Grow Omaha 4-20-2024

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 K.
Baby, Good morning, and welcometo the GROMA Show, brought to you
by Dingman's Clision Center and Cheer Athletics. I am Trenton Maggott, my tenacious

(00:24):
co host that you're used to hearingright now is on assignment with his family
and he's taken a week off fromthe show. However, I am pleased
to welcome our regular contributor and friendBrad Williams. He'll be my co host
today. Good morning Brad, Hey, good morning Trenton. Thanks for having
me back. People know Brad isthe creator of the gro Maha Construction Update

(00:51):
as well as the proprietor of BradWilliams Photography and an engineer and owner at
e and a consulting group. Andyou are one busy guy. I am
busy, not an engineer, thoughI don't have the official degree there.
I do more planning and you doit well. And we appreciate all your
contributions to the GROMA Show and ourlisteners are also lucky to have you and

(01:15):
happy for twenty day for twenty frontand back. Yeah, so we decided
that Chris pointed out that it's apalindrome for twenty twenty twenty four if you
look at it backwards, and thepeople that im vibe and for twenty they're
twice baked. Yes they are.So for those people, congratulations. This

(01:37):
is going to be a very informativeand fun show today. There's a lot
going on. We have LEDs joiningus to discuss her twenty two plus years
is working at PayPal, most notablyas the executive vice president of Global Customer
Service. And she is a smallbusiness owner and resident of Gretna. And

(01:57):
also in a later segment, we'regoing to talk about the unicameral just passed
LV thirteen seventeen, also known asthe Good Life Transformational Projects Act. So
we will have a lively discussion withEllie on the huge potential for the ever
expanding Nebraska crossing Good Life District.So that hasn't been controversial at all,

(02:21):
has it? No? No,that'll be good. But ladies and gentlemen,
if you have kids or grandkids whowant to develop tumbling and stunting skills.
You should check out Cheer Athletics Omahaas the All Star Cheer season is
winding down. Tryouts for the twentytwenty four to twenty five season are both
April twenty seventh, twenty eighth,and May eleventh and twelfth. You pick

(02:44):
the weekend that works best for you. Go to Caomaha dot com to register
your athlete and join the All StarCheer Revolution. Located at one forty six
twenty Gold Coast Road in Papellion,It's where Chair Athletics is, where champions
are made. By the way,Chair Athletics is sending six teams to Orlando

(03:07):
this month that have qualified to goto the World Title. So that's been
They've been amazing with what they've doneand we congratulate Cheer Athletics and all their
success. It is time for theDevelopment News of the Week sponsored by Eagle
Mortgage. Eagle Mortgage is the companyright now one hundred and fourteenth in Davenport.

(03:28):
Holly Schneidewen, who we've known verywell. She has a team.
They've been around for over thirty years. And whether you're getting a free consultation,
getting a pre approval letter that isvery important if you're out house shopping
right now. They do conventional VAand FHA loans. What makes Eagle Mortgage
unique is they shop your loans.So it's not just they use one or

(03:51):
two lenders. They go to multiplelenders depending on your situation and your financial
condition. So go to Eagle MortgageCompany dot com and we thank them for
their sponsorship of the development news ofthe week. Well, this is interesting.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center receivedapproval from the NU Board of Regents

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for a sixth story, new sixtyfive million dollar residential facility to accommodate three
hundred residents, located near thirty ninthand Dewey Street. The site currently consists
of a service parking lot and severallow density apartment buildings currently used at UNMC.
The plan would be to demolish theexisting residential buildings and a portion of

(04:33):
the existing service parking lots in orderto make way for the apartment building.
UNMC notes that the identified project sitehas potential for future expansion. Did ena
work on that at all? No, we didn't do that one. We've
done a lot of work. There'sa big apartment going up at forty eighth
in Dodge right now that we've workedon that one. But this is going

