Grow Omaha 06-01-2024

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Grow Omaha, the onlyradio show that talks about economic development,
construction, business expansion, and allof those things that make Omaha a great
place to live or visit. GrowOmaha on News Radio eleven ten KFAB.
Well, good morning and welcome tothe show. Jeff Beils, here at
your service. We are broadcasting livefrom KFAB Studios and downtown Dundee, and

(00:23):
we're excited to tell you that you'renot going to find another show anywhere in
Omaha that talks about the things wediscuss, and that is economic development,
construction, real estate, really anythingrelated to Omaha becoming more vibrant, more
prosperous. You'll have a lot offun listening to it, and you want
to thank our sponsors, Dingman's CollisionCenter along with Cheer Athletics for making it

(00:46):
possible without any further ado. Oneof my favorite parts of the week is
introducing my legendary co host, areal estate deal making machine and all around
interesting fellow, Trenton Maggot. ThanksJeff, just trying to keep up with
you, and good morning ladies andgentlemen. Well, good morning to you,
Trenton, and hey, we've gota recommendation for you guys. Today,

(01:07):
the Countryside Village Art Fair is takingplace today and tomorrow. This is
the longest running art fair in themetro area. It'll be today from ten
am to six pm and tomorrow fromten to five. And when you're there,
you got to go see our ownBrad Williams. You know Brad,
he's on the show all the time, official photographer of the Girl Omaha Show.

(01:29):
He will have a booth right infront of the Casual Pint, which
is ironically one of Brad's favorite placesin Countryside Village. Right in front of
the Casual Pint, stop by seeus beautiful photography and say hi to Brad.
Absolutely and Jeff. We had agreat time last night. Congratulations to
the City of La Vista Mayor DougKendig, who's a friend of ours,

(01:51):
been on the show numerous times.And congratulations the whole staff, Brenda Gunn,
Bruce Fountain, uh, Chris theplanning director. Excuse me. Basically,
we went to the Astro, whichis part of La Vista City Center,

(02:13):
and saw a Journey cover band,a Kirk Cobain cover band. But
there's a lot of people there andthat's a beautiful facility of the Astro Theater.
Doug Kendig has done a great job. He is running on a pose.
That's how good of a job he'sdoing. And no one would dare
change Jim. Today, there's isthe Prey and I think it starts at

(02:34):
ten. Go to the city Hallarea and uh, there is a lot
going on there and Chris Solberg iswho I'm thinking of city planner and they
all run a great showdown in Levistaand I'm so excited not just for the
city center area, but for theSouth Pore Era and all of La Vista.
So thank you. That was afun event last night, and you

(02:55):
and I were able to take Stephanieand Amy with us. And I feel
bad admitting this, but that's thefirst time I had ever been inside the
new Astro Theater or the adjacent Amphitheaterand wow nice. Yeah, and I
went there during construction. But they'regetting some neat tenants there and it's just

(03:16):
so fun to see. And I'vedone a lot of work, especially in
the Southport area, but just tosee businesses go to La Vista and to
see how the city is run andwatch you grow. Well, let's go
into our News of the week,which has brought to you by Eagle Mortgage
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(03:36):
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(04:24):
choice if you're looking for a lender. Eagle Mortgage. All right, So
many things in the news. Firstof all, we have a new mixed
use development to be known as ShadowView Village, which is going into an
undeveloped a piece of land northeast oftwo hundredth and West Center Road, so
not two hundred and fourth. Yougot to go east a few blocks,

(04:46):
so it's northeast of two hundredth andCenter. Plans call for a two hundred
and forty unit apartment complex. There'sgoing to be some office, some retail
space, a freestanding daycare building,and a unique feature of the development will
be forty additional residential units on topof some of the commercial space. Glad
to see some of that type ofdevelopment in the suburbs, and that's very

(05:10):
unique. Now, what's interesting aboutthat is it's almost an infill if you
think about it. The city kindof grew around it. Two hundred and
fourth Street that you know, HighA thirty one six. What's going on
around there, and most of thatland is all in developers' hands. And
what's unique about this one is puttingresidential, whether it's condos or apartments above
retail. That's what a lot ofpeople think that Village Point missed, and

