A nearly 100-year-old building that has anchored North Omaha for more than 70 years is finishing up a $2 million remodel, and the Bryant Resource Center is preparing to offer drop-in daycare, a free legal clinic and grief support classes once the work wraps. The building has long provided educational, economic and social services to families and youth in the neighborhood, and the renovation is meant to expand what it can offer going forward.
According to KMTV 3 News Now, the remodel started in 2024 after the center received funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Brea Worthington, executive director of the Bryant Resource Center Ames Project, told the station that for the last 20 years, the building hasn't been used to its full potential, and said the community has a significant history with the center.
New Services Aim to Fill Gaps for Families
Once complete, the station's report says the center will offer a drop-in daycare, a free legal clinic focused on probate law, family law and entrepreneurship law, and grief support classes. The center's website, Bryant Resource Center, also describes plans for a community room available for meetings or gatherings and a computer center that could serve as a testing site for education and job-training programs.
Worthington said bringing multiple services together in one cultural hub creates a more engaging experience, and that the design was intended to make people feel included and welcomed. She also said that some organizations oust people who do not fit their cultural expectations or break their rules, framing the center's approach as a deliberate alternative, per the same account.
Kids Get a Say in How the Building Looks
The center is also running a Color Our Legacy art contest inviting local school-age children to contribute artwork to the building, with all submitted pieces to be included in the facility in some way. Prizes are set at $250 for first place, $100 for second and $50 for third, and Worthington said youth artwork will help make the building feel more personal.
The center is expected to open in December, and during Christmas in the Village, the community is invited to visit and provide feedback on the finished space. Once this phase wraps, the next project on the list is the Bryant Center basketball court, a site that includes a tree more than 70 years old whose roots have shaped the look of the 24th Street location.
A Restoration Story With Some Loose Threads
The $2 million remodel figure follows years of shifting estimates for the project. WOWT reported in January 2024 that board members were looking at a three-to-five-year timeline and that more than $2.1 million was needed to bring the building back to life, while the center's own website at one point said construction was expected to start in early fall 2025 — a timeline that does not line up with the 2024 start date reported by 3 News Now. The available reporting does not explain the discrepancy.
Roof-repair estimates have also varied across sources. KETV previously reported the roof needed $40,000 worth of repairs, WOWT reported a fundraiser seeking $30,000 for roof work, and the center's own campaign page listed $71,000 for immediate roof repairs on the main building. Accounts also differ on when the structure was built: KETV and the center's campaign materials say 1928, while North Omaha History dates it to 1926.
The center's capital campaign materials estimate that repairing and renovating the existing building structure would cost $1,009,601, compared to roughly $4 million to build a comparable structure new — figures that are the center's own estimates rather than independently verified costs. Those materials, along with the broader history of the restoration effort, underscore how long neighborhood advocates have worked to keep the building standing before this remodel neared completion.
