Convention City Spotlight
Omaha
Omaha Delivers Big Value for Meeting Planners—With $9 Billion in New Development
Omaha Offers Unparalleled Value
At Omaha’s convention center, a gallon of coffee costs less than $50. For meeting planners managing hundreds of attendees, details like that start to add up in the right direction.
Value is just the start. Omaha’s $9 billion development boom includes a convention center renovation and an airport that will double in size and sits just four miles from downtown.
Once sessions end, attendees are steps from 72 acres of riverfront parks and the historic Old Market, where boutiques, bars and restaurants line the cobblestone streets.
Omaha makes budgets look good. The coffee is just the beginning.
Expansive Reasons to Host Here
With the CHI Health Center Omaha undergoing a $200 million expansion, slated to be complete in the fall of 2027, the benefits of hosting events in Omaha are growing. Here's a list of some of the city's present and future offerings:
·The expansion will add 90,000 square feet and 25 new meeting rooms, bringing the facility to a total of 41 rooms.
· Hotels, dining and entertainment are steps from the convention center — not a rideshare away.
· In 2028, a $421 million downtown streetcar will connect the convention center to multiple entertainment options.
· Omaha’s airport is nearly doubling in size, adding a single, unified concourse with centralized TSA screening, international flight gates with Customs and Border Protection arrival halls and additional arrival/departure gates, as well as more dining and shopping options.
Access Made Easy
Getting here and staying here is hassle-free. When it comes to travel and accommodations, Omaha offers:
· More than 3,600 downtown hotel rooms.
· 420,000 square feet of downtown convention space by fall 2027.
· 70 departures a day to 35 nonstop destinations from Omaha’s airport.
· Omaha’s airport capacity is also growing with an airport expansion with 2028 completion.
Plenty to Explore
Omaha packs a range of attractions into a compact, easy-to-explore city. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, consistently ranked the nation’s top zoo, features an indoor rainforest and desert dome.
The Durham Museum occupies the former Union Station, its chandelier-lit Great Hall an art deco masterpiece.
At Joslyn Art Museum, the Prix Versailles-winning expansion complements a collection of 12,000 objects spanning 5,000 years of human creativity.
The Kiewit Luminarium delivers 100-plus hands-on STEM exhibits in a light-filled building overlooking the Missouri River.
At Hot Shops Art Center, visitors watch artists shape molten glass into pieces they can take home.