Episode Transcript
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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 Ka, Baby.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beal's
here at your service. This is the only show in
the metro area that talks about business expansion, real estate, construction,
economic development, really anything related to Omaha becoming bigger, more vibrant,
and more prosperous. We are grateful to our sponsors. They
are Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star Cheer
(00:36):
Jim with an Omaha location in Papilion near Highways fifty
and three seventy along with Dingman's Collision Center Best of
Omaha award winner year after year after year, taking care
of your autobody and mechanical needs, four soon to be
five metro area locations. Without any further ado, it's time
to bring on my co host, a man who's a
(00:59):
legendary real estate deal maker from nai NP Dodge Commercial
Real Estate.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Trenton Maggot, Good morning everyone, Good morning Jeff, Well.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Good morning Trent. And I am very happy because as
you know, every other week we have a grow Omaha
Eats restaurant review, and it is every other week. This week, Yeah,
it's brought to you by All Makes, our good friends
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(01:30):
You and I grew up with Jeff Cavac and I
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a great job. And we appreciate them for bringing this
to you. Well, people are wondering, all right, get on
with it. Who is it? What is it? It's Grace
Pizza and sheiks in Downtown Papilion. Chris Corey reviews our
local restaurants and gives us opinion on food and beverage.
(01:52):
And this looks like a great review. I've not been
to Grace Pizza and shakesa but after reading it, I'm
going to give it a try. Sign me up. I've
been there either. Sign you know. It's not too hard
to sign either you or me up for food. That's true.
And if you want to read that review and all
of Chris's reviews as part of the Groamha Eats restaurant
review series. Simply go to grollmha dot com. You'll see
(02:13):
reviews on the navigation bar. Click on it. There's a
drop down menu. Hit eats eats and you can see
all of them right there. All right, well, let's get
into our news of the week, our development news, if
you will. It's brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle
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(02:33):
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at Eagle more Mortgage Company dot com. All right, Trenton,
let's get into the news here. And the first big
news item is in Bellevue. As you know, the Bellevue
Bay water park is under construction. When it opens in
(03:15):
a year or two, it will be the fourth largest
indoor water park in America. And it was just determined
and finalized this week that the city of Bellevue, which
owns this amazing facility under construction, has entered into a
sublicing agreement with Mattel, the toy company that has Barbie
hot Wheels, Thomas and Friends. There's going to be Mattel
(03:37):
branding inside the facility. So when you go there, Trenton
and put on your speedo, you very well may be
sliding down the hot.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Wheels in water size with my Barbie. Let's not go there.
No Barbie waterwings, oh okay, or your Thomas and Friends'
inner tube and the laser. It's but I think this
is a This is a good thing because it basically
(04:08):
shows the credit.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It gives credibility to the project. You know, if you're
starting to get a fortune five hundred company branding situation
going there, you're obviously doing something right. We've heard great
things about this water park. It's understanding that it will
be a two or three hundred mile radius draw and
instantly once it opens, will become one of the tours
biggest tourist attractions in Nebraska.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, and kudos to the City of Bellevue at Citizens
Rusty Hike, the mayor, and our marketing team at any
I m P. Dodge led by Brian Thomas, and who
else is on that account, I don't remember, but thanks
for I'm pretty sure Maddy dug Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So anyway, what he's saying is that some of the
brokers and our office led by Brian Thomas, are actually
doing the land sales for so many of them. Yeah,
the parcels that are going to be located around that.
And we're hearing rumblings. Nothing that we can talk about
yet as we've been sworn to secrecy, but we're hearing
rumblings about some pretty impressive businesses that we'll be popping
(05:13):
up around that water park. Think have you ever been
to Wisconsin Dell's or something like that. Think about those
types of businesses that appeal to families who are on vacation.
You know, a lot of food and beverage and entertainment.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well, we don't have well, you know since Peening Park
and stuff. We don't have We don't have a great
great wave lodge, we don't have outdoor indoor amusement parks,
and you know, this is something that's one segment of
our of the entertainment options that we just haven't had
(05:47):
for so long in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
We are one of the largest cities in America not
to have an amusement parker theme park. Now, what's interesting
is that there was an announcement. Tel made an announcement
earlier this year that there would be about four indoor
water parks that would be receiving Mattel branding. We now
know one of them is going to be here locally
in Bellevue. What's also interesting is that they are creating
a new concept that are essentially indoor amusement parks, and
(06:13):
there is going to be one in Bonner Springs, Kansas,
which is a suburb bedroom community on the west side
of Kansas, not far from where the Nebraska Furniture Art
and the Speedway are in that part of the Kansas
City metro area. We do not know whether that would
also be coming to Bellevue. There's been no announcement as such,
might be too close to the Kansas City one, who knows.
(06:34):
But I do find that interesting that Mattel will have
a presence here.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Can I imagine hotels and restaurants and other types of
entertainment options and stuff. And it's a pretty big area
and that the Good Life Transformation Act helped make this possible.
And I think that the city of Bellevue was smart
and being the owner and developer of it well.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
In other news, Village Point Shopping Center is now under
new ownership. Federal Realty Investment Group out of the Washington,
d C. Area bought the center for one hundred and
fifty three point three million dollars. That includes the mainline
of stores as well as the big boxes on the
(07:19):
east side where Nordstrom, Rack and Best Buyer are located.
Four hundred and fifty three thousand square foot shopping centers.
Ninety six percent least the seller was essentially red development.
Now the Shields store that is there, which is by
far the biggest store, is not part of the purchase
because it is separately owned as a parcel by Shields.
(07:40):
Now this real estate investment trust Federal Realty out of Maryland.
They are well known for very upscale retailers, so Trenton
a couple things stand out to me. One the buyer
indicates that the mall should continue to be fairly upscale,
maybe even more so. And number two, that's a pretty
(08:01):
good purchase price for a twenty year old property. And
all I remember, one hundred fifty three million was a
lot of money. You could actually buy something with it.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, And what I like about it, and we've told
this story many years ago, is when General Growth which
is now Brookfield that owns West Roads, when we got
Pfching's and Cheesecake Factory. Two big you know, very desired
(08:29):
restaurants still are, but at the time they were huge
and pretty much the only reason we got them, we heard,
was because General Growth was big enough that they could
put pressure say hey, you want to go to this
market in that market where you get to go to Omaha,
Nebraska too, And I think they were pleasantly surprised, like
most retailers coming here. So this could be the same
thing where Federate is a lot bigger than Red. They're
(08:53):
both sizeable companies. But hopefully we'll see some new restaurants
and retailers and stuff that we just haven't seen before.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, we definitely hope that, and I think you will.
And I think it's also good for Village Point to
have a big name, upscale retail owner behind them, because
we are hearing about some pretty impressive upscale real retail
that's going to be coming to one hundred and ninety
second and Dodge in that Good Life district, and that's
(09:22):
going to require it's going to actually create some pretty
intimidating competition for Village Point, especially with the big name
stuff that we're hearing is going to go out there.
So they need to be loaded up and have the
resources behind them so they can continued be one of
the dominant malls in this part of the country. It
won't be Twin Peaks, no, because that is at one
(09:45):
hundred and eightieth and Center, Yeah, and very visible.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And I actually represented Twin Peaks and I have nothing
to do with the operation.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Ladies and gentlemen, believe me. I tried.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And it's a beautiful building though it's about eight thousand
square feed big outside patio. They should be open to
the next few months. And you can see him right
by a home two suits and their food is really
good and people say, well, what happened to that Twin
Peaks out on West Center Road where Lakeside where Famous
Days was. That was a conversion. This is the ground
(10:18):
up updated menu and everything else.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I think we'll do well. Never underestimate Trenton's ability to
insert a commercial for one of his deals, no problem anyway.
