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 kf bab.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, Good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beils
here at your service. We're brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one
all star cheer Jim, congratulations because you have stumbled upon
the only show in the metro area that talks about
oh real estate development, construction, economic development, really anything related
(00:39):
to Omaha becoming bigger, more vibrant, and more prosperous. Before
we go any further, though, it's time to bring on
my co host, a man who is the legendary real
estate deal maker from nai NP Dodge Trenton Maggott.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Good morning everyone, Good morning Jeff.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, Good morning Trenton. You know this is this is
a fun morning because we have breakfast here today.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
It's not every day that some fine restaurant brings us
some delectables.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, so we want to thank TJ. Isaacs and his
wife Jill. They are the owners of Ever Bowl that
is a new restaurant that opened southeast of one hundred
and sixty eighth and send her and tell us Trenton
to what's an ever Bowl?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, I'll tell you what. It's my neighborhood. So I
should cut down on the crubble cookies next door and
have a more healthy a SI E bowl. And I
had the p B Bowl and it was delicious. So
check out ever Bowl. It's right by Clancy's one hundred
and sixty eighth and West Center Road. A healthier alternative.
(01:43):
It's a pretty much a meal replacement, is the way
I would describe it. In this beautiful man here, TJ.
Isaacs is in the house and so if you go
to the store you might see him there or his
wife Jill.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
And ever Bowl plans to eventually have three stores in
the Omaha area and a couple in Lincoln as well.
And speaking of restaurants, we have one of our grow
Omaha Eats restaurant reviews written by our food critic Chris Corey.
It's brought to you by All Makes. All Makes is
the famous office furniture and technology store in downtown Omaha,
(02:18):
also locations in Lincoln, Des Moines, Iowa. And several other
regional towns at any rate. This week, for grow Omaha Eats,
Chris Corey evaluated Twisted Cork Bistro, very nice restaurant in
the Regency Landing area, which is by Interstate six point
eighty and Pacific Street. If you want to read it,
(02:38):
and we encourage you do, simply go to grow Omaha
dot com, click on reviews on the navigation bar, and
then there you'll have a choice between eats and flicks,
flicks or movies, eats or restaurants. Pretty easy to figure out,
and you'll enjoy reading about Twisted Corkbistro. All right, Trent,
are we ready for the news of the week. Well,
(03:00):
it's brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company
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process by going to Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. Well Trenton. Yesterday,
we had the annual State of the City address at
City Hall. Mayor Stoth does this every year, presents it
to the city Council, and then probably had about a
coup one hundred people there on site as well. And
this State of the City address talks about a lot
(04:05):
of things. It's basically the city version of the State
of the Union. And since this show is about growth
and development, I plucked out a few parts of the
address related to growth and development so we won't get in,
you know. It also talks about community safety and all
sorts of other issues as well, but in terms of
growth and development. A couple of things that jumped out
(04:28):
as significant to me. She talked about the flagship library
at seventy second a Dodge is on target to open
one Yeah, it's on target to open one year from
next month. And also talked about Chi Convention Center expansion
on the east side really is coming along nicely and
is on schedule. That's a big, big project. But get
(04:49):
a load of this. In twenty twenty four, Omaha had
nineteen thousand building permits totally one and a half billion dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Is that a record? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
She didn't say. My guess is if it was a record,
she probably would have said that. Into remarks. Tax increment
financing very important economic development tool for keeping the core
of the city strong. TIFF is designed to encourage development
in the city as opposed to continually knocking over cornfields,
which creates more traffic jams. So if we look at
(05:22):
TIFF since twenty fifteen, so we'll call it nine years
because these are twenty twenty four numbers. Since twenty fifteen,
Omaha has approved one hundred and ninety six TIFF applications
for five hundred and eighty four million dollars. That has
led to four and a half billion dollars of new
investment in the city of Omaha. Instead of the suburbs
(05:46):
and I spent five years on the planning board.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
It was it was an important tool then and it's
an important tool now. And cities that don't have tax
recrement financing opportunities that they fall behind. And this isn't
given to every applicant, and this is meant to improve
areas that otherwise, but for taxi current financing, the project
(06:09):
wouldn't happen.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
The address also looked into affordable housing, which is becoming
a bigger and bigger issue as Omaha's real estate becomes
so much more valuable. The city has sold fifty city
owned lots, many for just one dollar, allowing emerging developers
to build affordable housing. Mayri Stothard also mentioned in the
(06:32):
State of the City address there will be forty one
street resurfacing projects this year, which will be like full resurfacing,
not just pothole replacement or anything like that. And then
finally another the last one that really jumped out at
me is relevant for gro Omaha. Two weeks from now,
we will break ground on the Community Center at Levi
Carter Park by Carter Lake by Eppley Airfield. This huge
(06:56):
complex will include basketball, volleyball, wrestling room, weight room, computer, labs,
community meeting space, and several outdoor athletic fields as well. Now,
in other news, we had a very very big thing
drop into our laps this week, and that is US
News and World Report ranked Omaha for the first time
(07:19):
ever as the hottest housing market in the United States
of America. Defined as defined as just so much activity
houses being sold, apartments being rented, houses and apartments being built.
