Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 Biels here at your service, our first show following
the Christmas holiday. I hope everyone had a great time.
Happy Hanukkah, and gosh. We're almost to the beginning of
a new year, which is why today and a little
bit we're going to have our end of the year
(00:34):
show that we do every year, in which we talk
about the Omaha growth and development year that was and
the Omaha growth and development year that might be in
twenty twenty five. I want to thank our sponsors. They
are Dingman's Collision Center with four metro area locations, and
Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star cheer Jim
(00:56):
and my co host Trenton Maggot.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Has the day off.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Apparently Christmas just exhausted him and he just couldn't find
the energy to make it to the show today. Now,
actually I think he's got something planned. But in his stead,
we have a very familiar voice our good friend and
key grow Omaha team member Brad Williams.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Good morning, Brad, heany, Good morning, Jeff. I'm glad to
be here. The End of the Year show is always
one of my favorite to listen to, so it's gonna
be awesome to actually be part of it this year.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Now you have to you have to make it the
show that you always enjoy listening.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah. I went through made a list of projects that
caught my radar this year, so it's gonna be fun
to talk about him.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, speaking of the End of the Year, we have
a special grow Omaha Eats restaurant review. It's not really
a restaurant review this time. Instead, Chris Corey, our restaurant reviewer,
went through all of the reviews he did in twenty
twenty four and among them, he chose his five favorite
(01:57):
restaurants and he has those in the article. Gives great
justification why he chose them. Chris said that it was
extremely difficult to do. Rumor has it that Chris likes
food and a bit of a food eat so I
think he liked all of the restaurants that he reviewed.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Anyway, check that out.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It's really interesting if you want to read it or
any of Chris's reviews. Just go to grow Omaha dot
com and click on reviews on the navigation bar. When
you do that, there's flicks for movies and eats for restaurants,
and all of the restaurants are under eats.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
And now we actually took Chris's advice last night, my
wife and I we went and tried one of the five.
We went to Sauce down in Papillion and had a
couple great sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You know, I'll make a confession, I think I'm the
only food foodie guy in Almah who's never been to Sauced.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
It's worth your trip down there. Papillion especially, go right now.
Papillion has really just decked out for the holidays. Yeah,
go down there in the evening, check out all the
Christmas lights. They really go over the top down there,
and then have a great sandwich.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, you were saying this morning when we were talking
that it was pretty popping down there in downtown Papellion.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Downtown Papillion was packed last night. I mean were the
restaurant we actually ate next door at the Twisted Vine.
That place was full. We had another stop down there,
so we walked around downtown a little bit and everything
just seemed to be full. The pizza place out of
big Lines.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that pizza place we reported in girl Maha not
too terribly long ago that it opened.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Grace, I believe it is.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
No Wait, so you had Sauce, but you ate the
food in a different place.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah. So next door is Twisted Vine. They have a
wine list, a whole bunch of Kraft cocktails, a large
craft beer list, and they don't have food. So they
tell you to support the other local restaurants in the area.
And so if you order from Sauce, the people at
Sauce will actually give you a number and bring the
food next door to you. At Twisted Vine, we also
(03:53):
saw people bringing in pizzas from the Grace Pizza behind it,
and they all have big patios on the back. So
I'm sure in the spring it's going to be a
really hoping place back there too.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Okay, So it's not like you're in Sauce and you
walk out with your plate of food.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Well you could, oh, okay, but yeah, they'll deliver it
right next door for you.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Well.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, check out Chris's gro Omaha Eats summary of his
five favorite reviewed restaurants, and all of grow Omaha Eats
reviews are brought to you by All Makes. They are
the legendary office furniture and office equipment store multi generation
store here in Omaha, headquarters downed by twenty fifth and
(04:31):
Farnham Street, also locations in nearby Lincoln, Des Moines, Columbus, Carney,
and North Platte.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Brad Williams, who does a great deal of service for
us here in Gromaha, is also a renowned photographer, owns
a company called Brad Williams Photography and if you want
to learn more about that, pretty easy Brad Williams Photography
dot com and also one of the employee owners of
E and A, an outstanding civil engineering firm here in town. Well,
(05:04):
let's get into our News of the week. We've got
a couple stories for you today, including one pretty big
one at any rate. News of the Week is brought
to you by Egle Mortgage. They've been in the mortgage
business for about thirty three years, long enough that they've
got it down, they've got it figured out. And you know,
buying a house is one of the biggest decisions you make,
(05:24):
one of the biggest expenses a person makes, and most
people only get a handful of houses in their entire lifetimes.
So you want to do it right and a big
part of it is the financing and so Eagle Mortgage
will coach you through that process. Doesn't matter what kind
of loan you're going to get, they really will work
with you. They're very customer focused. They're not a bank.
(05:45):
They can shop a variety of banks on your behalf
find the best lending solution for you. You can get
a hold of them online at Eagle Mortgage Company dot
com or stop by the office one hundred and fourteenth
in Davenport, which is just a couple blocks south of
West Odge Expressway. Well, Brad, the big story this week
(06:05):
comes out of Epley Airfield. We talk a great deal
about the construction at Epley. We've been talking about that
a lot lately and just came out yesterday that there's
going to be big changes related to that construction project
(06:26):
starting in January. And so this is part of a
one billion dollar redo of the terminal. But essentially they're
going to divide on a temporary basis, the terminal into
two halves. And if you're if you're going on Delta
or American, you're not going to be on the north
(06:46):
side of the terminal. If you're going on Southwestern United,
you won't set foot in the south side of the
terminal because they're going to eventually tear down the middle
of it for part of the renovation.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
It's going to be interesting to see how they cut
that building in half. But luckily for Omaha, we don't
have a ton of people changing airlines in the middle
of the you know, going from the North terminal as
South terminal. But they're going to tear down the middle
and start building the new main entrance into the new
security area, which will eventually connect into the new concourse. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, And like I said, this is part of a
one billion dollar project going on. It won't be fully
complete until twenty twenty eight. Now some of you are
probably thinking, oh, twenty twenty eight, well I even still
be around then, it's so far in the future.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This is going to be phased.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So my understanding that we'll actually be using part of
the new terminal as early as twenty twenty six. But
when you're running, you know, five and a half million
passengers through an airport terminal every year, while trying to
renovate it at the same time, it's going to be
complicated and it's messy. Like right now they're finishing up
(08:00):
imagine it'll be done probably middle, no later than the
middle of the next year. They're finishing the front do
drive and overhead canopy. You know that that's a big
project that has really kind of messed things up. But
I would urge all of you if you get frustrated
with what you see at Epley, knowing that this construction
is going on and it looks messy and it might
(08:20):
slow you down a bit, it's going to be so
worth it because when this thing is done among medium
hub airports, you know, airports of Omaha sized cities, it
truly will be one of the best terminals in the
United States.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
And I think we've really lucked out in Omaha the
way the original old airport was designed. There's going to
be very minimal interruption to the average traveler by having
that middle closed and torn down and the new airport
basically built in between the two existing terminals. It's a
I don't think it's going to be that big of
a hassle.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, it won't.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
It won't be nearly as bad as it would be
had the airport been designed traditionally. And of course when
this is all said and done, you will have one big,
long terminal which is going to be really, really nice.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I was also going to say one other thing about
the airport is part of this project. Eppley is going
to be transitioning to temporary or interim food and beverage
providers and so, like I know, everyone loves cracking mcgise.
