A senior housing project is taking shape near 29th and R Street as part of the ongoing Southside Terrace redevelopment, according to a building permit cited by Grow Omaha. The planned structure is described as three stories and roughly 71,000 square feet, and it marks the latest step in a years-long effort to remake the South Omaha public housing site.
The redevelopment's third phase includes a separate 42-unit senior building.
The site is southeast of 30th and Q Streets. The Planning Department recommended approval of the preliminary plat subject to certain conditions, though that recommendation does not by itself establish that the project has received final sign-off, begun construction, or set an opening date.
A Five-Phase Plan Years in the Making
The redevelopment traces back to a five-phase plan that got underway in 2023, replacing what one account calls an 85-year-old housing project, according to Omaha Exploration. The effort is a collaboration between Brinshore Development, the Omaha Housing Authority, and Canopy South, per the developer's own project page, which describes the goal as turning the old Southside Terrace Garden Apartments site into a mixed-income community with a variety of housing types and household sizes.
The first housing phase broke ground on July 9, 2024, when crews prepared to demolish two barracks-style apartment buildings to make way for a new 92-apartment building serving residents across a range of incomes, as reported by Omaha.com. A 2023 city filing had described that proposed building as four stories tall. That first phase, known as The Cornerstone at Southside, was completed in April 2026 as a four-story, 92-unit complex spanning 112,000 square feet and costing $22.9 million, according to Lueder Construction, which built the project.
Bigger Phases Still to Come
Plans for the second phase called for adding 115 units across 11 buildings, with completion expected in 2027, the same Omaha Exploration account notes. Beyond that, Grow Omaha reports the overall redevelopment aims to grow the site's residential unit count from 359 to 750, following demolition of the former Southside Terrace complex, which had held 358 units.
Published figures for the redevelopment's ultimate scale vary. A 2022 report stated that the 358 apartments then standing on the Southside Terrace site would be replaced with a total of 746 new affordable and market-rate units, according to the Omaha Daily Record. A later account from the same Omaha Exploration piece described the completed project as consisting of around 550 units, with another 150 new residences planned in the nearby Indian Hill neighborhood — a figure that appears to reflect a different scope or version of the plan than the earlier estimate.
For now, the senior housing component near 29th and R Street represents one more concrete piece of a redevelopment that has unfolded in stages since 2023, with the first phase now finished and additional housing phases still working their way through the pipeline.