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to be a great project for UNMC. I think a lot of people assume
that the next big development for UNIBMC, for as far as apartments, would
be right down there in the SaddleCreek kind of that mixed use area that
they're creating. But this is almoston the opposite end of campus there on
thirty ninth, So, speaking ofthat, the Omaha City Council approved a
contract with the developer of the Catalystproject, the redevelopment of the Omaha Steel

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Castings Factory on the University of NebraskaMedical Center's new West campus. So this
is just west of Saddle Creek asyou were talking about, to build a
seven hundred and fifty stall parking garage. Upon completion, the city will purchase
the parking garage for thirty million dollars. UNMC will agree to lease no more
than two hundred and fifty six stallsto serve faculty and staff. So the

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city loves to buy parking garadge.Yeah, if you've listened to Girl Omaha
the last several weeks or months now, that's come up a lot where the
city is building these parking garage orbuying them, and it sounds like it's
a pretty good revenue generator for theCity of Omaha. Absolutely, and it's
a great way to finance those projectsmoving to Bellevue. Despite not getting new

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funding from the state of Nebraska thisyear, the developers of the forty five
acre Prairie Hill Farm development in Bellvueare moving forward. According to the Nebraska
Examiner, plans call for two hundredthousand square foot cybersecurity building and it would
support the nearby off At Air ForceBase, as well as hundreds of millions
of dollars in additional development. Constructioncould start by the end of the year.

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There's always some new mission or somethingthat complements the base. Yeah,
it's the base is always as longas it's been here, been a big
economic development for the area. Weappreciate that. Moving west, the Omaha
City Council approved a play ad unitdevelopment for a thirty three unit standalone apartment
building over a thirty three stall parkinggarage. The project will be built on

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the northeast corner of the existing ninetyunit Latvian Village apartment complex at three zero
zero two Paddock Road, which isreally ninetieth and center to the south,
uh southeast. Yeah, it's tuckedup on the side of the hill there
behind Earl May kind of our stoppinggrounds. Those things have been there for
like fifty years. They have,and it's just it's kind of a neat

(07:10):
wooded area. That's I mean,right in the middle of town. But
you also when you're going up inthere, kind of feel like you're a
little bit in the woods, itseems. And what's interesting about it is
they're putting don't you call them,pedestal buildings where you put parking on a
few layers and then apartments. That'sunique for West Omaha. Yeah, you
typically see that more in you know, in the midtown area, but there's
been a few examples around town.It's a good use of the land.

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I find this very interesting. Isreported by Joe Finley of Nebraska or excuse
Me of an mp Dodge residential realEstate in the Gromaha newsletter. An ordinance
approved by the city council last monthchanges the Omaha zoning regulations to allow accessory
dwelling units. No one has adus throughout the city. An accessory dwelling

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unit is an additional small house orapartment on a single family residential property.
In addition to providing an option forgrowing or aging families, the ADUs address
a critical need for affordable housing.The code will only allow one ADU per
residential lot. They can be rented, but not sold, separately from the

(08:20):
primary resident. They will have toconformed to city regulations including setbacks, height,
and can not be larger than sevenhundred and fifty feet. What do
you make of that? Bread well? And the other thing that I looked
into that I was kind of concernedabout a little bit was that the owner
of the land has to live ineither the ADU or the main building.
So it's not like someone could buyhouses in a single family neighborhood and start

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adding a second unit to each oneand renting them out. So it sounds
like it's what will or one wayto help the housing affordability right now.
Absolutely, And that is your developmentNews of the week sponsored by Eagle Mortgage.
Go to Eagle Mortgage Company dot comto get the mortgage for your next

(09:05):
house. And I also want tothank our title sponsor, Dingman's Clision Center.
These are people that I've worked withfor a long time and They've worked
on my cars for a long time. Fortunately and unfortunately. It's a family
owned businesses nineteen ninety six, fourlocations throughout Omaha. Dingman's Clision Center has