So there you have it. Breaking news. Actually it's not
breaking news. We've talked about it a lot. We'll talk
about it again. We'll talk about it. You'll be talking
to me when I'm getting the you know, grand opening passes. Yeah,
I remember you remember your co host whenever it comes
(10:45):
to free food. Okay, we got some concerning news coming
out to Lincoln. As reported by the Nebraska Examiner, the
Nebraska Department of Economic Development, it appears, now has twenty
two fewer full time staff members working there in just
the last two months. Now. A lot of this is
because the state of Nebraska is in a very big
(11:08):
time serious budget crunch. But for those of you that
are not aware, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development is
the entity that recruits new companies and recruits jobs, and
recruits capital investment in the state. In other words, goes
out and sells Nebraska to try and get the economic
activity that directly helps us improve our fiscal problems that
(11:32):
we have right now in the budget. So I don't
quite understand this there could be a good reason for it,
but on the face of things, it seems like a
pretty dumb decision. It kind of seems to me like, Okay,
let's say you've got a for profit company that's having
a hard time, revenues down and all that sort of thing,
and so they decide, you know what, we should fire
some salesmen. We should fire some sales professionals so that
(11:56):
we can't go get new business. So let's keep an
eye on this. There have been a lot of things
coming out of state government lately. We've been talking about
them here that are eyebrow raisers, if not worse.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
For a couple months, and everyone knows for the last
twenty two years, grow Omaha. We are a very positive
news source, but we're practical and we're factual, and we'll
call it as we see it. But you see all
this economic development going up up and down, doughtry around
the state, medical, retail, industrial, all this kind of stuff,
(12:31):
and you know, we talk about all these projects, but
you have to ask, okay, well, what's behind it, and
how is it sustainable? And is you know, are we
getting population? Are we are we are we keeping our
students here? Or are we attracting people. And the answer
is we have way. We have a lot of work
to do, so fall in behind all of this state
and so there's some stakeholders Exarbant Foundation and some other places.
(12:55):
You know, everybody talks about how much money we have
in Omaha and how many great businesses and foundations and stuff.
Well that's wonderful, but we need to start applying it
in the right places.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
One last quick story we're going to work in here.
Drury Hotels has purchased a second develop a lot in
downtown Omaha. We reported about a year ago that they
bought the surface parking lot on the northwest corner of
tenth and Harney Street, and now they have purchased the
grassy area southeast of tenth and Harney Street. This is
(13:27):
along the east side of the Old Market between where
Memoir and Tupelo Honey are located and where the Embassyats
Embassy Suites is located. Now, to give you a little
bit of background, when they bought the surface lot northwest
of the intersection last year, it was sold to them
by the entity that is affiliated with the nearby Embassy
(13:48):
Suites hotel. They put on some deed restrictions which limited
the number of rooms and the number of meeting space
or number square feet of meeting spaces they could have
in the building, and said it couldn't open until twenty
twenty nine. We're hearing that Drury was not too excited
about that yet. They broke land records for prices. Yeah,
(14:08):
they spent a lot for it. So they've decided to
invest five point eight million to buy that grassy area
from ConAgra Brands. It has no restrictions on it that
we know of or we can find, and so it
appears that they feel that they can have a better
deal there. We have heard from a couple property owners
in the old market before this even went down that
(14:29):
they were just going to hold on to that surface
parking lot and maybe sell it to a developer down
the road and maybe they'll make a little money on
it as the street car comes along and real estate
values continue to grow there. But I think it shows
just how valuable downtown Omaha is, and it's exciting that
entities want to be there so badly that they're welling
(14:49):
to spend a lot of money and jockey for just
the right site. I think it's positive.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
It'll be interesting to see if eventually a hotel goes there,
or who will anti up for something like that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, my guess would be eventually some sort of residential
or mixed use development kind of blend in the Old Market.
But we shall see. But it appears that dury In
will be most likely building a hotel directly north of
the Embassy Suites on the east side of the Old Market.
And that is your news of the week, brought to
you by Egle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. We're
going to take our first break of the hour and
(15:20):
when we come back, we are going to bring on
Omaha City Council President Pete Festerson. We're going to talk
about some economic competitives stuff in Omaha with Pete and
then also talk to him about some projects in his
district and maybe a couple of citywide things as well.
So you'll enjoy this interview, stay with us. You're listening
to Grow Omaha brought to you by Cheer Athletics and
(15:41):
Dingman's Collision Center on News Radio eleven ten KFAB And
back to Grow Omaha brought to you by Dingman's Collision
Center and Cheer Athletics. Cheer Athletics is one of only
about sixteen or seventeen in the entire world based out
of Dallas Fort Worth area, and the Omaha one has
been here for a number of years. It is generally
(16:02):
considered the Cadillac, Mercedes and BMW all in one of
all star cheer gyms. They get all sorts of international accolades,
and if you're looking for a great place for your
kids to get involved, look no further than Cheer Athletics
near Highways fifty and three seventy in Papillion, also brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center. Well, we have with
(16:22):
us Pete Festerson, who is about to become the longest
serving member of the Omaha City Council just a couple
more months ago, I understand, and he represents District one,
which is kind of the north central area of the city,
and he is our guest today. Pete, welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Morning guys. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Great to see you again, and congratulations on what I
understand is about to be your twenty second anniversary.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, it's getting really close coming up with jo on
the city council a little bit. Yeah, we do have
that beat, don't we. Yeah, well so Pete, you're in
representing District one. I just characterized it as north central,
but know, maybe give us the thirty thousand foot view
of what your district is and where exactly it is.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Yeah, it's a just an interesting district. It represents different
portions of the city. It's actually kind of the strangest
shape out.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Of all the districts.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
But I'm all north of Dodge represent neighborhoods like Dundee
Country Club, Florence, and Benson. I go all the way
north on seventy second Street, and then I go all
the way west to Crossroads and West Rows Areas and
one hundred and second in.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Maple, Okay. So it is pretty spread out. And you
just used the word crossroads. And I know you have
been very active in the years over the years trying
to get that development going, and we get countless emails
through the Gromhall website asking about it. But good news,
it seems like there's an awful lot of momentum right
(17:47):
now in Crossroads. Kind of give us the update from
your perspective.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Yeah, thanks for that. I've been working on that for
quite some time now. Ever since I was first elected
in twenty ten, we were encouraged when we first got
that local ownership of that property and had some big
thoughts and some big dreams for it. It is one
of the best best commercial properties in the entire city,
as you know, and still considered, I think the heart
of our city when we talk about you know, Husker
(18:14):
Championships or even that goes back quite quite a long time, right,
But I was one of those guys that went out
there in nineteen ninety three and ninety five and really
ninety seven and really had a great time. I started
reading the Huskers and all that's about Omaha. But now
that's been through several different reiterations in terms of our partnerships.
(18:37):
But we feel good about this latest arrangement and we
are back on track with it. The City Council adopted
a redevelopment agreement that will hold that timeline accountable and
actually has the city as an active partner in this
development now with Woodbury Corporation, and it's a major undertaking.
It's you know, about eight hundred million dollars worth of
redevelopment that will occur there and we're currently seeing Phase
(19:00):
one now and three major blocks of that site that
has now been sufficiently excavated and has a crayonon on site.
Now doing the moorings and all the base we need
to do for the first tenant, which will be Gamescape
that has been an announced first to market family entertainment concept.
