The Passageway corridor of the Catalyst co-working hub was an alley before the adaptive reuse project that converted an old steel plant complex into a 170,000-square-foot co-working office space intended to spur innovation and healthcare inventions. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
OMAHA — Two decrepit buildings with an alley between them.
That’s how developer Jay Lund recalls the defunct midtown Omaha steel plant some four years ago when his team began contemplating a conversion project that partnered with the neighboring University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The groundbreaking for the Catalyst project was in May 2023, and shown here is a shell of the former Omaha Steel Works facility. (Kent Sievers/University of Nebraska Medical Center)
On Wednesday, the site crawled with academic, business and community members for a public unveiling of the repurposed product: the Catalyst, a 170,000-square-foot co-working hub expected to incubate new medical inventions, draw talent and burnish the area’s reputation as a healthcare and research magnet.
So far 20% full with 18 tenants, officials say investment in the private-public venture will reach about $97 million, $29 million of which is university funds and $6.3 million of which is public tax-increment financing from the City of Omaha.
It’s the first facility to open in the EDGE District, a roughly 30-acre area across Saddle Creek Road that’s considered UNMC’s west campus and the future home of more development. UNMC is the state’s only public academic health science center, treating patients as well as discovering cures.
“It still amazes me when I come in here,” Lund, of GreenSlate Development, said as he reflected on the before and after images of the project at 4601 Catalyst Court.
Said partner Dean Koelbel of Denver: “It was a beast of a building from taking it apart to putting it together.”
‘Serendipitous collisions’
Speaking also at the grand opening was Gov. Jim Pillen, Dr. Jeffrey Gold, University of Nebraska president, Dele Davies, UNMC interim chancellor, and Corinne Wardian, facility manager.
Dean Koelbel of Denver-based Koelbel and Co., left, and Jay Lund of GreenSlate Development, partnered in the Catalyst adaptive reuse project with UNMC as the public partner. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
The idea behind the Catalyst, they said, was to provide an environment where healthcare-minded academics, nonprofits, startups and businesses can network, exchange ideas and feed on a common energy.
“Serendipitous collisions,” is what Lund calls the moments when those workers bump into each other at a coffee counter or hallway and share a thought that becomes an invention.
“Innovation dies in a corporate setting,” added Koelbel.
Gold told visitors that he hopes to see the Catalyst lure talent worldwide and that he expects its tenants to help UNMC push the frontiers of research and innovation. He noted how hard academics and physicians work on the main UNMC campus but said a key is transferring knowledge to a commercial market.
“At the end of the day, until that research improves a human life, it is really just an exercise,” said Gold.
Among Catalyst’s anchor tenants are UNeMed, the technology transfer and commercialization arm of the Med Center, and UNeTech, a university affiliate that identifies and supports promising startups.
The two combined will take about a fourth of the complex, a portion of the private enterprise that’s owned by the university, which also owns the ground beneath the sprawling Catalyst.
Michael Dixon, CEO of UNeMed, and his team is settling into their new office space at the Catalyst. Through the windows to the east is the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s main campus. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
“The upside is we’re around people that are thinking like us, want to do work like we do,” said Michael Dixon, CEO of UNeMed. “It’s like building a team within a bigger team.”
On the main floor, past a grand stairway and near an area filled with historical photos, Dixon’s team has started to move into an office area. Visitors are greeted with a trophy wall of “wins,” which currently showcases a virtual incision robot.
Over the past five years, UNeMed and the university have racked up 526 new inventions, 76 license agreements, 19 new startup companies and 732 patent applications. Each of the last five years, NU has been recognized as one of the top 100 universities in the world for creating new patented technology, Dixon said.
Ties to State Capitol
Visitors on Wednesday got the opportunity to walk through other parts of the hulking workplace that features exposed brick, high beamed ceilings and plenty of steel reminiscent of the former Omaha Steel Works industrial plant founded in 1906.
The steel company produced parts for urban infrastructure and bridges, the railroad industry and a huge tractor company. In 1922, it was awarded the steel contract to construct the Nebraska State Capitol where state laws are made and government operations are managed.
Shown up high is the gantry crane that used to move steel in the factory and now is part of the historic decor. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
During World War II, the complex produced landing craft tanks and artillery shells.
“The building itself is unique because of its physical attributes,” said Lund.
But he said its UNMC-area setting made it especially attractive. A future skywalk across Saddle Creek Road will link the main campus with the EDGE District. The planned Omaha streetcar route will connect the tenants to downtown as well.
When transforming to its modern use, the development and architectural team used the shell of the steel plant and preserved key historical touches — such as a huge gantry crane that once moved around steel and is now part of the decor.
“You cannot create this kind of stuff,” Lund said. “Once you lose it, it’s gone forever.”
The team kept a flavor of what was literally an alley between two old buildings. Now enclosed and called the Passageway, the atrium is dotted with places for workers to sit, work, dine and collaborate.
Tenants have access to a kitchen and fitness area. There’s an executive board room, a “living room” lounge.
Added was a third level. Tenant spaces range from a desk to a studio to a 10,000-square-foot office.
On the public-facing side of the structure is a coffee shop and patios. Big Grove Brewery taproom and restaurant is to open in July. The Forge event hall is for rent to the public.
EDGE District to grow
Koelbel and university officials said Wednesday that private investment in the project had reached $68 million, and university funds total $29 million. Catalyst of Omaha follows in the footsteps of Denver’s Catalyst, a co-working hub also developed by Koelbel.
The Passageway, now an enclosed atrium, used to be an alleyway between two old steel plant buildings. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
It won’t be alone in that triangular-shaped EDGE District, as a six-story CORE research and office building is under construction. CORE stands for Campus Operations and Research Excellence, and will support computer-based research and wet lab-based research for drug discovery, oncology and other strategic areas.
A 750-stall parking garage owned by the City of Omaha is being built next to the Catalyst and will offer EDGE District parking. (Edge stands for Explore, Develop, Grow, Engage).
Other development is planned in the district, university officials said. Pillen, a former NU Regent, said he envisions a benefit for generations.
“Its gigantic for Omaha,” he said of the new development. ”It’s huge for the state of Nebraska.”
A rendering shows a future view from the northeast corner of Saddle Creek Road and Farnam Street looking south and southwest into the EDGE District, which includes the Catalyst project. The overpass would connect the main campus to the new EDGE District. (Courtesy of Holland Basham Architects)
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