It talked about rent increases and price increases. Some people say, oh,
(07:39):
we don't like to see that. You kind of do,
because it actually is a sign of a city's economic health.
It kind of stinks if you're a tenant, and it's
one of the reasons why we're having to work on
some affordable housing stuff. But a healthy city has a healthy,
steady rising rate of real estate value. And of course
(08:00):
owners like that because their household wealth goes up as
their value of their houses increase.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
And also in migrants that come to Omaha, people that
are looking to buy in Omaha generally were a very
affordable city when it comes to buying houses and selling elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
So the hottest markets according to US News and World Report,
Omaha rated number one actually by a pretty sizable margin.
Over number two, which is a small town you may
have heard of, Austin, Texas. And then it was followed
by Houston, Texas, Charleston, South Carolina, Denver. Saint Louis, believe
it or not, came in at number six. They're having
(08:37):
a bit of a renaissance after being down for a while. Again,
this is growth and they were kind of due for this.
In fact, I'm going to mention one in a little
bit that will surprise you even more than Saint Louis.
But Saint Louis was followed by Columbia, South Carolina, a
tie for number eight between Greeley, Colorado, and Greenville, South Carolina.
Number nine was San Antonio, and ten, which is technically eleven.
(09:00):
There was an eight number eight time Detroit, Michigan, but
again it was so struggling and they've worked so hard
to bring it back Rocket Mortgage that it has made
it at one of the housing.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Having Omaha topped the list by a wide margin is
definitely turning heads in the industry. That is a very
impressive feat and a lot of it has to do
with the diversity of everything we do here as far
as the economy, the job of growth, the stakeholders that
invest that people selfishly give money unselfishly.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it seems like a bit of an oxymoron.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
My front three four hundred million dollar river front park.
You know, there's four or five families that each put
in fifty million dollars from foundations and personally and things
like that. So what a great time to be uh
in Omaha. What a great time to have a show
called grow Omaha.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Quick statistic that that article mentioned that really jumped out
at me and I had not seen this before, But
in the twelve month period ending just this past December,
the Omaha metro area gained more than twelve thousand non
farm jobs for a growth rate of two point four percent.
Let that sink in for a little bit. Our entire
(10:20):
population growth from July of twenty three to July of
twenty four was twelve thousand people, which was a very
healthy population growth rate, probably put us in the top
one third of the top one hundred metro areas for
fast growth. We actually had more jobs created than we
had humans that came here. A two point four percent
(10:41):
job increase in one year in a northern city like
this is frankly epic. So what it tells us is
more growth is to come. That's good, that's exciting, that's
what we love. We're called Gromaha's Trenton pointed out a
minute ago, but we have to work very hard to
keep increasing housing and we have to work really hard
to get more and more people in the city so
that we can manage our growth efficiently. And that's going
(11:03):
to relate really well to the interview topic we have
coming up here in a moment. But Trenton, before we
wrap up the news, I just want to throw in
one little, quick short story that you'll find exciting and interesting.
Mutual Omaha Tower, the skyscraper downtown, which we've been following
very closely throughout its construction. Glass panels started going on
(11:24):
the outside of the tower just this week.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
That's a sign that things are moving, no question about it,
and you're going to get a feel for it. It
looks like they're kind of putting on a section almost
to make sure it's going to have the look that
they thought it would have.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Make sure it sticks. Yeah, make sure it sticks.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
They use the right rubber, cement or whatever they use
to put glass on towers.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I hope that's some pretty powerful rubber cement. But with that,
we're going to wrap up our development News of the week,
brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company dot com.
When we come back, we're going to bring on Scott Dabby.