(09:26):
been chosen Best of Omaha and Autobody repair since two thousand and five.
They also do mechanical so restore yourvehicle's performance with manufactured approved repair repair procedures.
Maintain your manufacturer warranties with certified repairso I highly recommend mend Dingman's Collision

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Center. We are going to takea short break. When we come back,
we're going to be joined by LEDsand we're going to talk about her
storied career twenty two plus years workingat PayPal, as well as her small
business and and everything that's happening inGretna. Stay tuned on kfab and we'll
be right back. It's time toput the do in doing Good. Share

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Omaha's Do Good Days are April twentyfourth through the twenty seventh. What will
You Do? Learn more at shaOmaha dot org. And welcome back to
the German Show, brought to youby Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics.
I am Trenton Maggot joined by myco host Brad Williams. Jeff Bields has

(10:33):
the weekend off, and it ismy pleasure to welcome our guest, Eli
Diaz, who retired last year withtwenty two plus years of experience at PayPal,
most of it most notably as theexecutive vice president of Global Customer Service,
and now she owns with her husbandSean, the Bark Club, a

(10:54):
dog grooming, boarding, and daycarebusiness in Gretna. Welcome out, Thank
you, thanks for having me,appreciate you coming on. So, when
you started at PayPal in two thousandand one, when there are only about
two hundred employees in Omaha and aboutthe same number at headquarters in California.

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The Omaha location was at John GaltBoulevard, effectually known as the Z ninety
two building for people that have beenaround for a while now, the ES
and S Building, Election Systems andSoftware. What were your first impressions when
you went from First National Bank ofOmaha, UH to this relatively new startup.
Yeah. What's funny is I wasat First National coming out of college

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and was there for six years andkind of grew up there and learned the
customer service organization and management and thenI had a colleague go to this new
fun company called X dot com thatwas coming to Omaha to interview in a
hotel, and he kept wanting meto come over, and I kept thinking,
I don't know, it's a littlestrange. You're interviewing in this hotel.
You're called X dot com. Neverheard of anything like that us.

(12:00):
And I told him, in ninemonths, if you're still here, call
me and I'll come and meet withyou guys. And what's interesting is it
started as X dot com. Ifyou don't know that, and uh Elon
Musk, who was one of theinvestors, actually sold the name X dot
com. Uh Art sold it tothem, but then he took it back,

(12:22):
right he bought it back, Yeah, he did. And a little
fun fact, yes, and whenhe when he did call me, it
was about six months later. Theywere they were moving to PayPal name new
naming, PayPal dot com, andthey were in the Z ninety two building.
So he's like, we have afacility now, we've got a couple
hundred people, and we need youto come and run customer service. And
so I met the leadership team atthe time. Peter Teal was still our

(12:43):
president at the time, and he'dfly into Omaha from California. But I
met the local leadership team and theykind of wooed me and I came over
and my first impressions were, Oh, my gosh, what did I get
myself into? Because it was kindof chaotic, you know, startup company,
So they really know what they weredoing, so they certainly needed help.
How did they end up choosing omahafyou know, if they're a California

(13:05):
company, how did they end uphere? Yeah, so one of so
there's a lady who's from Cresco.Her name is Julie Anderson, and she
went to college at California Stanford,and so she was part of the team
that kind of started up in thePayPal office in California in the headquarters.
And you know when PayPal started,you know, people started by referring a

(13:28):
friends. So how you got anaccount was you got five bucks in your
account, and that was what theirbig marketing play was. And so they
were getting all these these emails andphone calls to their headquarters office from customers
that I didn't get my five dollarsand she's like, you know, we're
trying to do all this. They'retrying to do all this other work,
product development, and you know,really get this company off the ground.
And so she said, we havethis. I have all these friends and
family that are in Soiresco that thatare at home, why don't we have

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them start doing emails for PayPal.And that's kind of how it started.
Was went from Cresco and then lookingfor space in Omaha. And really it's
about the workforce in Nebraska that reallystarted it all. Tell us a little
bit about what Julie, what shewas so impressed with. Yeah, so

