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 K Baby.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beiles
here at your service. This is the only show in
the metro area that talks about real estate, construction, real
estate development, and also business, restaurants, retail, really anything related
to making Omaha more vibrant, more prosperous, and perhaps a
little bit bigger. We're brought to you by Cheer Athletics,
(00:37):
the nation's number one all star cheer Jim as well
as Dingman's Collision Center Best of Omaha award winner for
metro area locations. And without any further ado, it's time
to bring on my co host, a man who is
a famous real estate deal maker at nai NP, Dodge
Trenton Maggot. Well, with that start, let's talk about something
(01:01):
that's really important. We have a Grow Omaha restaurant review
this week. We do them every two weeks. Chris Corey
is our food critic, and this week Chris takes a
look at Jewel on Capital that's the jazz club inside
the Marriott Capital District in downtown. You know, I have
been in it, but I've never seen a show, really,
(01:23):
and you've never eaten there obviously no. Yeah, but I'm
glad you said eat good drinks too well. And Chris
talks quite a bit about those cocktails in the review,
And I'm glad you mentioned eating because a lot of
people think, oh, that's a that's a jazz club. But
according to the review, the food, which a lot of
small plates, kind of elevated upscale small plates, sound like
(01:46):
the food was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It offers unique entertainment and it's different each time, different
types of music, different combos and things like that. But
I encourage everybody to check it out. It's not something
you think about all the time. It's inside the Marriott,
but you gotta go.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And the grow Omaha Eats are all brought to you
by all Makes, which is the office, furniture and technology
company located on Farnham Street in downtown. All Makes also
has locations in Lincoln, Des Moines, Iowa, and several other
Nebraska cities, and we appreciate all Makes making that possible.
You can see all of Chris's grow Omaha Eats reviews,
(02:30):
including the one that just came out Thursday. By going
to grow Omaha dot com on the navigation bar, click
on reviews, you will see eats and flicks. Eat so
the restaurants, flicks of the movies. We do those two
and you can read all your reviews, and after you
read them, you're going to be pretty darned hungry. Well,
with that, we're going to go into our News of
(02:50):
the week. Thank you to Eagle Mortgage for making this possible.
Holly Schneidwin and her team at Eagle Mortgage do an
outstanding job of taking care of you when you're going
to get your next piece of the American dream. That's
particularly relevant right now. We're right at the beginning of spring,
and that is big home Once you get to spring
and in the summer, it is big home buying season.
(03:12):
And if you're thinking about doing that, one of the
most important and smartest things you can do is sit
down with a mortgage broker at Eagle Mortgage and talk
to them about your situation. They'll match you up with
the best lending situation. Eagle Mortgage is not a bank,
They're a mortgage broker, so they get to shop a
variety of banks and find the one that's right for you. You
(03:32):
can find them in person at one hundred and fourteenth
and Davenport or online at Eagle Mortgage.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Company dot com.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
All right, Trenton, let's get into the big news of
the week, and that is in the spirit of the
name grow Omaha. Omaha is growing. For the first time ever,
the Omaha metropolitan area has more than one million people.
And on this show, we have been waiting for this
for a very long time. One years, twenty one years,
(04:01):
we've been talking about passing a million people. It's finally happened.
One million, one thousand and ten. That just proves that
if you're going to pass a million, each and every
one of you counts. So stay here, don't move away,
and attract your friends and family, because we're going to
want to keep growing. Some people say, gosh, you know,
Omaha is already too big, and I don't want more people.
(04:24):
We already have enough traffic. But I think people have
to remember that a city that is not growing is
literally dying, and so we have to constantly focus on growing.
Even if you think, oh boy, I don't know how
many you want to grow the right way, Jeff.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And just for further clarification, that one million plus people
is eight counties. Is that four in constables or three
in consoles and foot there's no county in Council Bluff
section in Iowa.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
OK. No.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Three counties in Iowa and five on the Iowa side.
In fact, let me break it down a little bit
for you, Tent, because your question is a nice segue.
Of the one million, one thousand people in the metro area,
eight hundred and seventy eight thousand of them live on
the Nebraska side and one hundred and twenty two hundred
and twenty three thousand of them live on the Iowa side.
(05:12):
Now Douglas County, which is the heart and center of
the metro area, that's where Omaha is located.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
On thousand.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, in fact, to be exact, six hundred and one thousand,
one hundred and fifty eight. So that's the first time
Douglas County has been over six hundred thousand people. So
we got that going for us, which is significant because
in terms of land mass, Douglas County is the second
smallest county in the state of Nebraska, but by far
the most populated. Now Sarpee County, which is a key
(05:39):
part of the metro area Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista, Gretna, Springfield.
Sarpee County now has two hundred and four thousand, eight
hundred and twenty eight, so well over two hundred thousand.
Pottawatamee County, which is the home of Council Bluffs, has
ninety three and a half thousand people. And then there's
some smaller counties, like we've said, a couple more in
(06:01):
Iowa and a couple more in Nebraska that add up
to the metro area. All right, Trenton, why is it
important to have over a million people for.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
National grants and recognition and so we can brag about
it on.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Growmo and a lot of other A lot of companies
that are looking for site selection, particularly in the retail,
entertainment and restaurant industries, won't consider metropolitan areas that are
under a million people. So our hope and our thinking
in the likelihood is that you should start to see
a higher level of some of those big brand businesses
(06:37):
targeting the market.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
And Omaha Proper has how many people?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Omaha Proper is just a shade under five hundred thousand.
Later this year, the Census Bureau will release estimates for
city population, and my guess is the city of Omaha,
if it's not over five hundred thousand this year, it'll
be within a whisker, very very close. Also one other
thing about population before we press on these estimates are
(07:05):
as of July first of last year.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
There's always a lag.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
You know, the Census Bureau, it's a one government agency,
so they're not known for moving at the speed of light.
But aside from that, it's a look back and it
takes a long time to calculate the population of every
state and every county and every city. So really we're
well over a million now because this is last July's number.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
I thought it was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
It sounds like the current administration, rather than hiring six
hundred thousand or so census takers, they are going to
use the post office and they're going to use postal
carriers to count the citizens. And it makes sense to me,
and it probably saves a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I did not know that well. We also had another
big news item this week. Greenslate Development has announced that
it will build a forty five million dollars five story
building on the site of the old WAT television studio
thirty fifth in Farnham Street in the Blackstone district along
the future streetcar line. Now WWT vacated that building when
(08:09):
they moved next door a couple of years ago into
the ground level of the Blackstone Plaza building that's the
fifteen story building famous for having Warren Buffett's office inside
of it.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Q at headquarters.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
This new building will have one hundred and eighty apartment units,
ninety indoor parking stalls, and market rate apartments.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Really nice.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Addition, they're going to have five million dollars in tax
increment financing if it is approved by the Planning Board
and the city Council, which it most certainly will be.
But this is yet another example of a major project
going on the streetcar line. We know that the streetcar
line is one of the most fiscally responsible, taxpayer friendly
(08:52):
ways of funding a public transit project in United States history.
We know that because at Gromaha we have idied several
of the other projects in the other cities, and we
know that within fifteen years of it opening. So let's
say in which is really going to be like the
early twenty forties. By the early twenty forties, we need
(09:13):
to have like two and a half three billion dollars
worth of construction in that ten block quarter either side
of the streetcar in order for the financing mechanism to work.
So we've got fifteen years in order for that to happen.