Scott is the executive director of Omaha by Design, and
we're going to talk about what's happening in the urban core,
what needs to happen. We are attracting people and jobs
(12:07):
here fast, and so we need to be really efficient
with the way we use and populate our urban core
because everything in the city emanates from the center, even
for those of us like me who live at one
hundred and eightieth and Q. So stick with us. This
is going to be a fascinating conversation that you don't
want to miss. You're listening to Jeff and Trenton on
(12:28):
Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten Kfaby. All right,
welcome back to the show. Jeff Beal's at your service,
sitting next to my friend Trenton Maggot. We are brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center. That is the place
you want to go if you are unfortunately in an accident.
Accidents equal bad dingman's equals good Dingman's equals make your
(12:52):
life better after something bad happens. I know I've used
them a few times. Trenton has used them a few
times over the years. They have always done a great
job for us for metro area locations. What we have
with us Scott Daby. He is the executive director of
Omaha by Design and architect by training and now lending
his services to making Omaha not only look better, but
(13:15):
be better organized and structured and have a better vibe
about its urban culture. And Scott, we are so excited
to have you back on the show today. Welcome, what's
great to be back. Well, tell us a little bit
about Omaha by Design, give us the thirty thousand foot overview.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Yeah, you know, Omaha by Design.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
We're just a small team headquartered in the Old Market
five of US, but we are thought of as the
region's nonprofit hub for people centered urban design and policy.
It's like, you know, we get this pleasure of getting
to see how our city grows, and to us it's
really important, you know, we really focus on the how
how we grow really matters just as much as how fast,
(13:53):
and so our mission is to make sure that growth
benefits you know, all the people who live, who work,
and who build their lives here.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
How does that How do you weigh in and relate
to working with the city.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Well, we like to work closely with all partners, and
you know it's the city of Omaha, but it's also
Citi's municipalities across the region. I mean, we are a
metro region.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
So are are you a department of the city.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Oh no, not at all. You're in a standalone, independent
nonprofit Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
So so Scott, you know, on this show we cover
the entire eight county metro area, but we spend a
lot of time focusing on the urban core. Like I
mentioned in the last segment, the success of the city
is determined the success of the metro areas determined by
the core. So let's talk a little bit about the core.
It's doing great. I mean when you look at the
(14:40):
amount of investment in the urban core, the activity, it's
very exciting. There's so much more potential to come. Why
don't you tell us a little bit about your assessment
of the urban core right now, and then maybe we
can get into what Amaha ba design is doing to
make it even better.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly, Jeff. I mean, we
care deeply about every core or the metro right and
every neighborhood needs to be great. But it's really important
that the urban core is happening, you know. I mean,
it's kind of like the beating heart of the city,
and if it's doing really well, the rest of the
metro is going to do really well. I mean, I'll
tell you, Fortunately, thanks to a babysitter last night, wife
and I were able to get out of the out
(15:17):
of the house and got downtown for dinner and friends
birthday party. And I have never seen outside of like
a special festival event or maybe college world series, that
many folks out and about. I mean, something was in
the air last night. The new riverfront parks were just packed,
and it's wonderful to see that kind of vibrancy happening.
And it really really matters how we move it forward.
(15:38):
I mean, you look at growth as a whole and
where we kind of punch on the listing of other metros.
And I loved how you started talking about, you know,
a new ranking, about how it's showing Omaha being number
one in housing growth. Okay, that means something.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I know.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Last week on the show, y'all talked about the one
million marks or passing that. I mean, that's that's actually
a big deal. It's more than just statistic. It's like
a statement that we are now one of the bigger
cities in the center of the country.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
In nineteen ninety six, I went and visited a friend
in Austin, Texas. So that was a while ago, but
not forever ago, and I remember going to breakfast. He
slept a little later than I did, so I got
up and went to breakfast, and I was reading the
local Austin newspaper and there was a front page headline.
It said Austin area passes one million people. This was
(16:28):
nineteen ninety six. They're now over two so they've grown
really really fast. So we're kind of in some ways
now Austin is a bigger tech center than almost anywhere
else in the world.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
It's a state capital.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
The weather's a little warmer there, But to me, it
feels like there's a lot of similarities between where Austin
was that morning I had breakfast reading that newspaper and
where it is today, and it just so happens that
you and eight of your colleagues were in Austin this
week studying what's going on there.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Totally yeah, I mean really fortuitous as well. You know
you hear that Austin was number two on that little
list you read it. It was fascinating just to think
when we went down there with this kind of cross
sector delegation earlier this week, it was amazing to see
I'd been before, I'd done some project work in Austin
about ten years ago. City has really transformed even in
that time. And then before we went, we'd looked at
(17:20):
some of the metrics, you know, where do we stack
on all kind of the census data, and it was
fascinating for me and I think all of us to
see that it really wasn't that long ago, maybe just
over three decades ago, that Omaha was actually a larger
metro area than Austin. And now that we've seen great growth,
Austin has seen like exponential growth, you know, a city
of two point five million people now and you really
(17:40):
feel it now. A lot of that is great because
they got a lot of amenities, a lot of things happening.