(05:34):
back then they weren't doing it asmuch. It's a lot harder to develop,
it's a lot harder to finance,but imagine village Point with apartment and
hotels above the retail. Now thattwo hundred Street is infield development, Trenton
and Jeff are officially old A developerplans to subdivide ninety four oh two Pacific

(05:57):
Street into residential development. Had beena house on a large two acre lot
there torn down. I was originallygoing to be row houses, now it
is going to be eight single familyresidents. Is new cul de Sac going
to be built just off of PacificStreet. The lots will range from eight
to ten thousand square feet and thehouses will be about twenty six hundred square

(06:18):
feet. And that, my friend, truly is and in phil development and
we're seeing more and more of that, especially on Pacific Street. Lockwood is
that project just east of Westside HighSchool and just north of ninetieth and Pacific.
There's houses there. So it's goodus we're getting more dense in the
center of our city. Well,we can't guarantee that the Huskers will win

(06:39):
the championship every year, but theBig Ten Conference announced earlier this week that
it's a conference baseball tournament and championshipgame will remain at Charles Schwab Field,
Omaha through the twenty twenty seventh season. Now, the twenty twenty four tournament
was just last week. I knowa lot of you probably went to the
game. Huskers won it in avery close game Sunday morning, and crowd

(07:04):
was pretty impressive, A very verylarge crowd for a Big ten conference championship
game. And then here's something tomake you feel very good about the city
that you have chosen to live in. US News ranked Omaha as the eighteenth
best place to live in twenty twentyfour among the one hundred and fifty largest

(07:24):
cities in the United States. Thestudy factored each city's desirability, job market,
cost of living, in quality oflife. Now. The top five
were Naples, Florida, Boise,Idaho, Colorado Springs, Greenville, South
Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. But Omaha fared very well. Well,
I'm guessing that the affordability is alittle bit better than Naples, Florida,

(07:46):
and might be right. I preferForbes Home that voted us number one.
Yeah, they voted us recently thenumber one city to move to in
twenty twenty four, which Omaha's great. Let's take both of those. We
love Omaha. We're Omaha cheerleaders.We're natives. We have crying out loud,
we have a show called gro Omaha. But if you would have told

(08:07):
me that someday Omaha would be ForbesNumber one city to move to in twenty
twenty four, I would have beenlike, Wow, that's pretty cool.
What are we missing? I'd besurprised. Oh, we love our city.
The city of Omaha received two milliondollars in federal money to help pay
for a pedestrian walkway through U andMC. This is going to be called

(08:30):
the Midtown Medical Center Bikeway Project.Cool title. I like that Midtown Medical
Center Bikeway Project. It'll include avery impressive bike and pedestrian bridge over Saddle
Creek Road at Emily Street. Sothis will basically take people from the heart
of the proper normal, traditional UNMCcampus into the west of Saddle Creek campus

(08:54):
that's under development. It'll also includea bridge over Levenworth Street at the few
Old Club Trail. Construction should startnext year and completion will probably take a
couple of years given the cost ofconstruction projects. Jeff, I'm guessing it's
more than two million dollars. That'spart of the financing. I believe about
twelve or thirteen, and a lotof the money came from a federal grant

(09:18):
from a year or two ago.And this is basically a pile on.
So so the Feds are being niceto us. So let's use it to
build some cool product. Let's let'stalk about projects that are less than fifty
million dollars once in a while.It's hard to it's well and in our
town, in our town, wespecialize. We get excited when we get
excited. Starting at one hundred milliondollars. Yes, you know, like

(09:41):
Joslin, the Tanasca Center, theKey with the Steelhouse home, all those
are all over one hundred the CentralFlagship Library, if you got at least
one hundred million, and Trenton andJeff get excited before that. It's just
a brief. It's just a newsbrief, just kidding. The Nebraska Medical
Center speaks of a bikeway through theNebraska Medical Center. Here's more news related

(10:03):
to the med Center. The medCenter has a proposal before city Planning to
rezone an area southwest of forty secondand Farnham. This would allow redevelopment in
the area. We don't know thedetails yet, but we keep hearing that
the med Center has big plans forthat area, but in the short run,
and very significant plans call to vacatethat jug handle turn. A jug

(10:26):
handle is like when you have tokind of go onto another street to go
turn. So if you're familiar withthat forty second and Farnham area, right
at forty second Street, you are. If you're eastbound, you're forced over
to Harney Street. That's all gonnago away and it'll just be a normal,
easy flowing, nice two way FarnhamStreet not that far in the future.

