Grow Omaha 2-24-24

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Grow Omaha, the onlyradio show that talks about economic development,
construction, business expansion, and allof those things that make Omaha a great
place to live or visit. GrowOmaha on News Radio eleven ten. Ka
Baby, Well, good morning,and welcome to the show. Jeff Beals
here at your service. We're broughtto you by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision

(00:24):
Center. Ladies and gentlemen, youwill not find another show anywhere in town
that focuses on business development, realestate, construction, anything related to Omaha
becoming more vibrant and more prosperous.My co host Trenton has the weekend off,
and in his stead we have afamiliar voice, Brad Williams. Good

(00:44):
morning, Brad, Hey, goodmorning Jeff. Thanks for having me back,
Thanks for being here as you oftenare. Of course, longtime listeners
know that you are one of ourkey contributors. Official videographer, official photographer,
official aerial helicopter based geographer of theGirl Omaha Show. And when you're
not doing that, you're at eAnda Consulting, outstanding civil engineering firm and

(01:07):
then also the owner of Brad WilliamsPhotography. You're a busy man. Yeah,
and then I got two kids thatkeep me running in between all that.
At least one of them is playinga lot of hockey, hockey twice
a week in these Actually I'm missinghis basketball game right now. Feel little
bad about that. But he understoodthat Jeff Beils is important. Well,
you tell him that Jeff appreciates that, and then I'll make his dad feeling

(01:27):
a lot better by reminding him thatthere'll be a lot more basketball games before
the season's over. That's one thingwe know about youth sports, a lot
of games. Well, let's getright into it. We have our News
of the Week, which is broughtto you by Eagle Mortgage. They know
mortgages, I tell you what,thirty plus years in the mortgage business.

(01:49):
Holly Schneidewind is the head of thecompany over there, and she and her
team just do such an outstanding jobof taking care of of home buyers the
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(02:15):
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(02:36):
out there and get into that homeselection and offering rat race, that pre
approval letter from Eagle Mortgage is likea really effective weapon in your arsenal.
Okay, so let's get into it, Brad. One of the big pieces
of news this week is that theOmaha Airport Authority held the official groundbreaking for
the nine hundred and fifty million dollarEpley Terminal expense. Now, we have

(03:00):
reported on plans about this when theywere released in the middle of January,
but we do have a couple ofnew things to report in regards to the
airport terminal. First of all,not only did they do a ceremonial groundbreaking,
but I've noticed the last time Itook a flight about a week or
two ago, they've actually started constructionon the east side of the terminal between

(03:23):
the two satellites. They're removing concreteand there's a lot of heavy machinery back
there. Yeah. You know,when plans are released, that's always fun
and they get to talk about what'scoming. But when you actually see the
groundbreaking happen, that's exciting because youknow it's underway, it's real. In
fact, just a reminder for peopleif you forgot this, the actual size

(03:45):
of the terminal will go from threehundred and seventy five thousand sea square feet
terminally currently at the terminally currently upto six hundred and forty six thousand square
feet, so close to doubling.It'll be a single, unified concourse with
a centralized TSA security screening checkpoint.Will go from twenty to twenty two gates.

(04:10):
That doesn't seem like a big increase, but the number of gates is
not the problem. It's the squarefootage that's the problem. Yeah, the
amenities in there. That airport,you know airport, the Omaha Airport Authority
does a great job with what wehave. They keep it very nice and
clean. But you know, justthe other I was flying out on a
Saturday morning in the line for acoffee. Something so simple was so long
that I just said skip it.I'll wait till I get to my destination.

(04:33):
Oh yeah. The line at thescooters in the North terminal sometimes I
think is a longer than the flightyou're about ready to take, or longer
than the TSA line sometimes. Ohtruly. Yeah. Yeah, because I'm
pre check, I usually go throughpretty fast. And the key with that
twenty two gates is it when thisis all done, it will be easy
to add on more gates as they'reneeded down the road. Also very exciting.