No offense too ever runs cracking McGee because they've provided
a valuable service in the South terminal. But a lot
(09:33):
of people are very excited that we're moving beyond cracking McGee.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I never had a problem with cracking mcgeez other than
it was too small for the size of the airport.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, way too small for the size.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
But any rate, cracking mcgeese and all the existing ones
are closing by the end of this year forever.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Which is in a couple of days, which is in
a couple of days, And there's.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Going to be, you know, in twenty twenty seven to
twenty twenty eight, an amazing array of vendors and some
famous local restaurants and a lot of stores. It's going
to be awesome, but that can't happen for a while
because of construction. So we're going to have a temporary
place in the north and a temporary place in the south,
and they're both going to be called the Runway Bar
and Grill, So we'll see what those are like, but those.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Are on that one. Actually, I'm looking forward to the
new restaurants getting in there. It's going to be Can
you imagine what do you think Block sixteen is going
to have for breakfast items?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I don't know, because you have to have breakfast items.
I'm looking forward to that. And Pitch Pizzeria, what is
their breakfast going to look like?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Oh? But it sounds good.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And Fernando's is going to be in there, and then
the Mill Coffee which is out of Lincoln and have
a location on Levenworth in midtown Omaha, and a lot
of local retailers.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
It's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Then you've got to get some nationals in there, like
Panda Express, and of course you've got to have a
Starbucks and Scooters Omaha company will be in the new
terminal as well.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Well. Let's shift gears a little.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Bit and we're going to talk about upscale a Luxury
Automobiles and the Alpha Rome Omaha and Maserati of Omaha
dealerships are moving from sixty sixth and L Street to
one hundred and eleventh and Dodge and they're moving into
(11:13):
a space that does real good frontage along Dodge. They're
going to open Monday, but Maserati and Alfa Romeo in
West Omaha leaving the sixty sixth, the L and Brad.
This building that they're going into was originally a Cadillac building.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yeah, when Huber had it back in the day, the
Cadillac was on the east side. They had their own
nice building, and then the Hummer dealership was on the
west side. And once Hummer stopped selling vehicles, they moved
Cadillac over to where the Hummer spot was. And this
building it had a pre owned used car sign on it.
Didn't really see much activity. This is right by the
E and A office, so I drive by it every day.
Didn't see too much activity, but I can tell you
(11:50):
this last couple of days driving by, they have some
pictures of the Alfa Romeo and the Maserati stuff up
hanging up. They have some temporary signs on the glass
windows out front and there's actually been signs of activity inside.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And basically the West Dodge corridor now has become the
kind of the hub of luxury auto dealers because right
there you'll have Alpha, Mao, Maserati, and Cadillac. You go
a little further west on Dodge, there's the Porsche building
and the Infinity Building a house in between. Yeah, right
there at Hardwood Onyx, the Onyx building is very attractive.
(12:26):
I mean you would expect that they're selling BMW's and
land Rovers and Jaguar and.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
All that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But yeah, it's it's getting to the point where all
the luxury dealers want to be on West Dodge Expressway.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Well, even a lot of the regular car dealers have
also chosen the West Dodge Expressway. You know, there's a
handful of out in Southwest Papilion, handful of car dealerships,
but most of them in Omaha are all along West Dodge.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, that seems to be the place for the upscale
models these days. And finally construction has started on the frame.
The frame is a forty four million dollar, five story,
one hundred and forty six unit apartment building in Millwork Commons.
Milwork Commons is the district immediately north of Charles schwab Field, Omaha.
(13:13):
The frame will be specifically on the northwest corner of
thirteenth and Nicholas Street, so just west of the Ashton
Building and southwest of the Mastercraft Building north of hot Shops.
Hopefully that sounds familiar to you. Real nice infill project
for Millwork and Brad Milwork is just really popping because
(13:33):
you've got that project the footings are in.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
For is it called the Nova or no Ornayve or
on eleventh and just north of coming there.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that's coming along nicely. City plans
on putting the parking garage in there and then and
then eventually we expect sometime next year to work for
work to start on the Millwork Hotel, which is a
renovation of an historic three star brick building that's been
vacant for a long time.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Yeah, a lot of activity, and I thought this year
they were supposed to continue tenth Street across coming across
where that little Union Pacific display track is and into
that area, but I never saw it start. So hopefully
that comes along in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, hopefully that's on the docket because that would be
a very cool project. And that, my friends, is your
news of the week, brought to you by Egle Mortgage
Egle Mortgage Company dot Com.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Going to take our.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
First break of the hour, and when we come back,
Brad and I are going to talk about the big
development projects that were announced or progressed in twenty twenty four.
It'll be our look back. Later in the show, we'll
have our look ahead about what could be coming next year.
So this will be fun. It's our New Year's edition
of Girhamaha. Brad Williams substituting for the vacationing Trenton Maggot.
(14:52):
We are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center along
with Cheer Athletics, and we'll be back in a moment
on news Radio eleven ten Kfabe and welcome back.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
To the show.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Jeff Beels and Brad Williams at your service today. Brad
substituting for Trenton Maggod, who is firing up for some
New Year's revelry a little bit early. I think he's
so excited for New Year's Eve he had to take
the day off of groh Omaha. But Brad's here, you
guys know, Brad. He's with us all the time, takes
a ton of our photographs and does all those aerial
(15:23):
shots for us, and is our also with us every
time we do one of our call in shows. But
Brad's with Brad Williams Photography and e and a consulting.
Thank you to Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center for
being our sponsors. Dingman's four metro aerial locations soon to
be a fifth. We can't wait until we can tell
(15:44):
you where it's going to be. But they tell us
not yet, not yet, not yet, for it is that
works well, bradings. The things that Brad knows that he
can't say would fill up a week's worth of gro
Omaha shows.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah. You always say that I work at a engineering firm,
but I'm actually on the planning team, So yeah, I
see the very front end of projects. I also see
a lot of projects that don't ever make it to
the finish line. But there, I mean, there's always cool
stuff that I can't talk about on the air, which
is too bad because there's a lot going on.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You know, it would be a good show even though
we can't ever do it, because it would be a
violation of you know, relationships with clients. But to do
a show of every project that you've ever worked on
that didn't happen, it didn't happen, that'd be like a
that would be like a cool city. With all those
projects that didn't happen.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
You probably have to whittle it down to like the
coolest of the cool of the ones that didn't happen,
because there's a lot of other like small stuff you know,
here and there it never happens.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Some are pretty small well at any rate. That kind
of segues nicely into our project, and that is we're
going to look back at some of the big projects
that happened this year, and happen means either were announced
or significant progress occurred on these projects. And Brad, I'm
(16:55):
going to start this off with going to the place
that has really been probably the number one or number
two hub of construction activity in recent years, and that's
University in Nerbaska Medical Center. Within the last year, construction
started on the core building, six story building at the
(17:16):
corner of Farnham and Saddle Creek. It's the steel structure
is all done there. Also at the med Center, the
very first residence hall was announced and is already under construction.
The Catalyst Building, which is the amazing transformation of a
one hundred plus year old steel factory into cutting edge
(17:39):
medical and academic research center almost done. And then we
also saw this year the first renderings of the planned
two point two billion dollar hospital.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
So we saw in the past some generic, very boxy
renderings of what that could look like. But when this
actual real rendering came out, blew away the expectations I had.
It looks so cool. It's gonna be just a transformative
project for the hospital.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, very attractive building. More importantly, a lot of lives
will be saved in it and a lot of jobs
will be created within it. It's still probably a couple
of years away from breaking ground though, I think. But
the other thing that will be interesting in it from
a grow Omaha nerdy perspective, it'll be one of the
four or five tallest buildings in Omaha when it's done.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And the way it kind of be perched up above
Sadle Creek Road, it's going to look pretty imposing over
the road too.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
The visual presentation will be awesome.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
You know. And that's we've just talked about the med
center stuff. But you know, the amount of apartments going
up around the med Center because of that project is
is pretty cool to see too. Every you know, everything
from all the way out to forty ninth and Dodge,
you know, and then east down along leven Street and
now kind of starting to spread south along Saddle Creek.