But as we went about the reason we went down
there was to learn from them. And the thing that
we you know, heard again and again was that we
wish we had planned earlier. We wish we had gotten
ahead of some of the issues. And so there was
a lot of good to learn from in being down
there and speaking with folks and touring projects, but there
(18:02):
was also kind of that cautionary gosh, you know, the
transportation traffic down there is a mess. Affordable housing has
become a real crisis down there. It's become very unaffordable.
And they're saying, you know, if we could tell ourselves
twenty five years ago what we should be doing, it's
starting to proactively invest in those issues.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And that's why I think it's such a critical juncture
in Omaha when it comes to planning. And I was
at some shurets and discussions about the Omaha's master Plan
when this is nineteen ninety seven and now they're finally
putting it back together and saying, Okay, we're going to
(18:39):
do some stuff. And what do you see think is
key elements of that, especially in the urban core.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Yeah, funny you should mention that because like right now,
as you know, Trenton is ongoing a new effort to
rewrite the city's Comprehensive Plan, which is the master plan
that guides growth and development. It's the very same thing
you participated in nineteen ninety seven, and that plan has
served us well. We've grown well, We've had a lot
of great things happen as a city. But obviously, like
the world's a little different than it was in nineteen
(19:07):
ninety seven. And so we at Omaha a Design are
really proud to be partnered in kind of co leading
an effort with some other wonderful nonprofits and the City
of Omaha to remake that. It's called We Make Omaha.
It's going to be a multi year effort. There's already
a lot of public engagement happening, committees to be formed,
thoughts put together because, like you say, we need to
be thoughtful about the urban core and how do we
(19:30):
gently densify in a way that is appropriate to what
we want to see as Omaha. And that's why we're
talking with residents about what do y'all want to see?
What's your vision? And we're resoundingly hearing some of the
same themes. So I believe some of those guiding principles
that have come out of this community engagement are going
to be soon formalized and shared.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
So, Scott, you mentioned when you were talking about lessons
learned in Austin to really prepare for transportation. Well, we
have a very impactful transportation project that's just getting started,
the modern street car that will connect downtown Omaha with
midtown Omaha, ready to in a very positive way fundamentally
change Omaha. Talk to us about the importance of that
(20:10):
project as we continue to build the Surban core that
can be somewhat Austin like, but without the problems of
Austin exactly.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Yeah, we are un of actually, you know, advocates of
the street car, and long have been because we see
its potential to be a lot more than just a
transportation tool. It's really a neighborhood building tool. It's really unique.
It's been studied a lot, and the manner in which
this is being funded and built is learning from the
best of cities that have gone before us and also
(20:41):
being very cautious to avoid some of the pitfalls that
maybe they have run into. So these systems are in
place in performing really well across the nation, and I'm
excited to see because it's already driving that kind of
investment and the early results are well ahead of projections.
And that's great because it's not just you know, helopers
who are been benefiting from this, it's the community. It's
(21:02):
developers who are paying for it ultimately. But the community
is getting these wonderful additions in terms of you know,
jobs and housing and opportunity and vibrancy and new business creation.
It's really helping us grow up and kind of grow
into our stature of a major metro.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And you know, when we at Grollmaha have studied it,
and believe me, we have for several years, I have
been very impressed with the not only the creativity, but
the fiscal responsibility of the funding mechanism. A lot of
these cities that build them, they just like pay for
themselves with taxes or they depend on federal grants, which
(21:41):
is a colossal headache and can take decades to get
I think in you know, kudos to the local leadership,
both political, not both, but political, neighborhood, community development, and
even the businesses in the district for coming up with
a way that allows us to build this without depending
on the federal government and without depending on the tax payers.
(22:03):
And it'll be free to ride.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You're right, and that's a big thing, and all those
things were like deeply studied in part of what put
this together with I think a lot of great intelligence.
It's going to be it's going to be great. I
can't wait for it.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, me too, to think that we're getting within a
few years of the thing actually being operational.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Well, in connecting to our earlier discussion, is it related
to like learnings from Austin for example, I think it's
really important and often missed that the mechanism that kind
of creates this and allows the street car to function,
which is really novel and I think again really advantageous
to us as just regular citizens of the city of Omaha,
is that you know, is based on what was called
the Housing and Mobility Redevelopment Plan, and it's important that
(22:44):
housing comes first there. So these are actually tied together
in a way that when the streetcar surpasses expectations, which
is very well on track to do right now in
terms of that tiff development, it spins off that the
additional revenues come into the city can actually be deployed
for things like affordable housing and other mobility enhancing needs.