(04:57):
Two of those gates will be Internetnational travel enabled. There will be
a Customs and Border Protection of Arrivalshall for international passenger processing. It was
interesting KETV this week reported that there'sa really good chance we'll have regularly scheduled
international flights at the time or shortlyafter this expanded terminal opens. It'll be

(05:21):
one hundred percent done in twenty twentyeight. Although for those of you who
are sitting there thinking, oh mygod, twenty twenty eight, that's like
a big part of my lifetime away. You'll actually be using new parts of
that terminal in probably less than twoyears. Yeah, because they have to
build the new middle part and thenthey start adding on to that. Yeah,
so this is when it's like finallydone. And KTV reported that it's

(05:46):
expected that some of the airlines,one of the airlines might have a regular
daily or a couple times a weekNonStop and looking at the most likely destinations
being can Kun, Cabo, SanLucas, Puerto Vayarta or those are in
Mexico and then Montego Bay and Jamaica. That would all make sense if I
had to bet money. My betis the first NonStop international at the new

(06:11):
Epley as Cancun. Yeah, andthat's a very popular destination for people around
here this time of year when toget away from this cold and snow.
Yeah, So anyway, we'll keepour eye on that. That's a big
deal. We talk about Epley andflights and aviation quite a bit on this
show just because really good airport facilitiesand a lot of good NonStop flight options

(06:35):
are really important to economic health ofa market area and growth economically as well.
So we'll definitely keep our eye onthis airport news as we move forward.
Well, let's go about twenty somemiles to the southwest and we are
now in the city of Gretna.The city has acquired a thirty five acre

(06:56):
undeveloped property. This is between USHighway six and Gretna's brand new Gretna Crossing
Park. For those of you thatare familiar with the immediate area, it's
north of Jansen Drive, and inthis thirty five acre lot, it's currently
just agricultural fields. This is goingto be the new core of the city,
not a new downtown, but anew core of the city. Going

(07:18):
to build a new city hall,there, a new library, and probably
a few other buildings on the site. But this is yet another sign,
especially in light of what we talkedabout last week on the show, with
plans in and around Nebraska Crossing forGrettina to grow up and to become a
bigger city. It's already the fastestgrowing one around. Yeah, and actually

(07:39):
it's growing fast in like four differentdirections right now. I mean, because
the three seventy corridor is just exploding, and then there's still a lot of
development going on on Highway six northof Gretna. So it's probably what Nebraska's
fastest growing city, I would assume. Yeah. I was talking with the
mayor of Gretna not too terribly longago, and he was estimating population is

(08:00):
probably up around ten thousand, whichyou know, compared to seventy thousand in
Bellevue is not huge, but youconsider it was five thousand like a couple
of minutes ago. I was tosay at the last census, I was
thinking it was five or six thousand, So ten its really doubled. It's
popping up there pretty fast. Andthe school district in Gretna, which of
course is technically separate from the city, is growing really fast as well.

(08:24):
They have schools going up everywhere,and then their new high school opened recently.
So yeah, we'll plan on continuingto see explosive growth in the Gretna
and immediately the immediate surrounding area.So some of you who take seventy second
Street probably noticed what a couple fewyears ago a sign that said rocket car

(08:48):
washed coming soon for a very unique, long, thin piece of land on
the east side of seventy second Street, immediately south of Farnham that's just a
little bit south Dodge and and ifyou can picture that site, there's one
of the world's biggest wooden retaining wallsholding up the neighborhood to the east.

(09:11):
And so the thought was for thisrocket car Wash to be along there.
The sign's been there for seeming leverand apparently that might not be in the
works anymore. Bred No, thata lot was put back on the market
a couple of weeks ago, orwe could go. Yeah, listed for
three point three five million dollars.I can't say that I'm shocked. Nothing
against rocket car Wash, but Ithink that could be a difficult lot.

(09:37):
It could scare some people away.Yeah, it's a real fin light,
like you mentioned, and then dependingon what kind of I'm guessing the city
would want a little right away,and then the setbacks with the neighborhood to
the east. There's not, inmy opinion, much buildable area there,
and it would probably take some waiversfrom the zoning Board of Appeals to get
anything done there. Yeah, itcould just be a little bit tricky.

(10:00):
But that said, location wise,it's phenomenal because you are, you know,
just a couple of blocks off ofthe most important intersection in the state
of Nebraska. Seventy second Dodge isnot the busiest, it's one of the
top three or four, but it'sprobably the most important when you consider what
happens there be right across in thebrand new library, and you know the

(10:22):
crossroads that's going up. Yeah,the library is looking impressive. The steel
is going up on that thing reallyfast. That is definitely going to be
an architectural landmark. Seems to begoing up a little faster than I would
have guessed. Actually, yeah,I mean it's I don't know if i'd
call it topped out, but Imean there's a lot of steel there.
I can't be too much more Iwould assume. Yeah, it's coming along.