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if you think about just overall,the logistics and visibility of being in the
center of the United States was appealing, having the Midwest culture, work ethic,
you know, just as we werehiring workforce. When I came in,
we were already about two hundred peopleemployees in Omaha, but it was
growing so fast we needed a lotmore space. So we came into the

(14:35):
new facilities in Omaha in two thousandand five, but we kept coming back
and Omaha being our hub because theworkforce was so steady, We had the
lowest attrition. It was just economical. It was easy to get in and
out of and it's just you know, the leader. Whether it was from
you know, team members who weretaking phone calls, to finance, to
accounting to leadership, product, itdidn't matter. We were able to hire

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and recruit and people wanted to cometo the company and stay. So it
wasn't just Omaha. But you wereon the team that basically grew at to
fifteen thousand employees all over the world. Now you you went to Shanghai.
I believe in Ireland, and howdo you get the cultures of those countries

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and how do you mesh all ofthat in customer service around the world.
Yeah, it's a good question.So when we were starting to think global,
which eBay accelerated that thought for PayPalor Eba came in and acquired PayPal
in two thousand and two, andall of a sudden, we went global
really fast. And we only hadoperations in Omaha, but we needed to

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start speaking other languages. We neededto get around the world. So Ireland
and Shanghai came on really really fast, and I was part of that project
team that went to both locations tostand them up. Ireland wasn't that hard
to really move into. I wouldsay moving into China was very different.
We actually would bring in and wepartnered with U and O and we'd bring

(16:03):
in we'd bring in professors and peoplethat were part of the International Exchange program
to help teach us actually from aculture perspective, So they actually would come
into the PayPal office in Omaha andhelp us understand the culture and what we
were going into in China, andwe would actually take kind of classes from
them in the Omaha Center before we'dactually fly out to China. You know,
PayPal has a lot of different areas, you know, accounting and it

(16:29):
and all that. How hard isit to tract that kind of talent to
Omaha. It's really not. Imean, from the experience that I've had
through the years, we had somany people that are from the Nebraska area,
not just Omaha, Nebraska area,coming out of school and looking for
careers and PayPal is a great placeto start the career. We actually had

(16:49):
quite a few people to come inand reside in Omaha from other locations as
well. But it's really wasn't challengingto find the talent and to grow.
And there's there's you know, whenI left in December, there's a lot
of organizational functions that were part ofOmaha and continue to be part of oma.
It's not just customer service excellent.The when we met for coffee and

(17:14):
I was very interested in your managementstyle and you said something that caught my
attention. It's coach rather than manageemployees. What did you mean by that?
Yeah, so I you know whatI would learned through the years that
it was all about empowerment and engagement. So it's empowering your team members.
People didn't want to be managed.They didn't want to be told exactly what

(17:36):
to do and how to do it, and if you didn't do it,
there's consequences. That's nobody wants tokind of work that way and live that
way, and so you want tounderstand your parameters. And so it's like
how you coach people to be thebest that they can be. You set
the guidelines, you set the parameters, You let people work for what they
can work towards, and it's justyou know, it's really we spend a

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lot of time on our coaching model, our engagement model, and our leadership
model, so we kind of couldhelp the business thrive. It wasn't about
us as managers doing the workers leadersIt was about our workforce, and without
them, we weren't successful. Andso it really was about coaching them to
be their best potential. And alot of employees were able to go no

(18:17):
PTO. They managed their own schedule, but they had to perform, yes,
And how was that transition? Yeah, So, you know, one
of the things that's kind of coolabout PayPal as well as you're part of
Silicon Valley, you're part of thebig tech companies, and so a lot
of the things that Google's doing andMicrosoft you pay attention to, and so
PayPal. Would you know, theyall have these these conversations about what employees