(10:48):
And that is your News of theweek, which is brought to you
by Eagle Mortgage Egle Mortgage Company dotCom. Gonna take our first break of
the hour, and when we comeback, we're going to bring on our
friend Heath Mellow, who is thechief executive officer of the Greater Omaha Chamber're
going to talk Omaha growth and developmentwith Heath and just kind of catch up
and we know it will be afascinating conversation, so stay with us and

(11:11):
enjoy it. You're listening to Jeffand Trenton on Grow Omaha, brought to
you by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's CollisionCenter on News Radio eleven ten. KFAB
lots more fallout from the Trump verdict, that and a lot more as we
get cracked up for the new week. KFABE is Morning News Monday, and

(11:31):
welcome back to the show. JeffBeals and Trenton Maggot are with you today
and we are brought to you byDingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics. If
you are looking for an outstanding leadershipand confidence building experience, a communication and
physical fitness type experience, check outcheer Athletics. There are about twelve or

(11:52):
thirteen of them in the nation.Fortunately, one of them is right here
in Omaha near Highways fifty and threeseventy in Papillion. Do a great job
getting kids to learn how to competeand be and be very physically fit and
and get tremendous life experiences. Checkout c A Omaha c A as in
Cheer Athletics c A Omaha dot com. We have with us Heath Mellow.

(12:16):
He is the President and CEO ofthe Greater Omaha Chamber, and we periodically
like to have the head of theChamber and just kind of talk about Omaha
growth and development. Heath, welcomeback to the show. It's great to
be with you, Jeff Trenton,thanks so much. Well, we appreciate
you taking the time, and wealways like to start with big, broad
questions. How's Omaha doing right?Well, you know, it's it's always

(12:37):
sunny in Omaha, is what Ilike to say. Uh, you know,
hearing some of the stuff that youshare. You know, we're at
the uh we're at the beginning ofuh, you know, the tourism part
of the summer. You know,we've been riding a pretty amazing wave I
would say over the last few monthsof everything from the the Forbes number one
ranking of the best city to moveto, you know, liveability dot com

(12:58):
named us one of the top cities, most Liverpool cities in the country.
You just mentioned US News and WorldReports rankings. I mean, we've really
been writing I would say, apretty amazing, a pretty amazing positive news
cycle over the last four to fivemonths. But the work always, the
work always continues, so to speak. And you know, at the Greater

(13:18):
Omaha Chamber, you know, oureconomic development work really focuses an awful lot
on what we do in terms ofbusiness recruitment, in business expansion work.
And we've really put a lot ofeffort in twenty twenty four on the first
quarter and second quarter so far onour business expansion work. Typically we always
see a lot of business attraction workhappen throughout the year, but we've really

(13:41):
stepped up focusing a lot on whatwe're doing for our local businesses in Omaha
in the early part of the year, which is we typically do that in
the second half of the year,but we really tried to change things up
a little bit, and we've seensome new projects come to work, which
is something that's a little unique interms of our own cycles. So,
you know, one hundred and fortyvisits across the region and saw some earlier

(14:03):
project wins, which is nice.Right now, we've seen about thirty nine
new to market are thirty nine iwould say business attraction projects that we've opened
files on so far, twenty sevennew to market projects, eleven existing projects
that are kind of I would saybusiness attraction projects so to speak, and

(14:24):
one startup for the region. Soreally kind of on track, I would
say typically in regards to where wesee our numbers in terms of business attraction
to the region, but things seemto be moving kind of in the typical
kind of numbers of how we liketo track what we're doing in terms of
that business expansion in business attraction space. But the bigger thing I'd share is

