Ribbon to be cut Friday on first BOOM houses

It has been a slow, multi-year process but finally the first two of Superior’s six Project Boom houses have been completed. A ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the milestone is planned for 10:30 Friday morning near the houses at 210 and 216 West Eighth Street

The City of Superior qualified for grants which have funded much of the construction costs as a demonstration project which may be replicated in other communities within Nebraska.

Boom is an acronym for Building Owner Empowered Momentum.

Invitations have been extended to a number of Nebraska officials and several are expected to be here for the event.

Should Superior experience inclement weather Friday morning, the ribbon cutting will be moved inside the public schools located on West Eighth Street.

The two structures that are now ready and the four others that are not ready ready are all placed on infill lots. These lots previously had older structures which were delapidated and no longer considered to be inhabitable. Those structures were removed earlier.

This year the city has removed about a dozen delapidated structures and those lots will eventually be available for contruction,

Infill is a winning proposition for the city as in most cases streets and utilities already serve the old location.

When Project Boom started, all six houses were to be completed before now. However, with the arrival of the COVID Pandemic the projects have have experienced slow delivery of needed materials.

Each of the houses will demonstrate design options.

As they are sold, plans are to reinvest the proceeds in addtional housing projects located on existing lots.