New Businesses on West Dodge Road: What’s Opening in 2026
West Dodge Road has been adding new businesses steadily for the past several years, and 2026 is continuing that trend. The corridor stretching from Westroads Mall to Village Pointe and beyond keeps attracting restaurants, retailers, medical offices, and service providers. Here is a look at the development patterns shaping the corridor right now.
Where the Growth Is Happening
The most active construction along West Dodge has shifted westward. The stretch between 144th and 192nd Streets is seeing the most new commercial development, driven by the rapid residential growth in Elkhorn and the neighborhoods surrounding 168th to 204th Streets. Thousands of new homes have gone up in western Douglas County over the past five years, and commercial developers are chasing those rooftops.
Heartwood Preserve near 144th Street continues to fill in. The mixed-use development has already attracted restaurants like 30hop and Railcar Modern American Kitchen, and additional retail and office space is coming online as the project builds out. The development represents a newer model for the corridor: walkable, mixed-use, and built to blend residential, office, and retail space rather than separating them into single-use parcels.
Village Pointe at 168th Street remains the western retail anchor, with over 60 tenants including Scheels, Nordstrom Rack, North Italia, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, and Meddys. The center’s open-air format continues to attract tenants who prefer a lifestyle-center setting over enclosed mall space. As traffic increases from the western suburbs, Village Pointe’s position at the intersection of residential growth and the Dodge Expressway makes it a natural landing spot for new-to-market brands.
Beyond Village Pointe, the corridor past 180th Street is the true frontier. Pads along West Dodge near 192nd and 204th Streets that were empty farmland a decade ago now have utilities, road access, and zoning approvals in place. This is where the next generation of strip centers, medical offices, and quick-service restaurants will fill in as Elkhorn’s population grows.
What Types of Businesses Are Moving In
The pattern is consistent with what has worked further east on the corridor, but with a few twists.
Restaurants and fast-casual dining continue to lead the way. The office and residential population along West Dodge supports a deep dining market, and national and regional restaurant brands see the corridor as a proven location. Fast-casual concepts (build-your-own bowls, specialty sandwich shops, and health-forward menus) are particularly active because they match the lunch habits of the corridor’s office workers and the dinner preferences of nearby families.
Medical and dental offices are expanding westward. As the population shifts west, healthcare providers follow. Multi-provider clinics, urgent care centers, dental practices, and specialty offices are filling new medical office buildings between 144th and 180th Streets. Methodist and other health systems have already established a strong presence on the corridor with locations like HealthWest at 16120 West Dodge and West Dodge Medical Plaza near 162nd Avenue. Smaller independent practices are filling in the gaps, particularly in chiropractic care, dermatology, and mental health services.
Fitness and wellness businesses continue to grow. The corridor already supports Life Time Fitness, Genesis Health Clubs Westroads, West O Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, and multiple chiropractic offices. New boutique fitness studios targeting specific workout styles (cycling, Pilates, recovery-focused training) tend to fill small retail suites near the larger gyms, complementing rather than competing with the full-service clubs.
Professional services and office tenants are expanding in the mid-corridor. Firms that outgrow their space in the Regency area near 102nd Street often relocate westward to newer buildings near 132nd to 158th Streets, where lease rates may be lower and parking is more generous. Millennium Plaza at 15858 West Dodge continues to attract professional tenants who want a Class A address with heated parking and modern amenities.
Retail is more selective than it was a decade ago. National chains are still opening along the corridor, but the growth is concentrated in service-oriented retail (salons, pet care, phone repair, eyewear) rather than traditional merchandise stores. The shift toward online shopping has changed the math for brick-and-mortar retailers, and the businesses opening now tend to offer experiences or services that require a physical visit.
The Westroads Reinvention
Westroads Mall at 100th and Dodge continues to evolve. The largest mall in Nebraska has been adding entertainment, dining, and experiential tenants alongside its traditional retail base. Von Maur remains the signature department store, but the tenant mix increasingly reflects a shift toward restaurants, fitness concepts, and service businesses that draw foot traffic in ways that apparel-only stores no longer can. This reinvention mirrors national trends in enclosed malls, and Westroads benefits from its central location and the density of office workers nearby.
Development Trends to Watch
Several broader trends are shaping what opens along the corridor in 2026 and beyond.
Mixed-use over single-use. Heartwood Preserve is the clearest example. New developments along the western end of the corridor are more likely to blend retail, office, and residential space in a single project than to build standalone strip malls. That approach creates built-in foot traffic and reduces the risk of vacant storefronts.
Medical clustering. Healthcare providers increasingly want to locate near each other to simplify referrals and share patients. The medical hub around 156th to 162nd Street (Methodist HealthWest, West Dodge Medical Plaza) is likely to grow as more specialists and allied health providers open nearby.
Western expansion tracking residential growth. Elkhorn and the area west of 180th Street are among the fastest-growing parts of the Omaha metro. Commercial development along West Dodge will continue to push westward, following the same pattern that brought development from 72nd Street to 168th Street over the past 40 years.
Locally owned alongside national brands. The corridor supports both. Restaurants like Jerico’s (open since 1978) and Stokes Grill and Bar (over 25 years in business) coexist with national brands. New locally owned restaurants, boutiques, and service businesses continue to open alongside franchise concepts, and the corridor’s high traffic volume gives independents the visibility they need to build a customer base.
What This Means for West Omaha
The continued development along West Dodge Road reflects Omaha’s westward population shift and the strength of the corridor as a commercial address. New businesses opening here benefit from an established infrastructure of highways, utilities, and foot traffic. Residents benefit from shorter drives to the services, restaurants, and shops they use every week.
The corridor is not standing still. From the reinvention of Westroads Mall to the mixed-use projects at Heartwood Preserve to the new construction past Village Pointe, West Dodge Road keeps adding layers. The businesses opening in 2026 are building on a foundation that 50 years of development have put in place.