There's a lot of residential projects going up.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, and a lot of them haven't even come out
of the ground yet. I mean, it was just this
fall where the house is right at thirty eighth Avenue
and Dodge were torn down. That's going to be seven
or eight stories if you count a couple levels of parking.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
And just south of Levenworth a little bit on Saddle Creek,
they've been clearing the land for that new apartment complex
on what it would be Pine or Civic.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
There's well, we have to address the mutual of Omaha
Tower because when it's done, it'll be the tallest building
in a multi state region. But just to give you
an idea of the progress that has occurred on that
building this year, I was looking at the Brad Williams
construction video that came out in January and the central
(19:41):
elevator tower, the Sheer Tower in the middle was just
a little nub. And now you go by there and
they're working on the twenty sixth.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Floor and I think within so every couple of weeks
they raised the core up. There's that section where they're
actually building inside that yellow canopy. Every couple weeks they
raised that up. I kind of have this feeling from
looking at the tower crane next to it that it
will only be a couple more weeks, maybe a month,
we might be able to see that tower core from
(20:09):
nineteenth and Dodge or seventy second center, the kind of
two high points where you really can see the tower crane.
I think it's going to be neat to start to
see that come up above the skyline there.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, And one of the things I think will be
interesting is how tall will it be by and others
like how tall will it be by the College World series.
Oh you figure by the time the CWS comes in June,
it could add another ten stories.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Possibly by that time.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Someone told me when they first got going that the
goal was twenty fours a month or a year, twenty
floors a year, so I mean that's more than one
a month. So callege Wald series six months away, you're
definitely in that ballpark.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, maybe somewhere, maybe eight or nine on the low end,
or maybe twelve on the high end. So by the
time CWS, by the time SEEDWS comes around, it'll really
be having a prominent place on the sky line.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
It's already the third tallest building in the city.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yeah, sure, is all right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
We talked a little bit about the airport in the news,
but obviously announcing that billion dollar terminal expansion. Getting it
started has to be one of the biggest projects. But
the other one is we've now started to see palpable
progress on the streetcar. No tracks being laid in concrete
yet because so much utility work had to be done
(21:26):
to prep for it. In the coming year, Brad, we're
going to see more of that, plus replacements of the
Harney Street and Farnham bridges over Interstate for eighty.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah. You know, one of the coolest things that you
and I talk about a lot is that this isn't
gonna There's no tax dollars involved in this. I mean,
the reilar citizens of Omaha are not paying for this,
and I think a lot of people assume that they are.
But you know, it's the development that is already being
announced along the streetcar line that is actually paying for
the street car, so it's not going to cost you
(21:59):
and I money.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, and I always say I got to complement our political,
business and community leadership in this town because the financing
method they came up for that street car was flat
out brilliant. I mean, to come up with a way
of doing that basically the property owners that benefit the
most from it end up paying for it is brilliant. Meanwhile,
(22:22):
when the thing opens in twenty twenty eight, when you
want to write it, you won't pay a penny.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Even the fares are going to be free.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
It's going to be great. And if you missed, it
was this week that Eric Miller's latest street car article
came out and there was a rendering of the maintenance
facility on there.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, the vehicle maintenance facility, just early stages of construction
on that happening in the shadow of the I four
to eighty bridge along Eighth Street. And if you want
to read that article, just go to groamha dot com
and go to the transportation section. Definitely worth a read.
Other big story this year, Brad, I think was Woodbury,
(23:01):
the large real estate development company out of Salt Lake
City officially taking over the crossroads so that we can
move that project forward.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Yeah, great National developer. They have a lot of cool
projects they've worked on. It's going to be good to
finally see that corner is starting to be developed. It's
been a long time coming.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
A piece of potentially bad news. I mean, some people
don't care, but I think it was unfortunate. The idea
of the big seven mile long lake west of Gretina
along the Platte River, we found out is a no go.
I think a lot of us were a little skeptical
about that in the first place because it would have
required the acquisition of a hell of a lot of
(23:41):
private property. But it is too close to well fields
that supplied drinking water primarily to Lincoln, but a lot
of Omaha well fields as well for mud. No go
on the lake, so you're not going to get that.
Why we would be awesome to have an all a
big lake around here. I just I always thought from
(24:02):
the beginning there was a lot of hurdles for that
to get through. And then before we break for the
middle of the show, a few downtown projects that were
announced this year that will be very significant One of
them is the duo, which is New Style Development turning
the old Twin Towers on fifteenth and Farnham Street into
(24:24):
seven hundred apartments. Construction took off on that fast and
is coming along with great speed. Also, New Style announced
this year that it will turn the old F and
Bo Main Bank building, the twenty two story building that
has the Press Club on the top floor, into three
hundred apartments. And if that wasn't enough, New Style also
(24:46):
announced a sixteen story apartment building on the north edge
of Heartland of America Park that would have apartments overlooking
the park and right next to a new children's museum.
So that's some pretty cool stuff.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Yeah, they're going to have a lot of units coming
online in the next few years. But from everything we've heard,
when a new apartment building opens in the downtown urban core,
they seem to fill up nearly immediately. So it seems
to be a lot of demand and it's going to
be good to have more people downtown, you know, seven
days a week.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, I can tell you a New Styles portfolio is
ninety nine percent occupied and they have a ton.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Of invatory downtown.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
I mean, you think about how many units they have
just at the old Creighton Hospital.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of units seven and thirty two. Well,
we got a break for the news and when we
come back, Brad and I are going to talk about
what we might expect to see for growth and development
in twenty twenty five. So stay with us. It's our
end of the year special. Brad Williams substituting for Trenton Maggot.
We're brought to you by Cheer Athletics along with Dingman's
(25:48):
Collision Center. We'll be back in a moment on News
Radio eleven ten kfab and welcome back to the show,
Jeff Bils and Brad Williams, at your service. We're brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics. Cheer
Athletics is the nation's number one all star cheer gym
and one of these single best ways for kids to
(26:08):
compete and learn leadership and become very physically fit. It's
an elite program at the competitive level and it's a
great place for your kiddos or grandkids to look into.
The Omaha location is in Papillion near Highways fifty and
three seventy.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Well, it's time for our not all companies.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Commercial real estate development Spotlight Oh the Week, which is
brought to you by Nodel Companies. They are one of
the finest commercial and residential real estate development firms in America,
headquartered right here in Omaha. Big projects like a Starbon Village,
Builders District, Rivers Edge, and so many others. So many
(26:51):
buildings around town were built by not all companies, and
today we talk about the Builders District. The Route Coworking
plans to open in Nottle Companies new mass timber office
building in North Downtown. This building is at fifteen oh
one Mike Fahey Street. Now you got fly Fitness in there.
(27:13):
Not all companies will be moving their offices in there
in twenty twenty five. But the Root co Working is
a twenty five thousand square foot coworking space. It's a
company out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have two locations in Tulsa.
They also have one in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which is you
know where the University of Arkansas is in that booming
(27:33):
northwest Arkansas area where you know Walmart is headquartered in
so many other companies at any rate, Root Coworking coming
to North Downtown and they'll be in that four story,
one hundred and twenty thousand square foot mass timber building
in the Builders District, and that is your Nottle Company's
commercial real estate development spotlight of the Week. Well, Brad
and I are talking about some things that could happen
(27:55):
next year when it comes to Omaha growth and development,
and if you look out west, Brad, I think one
of the biggest questions I have is what's going to
happen with a Good Life District in Gretna. There have
been some grandiose plans with big dollar numbers attached to them.