And then on the block by Ks Street will multifamily
(19:23):
with retail on the bottom, and then the middle block
will be a public civic space green space with underground
parking that will also be part of that first phase
two can be complete by twenty twenty eight. We'll see
things starting to go vertical in the spring of twenty
twenty six, and the entire development now must be done
by twenty thirty two.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
And a lot of people don't realize, but there's been
a ton of infrastructure that you don't see above the ground,
but you know setting up for the parking garage will
be a parking garage underneath the dreamscape, right, that's right,
or Gamescape, Gamescape games Gate, and so a lot of
the hard part has been done, and so it'll be
fun to see this stuff start going vertical. The giant
(20:05):
parking garage now when Frank Crachie first purchases has got
to be going on fifteen years now or something, and
you know, he thought he paid ten million dollars into
a lot of due diligence or whatever, and he thought
that that parking garage is worth about twenty to twenty
five million dollars just to add led light, clean it up,
the other kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
But that's going to come down. Do we know when
that's coming down?
Speaker 5 (20:25):
We don't know yet, But that is still the intention.
That'll be probably a second phase.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Of the developments.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
But I believe they think strongly and I agree that
a much better use of that corner would be something
other than a parking garage that needs a lot of
assistance and a lot of help. That's much more efficient
for them to locate their parking in the internal part
of that site for.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
All they hope to achieve. So, Pete, the developer group,
like you said, Woodbury, they're based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They said recently that and I'm paraphrasing, they've been somewhat surprised.
It sounded pleasant so about the types of businesses or
future occupants that were interested in the site. And they said,
(21:08):
some of these occupants, tenants, whatever, may cause them to
rearrange the way they were planning on developing it and
switching the order. That was very interesting to me because
it sounds like they're some pretty cool stuff. Any idea
what that could mean. I don't expect you to divulge
(21:30):
any secrets, but if you want to divulge some secrets,
you're more than welcome.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah. I think they are an interesting partner.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
They have national contacts, national retail partnerships they're working through.
I think they bring a lot of resources to bear
to this project and a lot of contexts, So I
think we will see a lot of new ideas we
haven't thought of before, hopefully a lot of new to
market tenants, and that's certainly the objective, Pete.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Another project in your district that has gotten a lot
of press lately is the Saddle Creek reconstruction process, which
is well underway right now, as luck would have it.
On one of my Grandmaha tours earlier this week, I
drove up in that area and they're really going all
out on that. I want to talk to a little
bit about what's happening there and what people could expect
(22:16):
as far as what it to look like when it's
done and when.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Yeah, thanks for that question.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
This is one of my passions in my city council
service has been my neighborhood business districts in my city
council district in particular where blessed with neighborhoods like Benson
and Dundee and Florence where I've done similar projects about
five million dollars apiece between business improvement districts and philanthropy
and city investment to really make sure these neighborhood business
(22:42):
districts thrive and reflect the neighborhoods they represent well into
the future. And that's been the case with the Duney
renovation we did here and definitely Benson where I was
last night. Great things happening there in Florence too. So
North Cetle Creek has been my next kind of project
in this respect that is just achieve substantial completion with
(23:02):
our construction project there. It's a five million dollar reinvestment
in that area essentially northwest radial to the Peanut as
people call it, about fiftieth Street, and it will do
everything from new sidewalks, new bike lanes, lots of additional
parking for the businesses, new street resurfacing and landscaping in
(23:23):
trees and lighting for security purposes, to really reinvest in
that community, encourage new business development there, help those that
are currently there. We have some awesome local businesses like
Janasex Florist and Sergeant Peffer's, the homy Inn Champagne on tap.
I know you guys are familiar with We've been there.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
My mother, Carolyn Maggot did that logo when she was
a graphic designer.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
It's still there and it's awesome. Yeah, I like yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
So the whole idea is to make them successful well
into the future and have it be a great benefit
for the neighborhood and have it be more walkable and safe.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
And that's going to be achieved here. I'm really excited
about it.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
All right, Well, we're going to take our of the
show break for the news, but when we come back,
we're going to have more with City council Member Pete Festerson,
who represents a district one which is kind of north
central to parts of northeast Omaha. We're going to talk
to him about a variety of different topics. So stay
with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you
by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on News Radio
(24:21):
eleven ten kfab and welcome back to the show. Jeff
Beal's and Trent Maggot At your service were brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics, the nation's
number one all star cheer Jim Dingman's has four Metro
area locations. They all do I was going to say
they all do a bang up job, but no, no,
they fix bang ups. Yes, so they do a good
job fixing bingums. We love Dingman's Collision Center. All right,
(24:46):
it's time for your not All Companies Commercial real Estate
Development Spotlight of the Week, in which we talk about
happenings in around or near one of not All companies
many projects in the Omaha area. And when we say
Nodel Companies many projects in the Omaha area, we're not kidding.
They have a lot of them. The most famous, probably
(25:06):
right now is Xarbon Village, but they have the Builders
District in North downtown Steel Ridge out in the Papilion
Gretna area. They're also famous for building these headquarters buildings
like you know in recent years, Valmont's Global Headquarters at
Heartwood Preserve, the HDR Global Headquarters at Heartwood Preserve, NODL
(25:27):
Companies did all that. So we appreciate Nodel for being
part of our show because they are true community leaders
and community supporters. So this week for the Nodel Companies Spotlight,
we go to the ex Sarbon Village area. And this one,
when I say area, that's really what I'm talking about
because it's not technically in Xarbon, but it's kind of
(25:47):
part of the x Sarbon Village metro area, if you will.
And that is University of Nebraska Omaha Athletic Complex just
south of Xarbon Village. It's anchored by Baxter Arena. You've
got the beautiful baseball and softball fields in that same
area as well. Well. Yesterday the NU Border Regents approved
sixty seven and a half million dollars in new athletics
(26:08):
facilities just south of Xarbon for the University of Nebraska Omaha,
the Mavericks. It includes an athletics training facility that will
be connected via skywalk to Baxter Arena. Just looking at
some of the renderings, absolutely beautiful. Most of the Maverick
sports will have their offices in there, and then right
(26:28):
next to the softball and baseball diamonds is going to
be the baseball softball clubhouse. So of this, about fifty
five million will be for the athletics facility and about
twelve and a half million for the baseball softball clubhouse.
And that is your NOL company's commercial real estate development
spotlight of the week. You can learn more about nodal
(26:49):
companies by going to their website. Their website not all
companies dot com. Well, we have with us today Pete Festerson.
He is just about to become the longest serving member
of the Omaha City Council, represents District one, and Pete,
we wanted to talk to you a little bit about
some athletics stories. So that was a good segue there
(27:09):
with an auto company spot Just about a week ago,
big announcement that Union Omaha plans to have a professional
soccer stadium in north downtown east of Millburk Commons. Talk
to us a little bit about that project.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
It's been on a big a couple of weeks for
soccer actually in our country and locally here too. And
as a former player, I'm excited about that. For those
that watch the World Cup. The pairings were disannounced yesterday
and that'll be a big deal for our country in
this summer. Locally, we have in our city Council agenda
right now two major projects. One is the renovation of
(27:45):
Tranquility Soccer Complex to add sixteen new fields there for
families and national tournaments that we think will have an
economic impact of about thirty to thirty six million dollars
per year. And the second one is a major stadium
development that you pern for Union Omaha Downtown. Bringing soccer
back down to Downtown Omaha, I think will be fantastic,
(28:06):
great for our young professionals and the fan bases that
are interested in that sport, and then doing it where
it's proposed to be done at Union Pacific. Land that
currently has been not well used will invigorate that neighborhood
next to a property called Future Ford in Millwork's Commons
that I think has a lot of potential to generate
(28:27):
additional housing and additional retail development too. So both those
things run our agenda for next week, including those land purchases.