You know, going north and south, protected bicycle infrastructure, things
(23:08):
of that nature. That's really novel and I think really
forward thinking. I'm glad you mentioned the affordable housing partner.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
We've got to take a break for the news here,
but that doesn't get a lot of coverage because everyone's like,
how are we going to pay for it? The street
car has to come up, We have to have in
order to pay for the street car, we have to
have a certain amount of development. In about fifteen years
following its opening. We're already over halfway there. So it's
like the apartment's going up and down the tracks. Yeah,
(23:33):
it's like falling off a log. So that part we
don't even have to worry about. That's a given. The
exciting part is how much extra credit create, and a
lot of people are not saying what you're saying. The
plan is to apply that to affordable housing in the
urban core long term, which will make even Omaha more vibrant,
and we can have this growing city without having to
build new freeways on the fringe or make more traffic
(23:56):
for suburbanites when they're trying to go get milk at
highv At any rate, We're going to take our middle
of the show break. When we come back, we're going
to talk more about urban core development with Scott Dobby.
He's the executive director of Omaha by Design. But in
the meantime, you're listening to Grow Omaha brought to you
by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center on news Radio
(24:17):
eleven ten kfab and welcome back to Grow Omaha brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics. Ladies
and gentlemen, if you are looking for a great place
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Speaker 3 (24:45):
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eta let Xcaomaha dot com. It's time for your not
all companies Commercial real estate development Spotlight of the Week
(25:07):
This is when we talk about activities in or near
one of Not All Companies many many projects, and let
me tell you, Not All Companies has many many projects,
not just a Omaha nationwide, but they're headquartered here. This
is their hometown. This is the place that they love,
and this is the place where they do a big
portion of their projects. Builders District in North Downtown is
(25:29):
an example. We talk about that a lot, and perhaps
they're best known. A Not All Companies project is a
Sarbon village right in the heart of the city where
so much activity happens. And in today's Not a Companies Report,
we talk about a Sarbon village and we are very
happy to announce that Sunny's the airstream What is it?
Kind of like bar, concession stand, takeout restaurant, dog park
(25:53):
next door. Yes, so cool. Like have you ever have
you ever just like hung out in that area on
a nice weather evening.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's great. People are playing cornhole, cornhole, they're dancing, there's
usually a DJ or a band.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Sometimes in the fall they've got like a little campfire
thing going there. But Sunny's is opening for the season Friday,
April fifth. That's less than a week away, so you're
going to enjoy that. By the way, last week we
talked to you about Oto, which is the new upscale
cocktail bar which is coming to Xarbon Village. We've got
(26:26):
a couple new details about that. It's going to be
in the ground floor of the HDR building. That's the
ten story building where so many retailers are going to
be located. You know, there's another one coming to that
area soon, Godega Market. This new OTO, it's not going
to open until October because there's a lot of interior
(26:47):
buildout that has to happen. But it's going to be
a high end cocktail bar with this super advanced, high
fidelity optimal sound experience.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
It's going to be really really cool.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Get your Trenton has a hell of a groove and
when he gets that groove on, it's like nothing you've
ever seen. But it's going to be a fifteen hundred
square foot space. It'll be immediately adjacent to south of
the lobby that leads you up eventually into the HDR offices.
And that is your Not All Companies Commercial real Estate
Development Spotlight of the Week, brought to you by who, Well,
(27:17):
not All Companies of course, we've got Scott Dobby with
us today, executive director of Omaha by Design, and we're
just talking about the importance of the urban core and
how even people that live in the farthest fringes of
the metro area benefit when we've got a strong urban core.
And Scott, we were talking about the streetcar and how
(27:40):
it will make the course so much stronger, so much
more vibrant, and lead to so many more opportunities for investors,
businesses and regular Omahons who are looking for entertainment and recreation.
But let's talk a little bit about what exactly some
of those changes will be when we get the streetcar
up and running. How will it change Central Omaha's We
know it.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
It's a fun thing to think about, you know, I
think it starts and you're starting to feel it already.
