According to the Omaha World Herald, a new 108-page master plan for Ralston, which is about ten miles southwest of the Omaha, includes walkable plans for 460 housing units as well as greenspace, restaurants, bars and retail. There is currently no timeline for the plan which also seeks the addition of 1,000 new residents and about 160,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. A study by HDR, an engineering company is currently underway to examine Ralston’s main downtown plaza.
It’s too early for the project to have a set price tag, but [Mayor Don] Groesser said planners have tossed out $40 million to $50 million for the entire project, much of which would come from the private sector.The biggest city expense would most likely be for the many green spaces sprinkled through the project’s conceptual designs. Those could cost upward of $5 million — another rough estimate, Groesser said.
One such imagined green space, in the plan called Gateway Park, would act as a natural welcome mat into the city. In the designs, planners have placed it off 72nd Street between Main and Burlington Streets. Other amenities included in the designs, from 72nd all the way into downtown, include a small grocery store, pedestrian plazas, a food truck park and aesthetic street designs.
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