NU Board Of Regents Gives Green Light To Innovation Hub At UNMC Campus

By Cindy Gonzalez, Nebraska Examiner:

September 30, 2022

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents on Friday approved the plan to build an innovation hub on a tract that extends the University of Nebraska Medical Center west of Saddle Creek Road in Omaha.

UNMC owns the land and also will own part of the private-public venture, called the Catalyst, that will rise on about three acres.

“The flexible lease space will support entrepreneurial businesses in a collaborative environment, will generate income for UNMC and spur regional development,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey Gold.

Rodney Markin, executive director of the UNeTech Institute, Omaha’s only university-supported startup incubator, said the project will be the university system’s epicenter of technology development initiatives. UNeTech will be among the tenants of the structure.

Site and design work has been ongoing. Major construction work is to begin in the fall with completion anticipated in spring 2024.

The innovation hub is part of UNMC’s larger Saddle Creek redevelopment project. In June, the Board of Regents approved the administrative facility at the corner of Saddle Creek Road and Farnam Street. Construction on the seven-floor office facility will begin this year with completion in late 2025.

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