(14:48):
the really thing it's caught me offguard in the first couple quarters is the
significant amount of international engagement we've had. And I just don't this is new,
you know, this is I'm justfinishing in my ten month this role
and it's been a it's been anamazing experience, and I've been asking folks
if we've typically seen this kind ofinternational engagement. We've had a tremendous amount

(15:09):
of German companies that have come toOmaha over the last three months, particularly
a number of German manufacturers, agriculturalparticularly agricultural manufacturers that have been coming to
the Omaha area wanting to explore settingup head corporate headquarters, wanting to explore
clearly manufacturing facilities. We've seen someFinish companies as well, some Austrian companies.

(15:35):
Things that I've asked our economic developmentteam, which is just something that's
unique in the terms of the amountof international engagement that we haven't seen in
this short amount of time. Andit's it's it's part of that, I
think winning formula about the greater Omahaarea that clearly we we have a track
record of having a great environment forfor our sites, for clearly our workforce,

(16:00):
cost of living, and clearly whatwe would typically like to say that
secret sauce about the greater Oma area, which is what we've got in terms
of our people, our place,and to some extent, what we offer
our companies. So I remember whenwe've got a plethora of data centers over
the last fifteen twenty years and theycited workforce, cost of utilities, cost

(16:26):
of land. What these international companiesthey're coming to Omaha and what are the
other comments about the business climate inOmaha are they Are they not looking at
other places because Omaha is better?Or how does Omaha get on the radar?

(16:48):
Well? And I should have mentionedthis earlier, Trent. A lot
of our new to market projects thatwe're seeing, you know, and I
can't you know, you both knowsome of the confidentiality aspects with our economic
development work. I've got to becareful of a lot of our new market,
new to market projects that we've seenso far this year, you know,
about about fifty percent of them sofar are related to manufacturing or some
connection also to transportation and logistics.So we still are seeing manufacturing overall being

(17:15):
a driving force of our new tomarket projects. So for reasons that we're
seeing the manufacturing industries looking at thegreater Omaha area as a hub to want
to locate new manufacturing facility. Andwe do some manufacturing, but I wouldn't
say that we're we're known for beinga lot of manufacturing. That's what I

(17:36):
find interesting about it, Jeff.I think it's I think what we're finding
out as much as anything else.One, it's it's some of the sites
that we do have are our goodsites in the region. Two, we
do clearly have. You know,I just heard the CEO from Omaha Public
Power District reiterate some really great datathe other day, which is, if

(17:57):
you took our unique power structure andour unique kind of rates that Omaha Public
Power District has in our region incomparison to other national rates and other competitive
cities, it OPBD saves our ratepayers about four hundred million dollars a year.
And so when you think about therate savings that we the three of

(18:19):
us as rate payers in Omaha PublicPower, the amount of money we save
being in Omaha. Imagine that impactit has as a manufacturer. And so
that cost savings for a company,whether you're a commercial, whether you're a
you want a commercial property or anindustrial property is significant. So clearly energy

(18:41):
utilization and energy usage also as adriving factor for manufacturers as well. And
then workforce. I mean that's theone thing you whether you hear Governor Pillan
say it, whether you hear mayorStothard say it, it's something we highlight
a lot as well. You know, we have truly a very very strong
workforce when it comes to certain sectors. The manufacturing sector is one of them

(19:03):
that you've talked to any manufacturer,they're always looking to add to the workforce.
That is perhaps kind of a doubleedged sword for us right now.
We find out in talking to companiesthat some companies could grow faster if we
could help speed up some of thetraining, some of the education opportunities to
get other additional employees or other additionalresidents into workforce programs related to manufacturing quicker,

(19:29):
because then they could speed up theirhiring process to get more employees in
the pipeline for existing companies. Sothat is always a little bit of a
challenge for us is bringing in anew manufacturer that wants to hire. Let's,
for example, hire two hundred peoplein Blair. And the reality is,
hey, it's great for us tobring in a higher wage manufacturing jobs