It's what way ahead of schedule. We're already way over
halfway there. So it's a no brain. It's a slam dunk,
and it's another example of the brilliance of the way
(09:35):
Omaha has set up the streetcar system. We're getting billions
and billions and dollars of real estate development. We're getting
more economic activity, we're getting an urban transit line, and
we're going to get a hell of a lot of retail, entertainment,
bar and restaurant stuff in the urban core, and the
real estate developers are paying for it. And the projects
(09:55):
just keep coming and coming and coming. We know here
at Gromaha privy to certain things that we can't tell
you about yet. There's a project there's right Rochem's coming
that another head course for a local a local company
is going to relocate right around there. Where would that
be do you think? Well, originally I was thinking it
might actually be on that site, the one you're talking about,
(10:17):
but we're waiting to see exactly where they locate.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
But there are we are.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
We are privy to a handful of projects that should
be announced within the next year on that Harney Farnam corridor.
Stay tuned. Exciting stuff. All right, That is your News
of the Week, which is brought to you by Egle
Mortgage Eego Mortgage Company, Egle Mortgage Company dot com. To
be exact, got to take our first break of the hour,
and when we come back, we're going to bring on
our good friend Craig Wolf.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
You know him.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
He is the owner of Cheer Athletics and a frequent
contributor guest co host here on the show. He's bringing
in his colleague Jeff Week, who is an expert specialist
consultant in sports facilities and sports facility development. We're going
to talk about you sports and the billions of dollars
it generates and what it could do for Omaha and
(11:04):
for Nebraska, a big part of our economic development plan.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You're listening to Jeff Beals sitting next to Trenton Maggot.
It's Grow Omaha. We're on News Radio eleven ten KFAV
and we're brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Make KFAB the number one pre sent on our free,
new and improved iHeartRadio app. Free never sounded so good
news radio. We live in ten KFAB and iHeart Radio.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Station and welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Jeff Neils and Trenton Maggot sitting here in the KFAB
studio high above Underwood Avenue bringing you grow Omaha. We
are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics.
Funny you should mention I should mention Cheer Athletics because
we have the owner of the nation's number one all
star cheer Jim with us here today, a man I
have known since kindergarten at Loveland Elementary School. Can I
(12:00):
say the nineteen seventies, Yeah you can, ages That's okay,
been a while in nineteen seventy four, kindergarten, Loveland Elementary School.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Craig, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
It's great to be back on with you guys. And
you know I'm sitting here thinking this morning, Trenton. Jeff
always does such a great job interviewing you or introducing you.
You know, you need like a Robin Williams Good Morning
Vietnam kind of sign.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I let him be the big voice guy good most
since he does most of the work on the show
and everything.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
I don't want.
Speaker 7 (12:30):
I don't want him to think. I don't want to
outshine him. Okay, well, you're very funny and people just
you know, need to know that. But now you're making
you're making us both fat headed, Craig. But but Craig,
we uh, first of all, appreciate you being a sponsor
of Girl Maha and and we're very impressed with everything
that you and your business partner, your wife Tiffany, are
(12:51):
are doing with cheer athletics. And what a lot of
people don't realize is that you are just into U
sports peer.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, you have a business chair athletics. Yeah you have
af basketball academy. But but youth sports, even beyond your
two businesses, have become a passion for you. And from
our Grohamha economic development advocacy position, we applaud you for
(13:21):
that because we know that youth sports are a huge
industry and kind of our theme today is that Nebraska
is missing out on its share of the youth sports industry,
and we need to do more to tap into this
you know, gravy train that's out there.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
But first of all, start off a little.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Bit by telling us what what drives your passion for
youth sports and how big the industry is.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
Sure, well, I appreciate the opportunity to be here and
talk a little bit about this. And you know, yes,
I'm an owner of two youth sports organizations, but more
than anything, I'm a voice for kids and being in
the youth sports world, I've gotten an opportunity to get
(14:08):
to know and talk to a lot of other leaders
in the U sports area, whether it's baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, volleyball,
even tennis. And as I talked to these people and
listen to parents that are in those sports, that have
athletes in those sports, that parents that have athletes in
(14:30):
those sports, they all say, we don't have facilities and
I could. You know, we could go into deep detail,
but for times sake, let me just lay the groundwork
for how big this industry is. Back in two thousand
and eight, it was a ten billion dollar industry U sports.
In twenty twenty four, the U sports industry was a
(14:54):
forty four billion dollar industry and these stats are coming
from Metastat. It's projected to go to e eighty six
billion dollars by twenty thirty one. And why is you
sports so important? I think we all kind of know these,
but I'm just going to lay those out there. You know,
keeps kids off their phone, keeps them active minecraft structured environment,
(15:16):
they learned teamwork, life skills above all, right, how to
overcome adversity in those challenging moments. So it's a great
opportunity with the right mentors. But then for the great
citizens of Nebraska, there's an opportunity here investing law by lawmakers,
investing into sports facilities that we can bring in revenue
(15:41):
outside revenue. I'll give you an example. The Slumpbuster Tournament
that is around the College World Series should be America's
biggest baseball tournament because it's a celebration of baseball here
with eight teams from around the country. Everybody comes to Omaha,
eight eight teams a ton more.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
But okay, no in the College World Series College World Series, Oh,
I think the slump Busters is like, so, the College.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
World Series brings eight teams, but the Slumpbuster on social
media boards out there. If you go on them, there
is a lot of negative feedback because Omaha just doesn't
have baseball fields. I have a friend of mine who
plays youth baseball. His Nebraska state baseball tournament is played
in Iowa. And so when you look at youth sports
(16:30):
as a whole, there is just such an opportunity for
logomakers to be educated as they have a responsibility. I
believe to the citizens of Nebraska to invest in the
next generation and use our tax dollars that we pay
a lot to Nebraska right that those tax dollars should
be into sports facilities where we can help offset our
(16:53):
tax base as well and give our next generation of
kids an opportunity to learn a lot of things. Cooperstown
Village in New York, they have a baseball tournament brings
in ninety five million dollars to the local academy, local economy,
and so, you know, this is just something I'm really
passionate about. I've teamed up with Jeff Week, who's here
(17:14):
in the studio this morning, and I want Jeff to
talk about his mission. He's been in this a lot
longer than I have. Together, I think we're starting to
educate lawmakers. We've had meetings in Lincoln, but we need
the public behind this. That is such an opportunity, especially
parents with athletes.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
And Jeff is the owner of E MJ Consulting, which
specializes in sports feasibility and economic development. And Jeff, we
appreciate you being here. Why don't we start off our
chat with you about maybe you can just talk quickly
about what you do and a little bit about where
we're at with you sports in Nebraska today.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah, you know, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
This is an important topic to kind of get out
among the people your listeners. We in Nebraska have a
very unique situation. In May of twenty twenty one, LB
thirty nine was passed. It's the Sports Arena Facility Financing
(18:17):
Assistance Act SAFFAA. As it relates to sports complexes, each
community has a level of participation they need to get
involved with, so bigger cities like Omaha need to provide
twelve to qualify. But what you get to do is
(18:38):
create a six hundred yard district around your sports complex
and collect the state sales tax, not all of it's
seventy percent of it that would come back, but not
existing only new. So when I say new, that means
that we're going to build a complex or develop a complex.
(18:59):
We need to get a development partner with us and
have them bring a hotel or fast food or strip
retail that would generate sales tax so we can pay
for not all I mean, in crazy terms, you could
get all of it paid for, but it's not going
to be paid for. It's going to be a minimal amount.
