Some neighbors of UNMC still concerned about Omaha campus expansion
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Construction work continues near the intersection of North Saddle Creek Road and Leavenworth Street in Omaha, and city officials say it will make things much better.
About a year ago, 6 News talked to the owner of Neighber’s Bar, Josh Bruckner. At that time, he was worried about what University of Nebraska Medical Center’s campus expansion would mean for their family-owned business.
“My mom bought it in November of 1987, so a year after I was born,” said Bruckner. “I’ve been here since I was about one year old.”
When the construction project first started, they had concerns for their business, but that caution turned into a green light for the future.
“[City officials] saw the news story, they contacted us and said ‘Hey, let’s talk,’” Bruckner said. “They came to us shortly after the news story dropped. We’re going to be staying for the foreseeable future. They’re going to be improving a lot of the landscape around us. We’re hopeful for the future.”
But all of those improvement coming to the area will bring some growing pains to Central Body Collision Repair, a business that has operated near 46th Avenue and Leavenworth since the 1970s.
The changes coming will change the way they do business.
“We’re going to lose access to our showroom,” said Kaleigh Haffke with Central Body Collision repair. “We will no longer be able to safely get vehicles in and out of our showroom. Also, getting customers in our parking lot... they’ll no longer be able to turn into here if they’re going east, so just trying to maneuver them in and out could potentially affect us, especially since we work on larger vehicles. It’s going to make it really hard.”
Haffke says the business will lose its entryway and almost all of its sidewalk, but city officials assert that all of the work going on near Saddle Creek and Leavenworth will improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety in the area.
Central Body Collision Repair will be compensated for the land used for the project and the renovations they will have to make to their building.
Omaha city officials tell 6 News it will take about 10 months to finish the project.
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