(19:52):
in Blair, but the realities we'vealso got to be able to help find
and train some additional people to gointo manufacturing because we know that other companies
are also looking for more folks inmanufacturing also, and so it's something that
we're constantly thinking about, constantly lookingat, and we're trying to figure out
a way to do that. AllRight, we're having a conversation with Heath

(20:14):
Mellow, President and CEO of theGreater Omaha Chamber. Much more to come,
several things we want to talk aboutwith Heath related to Omaha growth and
development. Stay with us. We'regoing to break for the news and then
be back. You're listening to GrowOmaha brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center
and Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleventen Kfabine, Get Time Saver Dravg updates

(20:37):
with Lucy Chapman in the morning andSteve Parker in the afternoon. This is
Nebraska's news, weather and traffic stationnews Radio eleven ten kfab Well, we
want to thank Dingman's Collision Center forbeing one of our sponsors. They have
four metro area locations. It doesn'tmatter which one you choose because they're all
great. Dingman's works on your car, you know, they're famous body work,

(21:00):
bumps, bruises, scratches, scrapes, serious damage to cars. They
do all of that, but theyalso have a mechanical function as well.
Dingman's Collision Center constantly a Best ofOmaha winner and a sponsor of grom Hall.
Also thanks to Cheer Athletics for beinga sponsor of the show. It's
time for your not A Companies commercialreal estate Spotlight of the weak real estate

(21:23):
development Spotlight of the week, Ishould say, and this week we go
to the Builders District in North Downtown. And I was driving in the Builders
District just a couple of days ago, and I noticed construction progress on the
new public commenity park that Nodel Companiesis putting in in the Builders District.
So if you're thinking, okay,where is this Builders District picture, Charles

(21:45):
Schwabfield, go a couple blocks tothe west, Keywitt has its global headquarters
there as well as Keywitt University.A lot of things happening in that area.
Not A Companies just kind of wrappedup construction on a beautiful mass timber,
five story office building, but onthe west side of sixteenth Street.
Not All Companies is going to putin a small you could call it a

(22:06):
pocket park, mini park, butheavy on amenities. It's going to be
very similar to the little park theydid in a Sarbon Village where Sunny's the
airstream is and you can have thecornhole games and all that stuff. And
when I was driving by this week, it looked like they were testing the
big screen and there's going to bethis big screen right in the middle of
it. Now the park's still alittle ways off, they're still dirt there.

(22:27):
They got some work to do,but it's coming along and it's looking
great. And we want to thankNonal Companies for not only doing that project,
but for being a sponsor of theshow. They've been with us for
many years and they are perhaps Omaha'sbest known developer big projects. There's Scarbon
Village, River's Edgin Council, Bluff, Steel Ridge, and the Papilion Gretna

(22:48):
area. They're also famous for headquartersbuildings HDR Headquarters Valmont Headquarters. Those are
just two of the most recent headquarterbuildings they've done. You can learn more
about them at not all companies.We have Heath Mellow with us, President
and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber, and Heath, I want to talk
a little bit about site development.You know, it's so important. You

(23:08):
were in the last segment, youwere talking about these manufacturers, some of
them even from Europe. They're lookingat locating in Omaha. Got to have
a place to put them. Howare we doing a site development Well,
you know what, Jeff, thatthat is always a significant issue that we're
thinking about from both an Omaha perspectiveas well as from our Greater Omaha Economic

(23:29):
Development Partnership perspective. You know,from an Omaha perspective, you know,
we we continually do struggle in theCity of Omaha boundaries for industrial sites,
particularly the one I would say theone big opportunity we do have on the
horizon is the airport business park developmentopportunity that has been in the news I

(23:52):
would say over the last six monthsor so in the North Omaha area around
the airport. The legislature to tooksome activity and took some action on that
over this past legislative session with withSenator Wayne, Senator McKinney, and Governor
Pillen, they found a compromise movingforward with a number of issues. We