(18:38):
want. Flexibility, empowerment, managingmy own schedule, my own time.
You know, let me do thework and I will work for you.
But again, don't tell me howto do it or when to do it,
or tie me to a desk intime, but you have benchmarks and
you have to perform. It's amazinghow all that started in technology, the

(19:00):
technology sector, but then it's basicallymigrated to almost every industry now. I
mean there's like manufacturing and stuff medicalwhere you're tied to a schedule, tied
to certain parameters, but a lotof I mean even in the engineering field.
It's come looser and more about thecoaching model and letting people, you
know, have their I don't know, freedoms right where, but just be

(19:22):
a little more involved in the inthe decision making. Now, I totally
agree, and people want to keepgood talent and you got to accommodate some
of their needs. But at thesame time, you have to have company
culture. That's why I see alot more return to office still, even
though we're seeing some shadow space wherethere's some empty offices in Omaha and certainly

(19:45):
around around the world. But youmiss something with that company culture when you
don't see each other every day.And and I'd personally like to separate my
home life from my from my worklife. How Ellie, how hard was
the transition from going to fifteen thousandemployees international business in the corporate world to

(20:06):
now having fifty employees at the BarkClub in Gretna. Yeah. I had
a phenomenal leadership team at PayPal,and so we just ran very well together
around the globe and things were,you know, just worked well for us
as a team. We were togetherfor quite a few years. And so

(20:26):
I had started and my husband Istarted his business about five years ago in
Gretna while I was still at PayPal. I'm still not quite sure how we
did that. He's a teacher inGretna. And then COVID happened our first
year of opening the doors of theBark Club, and so just trying to
make that all work. And youstill apply your same business skills and leadership
skills and just overall people and customerservice skills, whether you're in a small

(20:48):
business or small business owner or you'releading fifteen thousand people, it still applies.
And I've just taken that experience andmoved it over to the Bark Club.
Well, and you have new endeavorsthat you're going to announced later and
both in Gretna and other parts ofOmaha. And we appreciate your service.
Let's just say I had a followup to Trenton's question, but about the

(21:11):
transition. Did you see the BarkClub as a passion, like you're really
interested in dogs or was it likea business model that you saw and you
like, we have a need forit here. I mean, I like
dogs. I grew up one offarms. I'm comfortable animals. I like
animals and dogs. I'm very comfortable. But I saw a need for solve
a problem. I have a large, great name myself, and the VET

(21:32):
told me when we first got herwas you've got a socializer. And I'm
thinking, well, there's nothing inGretna for me to take her and socializers.
So then my husband like, whatwe should build one ourselves. It
went a little extreme. Ledas thankyou. You're going to join us for
our next section we talk about Gretnaand when we get back, we're going
to have the real estate Development Spotlightbrought to you by not all companies.
You're listening to Trenton Maggot, BradWilliams and LEDs on grow Omaha right here

(21:59):
on kfab and stick around. Itseems if you're a Trump supporter, you
hate anybody who's good looking, wealthy, lives on the East or West coast,
has an education. It's the RosieDiginozi on the podcast page under Jim
Rose at kfab dot com. Andwelcome back to the Groma Show, brought

(22:21):
to you by Dingman's Clisions Center andSheer Athletics. I am Trent Maggott.
Joining me in the studio today ismy guest co host Brad Williams, who
is a principal at Inna Consulting Groupand owner of Brad Williams Photography dot com.
And also joining the studio is ourguest Elie Diaz, who we just

(22:42):
talked about had a storied career twentytwo plus years at PayPal and is a
small business owner at Bark Park alongwith her husband Sean and Gretna. Well,
the moment you've all been waiting forduring this segment, we are going
to talk about the Good Life TransformationAct. But before we do that,

(23:03):
we are going to give you thenol Development Spotlight, brought to by NODL
companies Exarbon Village, Valmont Headquarters,rivers Edge and Council Bluffs and First National
Business Park, just to name afew. They've got national projects as well,
but they are prolific and I wantto congratulate not al companies for their

(23:26):
They're building at fifteen to oh oneMike Fahey Street, Omaha's first hybrid timber
building in the Builders District. Theyhave a new fitness center that signed a
lease on the first floor, whichis retail, and then they'll have three
floors of office above that. Soif you get a chance, go check
that. One hundred and eight thousandsquare foot building out also with no development.

