Omaha attracts $500 million in investment, despite COVID-19 pandemic

(The Center Square) – Omaha, like most cities, took an economic hit in 2020 as sporting events and conventions were canceled, and restaurants and hotels were left struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then a glimmer of economic hope emerged in Omaha.

“We found, in the midst of all of this that a lot of our businesses were considered essential businesses,” David Brown, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber, told The Center Square. “A large number of our big businesses kept operations going. A lot of our larger offices were able to pivot to a remote workforce. Our larger insurance companies, for example, were able to keep their people working.”

Last summer, Omaha’s COVID-19 case numbers dropped and were lower than most other parts of the country.

“The rest of the country was going through huge spikes,” Brown said. “We didn’t see that.”

In August, Omaha was considered one of the best cities in the country for businesses that had reopened during the pandemic, Brown said.

Omaha was able to keep working with business prospects as well. As a result, Omaha landed commitments for 30 economic development projects in 2020, representing nearly $500 million in capital investment, Brown said.

“When everybody else was closed down, the middle swatch of the country was not,” Brown said. “North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas – we were still operating.”

Omaha also began preparing for 2021.

“We had some legislative work that needed to be done to make sure that we had some tax cuts done, that we got a new incentive bill passed and that we’re investing in a new research project that is coming down the pike at the University of Nebraska Medical Center,” Brown said. “We got all that done despite the fact that the Legislature had to stop their session and restart it again in October.”

Unemployment also began to drop. At one point there were 30,000 people unemployed in the Omaha labor force, twice the normal number.

“The last time we looked there were 6,000 more people unemployed than there were a year ago,” Brown said. “We are slowly but surely putting people back to work.”

The economic development prospects look good for 2021, he added.

“We fully expect that we will land 40 or so companies this year again, with about $500 million in capital investment,” Brown said.

The COVID-19 vaccines will help.

“We look forward to seeing the number of cases drop,” Brown said. “As people are safer, the economy comes back a lot faster.”

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