(24:14):
think there's a process that's moving forwardnow that's that everyone feels comfortable with.
We're going to see some of thatmoving forward with Mayor Stouth and the City
Council in the next week or sowith the creation of the city's new Inland
Port Authority that will have a processthat kicks off the creation of that new
authority where this airport business park willwill start to get created. And so

(24:37):
from a Chambers perspective, that's goingto be a multi year process for us
to be able to see that thatnumber those number of lots, for us
to be able to see industrial developmentin north Omaha near the airport, which
is a tremendous opportunity for the Cityof Omaha. In the surrounding areas,
there are some major major opportunities inFremont, in Blair, in Platts in

(25:00):
Nebraska City areas that we are seeingmore and more of those manufacturing companies want
to come in and explore some tremendousopportunities Sarpi County. We're seeing a number
of our go ready sites starting tocome up through that process to be able
to be a be certified for potentialsite readiness for some major, major projects.

(25:22):
So that is the one thing thatwe've been putting a little bit more
time energy on is making sure wehave some sites available for more and more
of these new to market projects.Perhaps probably the one positive thing that I
know some folks have have been puttinga lot of time and energy on in
the region is a megasite, youknow. I know this was something that
that that that's been on the showfor for for a number of years.

(25:44):
Is if we ever wanted to competefor a major manufacturer, I mean an
auto manufacturer. You know, Imade microchips so to speak. As trend
said, we don't have a siteavailable anywhere in the region. The legislature
this year, you know, throughthe work of Senator Mike McDonald, Senator
Mike Jacobson out in North Plattz andor Julie Slama in Peru, they were

(26:07):
able to get a study done essentiallywhich essentially is going to put five hundred
thousand dollars to study megasites and potentiallocations across the state where we know there's
some potential megasites in the second CongressionalDistrict area as well as some areas in
the first Congressional District that is inthe kind of Cass County area, in

(26:27):
the Odo County area as well,and so there's going to be some opportunities
where the state's going to put someresources in identify potential opportunities for us to
see some of these very very largesites that could position our region, the
greater Omaha metro region for some ofthese major major projects, whether it's an

(26:48):
auto manufacturer, a microchip processor,where I would have told you a couple
of years ago, I would havenever thought we would get the state position
to be able to do that.And that's something that's a real, I
think positive for the region, especiallywhen it comes to economic development traditionally,
especially when we saw it with allthe data centers and stuff, where there
was ready sites that your economic developmentteam at the Chamber, we're talking to

(27:11):
farmers, we're talking to the engineers, and it's a big thing about getting
sewer to a lot of Sarpy County. How you're obviously continuing to do that.
Do they define what a megasite is? You know, in the actually
in the legislation they define a megaside. I believe that a sign a megasite

(27:33):
is larger than a thousand acres iskind of what they're looking at, and
so and then they then they kindof differentiate in regards to sites that are
between like five hundred acres to likeeight hundred acres. I mean, they
have a different classifications in terms ofbecause they're they're looking at potential sites out
in western Nebraska aren't going to bea thousand acres, So they're trying to
find ways to identify certain megasites incertain areas of the state that would be

(28:00):
of different sizes. So that projectsmaybe in a North Platte would qualify quote
unquote as a megasite in comparison toa megasite here in the metro area,
which would maybe be a lot differentbased on our population in our workforce availability.
Let's spend a couple of minutes talkingabout the urban core. And by
the way, we're interviewing Heath Mellow, head of the Greater Omaha Chamber Heath.

(28:21):
If you go downtown Omaha today,you're going to see the new Mutual
of Omaha Tower elevator and stair Cheffshare towers getting up to about sixteen or
seventeen stories. The more we themore action we have downtown, the more
we want more We've got sites.Yes, Yes, what's the latest of
the urban core? You know,I think the big thing is you know,

(28:42):
I last time I got to seesee you at a press conference,
Jeff was the Duo. I thinkwe're all really excited about the Duo project
right there on the streetcar line,you know, in terms of one of
the large, if not the largestnew housing project in the urban core,
right across the street from the newMutual of Omaha headquarters. I can tell

(29:06):
you there's a number of other housingprojects that are are are kind of in
the works. I can't really shareat this point in time that likely will
be coming out. I wouldn't besurprised. You'll you'll hear some more from
City Hall here in the coming weeksand months. Clearly some of the things
that we're looking at, there's someother some of those those new market projects

(29:27):
I mentioned earlier, looking at somecommercial spaces in the urban core that we're
really excited about that we've been workingon. That would be some some projects
that could have a real potential,big impact of bringing in some not just
new companies, but clearly some newworkers and new employees to the downtown area.

