Labor & Growth

Lawmakers object to TIF use for Omaha streetcar

BY: - January 27, 2022

OMAHA — A Nebraska senator who championed the law that gave “extremely blighted” neighborhoods a better shot at economic development says it is being “abused” for the proposed Omaha streetcar project. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha said he intended the 2020 change to tax-increment financing legislation to benefit the poorest areas of the state. The […]

Omaha aims for revamped urban core with streetcar, new downtown Mutual HQ

BY: and - January 26, 2022

Editor’s note: This story has been updated. OMAHA — A long-discussed streetcar, free to ride and running three miles from 10th Street to midtown, was the key to Mutual of Omaha’s decision to build a skyscraper on the property that houses the city’s main library.  The Nebraska Examiner broke the news of both new projects […]

UNMC sparks long-term shifts on corridor

BY: - January 26, 2022

OMAHA — A $44 million housing and retail campus appears to be next in the lineup of projects fast and furiously changing a midtown Omaha corridor anchored by the expanding University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nearly 200 market-rate apartments and row houses, a restaurant and a bank would rise on about five acres northwest of […]

Mutual of Omaha HQ headed for downtown Omaha library site

BY: , and - January 25, 2022

Mutual of Omaha — a corporate icon that’s been planted in midtown Omaha for decades — is poised to build a new headquarters where the city’s downtown public library stands, according to sources familiar with the project. The relocation of the Fortune 500 company, now based at 33rd and Dodge Streets, answers part of the […]

Hiring sign

Nebraska jobless rate lowest in nation once again

BY: - January 25, 2022

Nebraska has again topped the nation in recording the lowest unemployment rate of all states, followed by Utah, Oklahoma and Idaho. The state’s seasonally adjusted rate for December was 1.7% — that’s the lowest on record for any state since the collection of unemployment started in 1976. “Nebraska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to drop, […]

Nebraska Furniture Mart foresees growing pains in Omaha

BY: - January 25, 2022

Nebraska’s furniture titan is swiftly expanding its footprint, in king-sized ways, outside the city where it was founded 85 years ago. But big-ticket renovations at home in Omaha are on hold until officials reassess a flood-plain related regulation that threatens growth.