There's a different expectation when you come downtown for what
we are. It is not a place now that we
come in the old fashioned way from eight to five
and then leave and depart. It's what we're growing into
is like an eighteen hour, vibrant, you know, really active
(28:22):
core where we have a lot of rooftops, a lot
of folks living. It's a place where tourists are really
drawn to and could find, you know, as we were
talking offline, like a whole vacation downtown. We can conceivably
see that now. We like to as we travel kind
of share. I mean, we're always Omaha boosters about how
great it is get down here. We love even just
a little staycation downtown. There is a lot a lot
(28:44):
happening in the urban core.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I think when the street car gets up and running,
if you live anywhere near the streetcar, you can have
a cista. You could like go to work early and
then go home for lunch, take a little bit of
a snoozer, refresh, and then you know, work late.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Trent and I only take my siestas on Saturday and Sunday.
But that said, I love them and I appreciate where
you're going with it. Yes, Scott. The other thing that
comes to mind with streetcars is something that is really
the scourge of the central core of the city, and
that is the surface parking lot. You know, a lot
(29:20):
of times people who just come down to downtown for
you know, dinner or bars, they think, oh gosh, it's
great to have a lot of surface parking lots, and
we don't want to get rid of those. Actually, they
kind of ruin a downtown because they're so inefficient, and
that's one of the things that I'm really looking forward to.
At the streetcar. We can actually increase the number of
parking stalls available while at the same time getting rid
(29:42):
of surface parking lots that provide really no value whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
No kidding, Nobody likes looking for parking and most of
the time those sit empty. Most of the time those
are not needed, and instead we can replace them. Remember
that they don't contribute much to the city in a
lot of ways. Environmentally they're really bad, but fiscally they
don't help us much. We'll need parking lots where we
need parking lots, sure, and everybody, a lot of folks
are still going to continue to drive. But as we
(30:08):
see that behavior starting to shift, because look, there's this
great free vehicle, I can hop on, I can maybe
park once and ride, or I can live downtown and ride.
As that transforms into now something that is filled with
like ground floor retail and there's shops and restaurants, and
there's new businesses created there, maybe there's housing, maybe there's
offices above suddenly have something which actually has much greater
(30:29):
value than a bunch of asphalt, and it is then
paying back in in terms of taxes that will benefit
our schools and our parks and our city services that
we need.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
And so what you guys are alluding to is say
places like Midtown Crossing, which the city will own those
parking garages, and you could park at Midtown Crossing and
then just jump on the street car and then go
to the show, go to dinner, not have to worry
about the guy or gal flagging me in for twenty
dollars or whatever. More affordable parking free streetcar ride down
(30:59):
to the or you.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, absolutely, and Scott one of the things I else
want to and we only have a couple of minutes left.
But sometimes there's a lot of misperceptions about the street car.
A lot of people haven't studied it very carefully, and
some of that company is driven by, you know, what's
going on politically right now, and that's normal politics. As politics,
people always use things for political reasons. But one of
(31:24):
the questions we get at Gromha is from someone maybe
who lives in the city limits but is way out west,
and they say, why do I care about this?
Speaker 3 (31:32):
It's not going to benefit me.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I actually disagree with that, and I suspect you to too.
How would you answer to that question when someone says,
I don't live anywhere near downtown, but how is it
going to benefit me?
Speaker 4 (31:45):
Yeah, you know, I think it's a reminder that we
have a lot of options here in America and in
this city where we want to live, how we want
to do it, but we all work in it together,
and so we're all investing. I mean, when we built
the West Dodge Expressway, for instance, that was one hundreds
of millions of day of investment to help unlock things.
Not everybody in the city uses that every day, but
it was a wise investment something we needed to do.
(32:06):
In a similar way, this is going to unlock a
lot of development and for those who then are going
to utilize it downtown, and I think by and large
you'll you'll feel it. It's going to bring jobs to
the core, it's going to bring vibrancy to the whole town.
And when that happens, it really lifts us all. And
that's why, you know, we stay out of the politics
of it. But I think you can admit that, you know,
big cities do big things. And we're in this moment
(32:28):
where we've got an invitation, an opportunity to think bigger
about how we approach housing and mobility and how we
kind of support our growing population.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Well, it's exciting to think about Scott, and we appreciate
everything you and your colleagues are doing to keep the
metro area strong and certainly the core of Omaha, and
in the future will definitely talk again.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
I look forward to it.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Omaha Buddy's Iron Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Scott Dobby, Executive Director, going to take our final break
of the hour, and when we come back, it'll be
time for the Perkins crits Er Construction light We have
a lot of things to talk about in a very
short period of time.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
It'll be the grand finale you're listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, Chair Athletics and
Perkins Chritzer Construction. Back in the moment, News Radio eleven
ten kfab it's the Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round, in
which we talk about a lot of things you need
to know super fast. Thanks to Perkins Chritser Construction for
making this possible. We love what they're doing to the
(33:27):
Omaha built environment, and that is building beautiful buildings on
time and in a budget. And Perkins Chritzer Construction is
ably led by our good friend Dave Kretzer. We talked
to Dave a lot. He lets us know some of
the things they're working on, and my gosh, it's very,
very impressive. Dave has assembled a team of outstanding project managers, administrators, superintendents, carpenters, laborers,
(33:52):
all of whom are dedicated to the craft and many
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can find them online at Pea dash C Construction. That's
(34:14):
Pea dashcconstruction dot com. Well, we've got some good news.