(29:48):
That is exactly what the strategy isand what the strategy called for when
we wanted to bring not just thirtythousand new residents, but thirty thousand new
jobs to the urban core, whichis really which is really really exciting.
But I always take an opportunity whenI can just to kind of highlight,
you know, when folks are ableto go downtown, whether it's this weekend,

(30:08):
you know, the taste of Omaha'sgoing on, you know next,
you know, it's it's those kindof activities that we constantly are seeing.
Folks are going to be seen inhearing a lot more about the modern street
car, you know, a varietyof you're seeing the cranes that are going
to keep coming up with different projects. The Baby Bob Bridge is kind of
coming to its last phases, soto speak, before the College World series

(30:30):
starts in a few weeks. Youknow, the Wall Street Journal released a
story literally I thinks about six toseven weeks ago about Saint Louis's downtown in
the doom Loop, and every chanceI can get, you know, I
never like to highlight an another friendlycity of ours and Saint Louis, Kansas
City on Des Moines, we're allpartners in a lot of ways and a
lot of what's happening in the Midwest. But the Wall Street Journal did an

(30:52):
expose in their downtown and called itthe downtown doom Loop in terms of what's
happening in their inability to ill commercialreal estate in their downtown. And you
know, we've had a number ofout of town you know, East coast,
West Coast, of visitors coming infor some consultants working on a variety

(31:14):
of different projects, different speakers whohave just made mention of not just that
article, but have come around andtaken tours and have just remarked, has
remarked about how vibrant our downtown coreis in terms of people who are working,
who are eating, who are spendingtime during those working hours between the
hours of ten o'clock and three o'clockin our downtown area because there, they

(31:38):
have remarked. They have remarked,if you go to a lot of major
cities. You're going to the downtownera. People aren't there, people are
working remotely, people are are notRestaurants aren't being utilized. And they said
this is something they just haven't seena lot of. And they and it's
they said, it's killing cities andthey said, this is something that,
Omaha, you should be very proudof. It's something that is a business

(31:59):
community. This is something you shouldbe celebrating, and it's something that you
should be highlighting more and more,not just as a chamber of commerce,
but candidly as an overall community,and you should be reinforcing that to your
employees. You can grow some ofyour business owners and overall it's something that
we should be reinforcing more and morethat it's making us more competitive to bringing

(32:20):
in more economic development and more companiesto our community. Well, well,
Heath, we appreciate you joining usas always. Have you back in a
few months and you can update uswith what else is going on. But
thanks to you and your colleagues downat the chamber for doing everything you guys
possibly can to grow our economy inour community. That's great. Thanks so
much. Glad to be with youguys. Heath Mellow, CEO and President

(32:40):
of your Greater Omaha Chamber, goingto take a quick break and when we
come back it'll be the Lightning Round. A lot of things on the list
to talk about. You're listening toGrow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on newsRadio eleven ten KFAB. Well, the
governor's ideas have been pretty much shot. Well, is there any other way

(33:00):
the lower property taxes that could actuallyget fast? It's the Rosie Diginozi.
I'm a podcast page under Jim Rosekfab dot com. Well, thank you
Jim, and welcome back everyone.It is time for your Lightning Round,
which is brought to you by PerkinsKretzer Construction. PC Construction is a full
service class a contractor doing amazing projectshere in Omaha, but also Grand Island,

(33:23):
Norfolk, Carneye, Lincoln, Seussity, all over this area of eastern
Nebraska and western Iowa. Led byour good friend Dave Kreutzer, they do
a bang up job with any typeof construction office, big mixed use projects,
institutional, religious, all of that. But lately we've been talking a

