Omaha Riverfront Revitalization plans moving forward

June 19, 2018, 10:15 a.m. ·

With no mountains or beaches to showcase, Omaha community leaders are moving forward with a 290 million dollar Riverfront renovation plan that would overhaul Gene Leahy Mall, Heartland of America Park and Lewis and Clark Landing.

The purpose of the renovation is to revitalize the downtown area, attract new activity and business, and connect Omaha’s Riverfront with that of Council Bluff’s.

Co-Chair of the project committee, Mogens Bay, is excited about what new culture this park will bring to the city.

“It will activate, it’ll be transformational for downtown Omaha. And it will recreate a very viable and very vibrant area in downtown,” Bay said.

With more than half of the money being funded through the city of Omaha and private donations, the project is expected to be completed by 2022.

Bay and other committee members are hoping to start breaking ground on the project as early as spring 2019.

“I look forward to hopefully five years from now and look back and say ‘wow, this really is incredible for the community,” Bay said.