I'm fascinated in twenty twenty five to see what progress,
(28:18):
if any, we make with the Good Life District out there.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah, grandiose is understatement. I think some of those plans
are huge. But my fault on that is even if
they don't all come to fruition, even if part of
it does, it's still a huge project and it still
could be a very big tourist draw totally.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, you do twenty percent of what's talked about in
that Good Life District. It's one of the coolest things
in the Midwest. So what are some things you're looking
for to in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
I continued construction on a lot of the projects around town.
Like we mentioned the Mutual, Omahataw or the Crossroads med Center,
a lot of those. One thing we didn't mention that
I'm looking forward to seeing going is the CHI Health
Center expansion. That will the convention center will be expanded
over the loading docks to the east and should make
(29:08):
a very nice appealing view along the riverfront.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, and open up a lot more meeting space to
help us attract some more conventions. And then I think
everyone's wondering what will the Crossroads start to look like
when ground has broken the spring.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, and another project that's kind of been in the
works for a long time. It's gonna be interesting to
see what happens at the Civic Auditorium site. Mayor kind
of hinted during the press conference a couple of weeks
ago that there could be some bigger or different plans
for that site. So looking forward to seeing that announcement.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, she basically said, because it was a press conference
about the Crossroads, and a reporter asked her about the Civic,
and she said there might actually be a different developer
with different plans and a different vision. Than what White
Lotus has for it. That's pretty exciting. It is people
will realize how massive that is. That is four city
blocks there.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
So when you say stuff like that without a lot
of detail. And then on this show a while back,
she said something about a tower district without any detail,
makes you wonder if you put the two together, if
there's any any smoke or fire behind that smoke.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
So time will tell. That's going to be an exciting
one to keep our eye on. I keep wondering, you know,
the Keywitt Foundation is going to spin down their half
billion dollar balance or their fortune if you will, in
the next five years, and I keep wondering, will there
be any blockbuster development for the urban Core that the
(30:39):
Keywett Foundation will support part of? And if so, your
imagination could run wild wondering what that might be.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
It's hard to think of what it could be. We
were talking before the show that we already have an
art museum, a science museum, a history museum, a children's museum.
We already have all the performance venues, we have a
brand new ballpark, we have a beautiful arena, convention center.
What could it be?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You know?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I have an idea for them you know how they
for ten years they took care of the string of
pearls stretch from their part of downtown. Ever since they
left it, it's never looked that good. Wonder if they
could endow a fund to work on that. So maybe
that's a possible You that's just Jeff's idea, wed the
string of pool pearls. So could we see could we
(31:27):
see anything else in the downtown area with some more infill.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Now the downtown I kind of think there's a lot
going on right now, and we have a lot of
those plans. But the big announcement that we hope to
hear in twenty twenty five that I'm looking forward to
is what happens at the Mutual of Omaha campus.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, the existing Mutual Omaha campus that we keep hearing
rumblings that there'll be some significant renovations there that will
be fun to keep our eye on that. Down in Bellevue,
the Bellevue Water Park is expected to break ground in
twenty twenty five. That's supposed to be like a three
hundred mile to rest draw.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Yeah, and I know there's a lot of people in
town looking forward to water park. You know, most of
our water parks around here open Memorial Day to Labor Day,
and the rest of the year there's not a lot
of water park activities, so that should be a big
year round attraction.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Well, let's go ahead and get into our final break
of the hour, and when we come back, we're going
to have our Perkins Kretzer Construction Lightning Round. Brad and
I have a bunch of things to talk about during that,
so stay with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics,
and we'll be back in a moment. On News Radio
(32:35):
eleven ten kfab Hey, it's time for your Perkins Kritzer
Construction Lightning Round, in which we talk about a lot
of things in a very short period of time. Thanks
to Dave Kreitzer and his team of professionals and experts
at Perkins Kreutzer for making this possible. They do all
sorts of projects, you know, whether you need to have
(32:55):
a built from the ground up building for an office
or a church, or a rep tail strip or what
have you. They do all of that, and also we
talk a lot about the restaurant and retail buildouts that
they do because they work on so many of them.
You know, like Jersey Mike's coming to Westwood Plaza. Perkins
Kretzer Construction is doing that. Guitars and Cadillacs coming to
(33:17):
Miracle Hills West They're doing that. So Perkins Chritzer can
do it all. If you're looking for a general contractor
for your project, this is an easy decision. Just go
to pdashcconstruction dot com. P dashcconstruction dot com stands for
Perkins Kretzer Construction. Well, I noticed this morning driving in
(33:40):
I came by seventy second on I eighty and people
will be very excited to hear that the signage for
Wiener Schnitzel is on the building. Wiener Schnitzel is the
hot dog chain out of California, opening its first location
anywhere around here at seventy second and Dodge next month,
and people are constantly asking when is it opening the
sign is up.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I mean not only are they messaging ro Omha and
commenting on the Wierstitchell post asking, they're like randomly picking
whatever you post today.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, people are really excited for that hot dog stand.
They are good hot dogs. I will say I've had
them in California before.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
I haven't so hard yeah to try it.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I mean, they're not going to change your life, but
they are pretty good. Although hot dogs are not good
for you, I think I'll make an exception and have one.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
When Wiener Schnitzeill.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Opens, Cup's Cafe will host its grand opening January seventh,
eighty five on one North thirtieth Street. This is located
inside the No More Empty Pots food Hub. Coffee shop
aims to support community self sufficiency, food security and local
regional entrepreneurship. Cool Mission. Chipotle Mexican Grill has started constructing
(34:48):
its twenty four hundred square foot free standing restaurant building
in the Southport East development. That's on the east side
of Giles, so east of Embassy suites and cabellas that
will under ould only be popular Brad right here in
good old downtown Dundee. Bomb Taco, which is a great
name by the way, Bomb Taco, local Takaria and Cantina
(35:11):
has opened a new location in the former.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Hoppy Taco space. Hoppy Taco to Bomb Taco.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
We have a projected opening date for Red Lotus Thaie Express.
This is the Thai in Asian fusion restaurant that is
coming to fourteen forty nine Papillion Drive.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
It will be.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
January two, right after the start of the year. And
we have an ownership change at Pizza West. The owner
of Skybox Bar and Grill has taken over the Pizza
West place. Doesn't sound like there's going to be a
ton of change. So if you like Pizza West, you
should be fine.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
I don't feel like either of those. They're pretty similar
in nature as far as the looks and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, what they do.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Yeah, this transition.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Party City is a the process of shutting down as
a company and closing all of its eight hundred stores.
That includes two in the metro area. One is in
Montclair Center near one hundred thirty second the Western Road,
the other one in Council Bluffs at thirty two to
seventy one Marketplace Drive that's near twenty fourth and I eighty.
Both of those are scheduled to close by February twenty eighth,
(36:22):
and construction has started on the canopy that will cover
our canopies.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Pretty much done.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
That megasaver that's a little bit controversial on the southeast
corner of seventy second Dodge that's getting really close, coming
along pretty fast.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Yeah, it should be open shortly after the first.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Year, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Yeah, it looks like it's moving really really fast, and
so it looks like we'll have new construction on all
four corners of seventy second a dodge if you count
that one.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
That's going to be pretty pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Well, the music is playing, which means that we are
done for today. For more information, always go to grow
Omaha dot com every day and check our daily news.
Brad Williams, thanks for being a part of the show.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Thanks for having me. I always enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Brad Williams of Brad Williams Photography and E and A Consulting.
Trenton will be back next week. The show has been
brought to you by Dingman's Collision, Senator Perkins, Kreutzer Construction
and Cheer Athletics, and we will talk with you next
week at nine o'clock right here on news Radio eleven
ten KFAB
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 Biels here at your service, our first show following
the Christmas holiday. I hope everyone had a great time.