(23:48):
Sunny's is open at Xarbon Village.That's the airstream trailer that serves cocktails
and Lido dirs and things like that. That is open. And then right
across from that is Le Macarone ifyou want some swites right next to the
inner rail food court and get readyfor live music and DJs next to Sunny's

(24:10):
starting May third, and that isyour Noel development spotlight and check out not
all companies dot com Okay. AsI mentioned in the beginning of the show,
Nebraska Unicameral just passed LB thirteen seventeen, known as the Good Life District
Transformational Projects at Okay. Now thereare a lot of parties to this,

(24:34):
and everyone knows Nebraska crossing ne exabout four hundred and fifty thousand square foot
one of a kind stores National Stores, and Rod Yates and Johanna Boston are
co founders of Excuse Me, cofounders of Just Data, and a fintech

(24:57):
company that helps run all the infrastructureonline and they envision through the Nebraska Good
Life Transformational Act. They envision upto three thousand acres, forty thousand workers,
two billion dollars in annual sales.They want to have a new arena

(25:23):
that would be a fully sustainable,zero carbon emissions net zero multi use up
to three thousand acres. Okay,and I was talking to this morning and
they said that they're gonna call itthe Green Prayer Arena. This part of

(25:44):
this development will have three thou orexcuse me, eighteen thousand seats. They've
been approached by four professional sports teams, they said, and they imagine twenty
million shoppers here. This is Grutna, the ladies and gentlemen. It currently
has about ten thousand citizens. Theyimagine within this three thousand acre district they

(26:07):
would have twelve thousand, five hundredresidents. They really want to retain and
attract forty years and younger. Imean, that is our the future of
our company, of our city.And it sounds like a big dream.
They claim to have the five billiondollars in financing that'll take. They'll they'll
finance it with green bonds and privatefunding and then you have all of this.

(26:34):
And then I talked to Mayor MikeEvans and he was kind enough to
put together some talking points and thingsthat he wanted people to know because it
sounds incredible, almost like a pipedream. But Rod Yates and Johanna Boston,
they are doing amazing things with NebraskaCrossing, and they have a vision

(26:59):
for even more stuff, the mayorsaid. At this point, the city
has not approved the Good Life Districtapplication and has not been presented with any
written materials regarding the possible development ofthe Good Life District. Upon the governor's
final signing of LB thirteen seventeen,the Department of Economic Development is to share

(27:23):
the approved Good Life District application andrelated materials with the city. And what
the mayor is all about in theCity of gret is that they want to
increase transparency and accountability. So whatthis is all about is is financing new
projects. And what will happen isonce the citizens of Greta a vote on

(27:48):
this as early as July, it'llgo to the vote of the people.
Than the sales tax right now,it's five point five percent that the state
collects out of the sales tax thatthey collect, and two point seventy five
percent of that will go back tothis economic development program, which will be
made up of people for the cityand people from the project, and there'll

(28:12):
be different projects that can apply forthis this income. We're talking about millions
and millions of dollars that will helpfinance this, along with other traditional financing
sources. So we look forward tothat vote in July. But it's it's

(28:33):
almost so incredible and it would bewonderful. As an economic development person,
Jeff and I think this is anamazing thing. And we've known Rod and
Johanna for for many years and they'vegot things done out there. Ellie,
as a longtime resident of Gretna,what's your first impressions of what they're talking
about. They're talking about resort hotels, five thousand new apartments, twelve five

(28:59):
hundred sense in this district, andall kinds of entertainment, sports teams.
What do you make of it?Yeah, you know, I think you
had even said if it starts withthe dream, it's going to be pretty
amazing, even if part of thatdream comes true, And so i'd say

(29:21):
that. You know, Greton isprobably one of the fastest growing communities in
the state. It's very I've beenout there almost twenty years and just seeing
what's happened in the school district,seeing what's happened across the city, and
you mentioned just the population that's withinthe city, but you look at how
broad it is and how much youknow, space Gretina overall takes up.

