Grow Omaha 11-9-2024

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is grow Omaha, the only radio show that talks
about economic development, construction, business expansion, and all of those
things that make Omaha a great place to live or visit.
Grow Omaha on News Radio eleven ten.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ka Baby, Well, good morning and welcome to the show.
Jeff Beal's at your service. We are brought to you
by Dingman's Collision Center for Metro area locations along with
Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star cheer Jim.
Without any further ado, I'm going to bring on my
co host, a legendary real estate deal maker and all

(00:34):
around entertaining fellow, Trenton Maggot.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Good morning, Jeff, Good morning everyone. Well, good morning Trenton.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
And we've got some good quick right off the top
of the hour. Restaurant news Legacy Chop House opens today
in the former Jam's West Omaha location near one hundred
and seventy six in the West Center Road. Trenton, you
arranged for the gro Maha team and several of our
friends from MP Dodge to go and have preview night there.

(01:03):
That might be one of my new favorite restaurants.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Absolutely. It's a big space and they're going to actually
expand it into a party room to the south. And
this is the property that that Lanaha development. They have
their offices upstairs. And this building was originally built. It
was like a fifty thousand or forty thousand square foot
I forget how big it was, but it was. It

(01:27):
was built for Upstream Brewery West, but it was too big.
And now Darryl Lizi, who has a history of the
in the food business, he and his partners put together
a very nice restaurant with high end steak. So Todd
Simon there from Omaha Steak, so they supplied some of

(01:47):
the beach.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Now you know where that steake comes from.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, but it was a nice crowd. I had a
lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I really enjoyed it. And a great new addition.
It was the type of restaurant you see downtown Dundee,
your Blackstone district in far west Omaha. So it was
kind of interesting and kind of nice to see that
quality of a place.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
We don't have a ton of those.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
And that.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, other little restaurant thing we want to mention right
off the top of the bat. Every two weeks we
have a grow Omaha Eats restaurant review written by Chris Corey,
and the most recent one came out a couple of
days ago. It is Cattle Call. Cattle Call is a
new cocktail bar restaurant place in the former Culprit Cafe

(02:30):
space sixteenth and Farnham Downtown, and as the review says,
it kind of tricks you a little bit because when
your first glance at it, you think, okay, bar whatever,
But Chris says, it's actually kind of a fine dining place.
Food's amazing, and in addition to all of their cocktails
and menu items, Kafman Do Momo station is part of it.

(02:53):
It's kind of like a restaurant within a cocktail bar restaurant.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's a misleading name. It sounds like.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah dog on those people, but at any rate, as
misleading as it may be, go there because Chris says
it's outstanding. You can read that review and all of
our restaurant reviews by going to grow Omaha dot com
and simply clicking on reviews on the navigation bar.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
All right, it's news time.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
A lot of news items this week, and the news
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(03:37):
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you want to get. Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. All right, well,

(03:58):
first up on the news trend. University of Nebraska Medical
Center leaders broke ground this week on a new on
campus student housing facility. We've talked about this before, but
the groundbreaking took place. This will be a sixty six
million dollar, two hundred thousand square foot six story building
for three hundred students at the corner of thirty ninth

(04:21):
and Dewey Avenue. Expected opening date August twenty twenty six,
went by yesterday on my Friday Gromaha tour.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Lots of tractors. Yeah, it sounds like our dorms in
college thirty something years.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Ago, just like your dorms at Tulane University in New
Orleans circa nineteen eighty seven. Well, other news item, very exciting.
Drury Development Corporation, which is out of Saint Louis, a
part of Saint Louis Drury Hotels, recently purchased a half
city block at three twenty two South tenth Street. So

(04:54):
this is that surface lot on the northwest corner of
Tenth and Hardy been there forever. If you love urban
spaces like we do on Gromha, that thing has been
a frustrating thorn in your side. But it's going to
become a building. It's only thirty five thousand square foot parcel.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Eight tens of acre.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
But Trenton some interesting things about this, okay, And we'll
get to the purchase price in a moment. But first
of all, it's going to be a dreary hotel. But
there are some interesting restrictions on this thing because it
had been owned by the company that had the Embassy
Suites just a block or two to the south. A
lot of restrictions there and according to covenants, filed with

