Developer White Lotus Group has announced that it is moving into the next phase of construction on its Civic Square project on the downtown site of the former Civic Auditorium.
The company began initial site preparation on the property — bounded by 17th and 19th Streets and by Capitol Avenue and Chicago Street — in April and now has begun installing utilities, roads and other infrastructure that will support future buildings, officials said.
A half-dozen construction workers and about that many pieces of construction equipment were at work on the site Monday. While the company declined to provide an exact timetable, a spokeswoman said the developer expects to proceed with “vertical construction” upon completion of roadwork and public infrastructure.
The developer has nicknamed the project The Nest, envisioning it as a development that will serve as a kind of campus town for Creighton University. The aim is to connect students and faculty to Omaha’s central business district, help enhance the city’s urban core and aid in the retention of top college students.
“We are building this site for generational success, with the vision that it will connect Creighton University to the job market, culture and recruiting efforts needed to help attract and keep students, Omaha’s future generation,” Arun Agarwal, White Lotus’ CEO, said in a statement.
But Omaha Mayor John Ewing’s office said Civic Square “has made insufficient progress” since White Lotus closed on the property more than two years ago.
“The city has expressed its concerns to White Lotus about the timeline and the company’s ability to complete the project,” officials with the mayor’s office said in a statement.
The slow pace of development at the former Civic site became a point of contention during an April debate between Ewing and then-Mayor Jean Stothert. Until recently, the site had seen little progress since the land was cleared in 2016.
Stothert said at the time that developers are held accountable for meeting benchmarks when they sign development agreements with the city.
She said the city recently questioned the lack of progress under the 2-year-old Civic agreement. The developer was told the city was considering taking the site back, noting there was another developer interested in it. She said that seemed to prompt some recent grading work there.
But Ewing said during the debate that it appeared not enough was done to hold developers accountable for progress. He cited the former Crossroads Mall at 72nd and Dodge Streets as another example of lagging development.
Earlier this month, Ewing assured Omahans that progress was being made on the Crossroads redevelopment and that it would come to fruition. His reassurances were backed by Woodbury Corp., the Utah-based developer behind the $1 billion effort.
The announcement followed 15 years of fits, starts and changed plans. Woodbury assumed the site from a previous developer last year and drafted the current redevelopment plan. The current plan calls for an entertainment complex called Gamescape by Cinemark, so far the only publicly announced tenant in the redevelopment.
As for The Nest, White Lotus officials said they had been in “continuous dialogue” with Creighton over the last year, conversations that have confirmed the need to better integrate the campus with the city’s urban core.
“Just as great universities in other cities have vibrant, integrated districts like Aggieville near Kansas State or Wrigleyville in Chicago, we believe Creighton deserves its own district,” White Lotus officials said in their announcement.
The Nest, they said, would address gaps in student life by providing access to everyday necessities like shopping and health care as well as opportunities for recreation and community engagement.
Creighton, meanwhile, recently announced a $300 million initiative that officials said will allow the university to reshape the eastern edge of its campus and realize a long-standing dream of connecting to North Downtown and the Builder’s District, the 10-block urban village rising east of 17th Street.
The initiative will encompass 11 new or upgraded recreational and athletic and outdoor spaces, reshaping a nearly 12-block recreational and athletic corridor.
When asked about plans for The Nest, which would be situated just south of the campus, Creighton officials said that all development that strengthens Omaha’s urban core is good for the city and good for the university.
“We are glad to see our downtown community continue to grow into a place with more opportunities, more energy, and more reasons for people to see this city as their home,” they said in a statement.
The Omaha City Council approved a final plat for the Civic site in mid-June. It calls for dividing the approximately 9-acre site into five lots to allow for a mix of residential, civic, office and commercial uses.
Taylor Belling, a spokewoman for the developer, said plans include restoring 18th Street through the site. Davenport Street also will go through the property and connect with 18th Street at a T intersection.
Plans call for both market rate and affordable housing, as well as retail, offices and a health and wellness component.
The developer, she said, would love to have a grocery on site, a long-discussed need in the area. The company has had some interested parties and great conversations about a grocer, but no contracts have been signed.
Belling stressed that the history of the site predates the developer, which has only had it for about two years.
“We are moving at a very great pace for having the site as long as we’ve had it,” she said.
julie.anderson@owh.com, 402-444-1066, twitter.com/julieanderson41
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