(19:21):
Then you have to get a vote of the people.
You have to get the bond that the city would
issue backed and sold vetted. So I mean there's lots
of hoops to jump through. Right now, we have two
projects basically sitting on the Governor's desk. One is in Norfolk.
(19:42):
The other one's a different kind of project, but Norfolk
is the one that I'm currently working on, and the
Governor needs to give with his five member panel, Governor
plus four others need to give a temporary approval so
we can actually go to the citizens and make sure
that they're okay with how we would do it. The
(20:04):
applications are usually done by a co applicant, a political
subdivision like a city or a county, and a not
for profit organization.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So what Jeff is talking about is referred to as
turnback financing, and we're going to get into a little
bit about this and how it can help Omaha and
Gretna and Papilion and all these towns in Nebraska build
bigger and better and greater sports facilities so we can
tap into this multi billion dollar industry. But we've got
(20:36):
a break for the news first, so we're going to
do that and when we come back more with Jeff
Week and Craig Wolf about making Nebraska a bigger and
better use sports facility destination and maybe any sort of
barriers or threats that might be out there on the
way to accomplishing that. So you're listening to Grow Omaha
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics
(20:59):
on News Radio elevel KFABE and welcome back to the show,
Jeff Beil's and Trenton Maggot. Here we're brought to you
by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center. Dingman's has locations
in Northwest Omaha hundred and twentieth, the Inn Maple, Downtown,
Papilion one hundred and forty fourth in Industrial and on
Saddle Creek Road in Midtown. It's time for your Nodle
(21:21):
Companies Commercial real Estate Development Spotlight of the Week, which
is brought to you by Well Not All Companies. And
they are an outstanding firm that is famous for doing
big time projects all over the metro area. It doesn't
matter whether you're talking about corporate headquarters like Valmont or HDR,
or if you're talking about real estate developments like the
(21:43):
Builders District in North Downtown, Sarbon Village or so many others.
NONL Companies has done many of them over the years. Well,
during this report we talk about happenings in or around
various Nodel Company project areas and got a couple of them.
Want to highlight this week. We have out in Gretna.
Non All Companies is doing a thirty one acre mixed
(22:06):
use project in the Gretna Landing Broader Project. This is
northwest of Highway three seventy and one hundred and ninety
second Street. As part of that project, there will be
a one hundred and thirty one thousand square foot office
building plus retail, restaurant and housing. Good news that passed
a hurdle in the Gretna City process. Approval process a
(22:28):
couple of weeks ago and is moving forward.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I think just west of High Ve the new Mega HIGHV.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
The world's biggest HIGHV and amusement park. Then meanwhile, Xarbon
Village Godega Market is opening a second location in the
former Zoop spacezup zoop that's no zoop for you, in
the HR building ground level yep. And that is going
to be a second location of Godega Market. What is
Godega Market?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Really?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Cool coffee shop behind gifts, Yeah, pop in. It's kind
of part Delhi, part coffee shop, heart little convenient grocery store,
kind of upscale. And the original one is at Eleventh
and Howard in the Old Market. I've been there a
few times. Great place. It'll be a nice addition to
Excarbon Village and.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That is your no Al Companies Commercial real estate Development
Spotlight of the week. Find out more about Nodle companies
by going simply enough to not Allcompanies dot com.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Well, we have Craig Wolf.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Owner of Cheer Athletics with us and one of our
key sponsors of GROLMHA and his who was teamed up
with Jeff Week who is the owner of EMJ Consulting,
a consulting firm that specializes in sports feasibility and sports
economic development. And Jeff, we're going to continue with you.
And we left off we were talking about Turnback Financing,
(23:44):
a relatively new project concept in Nebraska a couple few
years old, designed to help us develop sports facilities and
allow Nebraska to tap into the multi multi billion dollar
youth sports industry. But Jeff, turnback finance scene is catching
a little bit a heat right now. Why is that
(24:04):
and is it related to our State of Nebraska budget shortfall?
Speaker 5 (24:07):
It really is. It's interesting where the governor is looking
at things that can be cut, so we need all
the sales tax we can get. It's really important. But
we framed this law when it passed in May of
twenty twenty one, so that only new retail that comes
(24:28):
within the turnback district gets captured by the complex. That's
what's unique about it. We wouldn't take incremental or anything outside.
Even though the sports complex would be a destination for
people outside the city or the county, we don't get
to capture it. So, as an example, we have a
(24:51):
project in Norfolk. Norfork has a six hundred yard district.
We have an application into the governor. They're worried that
we would lose sales tax because there's a Walmart next door.
But guess what, we don't get the Walmart. We've never
calculated the Walmart. But when people come to that district,
they will be shopping at the Walmart. It's just it
(25:12):
is inevitable. So the point is it's we have to
It's an earned incentive. And I've said it repeatedly. This
is a unique situation where it's earned. You have to
bring your team there, and if your team can't perform,
then guess what, you don't have anything. And if you
can't sell the bond, if the or the lease agreement
(25:33):
doesn't work. We have a Department of Revenue. It's not
economic development, it's revenue, and we want to make sure
that we provide enough vetting so that nobody's on the hook.
I mean, we do something smart. Now, there is an
aspect of this law that got passed last year where
a smaller city, like a second class or a village
(25:56):
can actually use five years of the sales tax from
the city limits. Ashland is working on a project. Valley
has a project. We've heard of projects in West Point
and some other smaller communities. Well, the point of that
would be, you have five years. It's going to help
the community because we're we're filling these sports complexes with
(26:18):
kids in the in our communities. That's what's important to me.
Monday through Thursday, use, the weekend tournament use is economic development,
and that's going to come. But ultimately we're serving our
own kids. That's to me. That's the reason the bill
is or the law is the law.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And so if we have if we have any pressure
or any heat that use sports or the turnback financing
mechanism is facing right now, it almost seems like it
might be short term thinking being penny wise and pound
foolish in that some people are saying, well, maybe we
could save a little buny money right now. But when
(26:58):
you think about the the benefit that we have for
developing youth sports facilities at a relatively low cost, it
seems like a really responsible way of growing what we
have in our quality of life without making a big
burden on the taxpayer.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
So if we make a cut, so say the governor decides, hey,
I'm not gonna put these through because we're going to
save the sales tax. And Craig will attest to this.
We have a project in Gretna where he has two
projects and associated you want to you want to step
in here and say what you're going to do in Gretna.
I mean he has two hotels and events center, he
(27:35):
has restaurants, and he has two youth sports complexes. We're
not going to pay for all of the sports complexes
the not for profit that would own the asset. But
guess what, we're going to have all that stuff come
if if Craig doesn't come or we can't get that
earned incentive, then the hotel and the event center and
all the other stuff it's dirt. He's dirt. So it's
(28:00):
kind of like, give us the chance to show that
we can do it. Don't stop it before we even
get the chance to prove that we can actually do it,
if that makes sense.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
And so owning the two clubs, you know we have
to have facilities, right, So we have two buildings and
I lease both the buildings, one for basketball, one for cheer.
My payment to the least companies for combined payout is
(28:34):
forty one thousand dollars a month. It is insane. That's
what I'm paying out of pocket, you know, and what
my parents have to pay to help me sustain that.