(05:38):
the county. No hotel that goes there can have more
than two hundred and fifty two rooms or more than
four thousand square feet of meeting space, So it won't
be huge, but it'll be nice sized. It'll be tall,
and you'll have to get you know, you have to
kind of stretch.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
You want to put two undred fifty two rooms or
thereabouts on eight tenths of an acre you're going.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
So the same company is building a hotel in downtown
Lincoln right now with about the exact number of rooms.
It'll be eight stories. My guess though, is the parcels
a lot larger down there. I know it'll be interesting
to see, but Trenton, as you found out, the purchase
price for this thing was over one hundred and seventy
nine dollars per square foot, which was an awful lot.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, and you can only do that when you're going vertical.
If you did that on a single or two story
building on West Omaha, that would be ludicrous. The top
prices on like eighty fourth and Dodge area probably around
fifty dollars on a really great day for a seller.
So I mean, this is five times that got.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Some interesting news coming out of the Western Papillion area
one hundred and fifty six then Shram Road Hubble Realty Company,
a real estate development company out of Des Moines, Iowa,
which is one of our new Gromaha newsletter sponsors. They
are coming into the Omaha market because of the strength
of the Omaha market. Hot and Heavy building, a twenty

(07:02):
five million dollars two hundred and sixty thousand square foot
class A industrial building right there at one hundred and
fifty six and Shram. They're going to build a lot
more of them because the project they're doing is one
hundred and fifty six acres. Anticipate having a total of
ten buildings there. Interestingly enough, in this first two hundred
and sixty thousand square foot building that's under construction, Rotella's

(07:25):
Bakery is going to take one hundred thousand square feet,
So this is an intension the other yeah, yeah, because
they have their new cold storage facility just to the
north of that. Rotella's is really growing like crazy.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
It's unbe great Omaha success story. And Rotello's, you know,
you know them from one hundred and eighth then was
a Harrison, yep, And they just keep growing and growing
and growing and in their distribution gets farther and farther away. Yeah,
it's it's pretty impressive what they are doing. All right,
We've got some other big political news that affects Omaha

(08:00):
growth and development, and that is that Omaha voters overwhelmingly
approved bonds totaling three hundred and thirty three million dollars
in Tuesday's election City of Omaha bonds. And that's an
important enough story that we brought in a guest newscaster
with us to help us analyze that. MARYA jing Stouthart,
what does this project mean to you in these six

(08:21):
bond issues.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
You know, this is a really great thing for the
City of Omaha. It'll keep our momentum moving forward. And
there are six bond issues overwhelmingly passed by the voters,
all seventy percent or more. And they are street bond,
sewer bonds, public facility, public safety, park bonds, and then
street preservation bonds, which are the continuation of the big

(08:43):
street bond issue, the two hundred million dollar one that
we passed in May of twenty twenty. And you know,
we're always worried when we have these bond issues on
the ballot because there's a lot of misinformation out there.
This time, I heard a lot people were talking about
it'll raise your taxes, and we schedule these so carefully
every time we do them so that they don't raise taxes.

(09:05):
Then there was a thought that will if I vote
against it, it'll lower my taxes, and that's quite the opposite,
because these are things that we're obligated to do, like
sewers and streets, and if we did not have the
bonds to pay for them, then it was be most
likely we'd have to raise the levee because we wouldn't
have enough revenue. And the way, you know, the way

(09:25):
I explained bonds to people, it's like how many people
can go out and buy a house and pay cash.
Not many people can't. And so you go out and
you get a loan and you get it at a
good interest rate, and then you pay for it over
a period of time, which makes it affordable. And that's
exactly what we do with the bonds. We issue the
bonds and then we can pay for it over time