There's also a Union Pacific component to that that's very
important I think to our downtown and to the future
of Union Pacific, which means even more jobs. So a
lot of moving parts there. But I think some exciting
things for all of Omaha.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
So going to that soccer stadium north of Charles Schwab Field,
what kind of collateral real estate development would you expect
to see in the immediate area around that soccer stadium.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
With a company called Heinz, which is nationally known, internationally
known for developments, I believe, in accordance with the one
hundred and fourteen million dollars stadium that's being proposed, we'll
see some mixed use development, commercial developments just to the
south of there, and then just to the west of there,
I think we'll see a lot of additional housing units
that are very important to our city. Right now, we
(29:21):
think we're about thirty thousand units short of affordable housing
and market rate housing in our city just in the
next five years.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
And Omaha is familiar with Heine's work because for the
last several years the Brick Line which is part of
the Mercantile District right and that's a huge development part
of that kana Agra land red on Tenth Street. So
Heinz is very capable. Obviously they took a risk on Omahon.
They've done great things all those restaurants and everything else.
(29:50):
So that would be good. I think that the timeline
is pretty aggressive setting breaking ground in twenty twenty six
given the site.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, do you think cable possible?
Speaker 4 (30:01):
I think it is possible.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
We have redevelopment agreements still coming to the city Council.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
With all these details.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
Including the timelines and expectations, we do need our state
partners to be partners in this project when we talk
about some incentives that are involved with state turnback mechanisms
that we've used to really accomplish all of our downtown
development and the Chi House Center for example. So those
things all have to come together for this to be
a reality. But I'm confident about it and I'm excited
(30:30):
about it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
One last question for City Councilvan Pete Festerson before we
wrap up here today. Pete, I want to throw out
a little something about economic competitiveness. We've been kind of
having that as a theme on GROMHA for the last
few months, and it was kind of sparked by the
Excarbin Foundation report that came out in October that indicated
that Nebraska, as well as the Omaha Lincoln metro areas,
(30:54):
we're really starting to fall behind visa V competing states
and competing metro areas when it comes to job creation,
high salary jobs, and high salary job retention. What are
some of your thoughts about that that Omaha at the
city level can do to maintain its competitiveness vis of
the the Tulsa's and the Oklahoma cities and the minneapolises
(31:16):
of the world.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Yeah, I think that's something we always have to be
mindful about. I think recent analysis to our competitive set
shows we are about middle of the pack in many
of those measurements. And middle of the pack is okay,
but you want to be a lot better than that
going forward. I think one of our strengths has always
been kind of slow, steady growth in Omaha over our
long period of time, and we still have that, you know,
(31:38):
over two billion dollars worth of development downtown.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
I mentioned Union Pacific.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Of course, we've got an eight hundred million dollars of
Omaha corporate headquarters going up as we speak. But there
are so many more things to that that include things
like affordable housing, quality of life, retaining your young professionals.
These are all things we need to be very focused,
laser focused on turmain copetitive going forward.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
All right, I wish we had more time, but we don't.
City Countsman Pete Festerson, appreciate you joining us and thanks
for your service to our city.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Thank you, guys. I appreciate, appreciate your show. You do
a great job.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Thanks Pete. All Right, City Countsman Pete Festerson, I'm going
to take our final the break of the hour, and
you know what that means. When we come back, it'll
be our Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round. A lot of
things in a very short period of time. Stay with us.
You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten
KFAB and welcome back to the show. It is time
(32:34):
for your Perkins chrits Er Construction Lightning Round, in which
we talk about a lot of things really fast. Thanks
to Perkins Kretzer for making this possible. They are a
Class A general contractor headquartered here in Omaha, but they
serve really all of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. You
can find Perkins Chritzer construction projects all over the place.
(32:56):
Every once while I talk with Dave Kreutzer, who's the
the guy in charge over there and I say what
are you working on? And he's like, oh, this and that,
and it's all over the place. And they do built
from the ground up buildings and then we report a
lot of their retail projects because retail's kind of the
theme of the Lightning Round. But whatever you're interested in
(33:18):
having built, whether it's you know, personal or organizational or corporate,
Perkins Kretzer does a great job. You can find Perkins
Kretzer Construction online easy enough at PDASHC construction dot com.
That's p DASHC construction dot com. All right. To get
us started, Frontier Airlines announced non stops to Phoenix Sky
(33:41):
Harbor starting in March. They'll be seasonal and already you
have both American and Southwest that do daily non stops
year round Phoenix Sky Harbor. You also have Allegiant Airlines
that does non stops to the nearby Mesa Gateway Airports.
So altogether you will have four airlines doing non stops
(34:04):
between Omaha and Phoenix. So that is encouraging. Trenton, I
can't wait to take the tour. But we found out
the Tenasca Center for Arts Engagement officially opens on March nineteenth.
This is the addition to the east side of the
halland Center. It looks beautiful, it looks really good.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
And that whole cluster of new buildings down there, Steelhouse,
and they have done an amazing job to make the
area with the park and walkable. Everything's coming together.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, it's now called the halland Performing Arts Campus, and
just not the halland Center, it's the Wholland Performing Arts Campus.
We're gonna have homework. So Copol Mexican Cuisine, we reported
that they closed on November thirtieth. They're already being replaced.
A new restaurant is opening in the same spot. It's
going to be known as Benjamin's Neighborhood Kitchen. The exact
(34:52):
address is thirty six twenty three North one hundred twenty ninth.
That's basically one hundred and twenty ninth in Maple So
you got Benjamin's na Hood Kitchen coming to that area.
Another new restaurant down in the Blackstone district. It is
called Golden Turtle. It is already soft opened thirty nine
to ten Harney Street in the Blackstone District. It's the
(35:12):
former Blackstone Meatball restaurant space. This is Vietnamese. It looks
like They have sandwich's soups, a full bar. They have
that outdoor balcony that overlooks Farnham Street, which is technically
the backside of the restaurant. Golden Turtle has the same
ownership as I Faugh number one, the noodle House. It's
(35:33):
an odd name. It's I Faugh number one. It's twenty
fifth in k Part in Bellevue. I met the owner
of Golden Turtle. Nice guy. Looks like it could be
a good place. Hey, Trenton, this is a big story
this week and it's Don and Milly's. We don't often
have Don and Millies as a big story, but the
Don and Millies at forty four to thirty Farnham, that's
the northeast corner of Saddle Creek and Farnham closes permanently
(35:55):
December twenty seventh. Building's gonna be torn down to make
way for a parking garage that will serve the two
point two billion dollar med Center hospital. But it appears
that Don and Millie's will end up when that parking
garage is done, being a tenant on the ground floor
of that parking gridge. So they're going to be only
gone for a while.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
They're smart to stay in that area, and certainly they
worked well with the Nebraska Medicine and the campus plans
to accommodate.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, so that will be interesting to see that will
have a very large parking garage because it's going to
serve what will be about in terms of square footage.
One of the very biggest buildings in the entire state
of Nebraska got another restaurant closure. Longtime Omahon's metro area
residents know The Pink Poodle in Crescent, Iowa was in
(36:48):
business for seventy years. It has officially closed right there
on Old Lincoln Highway in Crest And, Iowa. That place
was legendary for its prime rib of people would truck
out to Crescent from Omaha one a few times. I
was there a few times. I had an aunt and
uncle and cousins that lived in the area and we
(37:09):
would go there sometimes when.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
The talk about the next generation moving it to like
La Vista or somewhere. So it's kind of sad that
it's understandable, but time change, and it happens that everybody
wants to work like that.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah. Veger for Pets VG Veggir for Pets will open
its first Nebraska location in a former old Chicago restaurant
space one hundred and thirty second and Maple. It's a
national chain with a name, with really really cool procedures,
twenty four hour service and all that. All Right music
is playing, which means we're done. I hope everyone has
(37:41):
a great week. I'm Jeff Beal's and I'm Trenton Maggott.