I mean, we're really today and not for profit because
out of you have the forty one thousand, But then
I have to pay the staff.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
You're talking about your student athletes parents parents. Yeah, the parents. Yeah,
your parents are still paying you. Yeah, correct, But you know,
we have to pay for tournaments. In basketball, we have
to pay for competitions and cheer. We have great staff
at both AEF as well as cheer, and you know
they deserve to be well paid because we need great
(29:10):
coaches to invest in kids.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And so let me add one other thing. The reason
this tool, the reason this tool helps the sports world
and the not for profits that do it, is because
we're at market or below on registrations and on fees
and on it missions. If we don't have that extra
a little bit of help that we need, then ultimately
(29:35):
you're going to have the same pricing you have at
some of these for profit entities. We don't want that.
We want to break down the barriers and let every
kid play. The governor sent out a great press release
about Girls of Basketball, the state tournament for girls basketball
and how important that is, we believe that too. We
(29:59):
just need to get on the same page and help
you understand that this is the responsibility of the political
subdivision and in the state to at least help if
it doesn't impact property tax or raise taxes in a community,
there is no reason why we shouldn't be given the
chance to prove that we can do what we can do.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you are interested in perpetuating
and growing and protecting youth sports and making Nebraska more competitive,
talk to your elected officials and let them know how
important it is to you. But with that said, Craig
Wolf and Jeff Week, we appreciate you guys joining us
and have a great weekend.
Speaker 7 (30:40):
Thank you appreciate the opportunity to talk about this.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
This is really important to the state of Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
That's Craig Wolf from Cheer Athletics along with Sports Feasibility
and Economic Development consultant Jeff Week, going to take our
final break of the hour and when we come back.
You know what that means. It's the lightning round. I'm
looking at the list us and there are a lot
of things on it. You don't want to miss any
of it. Stay with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics and
(31:10):
Perkins Chritzer Construction on News Radio eleven ten KFAB. You're
invited to the Salvation Armies DJ's Hero Awards Banquet May thirteenth.
Details and tickets at sal Army Omaha dot org.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
And welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's time for your Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round, in
which we talk about a lot of things really fast,
and we want to thank Perkins Kretzer for making this possible.
They are an outstanding class a general contractor and make
no bones about it, Perkins Chretzer Construction can do big,
big projects. Don't be fooled because so often. Because it's
(31:46):
the Lightning Round, and we'd love to talk about retail
and restaurants. We talk about retailers and restaurants that Perkins
Kretzer is working on, like Hawaiian Brothers in Miracle Hills
and like a variety of different Jersey stores and the
Barnes and Nobles store that's opening a papilion shadow Lake
Town Center, all internal interior build out, retail restaurant type
(32:09):
things that Perkins Chreutzer Construction does too, but they can
also build you an office building, a church, a strip center.
Whatever it is you're looking for. You can find out
more by going to P DASHC construction dot com. All right,
we got a couple of things to start off with.
First of all, we've been telling you for a long
time that Meddi's, the Mediterranean restaurant out of Wichita, Kansas,
(32:30):
was opening soon in Village Point Well. They opened yesterday
was their soft opening, and might want to go give
it a try.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
Reports are good.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Rally Cap Brewing Company, a brewery from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
They are going to open a craft beer tap room
very very much baseball themed. It's a baseball themed hence
rally Cap Brewery tap room. And they're going into the Nova,
which is a five story mixed use building under construction
(33:00):
at twelfth and Nicholas Street in Milwark Commons. That's within
an outfield throw of Charles Schwab Field and that building
is gonna have seventy four apartments but also twelve five
hundred square feet of retail space. Rally Cap Brewing Company
will have part of that. The building will be done
about one year from now, and that's probably about the
(33:22):
time rally cap close to Disney Mule. It is right
across the street from the Disney Mule. And if you
are wondering is that related to LSU coming to the
College World Series a lot, you would be absolutely correct.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
That's where it all stats fans, even though I went
to Twu Lane in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Betty Ray's Ice Cream will open a second Omaha location
in Pepperwood Village near Karma Coffee. It is out of
Kansas City. The original Omaha location is at sixty three
oh seven Center Street, not far from Xsarbon Village. We
have a freestanding Starbucks Coffee building under construction near one
hundred and ninety fifth and Highway three SEV in Gretna.
(34:01):
It is part of the Gretna Landing development that former
Coffee Desert just to the east of it all. The
grocery store plans to open on March nineteenth, which is
I believe Wednesday. First Round, which is a cool sports
bar out of the Blackstone District. Opening a second location
in the former Cops Pizza building southwest of one hundred
(34:23):
and eightieth and West Center.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Road, Trenton.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
We have a Bubble Tree, sorry, Bubble Tea and Gelato
shop known as.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
I'm hoping I'm pronouncing this right.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yum chay y umcchaa one. It's at ten eighteen South
seventy fourth Plaza. They are rebranding as t one oh
one Tea is in Trenton. T one oh one, I.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Like to gurgle bobbo te to stop pickups.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Ta Gaucha, Florida based Brazilian steakhouse restaurant, is nearing its
opening date in the former Charleston's Restaurant building at one
hundred and thirty seventh and West Dodge Road. This week,
the Omaha City Council approved its liquor license. In that
liquor license application, Tara Gaucha said, the opening date is
April twentieth. To me, that seems pretty ambitious because when
(35:12):
you drive by, they're working their butts off, but it
looks like they have a ways to go.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Sometimes they can that last month before a restaurant opens,
they can accomplish a great deal. This Omaha location of
Tara Gaucha will be the fifth for this Florida based restaurant,
the others being in Jacksonville, Tampa, Indianapolis, and Stamford.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
It's great that they.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Central Skate Shop held its grand opening March seventh at
twenty nine oh five North fifty ninth Street in Benson
changed ownership. It originally had opened in May of twenty two,
but apparently they've changed a few things around. Snooze Mattress Company,
which is famous for the employees wearing pajamas for their uniforms,
(35:55):
opened a second Omaha location in Rockbrook Village. The first
one is in Shops of Legacy one hundred and sixty
eighth and Center. They're now up to sixteen total locations
in nine states after thirty eight years in business. The
Market Basket is closing permanently. It did close permanently yesterday.
(36:15):
Owned by Liz Leicos, the restaurant was in the Loveland
Shopping Center ninetieth and Center. Prior to that, it had
been in Countryside Village over by West Side High School.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
Absolutely good place.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
That was the end of an era. Ople Luxury Salon
and Suites will open its second location by the end
of March at one hundred and sixty ninth and Wright
Plaza and the Shops of Legacy, owned by four h
two Permanent Cosmetics. The Spa Suites and Cosmetic Academy offers
specialized beauty services and education. Ople's first location is at
(36:49):
one hundred and eighty first and Chicago Street in the
Elkhorn area. Camille's Bakery, a family owned bakery in Countryside Village,
will close March twenty second because of the rising cost
of ingredients. We're hearing that story over and over again.
That's a big problem. The bakery originally opened in twenty
(37:09):
nineteen and is known for savory offerings such as sweet
potato tacos, kish and turkey enchiladas. Well, speaking of closings,
a while back, Trenton and I told you about On
the Border, which closed its only Nebraska location in Papillion.
The exact address was eighty eight ten South seventy first Plaza.
(37:31):
The whole company nationwide went BK.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
It's just a coincidence with the current national legislation for immigration.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
And with that we are done. I hope everyone has
a great week. I'm Jeff Beils.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
And I'm Trenton Maggan.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
You've been listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by
Cheer Athletics, Dingman's Collision Center and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll
chat with you next week at nine right here on
news radio eleven ten kfab
This is Grow Omaha, the only radio show that talks
about economic development, construction, business expansion, and all of those
things that make Omaha a great place to live or visit.