(09:46):
because some of these big items on there are things
that we can't pay with just the revenue that comes
in on an annual basis, So we're very happy they
all passed.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
And if the interest rate goes down, can't you refinance
those bonds.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
And that's why we can continue with these bond issues
like we do without raising taxes, is because we are
either retiring old bond debt or we refinance all the time,
and we're constantly refinancing so that we get that lower
rate so that we can add more bonds. So it's
kind of a steady stream of income that we have

(10:18):
that we're able to do all these things and keep
the city moving forward.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
So, as the mayor said, bond issues covered street, sewer,
park improvements, new equipment for police and fire. But the headliner,
as far as gro Omaha is concerned, one hundred and
forty six million dollars bond proved for public facilities to
CCHI Health Center.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Some details there.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Twenty five additional meeting rooms ninety four thousand square feet
on the east side of the convention center make us
more competitive, attracting even more meetings and conventions to Omaha.
And not only that, Mayor, but the east side of
the CHI Center is going to look a lot cooler
and nicer too.

Speaker 5 (10:57):
It is it is, and you know this expansion and
it's going to go over the back, like you said,
on the east side, so it's over where the loading
docks are on in the back. You're not going to
be seeing a lot of change in the front. But
like you said, we are missing out on a whole
different level of conventions that we could get in Omaha,
but we don't because we don't have enough meeting rooms.
And so this will more than double the number of

(11:18):
meeting rooms, which will open up a whole like I said,
different level of conventions we could get, which are good
for the city because every convention has a strong economic
impact for the city. They use our hotels, they've eaten
in our restaurants, and so this is really good for
the city. And the bond debt for CHI will be
paid off soon and so that's a good thing too.

(11:41):
So it's time that we do some refreshing with it too.
But I think with that, you got to think, what
are we going to need to go along with those
extra meeting rooms and bigger conventions. And we're probably going
to need and undoubtedly going to need another hotel down there.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Oh and Trent and I have some ideas of some
preferred brands.

Speaker 5 (11:58):
Well, we'll be talking to you about it. But I
think that's you know, and we've got to talk about
the parking, and you know, we're going to need to
build another parking garage, maybe on Lot D down there,
if we develop Lot B or put a hotel on
Lot B. So there's a lot to think about and
a lot to consider. But the money that the one
hundred million that was on the bond issue will go

(12:20):
to that, but there will be another one hundred million
that will come private. So this is another example of
these great public private partnerships that we have developed in Omaha.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
People have no idea the amount of generosity from our stakeholders, foundations, philanthropy,
private and public, how they contribute, and it allows the
city to do so such amazing things. That ninety acre
park four hundred and fifty million or so wouldn't exist
if it wasn't for the citizens of Omaha contributing private citizens.

Speaker 5 (12:52):
You're absolutely right. The Riverfront Parks four hundred million dollars.
The city put in sixty. The rest is private. The ballpark,
you know how the ballpark is funded. There's private money
in that. The original arena, convention center there, the library
at seventy second Dodge. That's one hundred and fifty eight
million dollar library the city put in twenty and the

(13:13):
rest is private. Yet it's going to be an Omaha
Public Library with our employees and the partnerships that we
have are unique and not all cities have those.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
What I like about this downtown area it's becoming more
and more walkable with retail, hotels, the convention Center ever
expanding and everything and the space around it so you
can really get to the old market. It's really connected it.
And then you've got the builders District and it's all
coming together.