You've been listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by
Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics, and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll
chat with you next week at nine right here on
Nebraska's superstation 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 Ka, Baby.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beal's
here at your service. This is the only show in
the metro area that talks about business expansion, real estate, construction,
economic development, really anything related to Omaha becoming bigger, more vibrant,
and more prosperous. We are grateful to our sponsors. They
are Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star Cheer
(00:36):
Jim with an Omaha location in Papilion near Highways fifty
and three seventy along with Dingman's Collision Center Best of
Omaha award winner year after year after year, taking care
of your autobody and mechanical needs, four soon to be
five metro area locations. Without any further ado, it's time
to bring on my co host, a man who's a
(00:59):
legendary real estate deal maker from nai NP Dodge Commercial
Real Estate.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Trenton Maggot, Good morning everyone, Good morning Jeff, Well.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Good morning Trent. And I am very happy because as
you know, every other week we have a grow Omaha
Eats restaurant review, and it is every other week. This week, Yeah,
it's brought to you by All Makes, our good friends
down at All Makes twenty fifth and Farnham Street do
an outstanding job with office furniture, office technology. All Makes
has been around for a very very long time. You know, Trenton,
(01:30):
You and I grew up with Jeff Cavac and I
named sister Amy Zetzman who run the place and do
a great job. And we appreciate them for bringing this
to you. Well, people are wondering, all right, get on
with it. Who is it? What is it? It's Grace
Pizza and sheiks in Downtown Papilion. Chris Corey reviews our
local restaurants and gives us opinion on food and beverage.
(01:52):
And this looks like a great review. I've not been
to Grace Pizza and shakesa but after reading it, I'm
going to give it a try. Sign me up. I've
been there either. Sign you know. It's not too hard
to sign either you or me up for food. That's true.
And if you want to read that review and all
of Chris's reviews as part of the Groamha Eats restaurant
review series. Simply go to grollmha dot com. You'll see
(02:13):
reviews on the navigation bar. Click on it. There's a
drop down menu. Hit eats eats and you can see
all of them right there. All right, well, let's get
into our news of the week, our development news, if
you will. It's brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle
Mortgage Company dot com. Egle Mortgage is a mortgage broker,
which means they are not beholden to a single bank.
(02:33):
They can shop the banking world to find the best
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Even this time of year, people are looking for houses
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(02:54):
approval letter from Eagle Mortgage. You can find them in
person at one hundred and fourteenth in Davenport or online
at Eagle more Mortgage Company dot com. All right, Trenton,
let's get into the news here. And the first big
news item is in Bellevue. As you know, the Bellevue
Bay water park is under construction. When it opens in
(03:15):
a year or two, it will be the fourth largest
indoor water park in America. And it was just determined
and finalized this week that the city of Bellevue, which
owns this amazing facility under construction, has entered into a
sublicing agreement with Mattel, the toy company that has Barbie
hot Wheels, Thomas and Friends. There's going to be Mattel
(03:37):
branding inside the facility. So when you go there, Trenton
and put on your speedo, you very well may be
sliding down the hot.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Wheels in water size with my Barbie. Let's not go there.
No Barbie waterwings, oh okay, or your Thomas and Friends'
inner tube and the laser. It's but I think this
is a This is a good thing because it basically
(04:08):
shows the credit.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It gives credibility to the project. You know, if you're
starting to get a fortune five hundred company branding situation
going there, you're obviously doing something right. We've heard great
things about this water park. It's understanding that it will
be a two or three hundred mile radius draw and
instantly once it opens, will become one of the tours
biggest tourist attractions in Nebraska.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, and kudos to the City of Bellevue at Citizens
Rusty Hike, the mayor, and our marketing team at any
I m P. Dodge led by Brian Thomas, and who
else is on that account, I don't remember, but thanks
for I'm pretty sure Maddy dug Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So anyway, what he's saying is that some of the
brokers and our office led by Brian Thomas, are actually
doing the land sales for so many of them. Yeah,
the parcels that are going to be located around that.
And we're hearing rumblings. Nothing that we can talk about
yet as we've been sworn to secrecy, but we're hearing
rumblings about some pretty impressive businesses that we'll be popping
(05:13):
up around that water park. Think have you ever been
to Wisconsin Dell's or something like that. Think about those
types of businesses that appeal to families who are on vacation.
You know, a lot of food and beverage and entertainment.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well, we don't have well, you know since Peening Park
and stuff. We don't have We don't have a great
great wave lodge, we don't have outdoor indoor amusement parks,
and you know, this is something that's one segment of
our of the entertainment options that we just haven't had
(05:47):
for so long in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
We are one of the largest cities in America not
to have an amusement parker theme park. Now, what's interesting
is that there was an announcement. Tel made an announcement
earlier this year that there would be about four indoor
water parks that would be receiving Mattel branding. We now
know one of them is going to be here locally
in Bellevue. What's also interesting is that they are creating
a new concept that are essentially indoor amusement parks, and
(06:13):
there is going to be one in Bonner Springs, Kansas,
which is a suburb bedroom community on the west side
of Kansas, not far from where the Nebraska Furniture Art
and the Speedway are in that part of the Kansas
City metro area. We do not know whether that would
also be coming to Bellevue. There's been no announcement as such,
might be too close to the Kansas City one, who knows.
(06:34):
But I do find that interesting that Mattel will have
a presence here.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Can I imagine hotels and restaurants and other types of
entertainment options and stuff. And it's a pretty big area
and that the Good Life Transformation Act helped make this possible.
And I think that the city of Bellevue was smart
and being the owner and developer of it well.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
In other news, Village Point Shopping Center is now under
new ownership. Federal Realty Investment Group out of the Washington,
d C. Area bought the center for one hundred and
fifty three point three million dollars. That includes the mainline
of stores as well as the big boxes on the
(07:19):
east side where Nordstrom, Rack and Best Buyer are located.
Four hundred and fifty three thousand square foot shopping centers.
Ninety six percent least the seller was essentially red development.
Now the Shields store that is there, which is by
far the biggest store, is not part of the purchase
because it is separately owned as a parcel by Shields.
(07:40):
Now this real estate investment trust Federal Realty out of Maryland.
They are well known for very upscale retailers, so Trenton
a couple things stand out to me. One the buyer
indicates that the mall should continue to be fairly upscale,
maybe even more so. And number two, that's a pretty
(08:01):
good purchase price for a twenty year old property. And
all I remember, one hundred fifty three million was a
lot of money. You could actually buy something with it.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, And what I like about it, and we've told
this story many years ago, is when General Growth which
is now Brookfield that owns West Roads, when we got
Pfching's and Cheesecake Factory. Two big you know, very desired
(08:29):
restaurants still are, but at the time they were huge
and pretty much the only reason we got them, we heard,
was because General Growth was big enough that they could
put pressure say hey, you want to go to this
market in that market where you get to go to Omaha,
Nebraska too, And I think they were pleasantly surprised, like
most retailers coming here. So this could be the same
thing where Federate is a lot bigger than Red. They're
(08:53):
both sizeable companies. But hopefully we'll see some new restaurants
and retailers and stuff that we just haven't seen before.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, we definitely hope that, and I think you will.
And I think it's also good for Village Point to
have a big name, upscale retail owner behind them, because
we are hearing about some pretty impressive upscale real retail
that's going to be coming to one hundred and ninety
second and Dodge in that Good Life district, and that's
(09:22):
going to require it's going to actually create some pretty
intimidating competition for Village Point, especially with the big name
stuff that we're hearing is going to go out there.
So they need to be loaded up and have the
resources behind them so they can continued be one of
the dominant malls in this part of the country. It
won't be Twin Peaks, no, because that is at one
(09:45):
hundred and eightieth and Center, Yeah, and very visible.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And I actually represented Twin Peaks and I have nothing
to do with the operation.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Ladies and gentlemen, believe me. I tried.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
And it's a beautiful building though it's about eight thousand
square feed big outside patio. They should be open to
the next few months. And you can see him right
by a home two suits and their food is really
good and people say, well, what happened to that Twin
Peaks out on West Center Road where Lakeside where Famous
Days was. That was a conversion. This is the ground
(10:18):
up updated menu and everything else.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I think we'll do well. Never underestimate Trenton's ability to
insert a commercial for one of his deals, no problem anyway.