Restaurant at sixtieth and Center, Primos, has been temporarily closed
for some time, but they are reopening on Monday, March
thirty first. And speaking of that, we've got a lot
of restaurant news. Are you ready, Trenton, Yes, start the
(34:35):
clock here we go. La Traga Zona has opened next
to Mexit Lee Restaurant in the historic Key Line building downtown.
The exact address is sixteen twenty two Harney Street. It's
a locally owned cafe and bar. They specialize in sweet
and savory crepes, but that's just one of the things.
They also have like ice cream, waffles, grilled ham and
(34:56):
cheese an interesting name for that, cheese, sandwiches, milkshakes, and
even alcoholic beverages. They're connected to Mexit Lee Restaurant and
I believe the same owners. A local food truck proprietor
plans to open a brick and mortar location in Bennington.
It's called Johnny Rico's Brooklyn Pizza. They've filed the building
(35:16):
permit to tenant finish a bay and the retail building
at eight thousand and one North one hundred and fifty
seventh Street. This is the same building that has Bennington
Urgent Care, heyj Cafe and Coffee and Rock Valley Physical Therapy,
so along one hundred and fifty sixth Street between Northwest
Omaha and Bennington.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
And then we have Rebel Rise.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Bakery, a gluten free bakery in La Vista will soon
open a second or a new location. They're going to
replace their current store, which is at one hundred and
seventh in Virginia Plaza inside the m Salon Studios. In
the meantime, while this transition is taking place, the business
will operate via online ordering. Rebel Rise has only been
(36:01):
in that existing space though since December, a very new place,
and so they're basically moving up and getting a new
Lavista location. Details to come. Okay, Next, we have Smoothie King.
This reminds you Trenton of your years in New Orleans.
Absolutely Smoothie King.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
It was a good product. I Remembay got me through
college and we've had a few in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Where's the new one, Well, the fifth one is going
to be in a new multi tenant commercial building under
construction on the northeast corner of one hundred and eightieth
and Maple Gotch So the relatively new Costco is on
the southeast corner.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
This Smoothie King will be on the northeast corner.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
There's also an Ortho Nebraska building under construction there as well.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Got a new.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Food truck business called Shara Hallal Eats. They're calling it
the sag or She Food truck for short. Grand opening
is today and the parking lot of Minards near one
hundred and twentieth and Dodge. They eventually hoped to have
a brick and mortar location someday. In South oh Shiley
Town Market, which is a cool plant nursery and gift shop,
(37:10):
is relocating. Sorry easy for some people to say, relocating
from thirty fifth and Center near Hanscombe Park to one
seven to one six South tenth in Little Italy, just
a little bit south of Cassio's Steakhouse downtown. We've got
Block Fitness opening in the oh It used to be
the Schooler headquarters building. Block Fitness is going in there
(37:34):
May sixth as their opening date. And then we've got
a couple closings, sad but true. Roxy Omaha retro bar
concept from Iowa City suddenly closed in the Capital District.
Their sister bar, the Stuffed all of Martin Bars remaining
open next door, and then Curry in a hurry plans
(37:54):
to close permanently tomorrow at eighty third in Maple. Looks
like they're going to be replaced by a business called
Flaming Bulls.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
We'll find out what that is.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
But the music is playing which means that we have
to take our flaming bowls and go home for a week,
but we hope you enjoy the weekend. I'm Jeff Beils
and I'm Trenton Maggott. You've been listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Chair
Athletics and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll chat with you next
week and nine right here on news Radio eleven ten
(38:24):
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 kf bab.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, Good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beils
here at your service. We're brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one
all star cheer Jim, congratulations because you have stumbled upon
the only show in the metro area that talks about
oh real estate development, construction, economic development, really anything related
(00:39):
to Omaha becoming bigger, more vibrant, and more prosperous. Before
we go any further, though, it's time to bring on
my co host, a man who is the legendary real
estate deal maker from nai NP Dodge Trenton Maggott.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Good morning everyone, Good morning Jeff.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, Good morning Trenton. You know this is this is
a fun morning because we have breakfast here today.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
It's not every day that some fine restaurant brings us
some delectables.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, so we want to thank TJ. Isaacs and his
wife Jill. They are the owners of Ever Bowl that
is a new restaurant that opened southeast of one hundred
and sixty eighth and send her and tell us Trenton
to what's an ever Bowl?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, I'll tell you what. It's my neighborhood. So I
should cut down on the crubble cookies next door and
have a more healthy a SI E bowl. And I
had the p B Bowl and it was delicious. So
check out ever Bowl. It's right by Clancy's one hundred
and sixty eighth and West Center Road. A healthier alternative.