Speaker 5 (13:39):
And the streetcar is something that's going to connect all
those together. And not just the development we have going
on now, but we also are looking into the future,
and you know, we have a plan for Sixteenth Street
to redevelop sixteenth Street around where the Orpheum is. So
there's a lot more vision that we have for downtown
to keep us moving forward.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Well, we didn't bring the Mayor of Omaha in here
just to analyze one news story. We're going to have
her stick around and she's going to be joined by
Heath Mellow, President and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber.
When we come back We're going to be talking with
Heath and Gene about tax increment financing and what it
means for the urban core and how the streetcar fits

(14:20):
into all of this. It'll be very important discussion for
anyone who truly cares about the continued growth forward. Like
I said, Heath Mellow, Gene Stuth will be analyzing that
with us when we come back. But we're going to
take our first break of the hour. We are brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics
on News Radio eleven ten KFAB and welcome back to

(14:40):
the show, Jeff Beal's and Trenton maggag At your service.
Are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center with four
metro area locations serving you with all of your auto
body needs. Also offer mechanical services. Plus, we're brought to
you by Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star
cheer Jim Well, there's been a lot of misinformation lately
about Tax Increment financing. You know it as TIFF, an

(15:03):
important development tool that has played a big role in
the momentum that we're seeing on the East side of Omahan,
certainly in the urban core and to talk a little
bit about TIFF and kind of help make sure that
we Omahon's don't commit an unnecessary unforced air.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
We have with us.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Heath Mellow, the President and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber,
and Mayor Jen Stothart, Heath and Gene, welcome to the program.

Speaker 5 (15:29):
Thank you, thanks for having us.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Well, we appreciate you being here. And I guess we'll
just start with a big broad question. We've heard a
state senator and state auditor make some public remarks questioning
tax increment financing. Perhaps we should start with what exactly
is it and how does it work? From the thirty
thousand foot view right?

Speaker 5 (15:51):
And I hate to hug the microphone because Heath is
really well versed in TIFF at being a state legislator,
But I will just say this. The recent criticism of
TIFF financing that we have heard and that you're talked
about termed out Senator Mike McDonald that's sent a letter
to me saying I want you to stop using TIFF

(16:12):
shows a lack of understanding about this very important and
beneficial financial tool that we have. And it TIFF is
authorized by the State of Nebraska for community redevelopment and
for economic development. We know that we use it very
judiciously and we follow state law to the te Auditor
Foley came out with like a twenty three page report.

(16:33):
But Auditor Foley also admitted that in that report he
never said we are using it wrong. He never said that.
He basically said, I just don't like how a lot
of cities are using it, But he didn't say we're
doing anything wrong. TIFF has a big positive impact, particularly
in areas that have the greatest need for investment, which

(16:54):
we use it a lot in our urban core. And
you know, some people will say, well, oh, how you
use TIFF in the urban core for Mutual of Omaha.
Mutual of Omaw is building an eight hundred million dollars skyscraper.
But you got to look across the street and an
empty building that's boarded up. Are a surface parking lot
down there that's full of weeds too, And so you
got to look. It's geographically defined TIFF. And that's what's

(17:18):
important for people to remember. And I think the one
thing is people criticize TIFF because they think it's a
handout of taxpayer dollars. And they will say, well, the
city's going into debt over tiff and that just is
not true. That's not how it's used. It's false because
developers who use tiff finance through their project, they go

(17:39):
to a bank and they get the loan through the bank.
So the risk is with the bank and the developer,
not with the city at all, and the City of
Omaha is not the lender. And it does not create
debt for our city or for our taxpayers. So there's
no loss of current property tax revenue. And the way
I explain it the easiest is if you take let's

(18:00):
and I'll let I'm hogging them my character, but it
take Crossroads and I'm just gonna throw out a number.
This is inaccurate, But you say take Crossroads, the value
you say is ten million dollars. They are paying tax currently,
they are paying taxes on ten million dollars. They are
going to build an eight hundred and sixty million dollar
development there, and they will be paying taxes on eight

(18:23):
hundred and sixty through the tiff process. When the tiff
note is given to them for public improvements, there's only
certain tiff eligible expenses. Through that process, they will pay
incrementally higher taxes every year as the value of that
development goes up, but a lot of that money goes
back to them to help pay for the development. But