(29:42):
It's become a pretty large community.So I you know, I think it's
exciting to have something in that areathat kind of bridges between Omahon Lincoln.
I think that we could always usemore space for entertainment to living, you
know, green space, which soundslike a lot of this is going to
be green space, And it's alot of the vision I think of gretnas

(30:04):
of you know, with the newpark and YMCA and what they've already done
with Nebraska Crossing and so, Iyou know, I see it fit in.
I don't know to how big itcan be. I think people,
especially the younger populations coming up,would love to see something like this,
uh for for not just in theGranton area, but just overall in Omaha,

(30:25):
Nebraska. Like this is what peoplewant. It would certainly help us
retain smart and all kinds of ourpopulation and bring people back home as well
as attract new people. Brand froma land planning standpoint, when you're talking
about two or three thousand acres,that's a major endeavor. Oh, Yeah,

(30:48):
definitely. You know, we usuallystart with something that big, you
know, just kind of a realhigh thirty thousand foot view and just kind
of you know, pick out blocksof land that are going to be you
know, maybe they'd be good atwith this, and then this block over
here would be good at this,and then kind of work on getting the
traffic to flow. So's it's agreat, big development. It's great for

(31:10):
Gretna. The one thing I kindof I was thinking about earlier was,
you know, for a long timeeveryone thought, oh the big resort would
a water park, musement park,would be out by Mahoney. Everything was
always going to be by Mahoney.The next Omaha International Airport was gonna be
by Mahoney. But you know,from reading all this and looking at the
things coming out, it seems likeGreta is kind of that new is going

(31:32):
to be the destination you know,between Omahon, Lincoln absolutely and and Roddy
It's and Johanna Boston. They maintainedthat new arenas will be in suburbs,
and people want to be in thesenew mixed use developments, and they actually
you heard it here first, ladiesand gentlemen. The eighteen thousand seed arena
would be called the Green Prairie Arena. Uh to give a nod to the

(31:59):
fully stainable net zero emissions of theirproject. Yeah, you read that kind
of fast earlier, so I wasgoing to ask you to say it again,
but yeah, green Prairie Arena.And so this, you know,
this is a big hurdle getting itthrough the legislature. But you know,
there's still several more steps to go. The next like we talked about,
was the vote with the city.But even after this is all proved,

(32:21):
then there's the next hurdle of gettingthese teams to actually commit one hundred percent
to coming here. So it's it'sawesome vision, it's an awesome plan,
but there's still quite a long waysto go. Yeah, and the number
Nebraska Good Life Act is not justgrutting. There's a project that's approved that
one hundred and ninety second and DodgeStreet, And what the what the Mayor's

(32:43):
office was saying was they haven't evenseen any of these applications or anything for
these projects, because that's part ofthe bill. So they will see that
and then it'll go to the voteof the people. So how does the
one hundred ninety second Dodge, that'dbe the Avenue One, the Founder Ridge
all that, how's that work inOmaha is almost going to all don't have
a vote, they have to havea So in Greta they have to do
a minimum of five hundred million dollarsI believe of new construction within the next

(33:07):
ten years. And keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, what we're talking
about here is that, you know, ten to fifteen years at least of
growth and planning and everything else.So it's not going to pop up overnight.
But what's interesting is all the focusseems to be in Gretna because they
really are the ones that put thisall together, and there's other cities that
can get they have smaller thresholds thatthey have to meet as far as new

(33:30):
development over the next ten years.So we haven't seen much about the Avenue
One version of this, but Iknow Grand Island and some other places have
talked about this. Yeah, andyou know things. I don't know what
Belvy's plan is, but you know, potentially down the road, maybe they
could also apply for a Good LifeDistrict too for their their water park,

