Straddling the Missouri River, Omaha, Neb., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, are very different cities that complement each other with their individual appeal. Nebraska’s largest city has its world-renowned zoo and impressive cultural institutions; the smaller Council Bluffs offers the nonstop excitement of gaming and entertainment at its three casinos. Together they share a historical legacy as a transportation center and hub for successive waves of westward expansion.
Nowadays, they are basking in the glow of an ongoing renaissance since convention center openings began elevating their meetings profile almost seven years ago. Omaha is awaiting next year’s unveiling of TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, a $128 million ballpark close to the Qwest Center Omaha, its downtown convention complex. Council Bluffs is benefiting from new hotel rooms surrounding Mid-America Center, its primary meeting facility.
For both cities, the revitalization push is creeping north along the meandering river, spurred by an iconic suspension bridge connecting the two cities for walkers and bikers. Opened in September 2008, the $22 million Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge is 3,000 feet long by 15 feet wide.
Omaha
With ongoing improvements and increased awareness, the future looks bright for Omaha, according to Dana Markel, executive director of the Omaha CVB.
"We have a very walkable city and we continue to connect the dots," she says. "Entertainment is starting to circle the convention center, making it more interesting and creating memories for our visitors."
Qwest Center Omaha features more than 250,000 square feet of exhibition and function space and a 17,000-seat arena. It is connected by skywalk to the Hilton Omaha, Nebraska’s only AAA Four Diamond property, offering another 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
Located to the south is a 12-block area of restored brick warehouses: the Old Market arts and entertainment district, with cobblestone streets, restaurants, pubs, art galleries and carriage rides.
It adjoins the 30-acre riverfront Heartland of America Park, which delivers fountains, bike trails, Lewis and Clark interpretive exhibits and free summer concerts. Groups can take to the water, chartering the 350-passenger River City Star.
"The Old Market is a great selling tool for us and continues to grow," Markel says. "And the [Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge] has become quite an attraction. You can walk to Iowa. You can see it from the windows of the Qwest Center and reach it out the back doors. It connects 150 miles of trails on both sides of the river, and visitors can now rent bikes at the visitor center between Qwest and Old Market and ride across it."
Qwest borders NoDo (short for North Downtown), just inland from the new bridge. Here, more pieces of a mixed-use redevelopment are falling into place, including restaurants, stores, loft apartments, an art center and the Saddle Creek Records complex, featuring a night club, a concert hall and two theaters.
Four NoDo hotels have opened within the last three years: a Holiday Inn & Suites, a Homewood Suites, a Hampton Inn & Suites and a Fairfield Inn & Suites.
NoDo is the site of the 24,000-seat TD Ameritrade Park adjacent to the Qwest Center’s parking area. Opening in 2011, it will host the NCAA Men’s College World Series and Creighton University baseball, replacing Rosenblatt Stadium, which has hosted the series for 60 years. The stadium will be demolished to make way for the expansion of the Henry Doorly Zoo.
The Pacific Coast League’s Omaha Royals will move to a new smaller stadium being built in Papillion, an Omaha suburb.
"There will be new events we can host at the new park, and it has the advantage of being under the same management as Qwest," Markel says.
In addition to the Hilton, meetings hotels within walking distance of Qwest Center include Embassy Suites Hotel Omaha–Downtown/Old Market and Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center Omaha–Downtown. Downtown Omaha’s first boutique hotel, the 145-room Omaha Magnolia, featuring 6,000 square feet of meeting space, is less than a mile away.
Other meetings hotels include Holiday Inn Omaha Hotel & Convention Center, Omaha Marriott and Crowne Plaza Omaha Old Mill.
New hotels are opening west of downtown along the Dodge Road corridor. A 108-room TownePlace Suites opened last August, the 132-room Element Omaha Midtown Crossing opens Nov. 4, and a Staybridge Suites is expected to open this fall. Additionally, the 134-room Courtyard Omaha Aksarben Village debuted last year across from the University of Nebraska’s Scott Conference Center.