(18:46):
when that is over, when they pay that TIFF note back,
who are the big winners? That eight hundred and sixty
million dollars of taxes they are going to pay goes
back into our tax rolls, And the biggest winners are
the school districts.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Absolutely so. And that's all for profit development. If there's
a hospital or a church, or if properties that are
on the tax rolls go to a not for profit,
that's when the coffers lose. So it's good. You know,
all this private development going on, whether it's the tower downtown,

(19:21):
big project, small projects that will that increases our tax
base tremendously.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
Absolutely And you know, I'll bring up Mutual again because
I mentioned it before. I've had people say, oh, Mutual
of Omaha Fortune five hundred company, they couldn't build that
tower downtown without TIFF. You know, they could. Mutual of
Omaha could build anywhere in Omaha, anywhere in Nebraska, anywhere
in the country. We wanted them downtown and to build
that tower with that much parking for four thousand employees

(19:49):
on one city block. They needed TIFF to do it.
It's where you're building. It's much more expensive, harder to
build in an urban core, but that's where you want
your big buildings. I will say this, in twenty twenty three,
the City of Omaha approved twenty three more TIFF projects.
Just in twenty twenty three. It represented over a billion

(20:09):
dollars in development. That billion dollars of development is creating jobs,
it's broadening our tax base, it's good for all.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Of Omah, bringing in families.

Speaker 5 (20:20):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, it would have been a lot cheaper for Mutual
of Omaha to build some campus along the freeway in
Gretna or something.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
And if you want to know why the urban core
of Omaha is so important and why it's being so
successful right now, go to Des Moines. The people of
Des Moines would love to see what's going on, would
love to have what's going on in downtown Omaha. There's
a lot of empty storefronts and things like that. And
TIFF is a big part of this. The public private partnerships,

(20:46):
the foundations that are stepping up. It's amazing and how
the downtown corgo so goes the rest of the city.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
Ironically, trend. There was just a story that came out,
I believe yesterday from Flatwater Press in terms of showing
the momentum in terms of the urban core, particularly the downtown,
in terms of new residents moving down to downtown Omaha,
and kind of just showing how downtown Omaha has changed
so much more recently and with some of the projects

(21:17):
the mayor has mentioned the public private partnerships, and how
we are stacking up against a lot of other Midwestern cities,
particularly in trying to recruit more and more population to our.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Urban core moving forward.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
Well, it was I was going to say. Recently, Forbes
listed Omaha is number one, the number one city in
the country for people to move to in twenty twenty four,
we got one hundred points out of one hundred points,
and it's just because of this great momentum and development
that was going on. And I always bring up I
moved here thirty years ago, and when I moved here

(21:50):
thirty years ago, if you think of the changes that's
just happened, then let me just list a thing. There
was no string of pearls along Abbot Drive. There was
no Chi, there was no Charles Schwab Stadium. There was
no Bob Carey Bridge, there was no Gallop, there was
no Holland Center, there was no Steelhouse, there was no
Tenasca Center for Arts Engagement. There was no Key Luminarium,

(22:11):
there was no riverfront parks. Just think of the momentum
and the things that have happened in the city of
Omaha thirty years and particularly in the last ten years.
Other cities are looking at Omaha saying how do you
do this?

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Most of the listenings are done during your twelve year watch.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, we're going to take a quick middle of the
show break for the news and when we come back,
we're going to continue talking with Mayor Jean Stothart and
Heath Mellow, President and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber
about tax and financing and a few other issues that
are very relevant about it when we are growing the
core of Omaha. So stay with us. You're listening to

(22:48):
Grow Omaha. Brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, along
with Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten kfab and
welcome back to the show, Jeff Biel sitting next to
Trenton Maggot. Were brought to you by Dingan's Collision Center
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jim Omaha location located near Highways three, seventy and fifty

(23:11):
in Papillion. What we have with us Heath Mellow, the
President and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber, and Jean
stouthart Mayor of Omaha. We are talking about tax increment
financing because it has been in the news a fair
amount over the last month or two and wanted to
continue that conversation. And one of the things Mayor Stouth,

(23:35):
when we think about tax circment financing, some people say, well,
it's giving away too much, or it favors developers too much.
But if you think about it, it's not all that
different from the way we handle sids on the suburban
frontier when we're knocking over cornfields.

