Omaha City Council to vote on $3.2M contract to renovate downtown parking

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The Omaha City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a multi-million-dollar project for parking renovations downtown.

“Surface parking is much cheaper than building a parking garage,” said Kenneth Smith, parking and mobility manager for the city.

Between Cass and Chicago Streets from 15th to 19th, the city hopes to get approval for a $3.2 million parking lot project. There were five bidders and the city took the lowest one.

Renovations include excavation, fencing, pavement removal, sidewalk construction, and expansion. The reconfiguration would create 350 more spots downtown.

“If you think about the towers that are being built and the other developments that are happening, there is no way we can park all the construction employees downtown as it is now,” said Smith. “We can accommodate some of them, but we’re going to have to have some off-site areas that they’re going to park at.”

Parking generated $10.2 million for the city last year, according to Smith. Some of the money from that revenue fund will be used to help get this project off the ground.

Smith said the spots in the new lots will be mostly for monthly leases, which cost about $48 a month. He said they could also be used for big events like the College World Series in the future.

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