Finally, construction begins at Omaha’s The Crossroads site

Finally, something is going to happen at the old Crossroads Mall site near 72nd and Dodge Streets.

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Finally, something is going to happen at the old Crossroads Mall site near 72nd and Dodge Streets.

After the old mall was demolished about five years ago, there has been infrastructure work completed at the site, but no signs of development.

But that’s now changed.

The Woodbury Corporation took over the Crossroads project last year and laid out plans to grow something from the site that’s sat empty.

“Our first phase will include a large entertainment complex, a 92,000-foot entertainment national chain,” said Jeff Woodbury, senior vice president of development and acquisitions at Woodbury Corporation, in December.

The Woodbury Corporation is making good on that statement, breaking ground on a massive entertainment center, they say will set the tone for the rest of this close to $1 billion project.

“What you’ll see here in the future is a project that will look much more like a city than a shopping center,” Woodbury said.

The first part of the city will be Gamescape by Cinemark, a one-of-a-kind family entertainment center in Nebraska for all ages.

“It has eight state-of-the-art movie theatre screens,” said Jay Jostrand, executive vice president of real estate and construction at Cinemark. “We have 18 state-of-the-art bowling lanes, full bar, full restaurant, laser tag, ropes course, expanded game room with a redemption center.”

Phase one of the project will also include a public green space, apartments, office space and shopping.

Omaha City Councilmember Pete Festersen said he’s waited a long time for this day.

“I’ve been working on this for 15 years, so I will say Mayor (John) Ewing, it’s very impressive that you’ve been in office for only seven days and already have this groundbreaking happen,” Festersen said.

The cost of the project ballooned over the years from $200 million to close to a billion dollars. Ewing is not concerned with on-again, off-again tariffs that could increase the final cost.

“That could happen, but the city won’t be on the hook for any of those extra costs. The reality is this is a bigger project, and that’s part of the reason the cost has gone up,” Ewing said.

Ewing is just happy that construction on the old crossroads site is finally underway,

“I know myself and a few other people we’re tired of driving by and not seeing progress, so hopefully we can get this done and give the people of Omaha something they can be proud of,” he said.

Construction on other projects of phase one will get underway later this summer and in the fall.

Officials believe it will take about two years to complete the Gamescape entertainment center, and they’re estimating that the facility alone will attract half a million people a year to the area.