Grow Omaha on News Radio eleven ten K Baby.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beiles
here at your service. This is the only show in
the metro area that talks about real estate, construction, real
estate development, and also business, restaurants, retail, really anything related
to making Omaha more vibrant, more prosperous, and perhaps a
little bit bigger. We're brought to you by Cheer Athletics,
(00:37):
the nation's number one all star cheer Jim as well
as Dingman's Collision Center Best of Omaha award winner for
metro area locations. And without any further ado, it's time
to bring on my co host, a man who is
a famous real estate deal maker at nai NP, Dodge
Trenton Maggot. Well, with that start, let's talk about something
(01:01):
that's really important. We have a Grow Omaha restaurant review
this week. We do them every two weeks. Chris Corey
is our food critic, and this week Chris takes a
look at Jewel on Capital that's the jazz club inside
the Marriott Capital District in downtown. You know, I have
been in it, but I've never seen a show, really,
(01:23):
and you've never eaten there obviously no. Yeah, but I'm
glad you said eat good drinks too well. And Chris
talks quite a bit about those cocktails in the review,
And I'm glad you mentioned eating because a lot of
people think, oh, that's a that's a jazz club. But
according to the review, the food, which a lot of
small plates, kind of elevated upscale small plates, sound like
(01:46):
the food was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It offers unique entertainment and it's different each time, different
types of music, different combos and things like that. But
I encourage everybody to check it out. It's not something
you think about all the time. It's inside the Marriott,
but you gotta go.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And the grow Omaha Eats are all brought to you
by all Makes, which is the office, furniture and technology
company located on Farnham Street in downtown. All Makes also
has locations in Lincoln, Des Moines, Iowa, and several other
Nebraska cities, and we appreciate all Makes making that possible.
You can see all of Chris's grow Omaha Eats reviews,
(02:30):
including the one that just came out Thursday. By going
to grow Omaha dot com on the navigation bar, click
on reviews, you will see eats and flicks. Eat so
the restaurants, flicks of the movies. We do those two
and you can read all your reviews, and after you
read them, you're going to be pretty darned hungry. Well,
with that, we're going to go into our News of
(02:50):
the week. Thank you to Eagle Mortgage for making this possible.
Holly Schneidwin and her team at Eagle Mortgage do an
outstanding job of taking care of you when you're going
to get your next piece of the American dream. That's
particularly relevant right now. We're right at the beginning of spring,
and that is big home Once you get to spring
and in the summer, it is big home buying season.
(03:12):
And if you're thinking about doing that, one of the
most important and smartest things you can do is sit
down with a mortgage broker at Eagle Mortgage and talk
to them about your situation. They'll match you up with
the best lending situation. Eagle Mortgage is not a bank,
They're a mortgage broker, so they get to shop a
variety of banks and find the one that's right for you. You
(03:32):
can find them in person at one hundred and fourteenth
and Davenport or online at Eagle Mortgage.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Company dot com.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
All right, Trenton, let's get into the big news of
the week, and that is in the spirit of the
name grow Omaha. Omaha is growing. For the first time ever,
the Omaha metropolitan area has more than one million people.
And on this show, we have been waiting for this
for a very long time. One years, twenty one years,
(04:01):
we've been talking about passing a million people. It's finally happened.
One million, one thousand and ten. That just proves that
if you're going to pass a million, each and every
one of you counts. So stay here, don't move away,
and attract your friends and family, because we're going to
want to keep growing. Some people say, gosh, you know,
Omaha is already too big, and I don't want more people.
(04:24):
We already have enough traffic. But I think people have
to remember that a city that is not growing is
literally dying, and so we have to constantly focus on growing.
Even if you think, oh boy, I don't know how
many you want to grow the right way, Jeff.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And just for further clarification, that one million plus people
is eight counties. Is that four in constables or three
in consoles and foot there's no county in Council Bluff
section in Iowa.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
OK. No.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Three counties in Iowa and five on the Iowa side.
In fact, let me break it down a little bit
for you, Tent, because your question is a nice segue.
Of the one million, one thousand people in the metro area,
eight hundred and seventy eight thousand of them live on
the Nebraska side and one hundred and twenty two hundred
and twenty three thousand of them live on the Iowa side.
(05:12):
Now Douglas County, which is the heart and center of
the metro area, that's where Omaha is located.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
On thousand.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, in fact, to be exact, six hundred and one thousand,
one hundred and fifty eight. So that's the first time
Douglas County has been over six hundred thousand people. So
we got that going for us, which is significant because
in terms of land mass, Douglas County is the second
smallest county in the state of Nebraska, but by far
the most populated. Now Sarpee County, which is a key
(05:39):
part of the metro area Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista, Gretna, Springfield.
Sarpee County now has two hundred and four thousand, eight
hundred and twenty eight, so well over two hundred thousand.
Pottawatamee County, which is the home of Council Bluffs, has
ninety three and a half thousand people. And then there's
some smaller counties, like we've said, a couple more in
(06:01):
Iowa and a couple more in Nebraska that add up
to the metro area. All right, Trenton, why is it
important to have over a million people for.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
National grants and recognition and so we can brag about
it on.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Growmo and a lot of other A lot of companies
that are looking for site selection, particularly in the retail,
entertainment and restaurant industries, won't consider metropolitan areas that are
under a million people. So our hope and our thinking
in the likelihood is that you should start to see
a higher level of some of those big brand businesses
(06:37):
targeting the market.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
And Omaha Proper has how many people?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Omaha Proper is just a shade under five hundred thousand.
Later this year, the Census Bureau will release estimates for
city population, and my guess is the city of Omaha,
if it's not over five hundred thousand this year, it'll
be within a whisker, very very close. Also one other
thing about population before we press on these estimates are
(07:05):
as of July first of last year.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
There's always a lag.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
You know, the Census Bureau, it's a one government agency,
so they're not known for moving at the speed of light.
But aside from that, it's a look back and it
takes a long time to calculate the population of every
state and every county and every city. So really we're
well over a million now because this is last July's number.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
I thought it was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
It sounds like the current administration, rather than hiring six
hundred thousand or so census takers, they are going to
use the post office and they're going to use postal
carriers to count the citizens. And it makes sense to me,
and it probably saves a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I did not know that well. We also had another
big news item this week. Greenslate Development has announced that
it will build a forty five million dollars five story
building on the site of the old WAT television studio
thirty fifth in Farnham Street in the Blackstone district along
the future streetcar line. Now WWT vacated that building when
(08:09):
they moved next door a couple of years ago into
the ground level of the Blackstone Plaza building that's the
fifteen story building famous for having Warren Buffett's office inside
of it.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Q at headquarters.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
This new building will have one hundred and eighty apartment units,
ninety indoor parking stalls, and market rate apartments.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Really nice.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Addition, they're going to have five million dollars in tax
increment financing if it is approved by the Planning Board
and the city Council, which it most certainly will be.
But this is yet another example of a major project
going on the streetcar line. We know that the streetcar
line is one of the most fiscally responsible, taxpayer friendly
(08:52):
ways of funding a public transit project in United States history.
We know that because at Gromaha we have idied several
of the other projects in the other cities, and we
know that within fifteen years of it opening. So let's
say in which is really going to be like the
early twenty forties. By the early twenty forties, we need
(09:13):
to have like two and a half three billion dollars
worth of construction in that ten block quarter either side
of the streetcar in order for the financing mechanism to work.
So we've got fifteen years in order for that to happen.