(10:45):
A lot of people keep asking usabout the crossroads. When are we
going to see more stuff there?We don't know. We do know that
it's a hell of a development,Yeah, and pretty complicated. Yeah.
It seems like anytime we put anythingon our social media, that's one of
the questions, even if it hasno going to do with the Crossroads of
people always asked when it's going tostart. We get messages and and I
guess we've talked about this a fewtimes. But last year, in twenty

(11:05):
twenty three, they put in allthe infrastructure. The roads are in,
the sewers are in, the waterlines are in it. So everything that
needs to go in in the groundand below the ground is in there.
Now so, and they've settle alongthat twenty twenty four is when you would
start seeing buildings going up. Sowe don't know when in twenty twenty four,
but everything is in place where abuilding could start going well. Yeah,
and I say this is it's verycomplicated for a lot of different reasons.

(11:28):
And I think sometimes we've seen somuch growth and so much development happens
so fast in this town in thelast few years. If you see one
that's kind of taking more of atraditional timeline, people are thinking, what's
wrong, what's wrong? Well,it's a six hundred million dollar plus development,
and it's complicated and some of thesethings take a while. Yeah,

(11:52):
and this is just like a newdevelopment out in West Omaha where you know
the say like two hundred and fourthand Q Right now, they're putting an
all the roads and utilities, andit's the exact same thing. They're starting
basically from scratch. They tore everythingdown, scrape the site, and they're
starting over. So there's a lotof prep work in between. Well,
let's look downtown a little bit fora couple of minutes, and the ice

(12:16):
skating rink at Heartland of America Parkfrom all indications was a smash hit this
winter, and as we all know, we're enjoying this beautiful early spring right
now, so ice skating is done. It's been too hot for that ice
down there, so I'm disappointed.As much as my son and I are
on the ice. We never madeits ice skating. Well, you guys

(12:37):
were on some indoor ice though,a lot of indoor ice. But we
have our rollerblades, so we willget down there for sure. That skating
ribbon is so cool. I havenot ice skated since I was in high
school, so I probably am notgoing to ice skate on it. But
I did enjoy going down there acouple times during the Christmas season and the

(12:58):
lights were all in place, andgosh, there were just so many skaters
on that thing. But it's beingconverted to roller skating right now. Between
the holiday lights and then the firepits and everything, you just had such
a neat feel to it. Yeah, And some of those, some of
those times when you'd be down there, it was like you were in a
Hallmark movie because everything was so idyllicand practically perfect in every way. Did

(13:20):
some girl come back home and meether old boyfriend? Yeah? And because
she was in New York City andjust owed a Christmas tree farm or something.
Even though that she was devastatingly gorgeous, she could never get a date.
And then the firemen. She meetsback in Omaha's like widowed and he
can never get a date. Yeah, that's how it works. Yep.
I'm sure that happened a couple timesat Heartland of America Park this Christmas season.

(13:45):
Well, just a little bit southof there, Omaha's Henry Dorley Zoo
and Aquarium has welcomed yet another babyelephant. This is really cool. A
male calf was born this past Sunday. That is the fifth count of five
fifth elephant calf born in Omaha inthe past two years. The local population
of elephants in this town is nowten. It's crazy. I cannot you.

(14:07):
When they first brough him here andthey were hoping to grow the herd,
I never would have expected five.I tell you something is in the
water at thirteenth and Deer Park.But that is your news of the week,
which is brought to you by EagleMortgage. Eagle Mortgage Company dot Com
is where you can find them onlineor in person at one hundred and fourteenth

(14:28):
and Davenport. Going to take ourfirst break of the hour, and when
we come back, Brad and Iare going to be talking about four or
five different construction projects either underway orabout to get started in the metro area.
Don't want to miss any of that. You're listening to Grow Omaha.
Brad Williams is in substituting for TrentonMaggot. We're brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center and Cheer Athletics Back ina moment on news Radio eleven ten kfaby.