So there you have it. Breaking news. Actually it's not
breaking news. We've talked about it a lot. We'll talk
about it again. We'll talk about it. You'll be talking
to me when I'm getting the you know, grand opening passes. Yeah,
I remember you remember your co host whenever it comes
(10:45):
to free food. Okay, we got some concerning news coming
out to Lincoln. As reported by the Nebraska Examiner, the
Nebraska Department of Economic Development, it appears, now has twenty
two fewer full time staff members working there in just
the last two months. Now. A lot of this is
because the state of Nebraska is in a very big
(11:08):
time serious budget crunch. But for those of you that
are not aware, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development is
the entity that recruits new companies and recruits jobs, and
recruits capital investment in the state. In other words, goes
out and sells Nebraska to try and get the economic
activity that directly helps us improve our fiscal problems that
(11:32):
we have right now in the budget. So I don't
quite understand this there could be a good reason for it,
but on the face of things, it seems like a
pretty dumb decision. It kind of seems to me like, Okay,
let's say you've got a for profit company that's having
a hard time, revenues down and all that sort of thing,
and so they decide, you know what, we should fire
some salesmen. We should fire some sales professionals so that
(11:56):
we can't go get new business. So let's keep an
eye on this. There have been a lot of things
coming out of state government lately. We've been talking about
them here that are eyebrow raisers, if not worse.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
For a couple months, and everyone knows for the last
twenty two years, grow Omaha. We are a very positive
news source, but we're practical and we're factual, and we'll
call it as we see it. But you see all
this economic development going up up and down, doughtry around
the state, medical, retail, industrial, all this kind of stuff,
(12:31):
and you know, we talk about all these projects, but
you have to ask, okay, well, what's behind it, and
how is it sustainable? And is you know, are we
getting population? Are we are we are we keeping our
students here? Or are we attracting people. And the answer
is we have way. We have a lot of work
to do, so fall in behind all of this state
and so there's some stakeholders Exarbant Foundation and some other places.
(12:55):
You know, everybody talks about how much money we have
in Omaha and how many great businesses and foundations and stuff.
Well that's wonderful, but we need to start applying it
in the right places.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
One last quick story we're going to work in here.
Drury Hotels has purchased a second develop a lot in
downtown Omaha. We reported about a year ago that they
bought the surface parking lot on the northwest corner of
tenth and Harney Street, and now they have purchased the
grassy area southeast of tenth and Harney Street. This is
(13:27):
along the east side of the Old Market between where
Memoir and Tupelo Honey are located and where the Embassyats
Embassy Suites is located. Now, to give you a little
bit of background, when they bought the surface lot northwest
of the intersection last year, it was sold to them
by the entity that is affiliated with the nearby Embassy
(13:48):
Suites hotel. They put on some deed restrictions which limited
the number of rooms and the number of meeting space
or number square feet of meeting spaces they could have
in the building, and said it couldn't open until twenty
twenty nine. We're hearing that Drury was not too excited
about that yet. They broke land records for prices. Yeah,
(14:08):
they spent a lot for it. So they've decided to
invest five point eight million to buy that grassy area
from ConAgra Brands. It has no restrictions on it that
we know of or we can find, and so it
appears that they feel that they can have a better
deal there. We have heard from a couple property owners
in the old market before this even went down that
(14:29):
they were just going to hold on to that surface
parking lot and maybe sell it to a developer down
the road and maybe they'll make a little money on
it as the street car comes along and real estate
values continue to grow there. But I think it shows
just how valuable downtown Omaha is, and it's exciting that
entities want to be there so badly that they're welling
(14:49):
to spend a lot of money and jockey for just
the right site. I think it's positive.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
It'll be interesting to see if eventually a hotel goes there,
or who will anti up for something like that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, my guess would be eventually some sort of residential
or mixed use development kind of blend in the Old Market.
But we shall see. But it appears that dury In
will be most likely building a hotel directly north of
the Embassy Suites on the east side of the Old Market.
And that is your news of the week, brought to
you by Egle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. We're
going to take our first break of the hour and
(15:20):
when we come back, we are going to bring on
Omaha City Council President Pete Festerson. We're going to talk
about some economic competitives stuff in Omaha with Pete and
then also talk to him about some projects in his
district and maybe a couple of citywide things as well.
So you'll enjoy this interview, stay with us. You're listening
to Grow Omaha brought to you by Cheer Athletics and
(15:41):
Dingman's Collision Center on News Radio eleven ten KFAB And
back to Grow Omaha brought to you by Dingman's Collision
Center and Cheer Athletics. Cheer Athletics is one of only
about sixteen or seventeen in the entire world based out
of Dallas Fort Worth area, and the Omaha one has
been here for a number of years. It is generally
(16:02):
considered the Cadillac, Mercedes and BMW all in one of
all star cheer gyms. They get all sorts of international accolades,
and if you're looking for a great place for your
kids to get involved, look no further than Cheer Athletics
near Highways fifty and three seventy in Papillion, also brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center. Well, we have with
(16:22):
us Pete Festerson, who is about to become the longest
serving member of the Omaha City Council just a couple
more months ago, I understand, and he represents District one,
which is kind of the north central area of the city,
and he is our guest today. Pete, welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Morning guys. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Great to see you again, and congratulations on what I
understand is about to be your twenty second anniversary.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, it's getting really close coming up with jo on
the city council a little bit. Yeah, we do have
that beat, don't we. Yeah, well so Pete, you're in
representing District one. I just characterized it as north central,
but know, maybe give us the thirty thousand foot view
of what your district is and where exactly it is.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Yeah, it's a just an interesting district. It represents different
portions of the city. It's actually kind of the strangest
shape out.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Of all the districts.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
But I'm all north of Dodge represent neighborhoods like Dundee
Country Club, Florence, and Benson. I go all the way
north on seventy second Street, and then I go all
the way west to Crossroads and West Rows Areas and
one hundred and second in.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Maple, Okay. So it is pretty spread out. And you
just used the word crossroads. And I know you have
been very active in the years over the years trying
to get that development going, and we get countless emails
through the Gromhall website asking about it. But good news,
it seems like there's an awful lot of momentum right
(17:47):
now in Crossroads. Kind of give us the update from
your perspective.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Yeah, thanks for that. I've been working on that for
quite some time now. Ever since I was first elected
in twenty ten, we were encouraged when we first got
that local ownership of that property and had some big
thoughts and some big dreams for it. It is one
of the best best commercial properties in the entire city,
as you know, and still considered, I think the heart
of our city when we talk about you know, Husker
(18:14):
Championships or even that goes back quite quite a long time, right,
But I was one of those guys that went out
there in nineteen ninety three and ninety five and really
ninety seven and really had a great time. I started
reading the Huskers and all that's about Omaha. But now
that's been through several different reiterations in terms of our partnerships.
(18:37):
But we feel good about this latest arrangement and we
are back on track with it. The City Council adopted
a redevelopment agreement that will hold that timeline accountable and
actually has the city as an active partner in this
development now with Woodbury Corporation, and it's a major undertaking.
It's you know, about eight hundred million dollars worth of
redevelopment that will occur there and we're currently seeing Phase
(19:00):
one now and three major blocks of that site that
has now been sufficiently excavated and has a crayonon on site.
Now doing the moorings and all the base we need
to do for the first tenant, which will be Gamescape
that has been an announced first to market family entertainment concept.
