(Omaha, NE) -- Major changes are coming to Omaha in the form of a streetcar and a new skyscraper in downtown.
On Wednesday, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert announced that the city is developing a streetcar route that will run through the city’s urban core. “The streetcar will be built, operated, and maintained without a property tax rate increase or sales tax increase,” a release from the mayor’s office says.
Stothert says that the streetcar will help tackle the issue of available parking downtown. “We all know parking is choking development downtown right now." The planned streetcar route runs from downtown, on 10th Street, to the UNMC campus. The streetcar will be developed over the next two years, with estimated completion for the project around 2025 and to be fully operational in 2026.
The other major announcement made Wednesday, are plans for a new Mutual of Omaha skyscraper headquarters. The new headquarters will be on the site of the current W. Dale Clark Library branch at 14th and Douglas. Mutual of Omaha CEO James Blackledge says the new headquarters will allow them to redevelop the site of their current campus. "Our plans envision additional redevelopment of Mutual's current home office campus as well as the property we own east of Turner Park."
“While we are confident the new headquarters we are envisioning will have a dramatic impact on the city’s skyline, there is still work to be done to determine the exact size and configuration of the project,” Blackledge said in the company’s release. Blackledge says construction on the new headquarters is expected to start in January 2023 and should take about three years to complete.