Streetcar construction has choked off foot traffic and sales along 10th Street in the Capitol District, where Addy's Sports Bar & Grill is located at 101 North 10th Street.
Addy's lists two other Omaha-metro restaurants, at 14615 West Maple Road and 1515 South 204th Street, and describes itself on its website as a locally owned sports bar with three locations in the metro.
The financial damage at the downtown location had been piling up for months. Addy's was down about $300,000 in sales and had lost a handful of servers as streetcar construction picked up outside its doors, according to the Flatwater Free Press. Owner Tim Addison told the outlet that construction on 10th Street had hampered foot traffic and depressed sales right in front of his business.
The downturn extends beyond Addy’s, though it has not hit every business equally. Average city restaurant-tax payments for bars and restaurants along the streetcar route fell 3% from 2023 to 2025, while the rest of Omaha’s restaurants saw a 22% increase. Those tax figures are an indicator of sales, not a business-by-business accounting; Addy’s owner said sales had begun inching up after utility work ended and rail laying started, as The Reader’s account of the corridor’s uneven impact noted.
Game Nights Drew Half-Empty Rooms
Addison said Creighton basketball games and professional volleyball matches, usually reliable draws for the sports bar, were pulling in less than half a crowd once construction ramped up nearby, per the same account. The streetcar project was originally slated for a 2026 completion but is now nearly two years behind schedule, the Flatwater Free Press reported.
The streetcar is expected to open in 2028.
A Kansas City restaurant offers one example of how the disruption can outlast construction: Affäre, in that city’s Crossroads neighborhood, came close to closing during streetcar work in the mid-2010s, its owner said, but later celebrated its 14th anniversary. The owner said new apartment buildings near the line now bring diners to the restaurant. The experience is no guarantee for Omaha businesses, but it illustrates the contrast between the immediate construction squeeze and the neighborhood growth supporters hope the streetcar will bring, as The Reader reported in its comparison with Kansas City.
Street closures have made the problem worse for businesses trying to hang on along the corridor. Multiple streets in the area have been closed, making it harder for customers to reach businesses along the route, 3 News Now reported. The outlet also noted the City of Omaha planned to open Farnam Street eastbound from 25th Street to give customers additional access and parking near affected businesses.
Streetcar Relief Fund
A $5 million relief fund launched for businesses along the streetcar construction route that documented financial losses, with its first phase delivering $10,000 grants to 27 businesses, according to WOWT.
The fund’s later phases go beyond the initial grants: Nebraska Enterprise Fund lists a $10,000 grant for businesses with at least a 10% revenue decline over a six-month comparison, plus fully forgivable loans of up to $50,000 for businesses with at least a 2% decline. A third phase lists loans of up to $75,000 that are half forgivable and up to $100,000 at 2% interest. Applicants must be within one block of the route, show construction-related access impacts and provide financial documentation, under the fund’s current eligibility rules.