(33:51):
and I believe they're they're in processfor doing that so that folks, ladies,
I wish we had a whole hourto talk about the Good Life District
and what's possible. But knowing allthese players that are involved, it's fun
to see the process and action andtime will tell and I wish them all

(34:13):
luck and we want to see moreeconomic development and Gretna and throughout Nebraska.
And the key that you just mentionedwas the ten to fifteen years. You
know, people get mad all thetime on a Gromha Facebook page that Crossroads
is think going. But these projectsfrom beginning to end take a long time
to develop. Absolutely, and whenwe come back, it'll be time for

(34:34):
the lightning Round Round. Brought youby Perkins christ Construction. You're listening to
Grow Omaha on eleven to ten KFAB no go on property tax bill,
but Governor Pillen says, hey,we're coming back. He joined us.
You can hear the interview podcast linkMorning NewsPage afbab dot com And welcome back

(34:55):
to the Gromha Show. Brought youby BigMan's Excuse Me, Collision Center,
the Demon's Collision Center. I knowI was just with them yesterday, Demon's
Collision Center and Cheer Athletics I'm TrentonMaggot, Brad Williams of joining me today
and Jeff will be back next weekand it is time for the Perkins christ

(35:19):
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contractor based in Omaha with services inOmaha, Lincoln Council and surrounding communities such
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(35:42):
them with thirty years plus experience,and the commercial general contract coractor works on
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healthcare, retail, office and education, religious, industrial, financial institutions and
restaurants. Check out Perkins Christer Constructionfor your nest project. Well, there's

(36:07):
a lot going on in the retailand restaurant world. The brunch Box at
thirteen oh eight Jackson Street is expandinginto the former Burger Burger Eam space along
Twelfth on the west side of theCapitol District. The restaurant plans to continue
operating the current Jackson Street location untilthe lease expires in about a year from

(36:29):
now. That Capitol district, Bradseems to have a renaissance and they're they're
getting some good tenants. Yeah,we went to a couple of the new
bars down there. The Rocks wasits Roxies and let it Fly Roxies with
all the cool guitars hanging above thebar and the walls tiled with cassette tapes.

(36:50):
Is a really cool music vibe inthere. The moving to the Old
Market. P and C's Popcorn andCocktails plans to open this spring and the
Old Market at eleven oh eight HowardStreet once UH the current tenant Table Coffee
Company, moves a couple doors downinto the former Stoke space. That's a
big space for a coffee shop,sure is uh. P and C's will

(37:14):
specialize in upscale, gourmet popcorn andpremium cocktails. It is amazing how restaurants
in this city they'll take a chanceduring COVID, they'll take a chance everything.
If there's a former kitchen, ifthere's a former restaurant, it'll occupy.
It's funny too, because you know, for decades bars have always had
a little popcorn machine in the corner, and it's like someone had an idea

(37:36):
like, Hey, I got anidea popcorn and cocktails. Let's make a
theme about it. Let's do itwell. On a down note, Apples
Applebee's Bar and Grill U thirty threeto fifty South one hundred and forty third
Plaza near Oakview Mall has closed permanently. We kind of seen that around the
country. We've lost several of themin Omaha the crossroads one, the one

(37:57):
up on North seventy second, theone out one hundred and sixty eighth.
Only a couple left. The HeirloomFine Foods and Market and Cafe has opened
inside the Ashton building at twelve tenNicholas Street and Millwork comments. There's a
lot of stuff going over there withCone Flower and a lot of employees there,
and the music is playing. Bradwe the music. We stuffed a

(38:21):
ton of information in this hour.Ellie Diaz, we appreciate you coming on.
We appreciate everything you're doing in theGretna community. And ladies and gentlemen.
This is Trenton Maggott and Brad Williams. Jeff Beals will be with us
next week on eleven ten kfab