Roughly 45 minutes south of Omaha in Nebraska City is the state’s only IACC-certified property: the 144-room Lied Lodge & Conference Center, offering more than 14,000 square feet of function space and an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course.
With dozens of public artworks throughout the city, prodigious performing arts offerings and signature museums, Omaha is culturally well endowed, and the city’s cultural institutions provide plenty of off-site venue options.
Home to the Omaha Symphony and touring companies, the Holland Performing Arts Center is a top choice for events, and the 2,600-seat Orpheum Theater, built in 1927 as a vaudeville hall, is another option.
With more than 11,000 works of art, Joslyn Art Museum provides eight venue spaces, and the Art Deco Durham Museum, housed in the former Union Station, built in 1931, rents its entire facility to groups, in addition to individual spaces such as its great hall and conference room.
Off-site events can also be held at the Henry Doorly Zoo; Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha’s Botanical Center; and the Strategic Air & Space Museum.
Council Bluffs
While Omaha fills in the mixed-use NoDo area, Council Bluffs is just getting started with rejuvenating its northern sector along the Missouri River.
Across the pedestrian bridge in the Playland area there is a lot of undeveloped land. Trees are coming down and work on the 85-acre River’s Edge Park should be under way by year’s end. It will include bike trails and walkways, as well as a great lawn at the base of the bridge, and will be the first of a multiphase master plan redevelopment.
The park will stretch from north of the bridge south downriver to Harrah’s Casino & Hotel, offering 21,000 square feet of meeting space.
About a mile south along the river from Harrah’s, Ameristar Casino & Hotel, Iowa’s only AAA Four Diamond hotel, features a 5,000-square-foot ballroom and Iowa’s largest riverboat casino. Adjacent to the Ameristar are two meetings-friendly properties: a Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites and a Hampton Inn.
East of the casinos, Mid-America Center serves up an 8,000-seat multipurpose arena and more than 64,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. Within walking distance are a Country Inn and Suites and a Springhill Suites, in addition to the new Hilton Garden Inn Omaha East/Council Bluffs, with 5,000 square feet of meeting space. The Hilton Garden Inn is connected to the Horseshoe Council Bluffs, featuring a casino and a greyhound track. Also nearby is a Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, with conference space and an 80-room Microtel that opened last summer.
The room increase brings the number of guest units within about a mile of the convention facility to more than 1,000, according to Josee Beier, director of convention sales at the Council Bluffs CVB.
"The new rooms give us more availability and have made us more competitive. They are a huge help. We’re able to bring in larger groups," she says, adding that the CVB targets meetings of between 200 and 600 people. "We’re getting more corporate groups this year."
The city’s historic downtown northeast of Mid-America Center boasts a number of attractions, including the Union Pacific Museum, housed in the former 1903 Carnegie Library; the RailsWest Railroad Museum; and, with pie-shaped cells that were able to rotate, the Squirrel Cage Jail, which served as the Pottawattamie County Jail from 1885 until 1969.
Downtown Council Bluffs also has two standout choices for off-site gatherings: the Historic General Dodge House and Bayliss Park Hall.
Open for tours and built by Civil War veteran and railroad builder Gen. Grenville M. Dodge in 1869, the three-story Historic General Dodge House has a ballroom accommodating 80 people for receptions and 50 people for dinner.
Bayliss Park Hall, a former Elks Lodge dating to 1901, features seven spaces totaling 8,000 square feet, with a dinner capacity of up to 200 guests. The hall offers themed events such as a Murder Mystery party, a Titanic Dinner, a Comedy Night and a Casino Night. The hall, which underwent a $4.8 million renovation four years ago, overlooks Bayliss Park, the scene of summer evening concerts and other cultural events.
Tony Bartlett, a frequent contributor to Meetings MidAmerica, has been writing about the travel trade industry for more than 20 years.