And then on the block by Ks Street will multifamily
(19:23):
with retail on the bottom, and then the middle block
will be a public civic space green space with underground
parking that will also be part of that first phase
two can be complete by twenty twenty eight. We'll see
things starting to go vertical in the spring of twenty
twenty six, and the entire development now must be done
by twenty thirty two.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
And a lot of people don't realize, but there's been
a ton of infrastructure that you don't see above the ground,
but you know setting up for the parking garage will
be a parking garage underneath the dreamscape, right, that's right,
or Gamescape, Gamescape games Gate, and so a lot of
the hard part has been done, and so it'll be
fun to see this stuff start going vertical. The giant
(20:05):
parking garage now when Frank Crachie first purchases has got
to be going on fifteen years now or something, and
you know, he thought he paid ten million dollars into
a lot of due diligence or whatever, and he thought
that that parking garage is worth about twenty to twenty
five million dollars just to add led light, clean it up,
the other kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
But that's going to come down. Do we know when
that's coming down?
Speaker 5 (20:25):
We don't know yet, But that is still the intention.
That'll be probably a second phase.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Of the developments.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
But I believe they think strongly and I agree that
a much better use of that corner would be something
other than a parking garage that needs a lot of
assistance and a lot of help. That's much more efficient
for them to locate their parking in the internal part
of that site for.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
All they hope to achieve. So, Pete, the developer group,
like you said, Woodbury, they're based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They said recently that and I'm paraphrasing, they've been somewhat surprised.
It sounded pleasant so about the types of businesses or
future occupants that were interested in the site. And they said,
(21:08):
some of these occupants, tenants, whatever, may cause them to
rearrange the way they were planning on developing it and
switching the order. That was very interesting to me because
it sounds like they're some pretty cool stuff. Any idea
what that could mean. I don't expect you to divulge
(21:30):
any secrets, but if you want to divulge some secrets,
you're more than welcome.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah. I think they are an interesting partner.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
They have national contacts, national retail partnerships they're working through.
I think they bring a lot of resources to bear
to this project and a lot of contexts, So I
think we will see a lot of new ideas we
haven't thought of before, hopefully a lot of new to
market tenants, and that's certainly the objective, Pete.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Another project in your district that has gotten a lot
of press lately is the Saddle Creek reconstruction process, which
is well underway right now, as luck would have it.
On one of my Grandmaha tours earlier this week, I
drove up in that area and they're really going all
out on that. I want to talk to a little
bit about what's happening there and what people could expect
(22:16):
as far as what it to look like when it's
done and when.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Yeah, thanks for that question.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
This is one of my passions in my city council
service has been my neighborhood business districts in my city
council district in particular where blessed with neighborhoods like Benson
and Dundee and Florence where I've done similar projects about
five million dollars apiece between business improvement districts and philanthropy
and city investment to really make sure these neighborhood business
(22:42):
districts thrive and reflect the neighborhoods they represent well into
the future. And that's been the case with the Duney
renovation we did here and definitely Benson where I was
last night. Great things happening there in Florence too. So
North Cetle Creek has been my next kind of project
in this respect that is just achieve substantial completion with
(23:02):
our construction project there. It's a five million dollar reinvestment
in that area essentially northwest radial to the Peanut as
people call it, about fiftieth Street, and it will do
everything from new sidewalks, new bike lanes, lots of additional
parking for the businesses, new street resurfacing and landscaping in
(23:23):
trees and lighting for security purposes, to really reinvest in
that community, encourage new business development there, help those that
are currently there. We have some awesome local businesses like
Janasex Florist and Sergeant Peffer's, the homy Inn Champagne on tap.
I know you guys are familiar with We've been there.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
My mother, Carolyn Maggot did that logo when she was
a graphic designer.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
It's still there and it's awesome. Yeah, I like yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
So the whole idea is to make them successful well
into the future and have it be a great benefit
for the neighborhood and have it be more walkable and safe.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
And that's going to be achieved here. I'm really excited
about it.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
All right, Well, we're going to take our of the
show break for the news, but when we come back,
we're going to have more with City council Member Pete Festerson,
who represents a district one which is kind of north
central to parts of northeast Omaha. We're going to talk
to him about a variety of different topics. So stay
with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you
by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on News Radio
(24:21):
eleven ten kfab and welcome back to the show. Jeff
Beal's and Trent Maggot At your service were brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics, the nation's
number one all star cheer Jim Dingman's has four Metro
area locations. They all do I was going to say
they all do a bang up job, but no, no,
they fix bang ups. Yes, so they do a good
job fixing bingums. We love Dingman's Collision Center. All right,
(24:46):
it's time for your not All Companies Commercial real Estate
Development Spotlight of the Week, in which we talk about
happenings in around or near one of not All companies
many projects in the Omaha area. And when we say
Nodel Companies many projects in the Omaha area, we're not kidding.
They have a lot of them. The most famous, probably
(25:06):
right now is Xarbon Village, but they have the Builders
District in North downtown Steel Ridge out in the Papilion
Gretna area. They're also famous for building these headquarters buildings
like you know in recent years, Valmont's Global Headquarters at
Heartwood Preserve, the HDR Global Headquarters at Heartwood Preserve, NODL
(25:27):
Companies did all that. So we appreciate Nodel for being
part of our show because they are true community leaders
and community supporters. So this week for the Nodel Companies Spotlight,
we go to the ex Sarbon Village area. And this one,
when I say area, that's really what I'm talking about
because it's not technically in Xarbon, but it's kind of
(25:47):
part of the x Sarbon Village metro area, if you will.
And that is University of Nebraska Omaha Athletic Complex just
south of Xarbon Village. It's anchored by Baxter Arena. You've
got the beautiful baseball and softball fields in that same
area as well. Well. Yesterday the NU Border Regents approved
sixty seven and a half million dollars in new athletics
(26:08):
facilities just south of Xarbon for the University of Nebraska Omaha,
the Mavericks. It includes an athletics training facility that will
be connected via skywalk to Baxter Arena. Just looking at
some of the renderings, absolutely beautiful. Most of the Maverick
sports will have their offices in there, and then right
(26:28):
next to the softball and baseball diamonds is going to
be the baseball softball clubhouse. So of this, about fifty
five million will be for the athletics facility and about
twelve and a half million for the baseball softball clubhouse.
And that is your NOL company's commercial real estate development
spotlight of the week. You can learn more about nodal
(26:49):
companies by going to their website. Their website not all
companies dot com. Well, we have with us today Pete Festerson.
He is just about to become the longest serving member
of the Omaha City Council, represents District one, and Pete,
we wanted to talk to you a little bit about
some athletics stories. So that was a good segue there
(27:09):
with an auto company spot Just about a week ago,
big announcement that Union Omaha plans to have a professional
soccer stadium in north downtown east of Millburk Commons. Talk
to us a little bit about that project.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
It's been on a big a couple of weeks for
soccer actually in our country and locally here too. And
as a former player, I'm excited about that. For those
that watch the World Cup. The pairings were disannounced yesterday
and that'll be a big deal for our country in
this summer. Locally, we have in our city Council agenda
right now two major projects. One is the renovation of
(27:45):
Tranquility Soccer Complex to add sixteen new fields there for
families and national tournaments that we think will have an
economic impact of about thirty to thirty six million dollars
per year. And the second one is a major stadium
development that you pern for Union Omaha Downtown. Bringing soccer
back down to Downtown Omaha, I think will be fantastic,
(28:06):
great for our young professionals and the fan bases that
are interested in that sport, and then doing it where
it's proposed to be done at Union Pacific. Land that
currently has been not well used will invigorate that neighborhood
next to a property called Future Ford in Millwork's Commons
that I think has a lot of potential to generate
(28:27):
additional housing and additional retail development too. So both those
things run our agenda for next week, including those land purchases.
