A 13-story mixed-use building next to Target, a new police and fire headquarters, green space and a 90,000-square-foot cinema. Those are among the elements of the long-awaited Crossroads project that developers shared with community members Wednesday.
Within the next two years, nearly 40 acres of vacant dirt in the city’s center will transform into a dense development meant to revitalize one of Omaha’s busiest areas. It’s been a long time coming.
The site of the former Crossroads Mall at 72nd and Dodge streets has seen starts and stops since the dying shopping center was demolished in early 2021. The current developers, Woodbury and WRK, “took over in earnest in 2023.”
“I’m very, very aware of the history of Crossroads and how long it’s taken to get here,” said Josh Berger, Woodbury’s director of development, “We’ve made good progress. We’re going to continue to make good progress.”
Berger spoke alongside project leaders and city officials at a forum Wednesday evening in the Omaha Conservatory of Music Wednesday. The speakers shared updates and renderings while addressing questions from the development’s residential neighbors.
“We’re really trying to build the city within the city, and we’re trying to build something special,” Berger said. “Something that’s not been done here before, something that’s urban, something that’s walkable, something that’s dense. It has lots of different uses.”
Here’s what’s in store for the site:
The Target and adjacent parking lot on the northwest corner of 72nd and Dodge will remain. Directly to the west of the popular store, developers plan a multi-story building, additional retail and a hotel. More retail storefronts, restaurants and outdoor spaces will stretch toward 75th Avenue.
An 87,000-square-foot entertainment center called Gamescape will anchor the western end of Crossroads. The cinema and entertainment center will hold a movie theater, bowling lanes, a full-service restaurant, laser tag and arcade.
The city’s new police and fire headquarters are planned to rise north of Gamescape. The 275,000-square-foot development is slotted for a 3.2-acre site between Cass and Chicago streets near 74th Avenue. It’s estimated to hold more than 300 public safety professionals from the Omaha Police Department and Omaha Fire Department.
The city will seek $155 million in bonding authority on the November ballot for that project.
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Wednesday that the police department has looked to build a new headquarters for 15 years.
“We’ve looked at numerous sites during that time,” Schmaderer said. “This was one that came to us that was very feasible. It was ready to build. It would be a nice anchor for the area, so we started to consider it.”
If voters approve the bonds in November, the design phase would continue into late 2027, with construction beginning in January 2028 and the project scheduled for completion in the spring of 2030.
As for the rest of the Crossroads project, developers said major pieces of the site will be completed in the next two years. Cinemark’s Gamescape is expected to open in September 2028.