(14:56):
Where can you find conversations about thepay for superintendents, where in and
out Burger might have been in Omaha? And your four favorite fictional cats only
on the Emorysunger podcast page at kfabdot com. It's quite an eclectic list
that Emory has there. You arelistening now, though, to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collisions Center, along with Cheer Athletics and Ladies

(15:18):
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(16:22):
is in for Trenton Maggot Trenton's Gotthe Weekend Off. Brad is with Ena
Consulting, Brad Williams Photography and doesa lot of stuff as part of the
Grow Omaha team. And so Brad, we're going to talk about a little
bit of construction. Is one ofthe red Meat topics that we have here
on Grow Omaha. And we're goingto start first at thirty six and Elevenworth,

(16:48):
and there is a classic urban infillproject occurring at that spot. It
is going to be a four storyapartment building twenty some units. It's only
on a quarter acre site. It'ssandwiched between a quick shop and a three
story mixed use type building. Butwhat's really cool about this project is it's

(17:11):
a sign that urban Omaha is growingup and becoming what we think it can
be. When suddenly little quarter acresites that seem to be little throwaway lots
are getting you know, four storybuildings with twenty some units. Yeah,
it's a project I'm familiar with.We did the work on it at E
and A and it's it is atiny lot, but when you see the

(17:33):
renderings, the building comes off asa lot bigger than the quarter acre you're
describing there. Yeah, And youknow, if you think about it,
if you think about some of thebuildings in downtown Omaha, you know,
five, six, eight, ninestory buildings in some cases that are on
lots that are like not even aquarter of a block. You know,
you you can put a lot ofbuilding on a little piece of land if

(17:56):
you've got the infrastructure around it andparking options or transit options nearby. So
yeah, this one will have theparking on the ground floor and the apartments
will be above it. It's onthe it's TOD zoning, so they were
able to cut back the number ofparking stalls required a little bit. There
is one parking stall for each unit, but not all the extras that a
lot of apartments are required to have. And when Brad says TOD, that

(18:19):
stands for transit oriented development. Soin other words, it's within enough blocks
of the future streetcar line that youcan get by with less the parking than
some other buildings might be required tohave. Yeah, I believe the city
is allowing the TOD zoning to goa few blocks south Elevenworth, So some
of those other new projects in thatarea have been able to use the TOD

(18:40):
zoning to cut back their parking alittle bit. Another project in Little Bohemia
in South Omaha, right at thirteenthand Pine Street, we have the Boho
Flats. Boho probably related to LittleBohemia, right. Boho Flat's going to
be a four story building, fifteenin apartment units, five thousand square feet

(19:02):
of retail space. It's not goingto be as small of a lot as
the one we were just talking about, but it's another great urban infill project,
and that one's gone vertical, meaningsome of the concrete and rebar walls
are now going up above the ground. Yeah, thirteen, the thirteenth Street
corridor is a great area and thisis, you know the sign, probably
one of the first, well secondnew construction project in that area, and

(19:26):
it's really going to help transform thatarea. There. There is some very
nice businesses, some very nice historicbuildings, but there's also a lot of
area that needs improvement. And thisthis is going to start that way out
at one hundred and eighty eighth andHarney Street. Structural steel is now in
place for Gracehill Churches future building.And this is this is that area that

(19:48):
is referred to as Avenue one.If you can picture the Fountain Ridge Office
Park with that really cool Waterford buildingwith the fountain in front of it,
it's just a little bit south ofthat area and things are starting to sprout
up in that one hundred and ninetysecond in Dodge development area. Yeah,
there's a lot of development going onin there. There's apartments, there's some

(20:11):
senior living. The Greek Church isgoing up, and this is just to
the east of the southeast of allthat. Another project that's been through planning
board for they're call them cottages.That should get going this year, I
believe, and it should really starttaking off. Okay, now I'm going
to throw out a little piece oftrivia for old timers like me, people

(20:32):
who've been around this town for along time. There was a hotel at
seventy second and Cedar called I'm notgoing to say the name because this is
the trivia question. You got toguess the name. And since we can't
hear you, we don't know whetheryou're guessing it or not, But go
with it anyway. It was aboutsix or seven stories, had an interior

(20:53):
atrium very similar to an NBC suite. In fact, it was eventually turned
into an Embassy Suites. Who outthere knows what it was called when it
was built in nineteen eighty, Goingonce, going twice. If you said
Granada Royale, you guessed it right. When that thing opened in nineteen eighty,
it was a big deal. GranadaRoyale seventy second in Cedar Street.

