One of Omaha’s old industrial sites officially got a new lease on life Monday.
Federal, state and local leaders as well as University of Nebraska officials and developers celebrated a groundbreaking for the approximately $65 million Catalyst project on the site of the former Omaha Steel Castings plant.
Situated west of Saddle Creek Road across the street from the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s main campus, the 170,000-square-foot Catalyst will house the 40,000-square-foot UNMC Innovation Hub.
The hub, in turn, will bring together UNeMed and UNeTech, UNMC’s development arms, in a medically centered incubator space intended to foster collaboration among inventors, entrepreneurs and others.
The Catalyst also will include 130,000 square feet of space for businesses, as well as an event center, food hall and market.
People are also reading…
The Catalyst is being developed by Omaha firm GreenSlate Development and Denver-based Koelbel and Company. The developers will own about 130,000 square feet of the project and will lease the land from the university.
Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., said the site is perfect for such a development because the former factory helped build Nebraska. Steel produced there was used in the State Capitol building and helped construct railroads. It also contributed to the World War II effort.
“This is a site that has had global, national and world impact, and now that site, as an innovation hub, will continue to do the same, (to) help create the inventions that will impact our community, our state and our world,” he said. “And one of the first things it will do is start (redeveloping) the area around here.”
Also speaking at the groundbreaking — held at UNMC’s Davis Global Center — were Gov. Jim Pillen, NU President Ted Carter and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert.
All hailed the project’s potential to impact lives, as well as the economies of the city and state.
“This doesn’t just touch Nebraska, this doesn’t just touch the United States,” Pillen said. “What goes on here touches the world.”
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, UNMC’s chancellor, said the project and the neighborhood around it will revolutionize the western edge of the campus. And the new products, drugs and treatments that will be developed there through academic innovation, private ingenuity and more will benefit humankind for generations to come, he said.
Such developments also are important to the health of the university, he said.
In 2022, UNMC researchers produced 90 invention notifications and 28 U.S. patents. Approximately 60% of the technologies have been licensed for commercialization. The work spurred four startup companies.
But Gold said the bottom line is to help people.
“If it doesn’t change the life of somebody, if it doesn’t make them better, it really doesn’t have a point,” he said.
The timeline calls for completing construction in 2024. An atrium will connect two buildings, one made out of brick and the other with a steel-and-brick frame. The site has been largely cleared in preparation for construction.
UNMC has budgeted about $29 million for the project, with costs covered by internal funds consisting of revenue bonds and reserves, according to previous World-Herald reports.
The hub is modeled after the Catalyst Healthcare Tech Innovation building in Denver, which brings together businesses from across the health and wellness industries.