Omaha's Park Avenue neighborhood has seen a lot of fixing up in recent years. For many longtime residents, that's also meant rising rents. A new apartment building from a neighborhood nonprofit aims to give some of them a place to stay.
inCOMMON Community Development planned a soft opening Oct. 17 for the first phase of The Poppleton, a 51-unit building reserved for households earning 40% to 60% of the area median income. According to Grow Omaha, a Spark CDI Community Loan Fund provided construction financing.
A quick note on the address. The Grow Omaha brief listed the building at 1313 Park Ave., but The Poppleton's own leasing website lists 2911 Poppleton Ave. We're going with the property's own listing.
A campus, built in pieces
The Poppleton isn't one building. It's a set of buildings near Park Avenue and Poppleton Avenue, built in stages.
The first building, known as Poppleton East, is the 51-unit building now opening. According to inCOMMON's project page, amenities include underground parking, on-site laundry and a pickleball court. inCOMMON says this first phase has been fully funded. Back in August, Grow Omaha reported the building was nearing completion and expected to start move-ins in November, so the October soft opening puts it a little ahead of that pace.
Also under construction is The Brando, a seven-unit, townhome-style building along Park Avenue, Grow Omaha reported in August.
The next big piece is Poppleton West. In August, the Omaha Planning Board approved a tax increment financing application for that building, which will sit on the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Poppleton. It's planned as a four-story, 63-unit apartment building over one level of indoor parking, with an attached two-story, 4,400-square-foot commercial building on the corner. The developer said a daycare business is lined up for that space. Total investment in Poppleton West is nearly $22 million, and inCOMMON told Grow Omaha it will be ready for people to move in by June 2028.
Add it up, and 51 units in Poppleton East, seven in The Brando and 63 in Poppleton West come to 121, which matches the 121 affordable units inCOMMON has said the whole project will bring. inCOMMON's page describes the project in two phases, while Grow Omaha called Poppleton West the third, but the total is the same either way.
Why here
inCOMMON's project page lays out the reason. It says the Park Avenue neighborhood has seen a fast pace of redevelopment, and while that's improved many older buildings, low-income residents are being priced out. The group points to a 2021 report that found the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro short about 78,800 affordable units.
The site sits close to the ORBT rapid bus line, Interstates 80 and 480, and about a mile and a half from downtown. It's also a block from inCOMMON's Park Avenue Neighborhood Resource Center, which offers workforce development, adult education, financial education and youth programs.
Why it matters for Contractors
The Poppleton shows how affordable housing often gets built in the city: one piece at a time, as the money comes together. That means a steady line of work rather than one big burst.
Poppleton East is wrapping up, and The Brando is under construction. A seven-unit townhome building is the kind of job a smaller local builder can take on. Poppleton West is the next big job, with a 63-unit building over structured parking and a commercial corner. That means concrete for the parking level, framing above, and a full slate of mechanical, electrical, plumbing and finish work, plus a commercial build-out for the daycare space. inCOMMON says it is still raising money for the remaining phase, so the timing will depend on that.
No general contractor has been named in the coverage we found, and we aren't naming one here. Subs interested in Poppleton West should keep an eye out as the project moves toward construction.
Projects like this one also tend to carry extra paperwork, from TIF requirements to lender reporting. Contractors used to that kind of job will have an edge.
With a June 2028 target for Poppleton West, bid packages will likely start moving over the next year. Contractors who already work in Omaha's older midtown neighborhoods, with their tight lots and busy streets, will know what they're getting into.