Bellevue Mayor working to attract entertainment, housing, jobs to city

BELLEVUE, Neb. (WOWT) – The City of Bellevue is working to change its image through trying to attract entertainment, housing, and jobs to the city. It could all start with a waterpark.

A 100,000 square foot indoor water park with a retractable roof, connected to retail shops and hotels is in the works in Bellevue.

Mayor Rusty Hike expects the waterpark and entertainment area to draw hundreds of thousands of people a year, and bring in millions of dollars to the Bellevue area.

“If we grow the city, if we start bringing in industry, broadening our tax base, bringing in outside entertainment dollars, bringing in jobs, that’s growing our city,” Mayor Hike said.

Mary Brown owns MB Hair Design, she’s been in Olde Town Bellevue for 15 years. She’s hoping the city will grow in population, and especially in business.

“I mean, down here, the Olde Town Part, I would like to see more small businesses to get people walking around downtown,” Brown said. “If it takes building more living spaces, that’s a positive also.”

Bellevue continues to work on building living space downtown. Developers are still working on the 54 apartments and retail space in Olde Town.

Mayor Hike says they’re working out the parking issue, and the city believes it still has good odds to land a casino and race track in Bellevue.

“We think it fits right in to what the Governor is trying to do,” Hike said. “We’re trying to figure out this property tax problem. The casino race track brings in additional gaming revenue, so our minimum projections on our race track casino are $2.5 million to the county and $15 million to the state.”

The mayor hopes growing the city will change Bellevue’s image.

“We’ve always kind of been a bedroom community in Bellevue,” Hike said. “You don’t have the industry, you don’t have the retail sales, you don’t have the hubbub, but you rely on your residents to pay all the taxes.”

Mayor Hike is hoping to make Bellevue more attractive by creating more entertainment, more housing, and lower taxes.

“Nebraska has 1.9 million people in it,” Mayor Hike said. “We haven’t doubled our population in over 100 years, so I don’t know if it’s a tax problem or a people problem. I guess we just need more bodies, more jobs, more businesses.”

Officials believe the Bellevue Bay Indoor Water Park will be the first year-round aquatic attraction in the region. Mayor Hike is hoping to have the giant facility complete in two years.

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