The long-vacant Younkers department store at Omaha's Oak View Mall could soon be filled with trampolines, ziplines and virtual-reality games instead of racks of clothing. The Omaha City Council held a public hearing Tuesday on a proposal to bring NRG Adventure Park into the former Younkers space, a move that would require amending the mall's development agreement to allow indoor recreation use for the first time.
What's Proposed for the Old Younkers Space
According to WOWT, NRG Adventure Park would occupy the former Younkers building at 3201 S. 144th St., and the plan requires a major amendment to the property's mixed-use district development agreement so indoor sports and recreation becomes a permitted use there. The outlet reports the park would include trampolines, soft-play areas, VR games, a ropes course, rock climbing walls and an array of slides — bumper slides, fast slides, trumpet slides, drop slides and wave slides among them. Ziplines, additional climbing attractions, a sports field, a ball pit and a sponge ball area round out the attraction list, per the station's reporting. A separate account from growomaha.com confirms the park would be located on the second floor of the former store, with the City of Omaha reviewing the major amendment to permit that indoor recreation use.
The Rush Market had occupied the building until 2025, growomaha.com notes, leaving the space empty before NRG's proposal surfaced. WOWT's reporting adds that the facility would also include roughly nine party rooms and a kitchen and cafe area serving pizza, hot dogs, wings and nachos, prepared with ventless ovens and no grease fryers. No alcohol would be served, and smoking and vaping would not be permitted inside, the station reports.
Who the Park Is Built For — and How It Would Run
The attractions are designed primarily for guests ages 5 to 14, per WOWT, with a maximum occupancy of 1,100 guests including staff. Anticipated hours run Monday through Thursday from noon to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. — though those hours may shift for pre-scheduled group events, private parties or other programs. The station also reports NRG may offer Toddler Rush and Neon Night programs as part of its lineup.
NRG expects to employ about 80 people, with roughly 20 staff on site at any given time and three full-time managers overseeing operations, according to WOWT's reporting. Admission would run through a guest waiver system, and attractions and party rooms would be supervised by trained staff whose training follows applicable insurance requirements and ASTM standards. The station reports the facility would maintain both an incident reporting program and a risk management program, place security cameras in guest and employee areas, and expect food and beverage deliveries about once a week.
A Broader Expansion Push
Omaha wouldn't be an outlier if the deal goes through — NRG Entertainment has been expanding aggressively across the country. The company planned 30 Adventure Park locations by the end of 2026 and more than 100 in the longer term, according to a news release cited by fox4kc.com, which reported a 46,000-square-foot NRG Adventure Park coming to Kansas City's Northland at the Metro North Crossing development, featuring trampolines, indoor playgrounds and high-tech strategy-driven games, with an early 2026 opening planned. In south Fargo, NRG opened a location in the former Gordmans building at 5100 14th Ave. S., featuring a trampoline park, climbing walls, ball pits, a kid-friendly zip line and a virtual-reality zone, along with birthday packages and timed play tickets for 60, 90 or 120 minutes, per valleynewslive.com.
In Jacksonville, NRG is converting an 80,000-square-foot former Bealls space in the Southside Commons shopping center into an indoor playground at an estimated project cost of $440,000, according to jaxdailyrecord.com, which reports plans for a ball pit, basketball, dodgeball, a foam pit, harnessed climbing, a jousting pit, ropes court, toddler zone and zip line there. That outlet notes NRG's first location opened in Springfield, New Jersey, with Fargo as its second, and that the company's website listed 30 locations coming soon across 19 states, including three in Florida alone.
What's Driving the Push at Oak View Mall
District 1 Omaha City Councilman Brinker Harding told WOWT the project is the kind of redevelopment his district needs, arguing that redeveloping underutilized assets would help build the tax base and that the new amenities would be economically beneficial. The mall has lost several longtime stores in recent years, the station reports, though mall social media posts cited by WOWT note it has also opened five new stores this year and hosted more than 15 events. Nearby, Heartwood Preserve sits on 144th and Dodge to Pacific, and Applied Underwriters is set to hold a grand opening later this month, according to the same report.
Tuesday's council session was a public hearing only, per WOWT, with a vote on the amendment expected the following week. Harding told the station he anticipates the amendment will pass without any problem. No opening date for NRG Adventure Park has been announced if the amendment is approved, and comparable projects in Jacksonville, Fargo and Kansas City have not been independently confirmed to have opened on their originally announced timelines.
