20 million already was committed to the library, but needed to be specifically linked to a redevelopment area plan. Led by Heritage Omaha, the library is valued at $150 million and is expected to be completed in 2026.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.