Omaha Exploration

In 2017, NuStyle Development completed work on one of Omaha’s most ambitious apartment projects. It consisted of turning an old Omaha Public Power District plant located at 4th and Leavenworth Streets into the 217-unit Breakers apartment complex on the Missouri River.

Above photos of the power plant are courtesy of Omaha Public Power District.

The site dates back as far as 1889 when the first coal-fired power station was built. The current buildings were constructed between 1920 and 1951. The earliest portions of the plant were removed in the 1970s, and it was decommissioned around 1985. After that OPPD paid security and maintenance costs and used portions of it for miscellaneous purposes.

NuStyle Development was the only company to bid on the buildings when OPPD put them up for sale in 2013. While they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the company didn’t seek historic tax credits as it was deemed too costly and problematic to maintain certain historic characteristics such as the buildings glass block windows and a great hall that was the home to a turbine.

The project included three structures:

• The 10-story boiler plant which was renovated into 104 apartments with high ceilings, industrial-style windows and decks. This section also contains some parking and amenities including a top-floor swimming pool and pavilion with walls that open in warm weather.
• The 2-story switchgear building which was renovated into 24 units and was designed to have two-level living areas.
• The 4-story turbine hall which was renovated into 89 units and include roof trusses and two underground parking levels with 200 stalls. The roof was removed from the middle of the building to create an interior courtyard whose focal point is an old 275-ton crane.

Up to that point, NuStyle mostly did projects in which they converted old offices into apartments. They called The Breakers the most complex project they had ever worked on as the buildings were essentially a shell that housed huge pieces of equipment. It required that they remove a huge diesel fuel tank, iron, boiler parts and asbestos.

Once that was done, they had to build the interior from scratch as the mostly hollow building didn’t have traditional floors – just walkways utilized by the power plant workers as they walked around the equipment inside.

When it opened, the Breakers connected Little Italy to the south to the Conagra campus on the north. This apartment more than others in the area attracted not just young professionals and millennials but baby boomers and empty nesters. This can likely be attributed to its location as it offers not only views of the river but easy access to the Old Market while being far enough from the crowds and nightlife.

Once this project was complete, NuStyle went out on transform the Creighton University Medical Center transformation into the Atlas apartments.

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Until next time, keep exploring!

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