There's also a Union Pacific component to that that's very
important I think to our downtown and to the future
of Union Pacific, which means even more jobs. So a
lot of moving parts there. But I think some exciting
things for all of Omaha.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
So going to that soccer stadium north of Charles Schwab Field,
what kind of collateral real estate development would you expect
to see in the immediate area around that soccer stadium.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
With a company called Heinz, which is nationally known, internationally
known for developments, I believe, in accordance with the one
hundred and fourteen million dollars stadium that's being proposed, we'll
see some mixed use development, commercial developments just to the
south of there, and then just to the west of there,
I think we'll see a lot of additional housing units
that are very important to our city. Right now, we
(29:21):
think we're about thirty thousand units short of affordable housing
and market rate housing in our city just in the
next five years.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
And Omaha is familiar with Heine's work because for the
last several years the Brick Line which is part of
the Mercantile District right and that's a huge development part
of that kana Agra land red on Tenth Street. So
Heinz is very capable. Obviously they took a risk on Omahon.
They've done great things all those restaurants and everything else.
(29:50):
So that would be good. I think that the timeline
is pretty aggressive setting breaking ground in twenty twenty six
given the site.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, do you think cable possible?
Speaker 4 (30:01):
I think it is possible.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
We have redevelopment agreements still coming to the city Council.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
With all these details.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
Including the timelines and expectations, we do need our state
partners to be partners in this project when we talk
about some incentives that are involved with state turnback mechanisms
that we've used to really accomplish all of our downtown
development and the Chi House Center for example. So those
things all have to come together for this to be
a reality. But I'm confident about it and I'm excited
(30:30):
about it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
One last question for City Councilvan Pete Festerson before we
wrap up here today. Pete, I want to throw out
a little something about economic competitiveness. We've been kind of
having that as a theme on GROMHA for the last
few months, and it was kind of sparked by the
Excarbin Foundation report that came out in October that indicated
that Nebraska, as well as the Omaha Lincoln metro areas,
(30:54):
we're really starting to fall behind visa V competing states
and competing metro areas when it comes to job creation,
high salary jobs, and high salary job retention. What are
some of your thoughts about that that Omaha at the
city level can do to maintain its competitiveness vis of
the the Tulsa's and the Oklahoma cities and the minneapolises
(31:16):
of the world.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Yeah, I think that's something we always have to be
mindful about. I think recent analysis to our competitive set
shows we are about middle of the pack in many
of those measurements. And middle of the pack is okay,
but you want to be a lot better than that
going forward. I think one of our strengths has always
been kind of slow, steady growth in Omaha over our
long period of time, and we still have that, you know,
(31:38):
over two billion dollars worth of development downtown.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
I mentioned Union Pacific.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Of course, we've got an eight hundred million dollars of
Omaha corporate headquarters going up as we speak. But there
are so many more things to that that include things
like affordable housing, quality of life, retaining your young professionals.
These are all things we need to be very focused,
laser focused on turmain copetitive going forward.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
All right, I wish we had more time, but we don't.
City Countsman Pete Festerson, appreciate you joining us and thanks
for your service to our city.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Thank you, guys. I appreciate, appreciate your show. You do
a great job.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Thanks Pete. All Right, City Countsman Pete Festerson, I'm going
to take our final the break of the hour, and
you know what that means. When we come back, it'll
be our Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round. A lot of
things in a very short period of time. Stay with us.
You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten
KFAB and welcome back to the show. It is time
(32:34):
for your Perkins chrits Er Construction Lightning Round, in which
we talk about a lot of things really fast. Thanks
to Perkins Kretzer for making this possible. They are a
Class A general contractor headquartered here in Omaha, but they
serve really all of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. You
can find Perkins Chritzer construction projects all over the place.
(32:56):
Every once while I talk with Dave Kreutzer, who's the
the guy in charge over there and I say what
are you working on? And he's like, oh, this and that,
and it's all over the place. And they do built
from the ground up buildings and then we report a
lot of their retail projects because retail's kind of the
theme of the Lightning Round. But whatever you're interested in
(33:18):
having built, whether it's you know, personal or organizational or corporate,
Perkins Kretzer does a great job. You can find Perkins
Kretzer Construction online easy enough at PDASHC construction dot com.
That's p DASHC construction dot com. All right. To get
us started, Frontier Airlines announced non stops to Phoenix Sky
(33:41):
Harbor starting in March. They'll be seasonal and already you
have both American and Southwest that do daily non stops
year round Phoenix Sky Harbor. You also have Allegiant Airlines
that does non stops to the nearby Mesa Gateway Airports.
So altogether you will have four airlines doing non stops
(34:04):
between Omaha and Phoenix. So that is encouraging. Trenton, I
can't wait to take the tour. But we found out
the Tenasca Center for Arts Engagement officially opens on March nineteenth.
This is the addition to the east side of the
halland Center. It looks beautiful, it looks really good.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
And that whole cluster of new buildings down there, Steelhouse,
and they have done an amazing job to make the
area with the park and walkable. Everything's coming together.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, it's now called the halland Performing Arts Campus, and
just not the halland Center, it's the Wholland Performing Arts Campus.
We're gonna have homework. So Copol Mexican Cuisine, we reported
that they closed on November thirtieth. They're already being replaced.
A new restaurant is opening in the same spot. It's
going to be known as Benjamin's Neighborhood Kitchen. The exact
(34:52):
address is thirty six twenty three North one hundred twenty ninth.
That's basically one hundred and twenty ninth in Maple So
you got Benjamin's na Hood Kitchen coming to that area.
Another new restaurant down in the Blackstone district. It is
called Golden Turtle. It is already soft opened thirty nine
to ten Harney Street in the Blackstone District. It's the
(35:12):
former Blackstone Meatball restaurant space. This is Vietnamese. It looks
like They have sandwich's soups, a full bar. They have
that outdoor balcony that overlooks Farnham Street, which is technically
the backside of the restaurant. Golden Turtle has the same
ownership as I Faugh number one, the noodle House. It's
(35:33):
an odd name. It's I Faugh number one. It's twenty
fifth in k Part in Bellevue. I met the owner
of Golden Turtle. Nice guy. Looks like it could be
a good place. Hey, Trenton, this is a big story
this week and it's Don and Milly's. We don't often
have Don and Millies as a big story, but the
Don and Millies at forty four to thirty Farnham, that's
the northeast corner of Saddle Creek and Farnham closes permanently
(35:55):
December twenty seventh. Building's gonna be torn down to make
way for a parking garage that will serve the two
point two billion dollar med Center hospital. But it appears
that Don and Millie's will end up when that parking
garage is done, being a tenant on the ground floor
of that parking gridge. So they're going to be only
gone for a while.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
They're smart to stay in that area, and certainly they
worked well with the Nebraska Medicine and the campus plans
to accommodate.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Yeah, so that will be interesting to see that will
have a very large parking garage because it's going to
serve what will be about in terms of square footage.
One of the very biggest buildings in the entire state
of Nebraska got another restaurant closure. Longtime Omahon's metro area
residents know The Pink Poodle in Crescent, Iowa was in
(36:48):
business for seventy years. It has officially closed right there
on Old Lincoln Highway in Crest And, Iowa. That place
was legendary for its prime rib of people would truck
out to Crescent from Omaha one a few times. I
was there a few times. I had an aunt and
uncle and cousins that lived in the area and we
(37:09):
would go there sometimes when.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
The talk about the next generation moving it to like
La Vista or somewhere. So it's kind of sad that
it's understandable, but time change, and it happens that everybody
wants to work like that.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah. Veger for Pets VG Veggir for Pets will open
its first Nebraska location in a former old Chicago restaurant
space one hundred and thirty second and Maple. It's a
national chain with a name, with really really cool procedures,
twenty four hour service and all that. All Right music
is playing, which means we're done. I hope everyone has
(37:41):
a great week. I'm Jeff Beal's and I'm Trenton Maggott.
You've been listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by
Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics, and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll
chat with you next week at nine right here on
Nebraska's superstation news radio eleven ten KFAB
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