Speaker 5 (23:53):
That's absolutely right because both SID the SID law to
help develop use it a lot out in West Omaha
and TIFF are both incentives that will allow the developers
to borrow money and then repay the lender from the
increased taxes that are generated from the new development. And
I mean, there's some differences between the two, but the

(24:14):
main difference is that one is used for a new
development the sids like on farm land outside city limits,
and the other is used for redevelopment in the older
parts inside city limits. But the intent is just about
the same. It allows the developer to afford to develop
and then that money is paid back over time without

(24:36):
risk to the city and the city tax payers.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
And you can also look at construction prices aren't coming
down anytime soon if you want nicer projects too. Some
of these developers, you say, well, gee, that the developer
can pay for it without taxing crement financing money. Well
maybe they can't. Maybe they can't, but they can also
afford a nicer project to make our city look beautiful

(24:59):
as a is just a lot of simple boxes.

Speaker 5 (25:02):
Absolutely. Another great example of how we use TIFF is
the Blackstone. I know almost everybody in Omaha has been
through the Blackstone. The Blackstone started ten years ago with
the conversion of Farnham Street, making it two way. In
the last ten years, there's been over three hundred and
fifty million dollars worth of development in the Blackstone. None
of it would happen without TIFF, none of it. And

(25:25):
that's just a great example. Todd heasted with the Duo,
which is at Central Park Plaza at the end of
the gene Lehi Mall. That was an office building that
was seventy five percent vacant, soon to be one hundred
just standing there empty. He is using Tiff. Couldn't do
it without Tiff, and he couldn't do it without the
street car. He's building seven hundred and seven apartments in there.

(25:47):
And I will tell you people bring up the apartments
we are building, especially in their urban core a lot
they they fill up as soon as they're open. There's
a need. These developers are smart. There's a need for him.
Todd Heasteed's apart are over ninety percent full.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Heith Mellow.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
I want to talk a little bit about the streetcar
because I suspect one of the reasons why there's there's
been some of this talk about tax increment financing or
some concern about it could be misunderstandings about the streetcar.
And from your perspective as head of the Chamber, talk
to us a little bit about how the streetcar ties
in with our tax increment financing discussion today.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
Well, I think that that there unfortunately is a lot
of misinformation purely because folks across the city don't want
to understand how taxer financing works. And as you heard
the Mayor explain kind of how the basics of it
works in terms of where the money goes and how
it doesn't impact the city's debt service in that sense.

(26:45):
But when it comes to the streetcar, it really comes
down to the basics of that folks that are not
along the streetcar line and that property owners that are
not along the streetcar.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Line are not paying for the street car.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
And it really is that simple and something we talk
about the Mayor and Steve Jensen in terms of a
lot of their presentations across the city about the streetcar
and the streetcar financing. And when I'm out talking about
the streetcar and various economic development projects, we're able to
share with taxpayers and property owners and those interested in

(27:17):
economic development that this is one of those very unique
opportunities for Omaha where individual property owners who are going
to see the most benefit the most benefit from the
streetcar the ones paying for it. And that's because tax
increment financing is that unique of an economic development tool

(27:37):
that is being used to finance the streetcar, and it
is something I just was speaking at a forum a
CPA Society with the Lincoln Chamber President and the Department
of Economic Development director last week, and then the question
was asked kind of about what's the most innovative approach
to deal with economic development and transportation infrastructure. And I

(27:59):
got to be a little greedy in the sense of saying,
you know, everyone across the state has probably heard about
the modern streetcar project in Omaha, and the reality is,
tax increment financing is by far still the most basic
but the most important innovative tool at the end of
the day to be able to do innovative projects like this,
because it only impacts those property owners who are going

(28:23):
to see the most benefit from it. And so we've
been out traveling the city talking to folks, reminding folks
in North Omaha, South Omaha, West Omaha, they'll see the
benefit of the street car. They get to ride it,
they get to utilize it for free, for free, and
they're not going to be the ones paying for it.
It's going to be the property owners who are along
the streetcar route who will be the ones ultimately paying

(28:44):
for it.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Those properties are going to greatly increase in value.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
Greatly increase in value, and they'll be the ones reaping
the benefits of it at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
And I love the fact with using tax recent financing
for the street car, we don't have to raise taxes
on Omahan's and we don't have to depend on federal
grants which come with a lot of strings and a
lot of trouble.