Happy Hanukkah, and gosh. We're almost to the beginning of
a new year, which is why today and a little
bit we're going to have our end of the year
(00:34):
show that we do every year, in which we talk
about the Omaha growth and development year that was and
the Omaha growth and development year that might be in
twenty twenty five. I want to thank our sponsors. They
are Dingman's Collision Center with four metro area locations, and
Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star cheer Jim
(00:56):
and my co host Trenton Maggot.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Has the day off.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Apparently Christmas just exhausted him and he just couldn't find
the energy to make it to the show today. Now,
actually I think he's got something planned. But in his stead,
we have a very familiar voice our good friend and
key grow Omaha team member Brad Williams.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Good morning, Brad, heany, Good morning, Jeff. I'm glad to
be here. The End of the Year show is always
one of my favorite to listen to, so it's gonna
be awesome to actually be part of it this year.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Now you have to you have to make it the
show that you always enjoy listening.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah. I went through made a list of projects that
caught my radar this year, so it's gonna be fun
to talk about him.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, speaking of the End of the Year, we have
a special grow Omaha Eats restaurant review. It's not really
a restaurant review this time. Instead, Chris Corey, our restaurant reviewer,
went through all of the reviews he did in twenty
twenty four and among them, he chose his five favorite
(01:57):
restaurants and he has those in the article. Gives great
justification why he chose them. Chris said that it was
extremely difficult to do. Rumor has it that Chris likes
food and a bit of a food eat so I
think he liked all of the restaurants that he reviewed.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Anyway, check that out.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It's really interesting if you want to read it or
any of Chris's reviews. Just go to grow Omaha dot
com and click on reviews on the navigation bar. When
you do that, there's flicks for movies and eats for restaurants,
and all of the restaurants are under eats.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
And now we actually took Chris's advice last night, my
wife and I we went and tried one of the five.
We went to Sauce down in Papillion and had a
couple great sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You know, I'll make a confession, I think I'm the
only food foodie guy in Almah who's never been to Sauced.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
It's worth your trip down there. Papillion especially, go right now.
Papillion has really just decked out for the holidays. Yeah,
go down there in the evening, check out all the
Christmas lights. They really go over the top down there,
and then have a great sandwich.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, you were saying this morning when we were talking
that it was pretty popping down there in downtown Papellion.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Downtown Papillion was packed last night. I mean were the
restaurant we actually ate next door at the Twisted Vine.
That place was full. We had another stop down there,
so we walked around downtown a little bit and everything
just seemed to be full. The pizza place out of
big Lines.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that pizza place we reported in girl Maha not
too terribly long ago that it opened.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Grace, I believe it is.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
No Wait, so you had Sauce, but you ate the
food in a different place.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah. So next door is Twisted Vine. They have a
wine list, a whole bunch of Kraft cocktails, a large
craft beer list, and they don't have food. So they
tell you to support the other local restaurants in the area.
And so if you order from Sauce, the people at
Sauce will actually give you a number and bring the
food next door to you. At Twisted Vine, we also
(03:53):
saw people bringing in pizzas from the Grace Pizza behind it,
and they all have big patios on the back. So
I'm sure in the spring it's going to be a
really hoping place back there too.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Okay, So it's not like you're in Sauce and you
walk out with your plate of food.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Well you could, oh, okay, but yeah, they'll deliver it
right next door for you.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Well.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, check out Chris's gro Omaha Eats summary of his
five favorite reviewed restaurants, and all of grow Omaha Eats
reviews are brought to you by All Makes. They are
the legendary office furniture and office equipment store multi generation
store here in Omaha, headquarters downed by twenty fifth and
(04:31):
Farnham Street, also locations in nearby Lincoln, Des Moines, Columbus, Carney,
and North Platte.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Brad Williams, who does a great deal of service for
us here in Gromaha, is also a renowned photographer, owns
a company called Brad Williams Photography and if you want
to learn more about that, pretty easy Brad Williams Photography
dot com and also one of the employee owners of
E and A, an outstanding civil engineering firm here in town. Well,
(05:04):
let's get into our News of the week. We've got
a couple stories for you today, including one pretty big
one at any rate. News of the Week is brought
to you by Egle Mortgage. They've been in the mortgage
business for about thirty three years, long enough that they've
got it down, they've got it figured out. And you know,
buying a house is one of the biggest decisions you make,
(05:24):
one of the biggest expenses a person makes, and most
people only get a handful of houses in their entire lifetimes.
So you want to do it right and a big
part of it is the financing and so Eagle Mortgage
will coach you through that process. Doesn't matter what kind
of loan you're going to get, they really will work
with you. They're very customer focused. They're not a bank.
(05:45):
They can shop a variety of banks on your behalf
find the best lending solution for you. You can get
a hold of them online at Eagle Mortgage Company dot
com or stop by the office one hundred and fourteenth
in Davenport, which is just a couple blocks south of
West Odge Expressway. Well, Brad, the big story this week
(06:05):
comes out of Epley Airfield. We talk a great deal
about the construction at Epley. We've been talking about that
a lot lately and just came out yesterday that there's
going to be big changes related to that construction project
(06:26):
starting in January. And so this is part of a
one billion dollar redo of the terminal. But essentially they're
going to divide on a temporary basis, the terminal into
two halves. And if you're if you're going on Delta
or American, you're not going to be on the north
(06:46):
side of the terminal. If you're going on Southwestern United,
you won't set foot in the south side of the
terminal because they're going to eventually tear down the middle
of it for part of the renovation.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
It's going to be interesting to see how they cut
that building in half. But luckily for Omaha, we don't
have a ton of people changing airlines in the middle
of the you know, going from the North terminal as
South terminal. But they're going to tear down the middle
and start building the new main entrance into the new
security area, which will eventually connect into the new concourse. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, And like I said, this is part of a
one billion dollar project going on. It won't be fully
complete until twenty twenty eight. Now some of you are
probably thinking, oh, twenty twenty eight, well I even still
be around then, it's so far in the future.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This is going to be phased.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So my understanding that we'll actually be using part of
the new terminal as early as twenty twenty six. But
when you're running, you know, five and a half million
passengers through an airport terminal every year, while trying to
renovate it at the same time, it's going to be
complicated and it's messy. Like right now they're finishing up
(08:00):
imagine it'll be done probably middle, no later than the
middle of the next year. They're finishing the front do
drive and overhead canopy. You know that that's a big
project that has really kind of messed things up. But
I would urge all of you if you get frustrated
with what you see at Epley, knowing that this construction
is going on and it looks messy and it might
(08:20):
slow you down a bit, it's going to be so
worth it because when this thing is done among medium
hub airports, you know, airports of Omaha sized cities, it
truly will be one of the best terminals in the
United States.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
And I think we've really lucked out in Omaha the
way the original old airport was designed. There's going to
be very minimal interruption to the average traveler by having
that middle closed and torn down and the new airport
basically built in between the two existing terminals. It's a
I don't think it's going to be that big of
a hassle.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, it won't.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
It won't be nearly as bad as it would be
had the airport been designed traditionally. And of course when
this is all said and done, you will have one big,
long terminal which is going to be really, really nice.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I was also going to say one other thing about
the airport is part of this project. Eppley is going
to be transitioning to temporary or interim food and beverage
providers and so, like I know, everyone loves cracking mcgise.