(21:15):
Eventually, like I said, itbecame an Embassy Suites. Then for a
while it was called Xarbon Suites.Now it's an isore with the fence and
weeds around it, but developer istaking it over and has plans to start
construction to turn it into one hundredand eighty one apartments. It's almost a

(21:36):
two hundred thousand square foot building,which is impressive when you consider there's a
huge eight treem in it. Butthat's a good sign and you think about
it, Brad, that's just oneof many multi family projects going on,
say within a mile or two RadiuCivic Sarbon Village. Yeah, it's another
great infill project and a building thatkind of probably passed its useful life and

(21:59):
it's going to be great heaving residentsin that area. Between that and then
the new apartment building just getting startedat seventy second Mercy, they got a
couple of nice apartment buildings. Yeah. And then at MH. Landing right
by I eighty and Grover, there'slike a four or five story huge apartment.
Yeah, that was in the lastconstruction. Video was right going in
there to film a couple other things, and I was surprised to see if
that one had got off the groundas much as it had. Yeah,

(22:22):
that's a big building. Yeah it'sonly about four or five stories, but
it's just long. It's huge.And then our last construction project before we
break for the news is at nineteenoh four Farnham Street. Nineteen oh four
Farnham Street, there's a seven storybuilding, historic building on the National Register
near a Jagger Walls. Development companyplans to turn that into fifty four affordable

(22:44):
apartment units. Would still have sixthousand square feet of street level retail space.
It seems like a great adaptive reuseto me. Yeah, it'd be
right Caddy corner from the City CountyBuilding, So a lot of daytime traffic
in that area and it should bea good good reuse. Well, let's
break for the news. Brad Williamsis in here for the vacationing Trenton Maggod

(23:08):
recently aged Trenton Maggie. He celebratedbirthday this week. That's true. His
birthday was on Wednesday, and hewould want everyone to know it was his
birthday. Should we tell everyone howold he is? That's up to you.
Well, he's eligible for the overfifty five menu at Jimmy's aig.
Now all that's your hint. Butyeah, so if you see Trenton,
wish him a happy, belated,belated birthday. We even let him take
the day off for it. Anyway. You're listening to Girl Maha, brought

(23:30):
to you by Cheer Athletics and Dingman'sCollision Center on News Radio eleven ten KFAB.
News Radio eleven ten KFAB is freeand convenient on our iHeartRadio app free
never sounded so good from music,sports, talk and podcasts. And welcome
back to the show. Jeff Bealsitting next to Brad Williams, who is

(23:52):
substituting for the birthday boy Trenton maggod. We're brought to you by Cheer Athletics
and Dingman's Collision Center for metro arealocations. And I don't think any one
of the four is better or worsethan the other. They're all good.
So if you get into an accidentnear the one hundred and twentieth in Maple
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(24:15):
the back of you in midtown,hit the Saddle no pun intended. Hit
the Saddle Creek location. They're allgood. They all do outstanding work.
They're all run by the Dingman's familywho puts their heart and soul and every
project that they do. They've beendoing it a long time Best of Omaha
award winner year after year. Afteryour Dingman's Collision Center. All right,
Brad, it's time for our commercialreal estate development spotlight. Are you ready?

(24:37):
I'm ready. It's brought to youby not all companies. They are
the premier real estate developer in town. But they don't just work in Omaha.
They're all over the country. Herein Omaha, they are famous for
Exarbon Village, River's Edge in CouncilBluffs right along the Missouri, the Builders
District in north downtown Steel Ridge,in the Papilion Gretna area, and the

(24:59):
Village Point where Medical Campus and countlessother headquarters projects. You know, like
Valmont has a new headquarters that theymoved into a year or two ago.
Not all companies did that at anyrate. In k Sarbon, we have
a new retail update. It's kindof in that ak Sarbon area. It's
not technically a Sarbon Village. It'son the edge in a retail strip called
x Sarbon Cinema. But in thatspace we have a new restaurant called Blue

(25:25):
Hawaii. Just the name makes mewant to go there. Blue Hawaii.
It's a new sushi restaurant. They'retaking two thousand square feet at thirteen oh
one South seventy second Street. Thisis the same center that has Starbucks,
Jersey Mike's. There's a Rahman placethere that's relatively new. Anything what's new?
What's what's unique about Blue Hawaii.It's a spin off of the Omaha