Speaker 5 (29:03):
That's right. We're not using any federal grants with this
first route of the streetcar, and people need to understand
that this is the initial route too. We are already
looking into expanding it up to the airport and at
in to North Omaha and hopefully one day down to
the Zoo. But people will say, well, wonder if, wonder
if that development doesn't happen like you have planned, and

(29:24):
we are so confident that it will. We even had
a company from Baltimore come in and spend nine months here,
went through every single parcel, and he estimated that we
would generate two billion dollars worth of revenue in the
first fifteen years of increased revenue because of the development
along the streetcar line. Two billion and fifteen years we
haven't started construction. By the end of this year, we're

(29:47):
going to have one point five billion already.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
And we have.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
We haven't even started, so it's already successful and that's
more than enough revenue to pay for the construction of
the streetcar. And with the additional revenue and now they're
predicting four billion in the first fifteen years, we can
do other things like affordable housing, streets, permanent bike lanes.
It's all a plan to develop that urban core. But

(30:13):
it's all working together.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
And in the process we build one of the coolest
urban centers in for a mid sized city anywhere in
the United States of America. Now, unfortunately we're out of time,
but I do want to give you, maybe both of you,
just thirty seconds to kind of give us a closing
argument for a lack of a better term.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
What do you want to leave the listeners with, Heath.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
Well, I would just leave listeners that you know, there's
a lot of misinformation about tax increment financing, and you know,
from the Chambers perspective, we're going to continue to try
to educate not just tax payers but also public policy
makers down in Lincoln that this is by far the
most important tool to help both the mayor, the city council,
and us as economic developers to be able to work

(30:57):
across the city, particularly eastern part of the city, North Omaha,
South Omaha, the downtown area, to continue to reinvest in
areas of the city that need reinvestment. And if we
lose tax increment financing, we're going to miss out an
a tremendous amount of private capital investment in decades to come.
And so and at the end of the day, it

(31:19):
doesn't hurt the city, city's public services, it doesn't put
the city in debt, and it really is a win
win for the public and the private sector at the end.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Of the day.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Well, we're just going to leave it with that because
we're out of time. But Mayor Jean Stothert and Heath Mellow,
head of the Chamber, appreciate both of you joining us
today and thanks for helping us out with this very
important conversation.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
You bet, thanks for having us on today.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
Thank you our pleasure.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Like I said, that was the Mayor of Omaha, Jean
Stothart and the head of your Greater Omaha Chamber Heath Mellow.
Going to take our final break of the hour and
when we come back, it'll be the Perkins Chritzer construction
lightning round. A lot of things on the list stay
with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you
by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center on news Radio
eleven ten KFABY and welcome back to the show. Jeff

(32:06):
Biel's and Trenton Maggott with you. We're brought to you
by Dingman's Collision Center and Sheer Athletics, And it is
time for the Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round, which we
have a lot of things for you really fast. Thanks
to Perkins Chritzer Construction for making this possible. You know
they do cool projects. Last week we told you about
Scissors and Scotch, the chain of men's barber shops that

(32:29):
give you a cocktail with every haircut. Maybe I should
start going over there at any rate, opening one next
year at one hundred and seventy second and Maple, I'll
be the third one in the metro area. Perkins Kretzer
Construction doing that project. But they just don't do cool
restaurants and retail spaces. They build warehouses and office buildings
and churches and shopping centers.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
They do all of it.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Sometimes you see of them described as p dash sea construction.
In fact, that's the website p dash Sea Construction. But
Dave krechtz Aer and his team over at Perkins Chritsler
Construction do a great job and we highly recommend them
as general contractor for your next construction project, Trenton. Should
we just fly through this real fast?