(33:44):
lot about some of the retail workthey've been doing, you know, the
Jersey mic stores and the thirsty icedtea places and all that. But they
do a great job. If youare looking for a contractor that you can
trust that does outstanding work and doesit at a fair price and in a
short amount of time, talk toDave Kreischer and his team over at Perkins
Chreitzer Construction. All right, biglist Osteo Strong opening June fourteenth. This

(34:07):
will be the first Nebraska franchise.One hundred and fifty actually one zero zero
five zero Regency Circle, so oneof those office buildings south of the West
Roads Wellness center that helps people developbone strength and density. Met the local
franchise owner, Dave John this week. This company started in Houston. Locations

(34:28):
around the world. Closest existing isin Sioux City, Iowa. Cumbia is
coming back here, Yes, we'reexcited. Colombian Restaurant on the sixteenth Street
Mall closed in November, opening uphere this summer. They're coming back also
downtown. Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt goingto open a location inside the Holiday Inn

(34:49):
at fourteen twenty Coming Street. It'llbe right next to Burger Theory in fact,
you can get into it from theHoliday and Library lobby or even through
the Burger Theory. There'll be aseparate door from theory, so you can
get your fro yo after having aburger. Mcadoodles is open. That's exciting.
Seventy second and Grover. This isa very cool liquor, beer and

(35:12):
spirit superstore. Out of Missouri elevenexisting locations, all of them were in
Missouri or Arkansas. So this oneis the first inderpresson. And if you're
wondering where that is, Macadodles isright around the corner from the four and
a half acres that John Meyer andI have listed. You can put apartments
there, you can put office thereright at seventieth and Grover. Dal Le

(35:32):
Oonn's Taco Rico opened a new locationat thirty twenty one South eighty fourth Street
this week. They've got another onecoming in mid June in the former Green
Beans Coffee space at thirty five twelveSampson Way in Bellevue. Little King has
opened its seventh location in Heartwood Preserve, southwest of one hundred and forty fourth

(35:52):
in Dodge and Trent. And thiswill bring us back to our youth Spencer's
Gifts. I believe that Spencer's Giftsplans to open a store in Council Bluff's
Metro Crossing development next to Famous ComingOut of the Hills for that one.
They still have one in West RoadesMall, so you can get your inappropriate
party fare blacks Right. I lovedthat place when I was a kid.

(36:14):
Go to get a whoope cushion ora hand buzzer, among other things.
Costco Wholesale will officially open its thirdOmaha area store at eight o'clock am exactly
on Friday, July twelfth. Wehave so many people emailing Girl Omaha asking
about that. We're telling you allFriday July twelfth at eight o'clock am,

(36:34):
Southeast corner one hundred and eightieth andWest Maple Road. All Right, Tanner's
Bar and Grill, one hundred andseventy third and West Center Road is closing
for good on June tenth, butit won't stay vacant for long. Early
Bird, the local breakfast and brunchplace, will open in there sometime later
this year. Now. Tanners willkeep open their locations near one hundred neteenth

(37:00):
and Pacific and one hundred and fiftysix in West Maple Road. This will
be Early Bird's fourth Omaha area location. Nice mix, nice reuse. Wouldn't
you say congratulations to Coneflower Creamery.They have been nominated as for the second
consecutive year, they've been nominated asone of twenty independent ice cream shops nationwide

(37:21):
to be part of the USA Today'sten Best list. Last year, the
local shop finished in fifth place.That was a travesty of justices. Jeny
first place. Pill Flower is awesome. That is that is in now.
So they have the location in theBlackstone district, and then I also love
that location. They have ims MillworkCommons. Yes, absolutely, there's some

(37:42):
rumors that they're coming West Ladies andgentlemen, I'm guessing Elcorn. We hope
it's true. The music is playing, so we're gonna go wrap it up
for today, but appreciate everyone joiningus. I'm Jeff Beils and I'm Trenton
Maggot. You've been listening to GrowOmaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision
Center, Cheer Athletics, and PerkinsChretzer Construction. We'll chat with you next
week at nine o'clock right here onNews Radio eleven ten kfab