It's what way ahead of schedule. We're already way over
halfway there. So it's a no brain. It's a slam dunk,
and it's another example of the brilliance of the way
(09:35):
Omaha has set up the streetcar system. We're getting billions
and billions and dollars of real estate development. We're getting
more economic activity, we're getting an urban transit line, and
we're going to get a hell of a lot of retail, entertainment,
bar and restaurant stuff in the urban core, and the
real estate developers are paying for it. And the projects
(09:55):
just keep coming and coming and coming. We know here
at Gromaha privy to certain things that we can't tell
you about yet. There's a project there's right Rochem's coming
that another head course for a local a local company
is going to relocate right around there. Where would that
be do you think? Well, originally I was thinking it
might actually be on that site, the one you're talking about,
(10:17):
but we're waiting to see exactly where they locate.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
But there are we are.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
We are privy to a handful of projects that should
be announced within the next year on that Harney Farnam corridor.
Stay tuned. Exciting stuff. All right, That is your News
of the Week, which is brought to you by Egle
Mortgage Eego Mortgage Company, Egle Mortgage Company dot com. To
be exact, got to take our first break of the hour,
and when we come back, we're going to bring on
our good friend Craig Wolf.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
You know him.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
He is the owner of Cheer Athletics and a frequent
contributor guest co host here on the show. He's bringing
in his colleague Jeff Week, who is an expert specialist
consultant in sports facilities and sports facility development. We're going
to talk about you sports and the billions of dollars
it generates and what it could do for Omaha and
(11:04):
for Nebraska, a big part of our economic development plan.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You're listening to Jeff Beals sitting next to Trenton Maggot.
It's Grow Omaha. We're on News Radio eleven ten KFAV
and we're brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Make KFAB the number one pre sent on our free,
new and improved iHeartRadio app. Free never sounded so good
news radio. We live in ten KFAB and iHeart Radio.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Station and welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Jeff Neils and Trenton Maggot sitting here in the KFAB
studio high above Underwood Avenue bringing you grow Omaha. We
are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics.
Funny you should mention I should mention Cheer Athletics because
we have the owner of the nation's number one all
star cheer Jim with us here today, a man I
have known since kindergarten at Loveland Elementary School. Can I
(12:00):
say the nineteen seventies, Yeah you can, ages That's okay,
been a while in nineteen seventy four, kindergarten, Loveland Elementary School.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Craig, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
It's great to be back on with you guys. And
you know I'm sitting here thinking this morning, Trenton. Jeff
always does such a great job interviewing you or introducing you.
You know, you need like a Robin Williams Good Morning
Vietnam kind of sign.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I let him be the big voice guy good most
since he does most of the work on the show
and everything.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
I don't want.
Speaker 7 (12:30):
I don't want him to think. I don't want to
outshine him. Okay, well, you're very funny and people just
you know, need to know that. But now you're making
you're making us both fat headed, Craig. But but Craig,
we uh, first of all, appreciate you being a sponsor
of Girl Maha and and we're very impressed with everything
that you and your business partner, your wife Tiffany, are
(12:51):
are doing with cheer athletics. And what a lot of
people don't realize is that you are just into U
sports peer.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, you have a business chair athletics. Yeah you have
af basketball academy. But but youth sports, even beyond your
two businesses, have become a passion for you. And from
our Grohamha economic development advocacy position, we applaud you for
(13:21):
that because we know that youth sports are a huge
industry and kind of our theme today is that Nebraska
is missing out on its share of the youth sports industry,
and we need to do more to tap into this
you know, gravy train that's out there.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
But first of all, start off a little.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Bit by telling us what what drives your passion for
youth sports and how big the industry is.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
Sure, well, I appreciate the opportunity to be here and
talk a little bit about this. And you know, yes,
I'm an owner of two youth sports organizations, but more
than anything, I'm a voice for kids and being in
the youth sports world, I've gotten an opportunity to get
(14:08):
to know and talk to a lot of other leaders
in the U sports area, whether it's baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, volleyball,
even tennis. And as I talked to these people and
listen to parents that are in those sports, that have
athletes in those sports, that parents that have athletes in
(14:30):
those sports, they all say, we don't have facilities and
I could. You know, we could go into deep detail,
but for times sake, let me just lay the groundwork
for how big this industry is. Back in two thousand
and eight, it was a ten billion dollar industry U sports.
In twenty twenty four, the U sports industry was a
(14:54):
forty four billion dollar industry and these stats are coming
from Metastat. It's projected to go to e eighty six
billion dollars by twenty thirty one. And why is you
sports so important? I think we all kind of know these,
but I'm just going to lay those out there. You know,
keeps kids off their phone, keeps them active minecraft structured environment,
(15:16):
they learned teamwork, life skills above all, right, how to
overcome adversity in those challenging moments. So it's a great
opportunity with the right mentors. But then for the great
citizens of Nebraska, there's an opportunity here investing law by lawmakers,
investing into sports facilities that we can bring in revenue
(15:41):
outside revenue. I'll give you an example. The Slumpbuster Tournament
that is around the College World Series should be America's
biggest baseball tournament because it's a celebration of baseball here
with eight teams from around the country. Everybody comes to Omaha,
eight eight teams a ton more.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
But okay, no in the College World Series College World Series, Oh,
I think the slump Busters is like, so, the College.
Speaker 7 (16:06):
World Series brings eight teams, but the Slumpbuster on social
media boards out there. If you go on them, there
is a lot of negative feedback because Omaha just doesn't
have baseball fields. I have a friend of mine who
plays youth baseball. His Nebraska state baseball tournament is played
in Iowa. And so when you look at youth sports
(16:30):
as a whole, there is just such an opportunity for
logomakers to be educated as they have a responsibility. I
believe to the citizens of Nebraska to invest in the
next generation and use our tax dollars that we pay
a lot to Nebraska right that those tax dollars should
be into sports facilities where we can help offset our
(16:53):
tax base as well and give our next generation of
kids an opportunity to learn a lot of things. Cooperstown
Village in New York, they have a baseball tournament brings
in ninety five million dollars to the local academy, local economy,
and so, you know, this is just something I'm really
passionate about. I've teamed up with Jeff Week, who's here
(17:14):
in the studio this morning, and I want Jeff to
talk about his mission. He's been in this a lot
longer than I have. Together, I think we're starting to
educate lawmakers. We've had meetings in Lincoln, but we need
the public behind this. That is such an opportunity, especially
parents with athletes.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
And Jeff is the owner of E MJ Consulting, which
specializes in sports feasibility and economic development. And Jeff, we
appreciate you being here. Why don't we start off our
chat with you about maybe you can just talk quickly
about what you do and a little bit about where
we're at with you sports in Nebraska today.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Yeah, you know, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
This is an important topic to kind of get out
among the people your listeners. We in Nebraska have a
very unique situation. In May of twenty twenty one, LB
thirty nine was passed. It's the Sports Arena Facility Financing
(18:17):
Assistance Act SAFFAA. As it relates to sports complexes, each
community has a level of participation they need to get
involved with, so bigger cities like Omaha need to provide
twelve to qualify. But what you get to do is
(18:38):
create a six hundred yard district around your sports complex
and collect the state sales tax, not all of it's
seventy percent of it that would come back, but not
existing only new. So when I say new, that means
that we're going to build a complex or develop a complex.
(18:59):
We need to get a development partner with us and
have them bring a hotel or fast food or strip
retail that would generate sales tax so we can pay
for not all I mean, in crazy terms, you could
get all of it paid for, but it's not going
to be paid for. It's going to be a minimal amount.