Speaker 3 (33:09):
Yeah? And I want the mayor to chime in on
some of these, okay.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
If she's so desires Brucey Bistro and Bar a new
ownership and a new brand at one hundred and thirty
second and Dodge.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, and they're gonna have two chefs instead of one.
You know, people love Jenny Coco Jay. She was from
j Coco's and now it's gonna be called the Linden House.
And they're expanding in the party room, bigger party room.
And they have a chef that used to be at
M's Pub. So we'll check that out.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Via f Reno opened its second location yesterday and Regency
Landing one hundred and seventh and Pacific. Previous one was
in Or the existing first one was in Little Italy.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah, marriage you go. No, I got an invitation.

Speaker 5 (33:51):
That mayor didn't was invited, but I want to go.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
But it's excellent. And Ethan Bondolid and Maven Social does
a great job.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Pico a Latto, a Mexican ice cream shop, has opened
its third Nebraska location, one hundred and fifty sixth and
West Dodge Road. And then while we're on the topic
of ice cream, Stella's ice Cream out of Idaho is
coming to four zero zero two North two hundred and
third Street. I think that's like a two hundre fourth

(34:20):
and Maple. Yeah, by Little Caesars and Jimmy John's. But this, Yeah,
they're only in Idaho and Texas right now, so Nebraska
Omaha's getting this really early in their growth.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
I think that Coneflower has gotten so much national press
that all these other ice cream players are credit to
knock them off the block.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Compete with them in their own backyard Centaurro Mexican restaurant,
which is kind of the new iteration of what Riviera's
Mexican Food was at one hundred and twentyth in Blondo.
We now are hearing eleven weeks approximately, which puts you
into January that will be at eighty six Dodge.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Apparently we don't have enough Mexican restaurants that I'm hope,
especially that one that food was pretty darn good.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Rally Coffee Company is opening at second location at one
hundred and seventy eighth and Highway three seventy and Gretna.
The existing location is in North Downtown. This is the
same Strip Center brand new Strip Center where netpar recently
opened in Gretna. And then Sweet Beans Coffee will host

(35:27):
a grand opening November fourteenth. Coming up next week one
hundred and eighty sixth and Harrison Street. We need more
coffee shops, so they say. The Brownie Bar, which tastes
pretty good with a good cup of coffee, has moved
just across the street Rockbrook Village. It is now next
to Corkscrew and whatever else is next to Corkscrew all right.

(35:51):
Kids Indoor Play Park which is known as Kip Kipp
Kids Indoor Play Park opening soon one hundred and forty
fourth in West Center Road, next to Vasa Fitness. This
is set to be Omaha's largest indoor playpark.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
That'll be interesting because the Vasa is really taking up
all the parking, so I guess parents will just drop
their kids off and let them run free.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Unfortunately, Trent and I think you're a little too old
for the place. Sephora A National Makeup and Beauty store
appears to be taking over the former Eddie Bauer space
at one Pacific Place. This will be what the third
standalone Sephora store in the market. The other one is
at Village Point. I guess it's just the second. They

(36:35):
do have them also inside Cole's Department stores Swing three
sixty five, which is an indoor golf simulator going into
Rockbrook Village. They have an existing location at one hundred
and seventy eighth and Harrison Street and the music is playing,
which means that we have to stop talking. The rest
of our items will have to wait for next week.

(36:56):
You can also keep up with everything at grow Omaha
dot com news every day on that website.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
I'm Jeff Biles and I'm Trenton Maggott.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
You've been listening to grow Omaha, brought to you by
Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics, and of course Perkins Chritzer Construction.
We'll chat with you next week at nine right here
on news Radio eleven ten KFAB