No offense too ever runs cracking McGee because they've provided
a valuable service in the South terminal. But a lot
(09:33):
of people are very excited that we're moving beyond cracking McGee.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I never had a problem with cracking mcgeez other than
it was too small for the size of the airport.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, way too small for the size.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
But any rate, cracking mcgeese and all the existing ones
are closing by the end of this year forever.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Which is in a couple of days, which is in
a couple of days, And there's.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Going to be, you know, in twenty twenty seven to
twenty twenty eight, an amazing array of vendors and some
famous local restaurants and a lot of stores. It's going
to be awesome, but that can't happen for a while
because of construction. So we're going to have a temporary
place in the north and a temporary place in the south,
and they're both going to be called the Runway Bar
and Grill, So we'll see what those are like, but those.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Are on that one. Actually, I'm looking forward to the
new restaurants getting in there. It's going to be Can
you imagine what do you think Block sixteen is going
to have for breakfast items?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I don't know, because you have to have breakfast items.
I'm looking forward to that. And Pitch Pizzeria, what is
their breakfast going to look like?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Oh? But it sounds good.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And Fernando's is going to be in there, and then
the Mill Coffee which is out of Lincoln and have
a location on Levenworth in midtown Omaha, and a lot
of local retailers.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
It's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Then you've got to get some nationals in there, like
Panda Express, and of course you've got to have a
Starbucks and Scooters Omaha company will be in the new
terminal as well.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Well. Let's shift gears a little.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Bit and we're going to talk about upscale a Luxury
Automobiles and the Alpha Rome Omaha and Maserati of Omaha
dealerships are moving from sixty sixth and L Street to
one hundred and eleventh and Dodge and they're moving into
(11:13):
a space that does real good frontage along Dodge. They're
going to open Monday, but Maserati and Alfa Romeo in
West Omaha leaving the sixty sixth, the L and Brad.
This building that they're going into was originally a Cadillac building.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yeah, when Huber had it back in the day, the
Cadillac was on the east side. They had their own
nice building, and then the Hummer dealership was on the
west side. And once Hummer stopped selling vehicles, they moved
Cadillac over to where the Hummer spot was. And this
building it had a pre owned used car sign on it.
Didn't really see much activity. This is right by the
E and A office, so I drive by it every day.
Didn't see too much activity, but I can tell you
(11:50):
this last couple of days driving by, they have some
pictures of the Alfa Romeo and the Maserati stuff up
hanging up. They have some temporary signs on the glass
windows out front and there's actually been signs of activity inside.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And basically the West Dodge corridor now has become the
kind of the hub of luxury auto dealers because right
there you'll have Alpha, Mao, Maserati, and Cadillac. You go
a little further west on Dodge, there's the Porsche building
and the Infinity Building a house in between. Yeah, right
there at Hardwood Onyx, the Onyx building is very attractive.
(12:26):
I mean you would expect that they're selling BMW's and
land Rovers and Jaguar and.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
All that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But yeah, it's it's getting to the point where all
the luxury dealers want to be on West Dodge Expressway.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Well, even a lot of the regular car dealers have
also chosen the West Dodge Expressway. You know, there's a
handful of out in Southwest Papilion, handful of car dealerships,
but most of them in Omaha are all along West Dodge.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, that seems to be the place for the upscale
models these days. And finally construction has started on the frame.
The frame is a forty four million dollar, five story,
one hundred and forty six unit apartment building in Millwork Commons.
Milwork Commons is the district immediately north of Charles schwab Field, Omaha.
(13:13):
The frame will be specifically on the northwest corner of
thirteenth and Nicholas Street, so just west of the Ashton
Building and southwest of the Mastercraft Building north of hot Shops.
Hopefully that sounds familiar to you. Real nice infill project
for Millwork and Brad Milwork is just really popping because
(13:33):
you've got that project the footings are in.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
For is it called the Nova or no Ornayve or
on eleventh and just north of coming there.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that's coming along nicely. City plans
on putting the parking garage in there and then and
then eventually we expect sometime next year to work for
work to start on the Millwork Hotel, which is a
renovation of an historic three star brick building that's been
vacant for a long time.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Yeah, a lot of activity, and I thought this year
they were supposed to continue tenth Street across coming across
where that little Union Pacific display track is and into
that area, but I never saw it start. So hopefully
that comes along in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, hopefully that's on the docket because that would be
a very cool project. And that, my friends, is your
news of the week, brought to you by Egle Mortgage
Egle Mortgage Company dot Com.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Going to take our.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
First break of the hour, and when we come back,
Brad and I are going to talk about the big
development projects that were announced or progressed in twenty twenty four.
It'll be our look back. Later in the show, we'll
have our look ahead about what could be coming next year.
So this will be fun. It's our New Year's edition
of Girhamaha. Brad Williams substituting for the vacationing Trenton Maggot.
(14:52):
We are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center along
with Cheer Athletics, and we'll be back in a moment
on news Radio eleven ten Kfabe and welcome back.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
To the show.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Jeff Beels and Brad Williams at your service today. Brad
substituting for Trenton Maggod, who is firing up for some
New Year's revelry a little bit early. I think he's
so excited for New Year's Eve he had to take
the day off of groh Omaha. But Brad's here, you
guys know, Brad. He's with us all the time, takes
a ton of our photographs and does all those aerial
(15:23):
shots for us, and is our also with us every
time we do one of our call in shows. But
Brad's with Brad Williams Photography and e and a consulting.
Thank you to Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center for
being our sponsors. Dingman's four metro aerial locations soon to
be a fifth. We can't wait until we can tell
(15:44):
you where it's going to be. But they tell us
not yet, not yet, not yet, for it is that
works well, bradings. The things that Brad knows that he
can't say would fill up a week's worth of gro
Omaha shows.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah. You always say that I work at a engineering firm,
but I'm actually on the planning team, So yeah, I
see the very front end of projects. I also see
a lot of projects that don't ever make it to
the finish line. But there, I mean, there's always cool
stuff that I can't talk about on the air, which
is too bad because there's a lot going on.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You know, it would be a good show even though
we can't ever do it, because it would be a
violation of you know, relationships with clients. But to do
a show of every project that you've ever worked on
that didn't happen, it didn't happen, that'd be like a
that would be like a cool city. With all those
projects that didn't happen.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
You probably have to whittle it down to like the
coolest of the cool of the ones that didn't happen,
because there's a lot of other like small stuff you know,
here and there it never happens.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Some are pretty small well at any rate. That kind
of segues nicely into our project, and that is we're
going to look back at some of the big projects
that happened this year, and happen means either were announced
or significant progress occurred on these projects. And Brad, I'm
(16:55):
going to start this off with going to the place
that has really been probably the number one or number
two hub of construction activity in recent years, and that's
University in Nerbaska Medical Center. Within the last year, construction
started on the core building, six story building at the
(17:16):
corner of Farnham and Saddle Creek. It's the steel structure
is all done there. Also at the med Center, the
very first residence hall was announced and is already under construction.
The Catalyst Building, which is the amazing transformation of a
one hundred plus year old steel factory into cutting edge
(17:39):
medical and academic research center almost done. And then we
also saw this year the first renderings of the planned
two point two billion dollar hospital.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
So we saw in the past some generic, very boxy
renderings of what that could look like. But when this
actual real rendering came out, blew away the expectations I had.
It looks so cool. It's gonna be just a transformative
project for the hospital.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, very attractive building. More importantly, a lot of lives
will be saved in it and a lot of jobs
will be created within it. It's still probably a couple
of years away from breaking ground though, I think. But
the other thing that will be interesting in it from
a grow Omaha nerdy perspective, it'll be one of the
four or five tallest buildings in Omaha when it's done.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And the way it kind of be perched up above
Sadle Creek Road, it's going to look pretty imposing over
the road too.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
The visual presentation will be awesome.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
You know. And that's we've just talked about the med
center stuff. But you know, the amount of apartments going
up around the med Center because of that project is
is pretty cool to see too. Every you know, everything
from all the way out to forty ninth and Dodge,
you know, and then east down along leven Street and
now kind of starting to spread south along Saddle Creek.