(25:48):
Oma poke and Sushi restaurant. Ithink that's how you pronounce it, oma
Oma. I've been there before.It's really good on hundred twenty fourth in
West Dodge Road. It's a newconcept from them, so they'll have the
sushi, the pokey bowls and andthat sort of thing. And that is
your commercial real estate development Spotlight ofthe Week, brought to you by Nodel
Companies. You can learn more aboutNodel Companies at Nodlcompanies dot com. You

(26:10):
know something cool about Exarvon Village thatwe don't talk about is before a U
and O hockey game, they sendthe pet band over and they walk around
and they go in the different restaurantsand bars and play their drums. And
they kind of do like this marchthrough the Exarvan village and then across the
street into backs Arena. It's justit's a super cool tradition they started when
the backster opened, and it's alot of fun. And you see,

(26:32):
like Backlot Taphouse, they posted avideo of all the you know, the
everyone in the restaurant was cheering alongwith them. Is kind of fun.
I never knew they did. Ohyeah, yeah, because I've been to
a couple of U and O hockeygames, but I've just usually had to
go straight from the car of thearena back Lot and Polley's and all those.
Yeah, it's cool tradition. Yeah, Backlot is great, by the
way. Oh I like it thatif you want, like if you want

(26:55):
to go to a place before agame down there where food is really good,
that's a good good choice. Andthe theater is right there and everything
else Sarmon's fun and it's only goingto get better as more and more stuff
goes in there. You know,they still have plans to build a couple
substantial buildings in the Xarbon area thathaven't even been started yet. Yeah,
right next to hdr's garage. Well, Thursday night, brad Omaha Streetcar held

(27:18):
an open house kind of a questionand answer session for the public, if
you will. It was at theKimpton Cottonwood Hotel in the Blackstone District,
and we wanted to talk about thata little bit. A couple of things
that came out during that meeting.The design is now sixty percent complete and

(27:41):
actual bona fide real streetcar line constructionis scheduled to begin late this summer,
so you'll actually see some some constructionstarting with that. But the design works
sixty percent complete. There's some preliminarywork that has been happening is currently happening
right now, for instance along farnStreet at around seventeen to eighteenth Street.

(28:02):
A lot of underground utility work thatis necessary for part of this project.
And the opening still remains the samewinter of twenty six, twenty twenty six,
twenty twenty seven, so we're acouple of years away from this because
it's a big, big project.But Brad, one of the more dramatic
things that has to be done constructionwise in order for the street cart open

(28:26):
someday is replacing a couple bridges overInterstate four eighty. Yeah, that's uh,
I heard might start this year yetand they start getting those tracks into
the bridges. Yeah, this wouldbe both the Farnham and the Harney Street
bridges. Both of those, it'smy understanding, are going to be completely
replaced. Yeah, Like I don'tknow if they're going to get rid of
the vertical supports, but like theyou go to tear off the deck and

(28:48):
the deck is going to be allall branded. Yeah, so so then
so that that's a key part.And then so then the tracks will be
on on there and and of coursefor those of you that have been found
allowing this on the urban side orthe east side. It'll start at about
tenth in Capital and it'll go downthe tenth Street corridor actually part of it.

(29:10):
For one direction, we'll go overto eighth Street and the maintenance facility
is going to be built underneath theInterstate four eighty bridge. I kind of
get the impression they might start thatthis year as well. And then it'll
go down and turn west on FarnhamStreet and it'll go all the way out
to thirty ninth Street right in theBlackstone district. Then it'll come back on

(29:32):
Farnum Street. But when it's goingeastbound. When it gets to turn to
Boulevard, it'll go a block southand then come back to tenth Street on
Harney Street through the downtown area.Now they have cut that west end back
a little bit, they said,to allow you and MC time to plan
how that's going to interact with theircampus. So, you know, originally
I think they were shooting for moreforty second Street area, but now it's

(29:52):
thirty ninth temporarily or in this firstphase. When I talk to some of
the people who are in the knowon that project and they talk off the
record and the kind of rumor mode, they tell me that the un MC
extension could even happen right about thetime this thing's supposed to open. So
it's not like it's like a fiveyear later thing. It's just that un

(30:15):
MC is still working out a fewthings because we expect massive building construction to
happen pretty soon on the un MCcampus, and maybe even some things that
have not yet been announced, andso I think there's been some hey hesitation,
let's say, hey, let's notgo too wild and crazy with this
un MC part until we know exactlywhat campus is going to look like.

