Gretna's Library Has Two Downtown Buildings. By Spring, It Won't Have Either.

Gretna's library is split between two buildings. Adults and teens check out books at the Main Library, 736 South Street. Kids go to the Children's Library at 119 North McKenna Avenue, which holds Family Storytime every Tuesday and Thursday. City Hall shares a building with the Old Fire Hall. All of these buildings are now for sale. Sometime after the new year, the city's offices and both library branches will move to one building under the water tower off Highway 6.

Downtown Gretna is losing its civic anchors, and the city has said it will choose the buyers by what they add to the street, not only by the size of the check.

A New Building Under the Water Tower

The Gretna Community Complex sits at Highway 6/31 and Jansen Drive, next to the Gretna Crossing Park water tower. The city's Fall 2026 Mayor's Newsletter gives the grand opening as February 2027. On a walkthrough with KETV, city leaders put the cost at $33 million and described a building made to be used, not just visited.

Here's what moves inside:

1. Both libraries, under one roof. City Administrator Paula Dennison told KETV that "the adult and teen library will be on the second floor and the children's library will be on the first floor."
2. City Hall and city offices. Mayor Mike Evans told KETV he's used to doing city business in his truck or at local coffee shops. The new building gives him his first office.
3. A maker space anyone can use. "Anyone can rent the machines," Dennison told KETV. "Whether they're crafters, sewers, or need 3D printers."
4. A rentable kitchen, event space and community hub area. The city's newsletter calls the kitchen a teaching kitchen and lists space for weddings, celebrations and larger meetings.
5. Pieces of old Gretna. A mural of historic Gretna will greet visitors on the first floor, and bricks from the old buildings will be built into the new one, KETV reported.

Sinclair Hille Architects led the design, and Weitz Company is the construction manager. The newsletter says the complex will be surrounded by a mixed-use development with a promenade. Updates are posted on the city's Community Complex page.

Three Listings, Three Prices, One Council Vote

The other half of the move is happening downtown. In April 2026, the City Council approved CBRE to market City Hall and both library buildings, the Gretna Guide & News reported. KMTV laid out the asking prices in August:

All offers go through the city, and the council votes on each one. In KMTV's Aug. 14 report, the city said interest had been significant but no official decisions had been made. The fall newsletter says the council "has been evaluating several exciting proposals." The public hasn't been told who made them.

The buildings can sell before the move without forcing anyone out early. Dennison told the council that if a building sells first, the agreement will cover how city offices stay until the new space is ready, according to the Gretna Guide & News. KMTV reported the city hopes to be out of the old buildings by late February or March.

Why the Highest Offer Might Not Win

The asking prices total $2.35 million. That money is part of how the new building gets paid for. Evans told KETV the $33 million will be covered by bonds, state grants and sales of old city property.

City leaders have still said in public that price isn't the main test. "It's not just the bottom dollar that we will be receiving, it is the legacy that we'll be leaving from these buildings," Dennison told the council, as reported by the Gretna Guide & News. In that same story, she said the planning commission, city staff and downtown business owners share the view that whatever goes into these buildings should add to what is already happening downtown.

Austin Obermeyer, the Gretna native marketing the properties, calls the goal a "halo effect." A building's next owner can help or hurt the businesses around it. "We think the best next use for them is some sort of business, businesses that will bring an energy to downtown," he told KMTV. In the same report he said, "if you can keep that soul of the city and take care of the historic part of it I think everything just grows around that."

So the council will be weighing an offer's dollars against its plan for the building. Because every offer gets a public vote, residents will see which way it goes. Council agendas are posted in the city's online Agenda Center ahead of each meeting.

The Last Season on South Street and McKenna

No closure dates for the old buildings have been announced. The library's current calendars run normally through the end of the year. If you've taken kids to storytime on McKenna or picked up holds on South Street for years, these programs are the last ones scheduled in those buildings:

• Oct. 29: HalloWeeRead Preschool Carnival, plus Family Storytime at the Children's Library
• Oct. 30: Zombie Prom
• Nov. 5: Book Smart Book Club
• Nov. 7: Kitty Café
• Nov. 17: Paws & Pages and the Homeschool Book Clubs
• Nov. 20: "3 Little Pigs" with Omaha Children's Museum
• Dec. 3: Book Smart again, followed by Genre Book Club on Dec. 17
• Dec. 10: Grif-Fiction Book Club for teens, with Bookwyrms closing out the year on Dec. 31
• Dec. 14 and 15: the Grade 4–6 book club, then homeschool book club meetings

Family Storytime keeps its Tuesday and Thursday schedule at the Children's Library. Times and any changes are posted on the Gretna Public Library website, and that's where the transition schedule should show up once it's set.

Highway 6 Is Getting Busier Too

The Community Complex sits on Highway 6/31, and the city says traffic on that road keeps increasing. The fall newsletter says Buc-ee's has closed on its property near the Highway 6/31 corridor. A new $23 million interchange design for Highway 6/31 is planned and is expected to be paid for entirely by state sales tax collected at Buc-ee's. Plans are due this winter, and the city says groundbreaking could come in early spring.

The newsletter calls the road work south of Highway 370 some of the most significant in the town's history. It lists 192nd Street improvements between Highway 370 and Capehart Road and south of Capehart, plus Capehart Road paving west of 192nd, all estimated for 2027. NDOT's I-80 Sarpy County interchange is listed for 2028. The city notes that schedules can change and says detour details will be posted at gretnane.org as each phase gets closer.

Taken together, City Hall, the library, rentable community space and a planned interchange are all landing on the Highway 6 corridor between this winter and spring. Downtown keeps the buildings, but their next use is still undecided.

What Downtown Keeps

The brick buildings aren't going anywhere. City leaders and the firm marketing them have said they want the next owners to care for the buildings and add to the businesses around them. The new complex will carry some of their bricks and a mural of the town they came from. Book clubs are still on the library's December schedule, and any sale of the downtown buildings still has to go before a City Council vote.

If you're curious how the move could shape the blocks near McKenna Avenue, or you'd like to know where your own home stands as Gretna grows, Sheila Ost is happy to talk it over. Start your move with a free consultation and home valuation. I'll give you a clear, local read, with no pressure.