(19:21):
Then you have to get a vote of the people.
You have to get the bond that the city would
issue backed and sold vetted. So I mean there's lots
of hoops to jump through. Right now, we have two
projects basically sitting on the Governor's desk. One is in Norfolk.
(19:42):
The other one's a different kind of project, but Norfolk
is the one that I'm currently working on, and the
Governor needs to give with his five member panel, Governor
plus four others need to give a temporary approval so
we can actually go to the citizens and make sure
that they're okay with how we would do it. The
(20:04):
applications are usually done by a co applicant, a political
subdivision like a city or a county, and a not
for profit organization.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So what Jeff is talking about is referred to as
turnback financing, and we're going to get into a little
bit about this and how it can help Omaha and
Gretna and Papilion and all these towns in Nebraska build
bigger and better and greater sports facilities so we can
tap into this multi billion dollar industry. But we've got
(20:36):
a break for the news first, so we're going to
do that and when we come back more with Jeff
Week and Craig Wolf about making Nebraska a bigger and
better use sports facility destination and maybe any sort of
barriers or threats that might be out there on the
way to accomplishing that. So you're listening to Grow Omaha
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics
(20:59):
on News Radio elevel KFABE and welcome back to the show,
Jeff Beil's and Trenton Maggot. Here we're brought to you
by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center. Dingman's has locations
in Northwest Omaha hundred and twentieth, the Inn Maple, Downtown,
Papilion one hundred and forty fourth in Industrial and on
Saddle Creek Road in Midtown. It's time for your Nodle
(21:21):
Companies Commercial real Estate Development Spotlight of the Week, which
is brought to you by Well Not All Companies. And
they are an outstanding firm that is famous for doing
big time projects all over the metro area. It doesn't
matter whether you're talking about corporate headquarters like Valmont or HDR,
or if you're talking about real estate developments like the
(21:43):
Builders District in North Downtown, Sarbon Village or so many others.
NONL Companies has done many of them over the years. Well,
during this report we talk about happenings in or around
various Nodel Company project areas and got a couple of them.
Want to highlight this week. We have out in Gretna.
Non All Companies is doing a thirty one acre mixed
(22:06):
use project in the Gretna Landing Broader Project. This is
northwest of Highway three seventy and one hundred and ninety
second Street. As part of that project, there will be
a one hundred and thirty one thousand square foot office
building plus retail, restaurant and housing. Good news that passed
a hurdle in the Gretna City process. Approval process a
(22:28):
couple of weeks ago and is moving forward.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I think just west of High Ve the new Mega HIGHV.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
The world's biggest HIGHV and amusement park. Then meanwhile, Xarbon
Village Godega Market is opening a second location in the
former Zoop spacezup zoop that's no zoop for you, in
the HR building ground level yep. And that is going
to be a second location of Godega Market. What is
Godega Market?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Really?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Cool coffee shop behind gifts, Yeah, pop in. It's kind
of part Delhi, part coffee shop, heart little convenient grocery store,
kind of upscale. And the original one is at Eleventh
and Howard in the Old Market. I've been there a
few times. Great place. It'll be a nice addition to
Excarbon Village and.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That is your no Al Companies Commercial real estate Development
Spotlight of the week. Find out more about Nodle companies
by going simply enough to not Allcompanies dot com.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Well, we have Craig Wolf.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Owner of Cheer Athletics with us and one of our
key sponsors of GROLMHA and his who was teamed up
with Jeff Week who is the owner of EMJ Consulting,
a consulting firm that specializes in sports feasibility and sports
economic development. And Jeff, we're going to continue with you.
And we left off we were talking about Turnback Financing,
(23:44):
a relatively new project concept in Nebraska a couple few
years old, designed to help us develop sports facilities and
allow Nebraska to tap into the multi multi billion dollar
youth sports industry. But Jeff, turnback finance scene is catching
a little bit a heat right now. Why is that
(24:04):
and is it related to our State of Nebraska budget shortfall?
Speaker 5 (24:07):
It really is. It's interesting where the governor is looking
at things that can be cut, so we need all
the sales tax we can get. It's really important. But
we framed this law when it passed in May of
twenty twenty one, so that only new retail that comes
(24:28):
within the turnback district gets captured by the complex. That's
what's unique about it. We wouldn't take incremental or anything outside.
Even though the sports complex would be a destination for
people outside the city or the county, we don't get
to capture it. So, as an example, we have a
(24:51):
project in Norfolk. Norfork has a six hundred yard district.
We have an application into the governor. They're worried that
we would lose sales tax because there's a Walmart next door.
But guess what, we don't get the Walmart. We've never
calculated the Walmart. But when people come to that district,
they will be shopping at the Walmart. It's just it
(25:12):
is inevitable. So the point is it's we have to
It's an earned incentive. And I've said it repeatedly. This
is a unique situation where it's earned. You have to
bring your team there, and if your team can't perform,
then guess what, you don't have anything. And if you
can't sell the bond, if the or the lease agreement
(25:33):
doesn't work. We have a Department of Revenue. It's not
economic development, it's revenue, and we want to make sure
that we provide enough vetting so that nobody's on the hook.
I mean, we do something smart. Now, there is an
aspect of this law that got passed last year where
a smaller city, like a second class or a village
(25:56):
can actually use five years of the sales tax from
the city limits. Ashland is working on a project. Valley
has a project. We've heard of projects in West Point
and some other smaller communities. Well, the point of that
would be, you have five years. It's going to help
the community because we're we're filling these sports complexes with
(26:18):
kids in the in our communities. That's what's important to me.
Monday through Thursday, use, the weekend tournament use is economic development,
and that's going to come. But ultimately we're serving our
own kids. That's to me. That's the reason the bill
is or the law is the law.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And so if we have if we have any pressure
or any heat that use sports or the turnback financing
mechanism is facing right now, it almost seems like it
might be short term thinking being penny wise and pound
foolish in that some people are saying, well, maybe we
could save a little buny money right now. But when
(26:58):
you think about the the benefit that we have for
developing youth sports facilities at a relatively low cost, it
seems like a really responsible way of growing what we
have in our quality of life without making a big
burden on the taxpayer.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
So if we make a cut, so say the governor decides, hey,
I'm not gonna put these through because we're going to
save the sales tax. And Craig will attest to this.
We have a project in Gretna where he has two
projects and associated you want to you want to step
in here and say what you're going to do in Gretna.
I mean he has two hotels and events center, he
(27:35):
has restaurants, and he has two youth sports complexes. We're
not going to pay for all of the sports complexes
the not for profit that would own the asset. But
guess what, we're going to have all that stuff come
if if Craig doesn't come or we can't get that
earned incentive, then the hotel and the event center and
all the other stuff it's dirt. He's dirt. So it's
(28:00):
kind of like, give us the chance to show that
we can do it. Don't stop it before we even
get the chance to prove that we can actually do it,
if that makes sense.
Speaker 7 (28:12):
And so owning the two clubs, you know we have
to have facilities, right, So we have two buildings and
I lease both the buildings, one for basketball, one for cheer.
My payment to the least companies for combined payout is
(28:34):
forty one thousand dollars a month. It is insane. That's
what I'm paying out of pocket, you know, and what
my parents have to pay to help me sustain that.