There's a lot of residential projects going up.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, and a lot of them haven't even come out
of the ground yet. I mean, it was just this
fall where the house is right at thirty eighth Avenue
and Dodge were torn down. That's going to be seven
or eight stories if you count a couple levels of parking.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
And just south of Levenworth a little bit on Saddle Creek,
they've been clearing the land for that new apartment complex
on what it would be Pine or Civic.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
There's well, we have to address the mutual of Omaha
Tower because when it's done, it'll be the tallest building
in a multi state region. But just to give you
an idea of the progress that has occurred on that
building this year, I was looking at the Brad Williams
construction video that came out in January and the central
(19:41):
elevator tower, the Sheer Tower in the middle was just
a little nub. And now you go by there and
they're working on the twenty sixth.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Floor and I think within so every couple of weeks
they raised the core up. There's that section where they're
actually building inside that yellow canopy. Every couple weeks they
raised that up. I kind of have this feeling from
looking at the tower crane next to it that it
will only be a couple more weeks, maybe a month,
we might be able to see that tower core from
(20:09):
nineteenth and Dodge or seventy second center, the kind of
two high points where you really can see the tower crane.
I think it's going to be neat to start to
see that come up above the skyline there.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, And one of the things I think will be
interesting is how tall will it be by and others
like how tall will it be by the College World series.
Oh you figure by the time the CWS comes in June,
it could add another ten stories.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Possibly by that time.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Someone told me when they first got going that the
goal was twenty fours a month or a year, twenty
floors a year, so I mean that's more than one
a month. So callege Wald series six months away, you're
definitely in that ballpark.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, maybe somewhere, maybe eight or nine on the low end,
or maybe twelve on the high end. So by the
time CWS, by the time SEEDWS comes around, it'll really
be having a prominent place on the sky line.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
It's already the third tallest building in the city.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yeah, sure, is all right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
We talked a little bit about the airport in the news,
but obviously announcing that billion dollar terminal expansion. Getting it
started has to be one of the biggest projects. But
the other one is we've now started to see palpable
progress on the streetcar. No tracks being laid in concrete
yet because so much utility work had to be done
(21:26):
to prep for it. In the coming year, Brad, we're
going to see more of that, plus replacements of the
Harney Street and Farnham bridges over Interstate for eighty.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah. You know, one of the coolest things that you
and I talk about a lot is that this isn't
gonna There's no tax dollars involved in this. I mean,
the reilar citizens of Omaha are not paying for this,
and I think a lot of people assume that they are.
But you know, it's the development that is already being
announced along the streetcar line that is actually paying for
the street car, so it's not going to cost you
(21:59):
and I money.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, and I always say I got to complement our political,
business and community leadership in this town because the financing
method they came up for that street car was flat
out brilliant. I mean, to come up with a way
of doing that basically the property owners that benefit the
most from it end up paying for it is brilliant. Meanwhile,
(22:22):
when the thing opens in twenty twenty eight, when you
want to write it, you won't pay a penny.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Even the fares are going to be free.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
It's going to be great. And if you missed, it
was this week that Eric Miller's latest street car article
came out and there was a rendering of the maintenance
facility on there.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, the vehicle maintenance facility, just early stages of construction
on that happening in the shadow of the I four
to eighty bridge along Eighth Street. And if you want
to read that article, just go to groamha dot com
and go to the transportation section. Definitely worth a read.
Other big story this year, Brad, I think was Woodbury,
(23:01):
the large real estate development company out of Salt Lake
City officially taking over the crossroads so that we can
move that project forward.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Yeah, great National developer. They have a lot of cool
projects they've worked on. It's going to be good to
finally see that corner is starting to be developed. It's
been a long time coming.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
A piece of potentially bad news. I mean, some people
don't care, but I think it was unfortunate. The idea
of the big seven mile long lake west of Gretina
along the Platte River, we found out is a no go.
I think a lot of us were a little skeptical
about that in the first place because it would have
required the acquisition of a hell of a lot of
(23:41):
private property. But it is too close to well fields
that supplied drinking water primarily to Lincoln, but a lot
of Omaha well fields as well for mud. No go
on the lake, so you're not going to get that.
Why we would be awesome to have an all a
big lake around here. I just I always thought from
(24:02):
the beginning there was a lot of hurdles for that
to get through. And then before we break for the
middle of the show, a few downtown projects that were
announced this year that will be very significant One of
them is the duo, which is New Style Development turning
the old Twin Towers on fifteenth and Farnham Street into
(24:24):
seven hundred apartments. Construction took off on that fast and
is coming along with great speed. Also, New Style announced
this year that it will turn the old F and
Bo Main Bank building, the twenty two story building that
has the Press Club on the top floor, into three
hundred apartments. And if that wasn't enough, New Style also
(24:46):
announced a sixteen story apartment building on the north edge
of Heartland of America Park that would have apartments overlooking
the park and right next to a new children's museum.
So that's some pretty cool stuff.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Yeah, they're going to have a lot of units coming
online in the next few years. But from everything we've heard,
when a new apartment building opens in the downtown urban core,
they seem to fill up nearly immediately. So it seems
to be a lot of demand and it's going to
be good to have more people downtown, you know, seven
days a week.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, I can tell you a New Styles portfolio is
ninety nine percent occupied and they have a ton.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Of invatory downtown.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
I mean, you think about how many units they have
just at the old Creighton Hospital.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of units seven and thirty two. Well,
we got a break for the news and when we
come back, Brad and I are going to talk about
what we might expect to see for growth and development
in twenty twenty five. So stay with us. It's our
end of the year special. Brad Williams substituting for Trenton Maggot.
We're brought to you by Cheer Athletics along with Dingman's
(25:48):
Collision Center. We'll be back in a moment on News
Radio eleven ten kfab and welcome back to the show,
Jeff Bils and Brad Williams, at your service. We're brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics. Cheer
Athletics is the nation's number one all star cheer gym
and one of these single best ways for kids to
(26:08):
compete and learn leadership and become very physically fit. It's
an elite program at the competitive level and it's a
great place for your kiddos or grandkids to look into.
The Omaha location is in Papillion near Highways fifty and
three seventy.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Well, it's time for our not all companies.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Commercial real estate development Spotlight Oh the Week, which is
brought to you by Nodel Companies. They are one of
the finest commercial and residential real estate development firms in America,
headquartered right here in Omaha. Big projects like a Starbon Village,
Builders District, Rivers Edge, and so many others. So many
(26:51):
buildings around town were built by not all companies, and
today we talk about the Builders District. The Route Coworking
plans to open in Nottle Companies new mass timber office
building in North Downtown. This building is at fifteen oh
one Mike Fahey Street. Now you got fly Fitness in there.
(27:13):
Not all companies will be moving their offices in there
in twenty twenty five. But the Root co Working is
a twenty five thousand square foot coworking space. It's a
company out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have two locations in Tulsa.
They also have one in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which is you
know where the University of Arkansas is in that booming
(27:33):
northwest Arkansas area where you know Walmart is headquartered in
so many other companies at any rate, Root Coworking coming
to North Downtown and they'll be in that four story,
one hundred and twenty thousand square foot mass timber building
in the Builders District, and that is your Nottle Company's
commercial real estate development spotlight of the Week. Well, Brad
and I are talking about some things that could happen
(27:55):
next year when it comes to Omaha growth and development,
and if you look out west, Brad, I think one
of the biggest questions I have is what's going to
happen with a Good Life District in Gretna. There have
been some grandiose plans with big dollar numbers attached to them.