(30:36):
Yeah, and that always you know, disappoints a few people that wanted it
to go all the way to theMed Center, but you know, planning
now could save a lot of headachedown the road. So it's just it's
good to see him think about thesethings well. And thirty ninth is not
that far, you know, andunless it's you know, twelve below zero,
you know, walking over to thirtyninth Street to catch the street car
from the heart of the Med Centerisn't the end of the world, especially
knowing that it's likely to get betterpretty soon. The other thing is there's

(31:02):
talk that eventually it might go northof Capitol Street on tenth and up closer
to the front door of the CochiHealth Center. And then we keep hearing
that Council Bluffs is very very seriousabout getting a spur that would lead from
call it eighth and Farnham all theway into downtown Council Bluffs, which would

(31:23):
be longer than even the Omaha route. Yeah, that would That whole corridor
where it would go on Council Bluffsis just ripe for development, so that
would be a great addition for them. We'll keep our eye on that,
as we do with all stories relevantto grow Omaha. But it's time for
our final break of the hour andwhen we come back, it'll be the
Lightning And I'm looking at the listand I'm seeing a lot of things on

(31:45):
it, So stick with us.We're going to talk about a lot of
new restaurants and retail business. Listeningto Jeff Beal's and Brad Williams in for
Trenton Maggot on grow Omaha, broughtto you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer
Athletics on News Radio eleven ten KFABE. The Salvation Army is now seeking nominations

(32:07):
for the DJ's Hero Award, awardingcollege scholarships for overcoming adversity. Nominate your
Hero by March thirteenth at djshero dotorg. And welcome back to the show.
Jeff Beale sitting next to Brad Williams, who is substituting for Trenton taking
the weekend off, and we're broughtto you by Dingman's Collision Center along with

(32:29):
Cheer Athletics Highway fifty and three seventyin Papellion. It's our Lightning Round in
which we talk about a lot ofthings in a short period of time,
and so let's get right into it. We've got Lit Cigars and Spirits Lounge
planning to open in September or Octoberin a building currently under renovation on the

(32:50):
northwest corner of sixteenth and Coming Street, North Downtown. The business has already
received its alcohol and tobacco licenses.Plans call. I talk to the owner
just this week. Plans call fora wrap around outdoor patio. They're trying
to see if they could make arooftop deck work that would have some really
cool views. Yeah, you know, girl, MAHA's a big fan of
rooftop decks. I loved I wouldgo to a rooftop deck every day.

(33:17):
I possibly could if it was aweather option. I know we've talked about
a million times on this show,but there's just not enough of a min
omo. No, there really aren't, and everyone loves them. So I
hope that happens. But even ifit doesn't, it's going to be really
good, high quality cigars, highquality spirits. They're going to we'll have
that option. They're not kind offood there, but like you can get
food from the nearby restaurants and haveit brought in. So we've been hearing

(33:39):
for a while Brad that Let ItFly, which opened last year in the
Capitol District downtown, wanted to havea second location out west in the former
and somewhat controversial Barrel and Vine Space. Well that appears that, yes,
it is true. The actual addressis thirteen eleven South two hundred and third

(34:00):
Street, southeast of two hundred andfourth in Q. I think let it
Fly out there is gonna be abig hit. Yeah, it should be
the one downtown, super cool,and I can only imagine the one out
west will be just as popular.I've been pleasantly surprised with let It Fly.
A relative who lives in South Dakotatold me, oh, the one
up here in Sioux Falls is notthat good, and I had low expectations.