I mean, we're really today and not for profit because
out of you have the forty one thousand, But then
I have to pay the staff.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
You're talking about your student athletes parents parents. Yeah, the parents. Yeah,
your parents are still paying you. Yeah, correct, But you know,
we have to pay for tournaments. In basketball, we have
to pay for competitions and cheer. We have great staff
at both AEF as well as cheer, and you know
they deserve to be well paid because we need great
(29:10):
coaches to invest in kids.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And so let me add one other thing. The reason
this tool, the reason this tool helps the sports world
and the not for profits that do it, is because
we're at market or below on registrations and on fees
and on it missions. If we don't have that extra
a little bit of help that we need, then ultimately
(29:35):
you're going to have the same pricing you have at
some of these for profit entities. We don't want that.
We want to break down the barriers and let every
kid play. The governor sent out a great press release
about Girls of Basketball, the state tournament for girls basketball
and how important that is, we believe that too. We
(29:59):
just need to get on the same page and help
you understand that this is the responsibility of the political
subdivision and in the state to at least help if
it doesn't impact property tax or raise taxes in a community,
there is no reason why we shouldn't be given the
chance to prove that we can do what we can do.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you are interested in perpetuating
and growing and protecting youth sports and making Nebraska more competitive,
talk to your elected officials and let them know how
important it is to you. But with that said, Craig
Wolf and Jeff Week, we appreciate you guys joining us
and have a great weekend.
Speaker 7 (30:40):
Thank you appreciate the opportunity to talk about this.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
This is really important to the state of Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
That's Craig Wolf from Cheer Athletics along with Sports Feasibility
and Economic Development consultant Jeff Week, going to take our
final break of the hour and when we come back.
You know what that means. It's the lightning round. I'm
looking at the list us and there are a lot
of things on it. You don't want to miss any
of it. Stay with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics and
(31:10):
Perkins Chritzer Construction on News Radio eleven ten KFAB. You're
invited to the Salvation Armies DJ's Hero Awards Banquet May thirteenth.
Details and tickets at sal Army Omaha dot org.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
And welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's time for your Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round, in
which we talk about a lot of things really fast,
and we want to thank Perkins Kretzer for making this possible.
They are an outstanding class a general contractor and make
no bones about it, Perkins Chretzer Construction can do big,
big projects. Don't be fooled because so often. Because it's
(31:46):
the Lightning Round, and we'd love to talk about retail
and restaurants. We talk about retailers and restaurants that Perkins
Kretzer is working on, like Hawaiian Brothers in Miracle Hills
and like a variety of different Jersey stores and the
Barnes and Nobles store that's opening a papilion shadow Lake
Town Center, all internal interior build out, retail restaurant type
(32:09):
things that Perkins Chreutzer Construction does too, but they can
also build you an office building, a church, a strip center.
Whatever it is you're looking for. You can find out
more by going to P DASHC construction dot com. All right,
we got a couple of things to start off with.
First of all, we've been telling you for a long
time that Meddi's, the Mediterranean restaurant out of Wichita, Kansas,
(32:30):
was opening soon in Village Point Well. They opened yesterday
was their soft opening, and might want to go give
it a try.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
Reports are good.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Rally Cap Brewing Company, a brewery from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
They are going to open a craft beer tap room
very very much baseball themed. It's a baseball themed hence
rally Cap Brewery tap room. And they're going into the Nova,
which is a five story mixed use building under construction
(33:00):
at twelfth and Nicholas Street in Milwark Commons. That's within
an outfield throw of Charles Schwab Field and that building
is gonna have seventy four apartments but also twelve five
hundred square feet of retail space. Rally Cap Brewing Company
will have part of that. The building will be done
about one year from now, and that's probably about the
(33:22):
time rally cap close to Disney Mule. It is right
across the street from the Disney Mule. And if you
are wondering is that related to LSU coming to the
College World Series a lot, you would be absolutely correct.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
That's where it all stats fans, even though I went
to Twu Lane in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Betty Ray's Ice Cream will open a second Omaha location
in Pepperwood Village near Karma Coffee. It is out of
Kansas City. The original Omaha location is at sixty three
oh seven Center Street, not far from Xsarbon Village. We
have a freestanding Starbucks Coffee building under construction near one
hundred and ninety fifth and Highway three SEV in Gretna.
(34:01):
It is part of the Gretna Landing development that former
Coffee Desert just to the east of it all. The
grocery store plans to open on March nineteenth, which is
I believe Wednesday. First Round, which is a cool sports
bar out of the Blackstone District. Opening a second location
in the former Cops Pizza building southwest of one hundred
(34:23):
and eightieth and West Center.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Road, Trenton.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
We have a Bubble Tree, sorry, Bubble Tea and Gelato
shop known as.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
I'm hoping I'm pronouncing this right.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yum chay y umcchaa one. It's at ten eighteen South
seventy fourth Plaza. They are rebranding as t one oh
one Tea is in Trenton. T one oh one, I.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Like to gurgle bobbo te to stop pickups.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Ta Gaucha, Florida based Brazilian steakhouse restaurant, is nearing its
opening date in the former Charleston's Restaurant building at one
hundred and thirty seventh and West Dodge Road. This week,
the Omaha City Council approved its liquor license. In that
liquor license application, Tara Gaucha said, the opening date is
April twentieth. To me, that seems pretty ambitious because when
(35:12):
you drive by, they're working their butts off, but it
looks like they have a ways to go.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Sometimes they can that last month before a restaurant opens,
they can accomplish a great deal. This Omaha location of
Tara Gaucha will be the fifth for this Florida based restaurant,
the others being in Jacksonville, Tampa, Indianapolis, and Stamford.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
It's great that they.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Central Skate Shop held its grand opening March seventh at
twenty nine oh five North fifty ninth Street in Benson
changed ownership. It originally had opened in May of twenty two,
but apparently they've changed a few things around. Snooze Mattress Company,
which is famous for the employees wearing pajamas for their uniforms,
(35:55):
opened a second Omaha location in Rockbrook Village. The first
one is in Shops of Legacy one hundred and sixty
eighth and Center. They're now up to sixteen total locations
in nine states after thirty eight years in business. The
Market Basket is closing permanently. It did close permanently yesterday.
(36:15):
Owned by Liz Leicos, the restaurant was in the Loveland
Shopping Center ninetieth and Center. Prior to that, it had
been in Countryside Village over by West Side High School.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
Absolutely good place.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
That was the end of an era. Ople Luxury Salon
and Suites will open its second location by the end
of March at one hundred and sixty ninth and Wright
Plaza and the Shops of Legacy, owned by four h
two Permanent Cosmetics. The Spa Suites and Cosmetic Academy offers
specialized beauty services and education. Ople's first location is at
(36:49):
one hundred and eighty first and Chicago Street in the
Elkhorn area. Camille's Bakery, a family owned bakery in Countryside Village,
will close March twenty second because of the rising cost
of ingredients. We're hearing that story over and over again.
That's a big problem. The bakery originally opened in twenty
(37:09):
nineteen and is known for savory offerings such as sweet
potato tacos, kish and turkey enchiladas. Well, speaking of closings,
a while back, Trenton and I told you about On
the Border, which closed its only Nebraska location in Papillion.
The exact address was eighty eight ten South seventy first Plaza.
(37:31):
The whole company nationwide went BK.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
It's just a coincidence with the current national legislation for immigration.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
And with that we are done. I hope everyone has
a great week. I'm Jeff Beils.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
And I'm Trenton Maggan.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
You've been listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by
Cheer Athletics, Dingman's Collision Center and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll
chat with you next week at nine right here on
news radio eleven ten kfab
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