I'm fascinated in twenty twenty five to see what progress,
(28:18):
if any, we make with the Good Life District out there.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah, grandiose is understatement. I think some of those plans
are huge. But my fault on that is even if
they don't all come to fruition, even if part of
it does, it's still a huge project and it still
could be a very big tourist draw totally.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, you do twenty percent of what's talked about in
that Good Life District. It's one of the coolest things
in the Midwest. So what are some things you're looking
for to in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
I continued construction on a lot of the projects around town.
Like we mentioned the Mutual, Omahataw or the Crossroads med Center,
a lot of those. One thing we didn't mention that
I'm looking forward to seeing going is the CHI Health
Center expansion. That will the convention center will be expanded
over the loading docks to the east and should make
(29:08):
a very nice appealing view along the riverfront.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, and open up a lot more meeting space to
help us attract some more conventions. And then I think
everyone's wondering what will the Crossroads start to look like
when ground has broken the spring.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, and another project that's kind of been in the
works for a long time. It's gonna be interesting to
see what happens at the Civic Auditorium site. Mayor kind
of hinted during the press conference a couple of weeks
ago that there could be some bigger or different plans
for that site. So looking forward to seeing that announcement.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, she basically said, because it was a press conference
about the Crossroads, and a reporter asked her about the Civic,
and she said there might actually be a different developer
with different plans and a different vision. Than what White
Lotus has for it. That's pretty exciting. It is people
will realize how massive that is. That is four city
blocks there.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
So when you say stuff like that without a lot
of detail. And then on this show a while back,
she said something about a tower district without any detail,
makes you wonder if you put the two together, if
there's any any smoke or fire behind that smoke.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
So time will tell. That's going to be an exciting
one to keep our eye on. I keep wondering, you know,
the Keywitt Foundation is going to spin down their half
billion dollar balance or their fortune if you will, in
the next five years, and I keep wondering, will there
be any blockbuster development for the urban Core that the
(30:39):
Keywett Foundation will support part of? And if so, your
imagination could run wild wondering what that might be.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
It's hard to think of what it could be. We
were talking before the show that we already have an
art museum, a science museum, a history museum, a children's museum.
We already have all the performance venues, we have a
brand new ballpark, we have a beautiful arena, convention center.
What could it be?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You know?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I have an idea for them you know how they
for ten years they took care of the string of
pearls stretch from their part of downtown. Ever since they
left it, it's never looked that good. Wonder if they
could endow a fund to work on that. So maybe
that's a possible You that's just Jeff's idea, wed the
string of pool pearls. So could we see could we
(31:27):
see anything else in the downtown area with some more infill.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Now the downtown I kind of think there's a lot
going on right now, and we have a lot of
those plans. But the big announcement that we hope to
hear in twenty twenty five that I'm looking forward to
is what happens at the Mutual of Omaha campus.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, the existing Mutual Omaha campus that we keep hearing
rumblings that there'll be some significant renovations there that will
be fun to keep our eye on that. Down in Bellevue,
the Bellevue Water Park is expected to break ground in
twenty twenty five. That's supposed to be like a three
hundred mile to rest draw.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Yeah, and I know there's a lot of people in
town looking forward to water park. You know, most of
our water parks around here open Memorial Day to Labor Day,
and the rest of the year there's not a lot
of water park activities, so that should be a big
year round attraction.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Well, let's go ahead and get into our final break
of the hour, and when we come back, we're going
to have our Perkins Kretzer Construction Lightning Round. Brad and
I have a bunch of things to talk about during that,
so stay with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics,
and we'll be back in a moment. On News Radio
(32:35):
eleven ten kfab Hey, it's time for your Perkins Kritzer
Construction Lightning Round, in which we talk about a lot
of things in a very short period of time. Thanks
to Dave Kreitzer and his team of professionals and experts
at Perkins Kreutzer for making this possible. They do all
sorts of projects, you know, whether you need to have
(32:55):
a built from the ground up building for an office
or a church, or a rep tail strip or what
have you. They do all of that, and also we
talk a lot about the restaurant and retail buildouts that
they do because they work on so many of them.
You know, like Jersey Mike's coming to Westwood Plaza. Perkins
Kretzer Construction is doing that. Guitars and Cadillacs coming to
(33:17):
Miracle Hills West They're doing that. So Perkins Chritzer can
do it all. If you're looking for a general contractor
for your project, this is an easy decision. Just go
to pdashcconstruction dot com. P dashcconstruction dot com stands for
Perkins Kretzer Construction. Well, I noticed this morning driving in
(33:40):
I came by seventy second on I eighty and people
will be very excited to hear that the signage for
Wiener Schnitzel is on the building. Wiener Schnitzel is the
hot dog chain out of California, opening its first location
anywhere around here at seventy second and Dodge next month,
and people are constantly asking when is it opening the
sign is up.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I mean not only are they messaging ro Omha and
commenting on the Wierstitchell post asking, they're like randomly picking
whatever you post today.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, people are really excited for that hot dog stand.
They are good hot dogs. I will say I've had
them in California before.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
I haven't so hard yeah to try it.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I mean, they're not going to change your life, but
they are pretty good. Although hot dogs are not good
for you, I think I'll make an exception and have one.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
When Wiener Schnitzeill.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Opens, Cup's Cafe will host its grand opening January seventh,
eighty five on one North thirtieth Street. This is located
inside the No More Empty Pots food Hub. Coffee shop
aims to support community self sufficiency, food security and local
regional entrepreneurship. Cool Mission. Chipotle Mexican Grill has started constructing
(34:48):
its twenty four hundred square foot free standing restaurant building
in the Southport East development. That's on the east side
of Giles, so east of Embassy suites and cabellas that
will under ould only be popular Brad right here in
good old downtown Dundee. Bomb Taco, which is a great
name by the way, Bomb Taco, local Takaria and Cantina
(35:11):
has opened a new location in the former.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Hoppy Taco space. Hoppy Taco to Bomb Taco.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
We have a projected opening date for Red Lotus Thaie Express.
This is the Thai in Asian fusion restaurant that is
coming to fourteen forty nine Papillion Drive.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
It will be.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
January two, right after the start of the year. And
we have an ownership change at Pizza West. The owner
of Skybox Bar and Grill has taken over the Pizza
West place. Doesn't sound like there's going to be a
ton of change. So if you like Pizza West, you
should be fine.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
I don't feel like either of those. They're pretty similar
in nature as far as the looks and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, what they do.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Yeah, this transition.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Party City is a the process of shutting down as
a company and closing all of its eight hundred stores.
That includes two in the metro area. One is in
Montclair Center near one hundred thirty second the Western Road,
the other one in Council Bluffs at thirty two to
seventy one Marketplace Drive that's near twenty fourth and I eighty.
Both of those are scheduled to close by February twenty eighth,
(36:22):
and construction has started on the canopy that will cover
our canopies.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Pretty much done.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
That megasaver that's a little bit controversial on the southeast
corner of seventy second Dodge that's getting really close, coming
along pretty fast.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Yeah, it should be open shortly after the first.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Year, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Yeah, it looks like it's moving really really fast, and
so it looks like we'll have new construction on all
four corners of seventy second a dodge if you count
that one.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
That's going to be pretty pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Well, the music is playing, which means that we are
done for today. For more information, always go to grow
Omaha dot com every day and check our daily news.
Brad Williams, thanks for being a part of the show.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Thanks for having me. I always enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Brad Williams of Brad Williams Photography and E and A Consulting.
Trenton will be back next week. The show has been
brought to you by Dingman's Collision, Senator Perkins, Kreutzer Construction
and Cheer Athletics, and we will talk with you next
week at nine o'clock right here on news Radio eleven
ten KFAB
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com