(34:22):
But I've been to the Let ItFly downtown Omaha like three or four
times, and every time it's hasbeen like between very good and great.
And whenever you're downtown, walk overto the stairs that go upstairs. Yeah,
there's a huge picture a couple ofmine, one of Rosenblatt Stadium and
one of TDM Yor Trade Park,and then inside the restrooms there's Creighton and

(34:42):
Uno pictures. Oh, I knowthose pictures inside the restroom. There's the
action shots aren't mine, but thefull stadium pictures are. That's pretty cool.
Yeah, you see Brad's work everywhere. Saki Sushi Train has opened at
five five five Cornhusker Road in Bellevue, and this is uh, I understand
from the same people that have Yamatoanother sushi train at around seventy fourth and

(35:06):
Pacific. If you're not familiar withthese, these are the ones where the
conveyor belt brings you your sushi.I've yet to go to one. I've
never I don't get the allure,but it seems kind of neat. We're
just regulars at like one sushi placethat we like, and we just haven't
really branched out for whatever reason.I go to sushi place and I just
ordered my sushi, but I haveto do one of these days, I'm
gonna try one of these sushi trains. I don't know if I'm pronouncing this

(35:30):
correctly, but shawhen or Shaw andAfghan Restaurant at eleven fifteen South one hundred
and nineteenth Street in English. That'sby Big Freds. It is opening a
new location at sixty second and Mapleand Benson on March eighth. I do
not know whether this is a secondlocation actually or a relocation. Speaking of
Benson, I got to check outthe new B five Brewing last weekend.

(35:53):
How was it awesome. It's notopen yet. They don't have their legal
license yet, but Aaron, theguy in him and his family they're opening
it. They hope to be opennow the first week of April. They're
just kind of waiting on their liquorlicense. But Aaron's a super good dude
and he makes really good beers.Oh I'll have to get up and try
that, so I'll have a beerwith you. Yeah, there you go.
I tried a new place yesterday forlunch, the BBQ Chicken. It's

(36:16):
the South out of South Korea.The Korean fried chicken really good. But
I ordered a chicken that had threeflame symbols because I told the guy said,
one flame symbols probably not hot enough. I'm a little bit worried about
three. He's like, you onlylive once, get the three. So
I got the three. It wasgood, but oh my god, it's

(36:37):
pretty hot. I think next timeI'm going to downgrade to two flame symbols.
But it's one hundred and thirty secondStreet north of Center. Very very
good. Buffalo Wild Wings Go hasopened its first Nebraska location in Vinton Square
thirty one sixteen South twenty fourth Streetin South Omaha. A relatively new concept.

(36:58):
It just is basically it's Buffalo WildWings but takeout and delivery base.
I think they have what maybe justa couple tables in there, But I
think this is a good sign forSouth Omaha getting some national brands. Yeah,
a lot of opportunity down there,and it's great to see some people
investing. Absolutely. Dirty Dough Cookieswill hold a ribbon cutting on March fourth

(37:19):
for its new location in La Vista. It's located really close to Cabella's and
Embassy Suites. A while back,we reported that Hides, slides, Burghers
and Fries was coming to the oldover Easy restaurant space near one hundred and
sixty eighth and Q. That hasopened now. The business has a food
truck and also an existing location insidethe Grover Inn at thirty five oh five

(37:43):
South forty second Street. I couldwalk there from my neighborhood. Oh nice
to go, give that a try. Skeffington's Formal Wear recently opened its first
Nebraska location in Omaha's clock Tower Villagethat's right by the West Roads, on
the east side of the West Roads. It is out of Des Moines,
Iowa, and as the name wouldindicate, they sell suits and tuxedos in

(38:04):
formal wear. Founded in nineteen fiftyone, they do have four locations throughout
the state of Iowa. This istheir first location anywhere outside of Iowa.
Skeffington's formal Wear. Turtle Doves isan event space and downtown Gretna. They're
opening a second location at thirty seventhand Elevenworth in Midtown. Interior construction is
underway. They hope to be openin mid April. They're gonna have different

(38:27):
ownership than the Gretna location, butthe same website and the same calendar,
so kind of the same company.And then we have a relocation. Mauve
Clothing had been at one hundred andfourteenth in Davenport Street. They recently moved
to the shops at Legacy near onehundred and sixty eighth and Right Plaza.
And music's playing, which means we'reout of time, but I will say

(38:49):
really fast. Ellie's Chinchoro Caribbean Bistroon South thirty second Street closed, but
they might be reopening in North Downtownwith that. Brad, thanks for being
here, Hey, thanks for havingme. It was a blast. Brad
Williams of Brad Williams Photography and Eand A Consulting Trenton will be back next
week. Hope everyone has a greatweek. You've been listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Centerand Cheer Athletics on news radio eleven

(39:13):
ten KF A b