(01:43):
It's a pretty much a meal replacement, is the way
I would describe it. In this beautiful man here, TJ.
Isaacs is in the house and so if you go
to the store you might see him there or his
wife Jill.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
And ever Bowl plans to eventually have three stores in
the Omaha area and a couple in Lincoln as well.
And speaking of restaurants, we have one of our grow
Omaha Eats restaurant reviews written by our food critic Chris Corey.
It's brought to you by All Makes. All Makes is
the famous office furniture and technology store in downtown Omaha,
(02:18):
also locations in Lincoln, Des Moines, Iowa. And several other
regional towns at any rate. This week, for grow Omaha Eats,
Chris Corey evaluated Twisted Cork Bistro, very nice restaurant in
the Regency Landing area, which is by Interstate six point
eighty and Pacific Street. If you want to read it,
(02:38):
and we encourage you do, simply go to grow Omaha
dot com, click on reviews on the navigation bar, and
then there you'll have a choice between eats and flicks,
flicks or movies, eats or restaurants. Pretty easy to figure out,
and you'll enjoy reading about Twisted Corkbistro. All right, Trent,
are we ready for the news of the week. Well,
(03:00):
it's brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company
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Talk to Eagle Mortgage one of the first things you
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(03:22):
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Eagle Mortgage is located at one hundred and fourteenth and Davenport.
That's just a couple few blocks south of Dodge Or.
You can find out more about them and start the
(03:45):
process by going to Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. Well Trenton. Yesterday,
we had the annual State of the City address at
City Hall. Mayor Stoth does this every year, presents it
to the city Council, and then probably had about a
coup one hundred people there on site as well. And
this State of the City address talks about a lot
(04:05):
of things. It's basically the city version of the State
of the Union. And since this show is about growth
and development, I plucked out a few parts of the
address related to growth and development so we won't get in,
you know. It also talks about community safety and all
sorts of other issues as well, but in terms of
growth and development. A couple of things that jumped out
(04:28):
as significant to me. She talked about the flagship library
at seventy second a Dodge is on target to open
one Yeah, it's on target to open one year from
next month. And also talked about Chi Convention Center expansion
on the east side really is coming along nicely and
is on schedule. That's a big, big project. But get
(04:49):
a load of this. In twenty twenty four, Omaha had
nineteen thousand building permits totally one and a half billion dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Is that a record? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
She didn't say. My guess is if it was a record,
she probably would have said that. Into remarks. Tax increment
financing very important economic development tool for keeping the core
of the city strong. TIFF is designed to encourage development
in the city as opposed to continually knocking over cornfields,
which creates more traffic jams. So if we look at
(05:22):
TIFF since twenty fifteen, so we'll call it nine years
because these are twenty twenty four numbers. Since twenty fifteen,
Omaha has approved one hundred and ninety six TIFF applications
for five hundred and eighty four million dollars. That has
led to four and a half billion dollars of new
investment in the city of Omaha. Instead of the suburbs
(05:46):
and I spent five years on the planning board.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
It was it was an important tool then and it's
an important tool now. And cities that don't have tax
recrement financing opportunities that they fall behind. And this isn't
given to every applicant, and this is meant to improve
areas that otherwise, but for taxi current financing, the project
(06:09):
wouldn't happen.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
The address also looked into affordable housing, which is becoming
a bigger and bigger issue as Omaha's real estate becomes
so much more valuable. The city has sold fifty city
owned lots, many for just one dollar, allowing emerging developers
to build affordable housing. Mayri Stothard also mentioned in the
(06:32):
State of the City address there will be forty one
street resurfacing projects this year, which will be like full resurfacing,
not just pothole replacement or anything like that. And then
finally another the last one that really jumped out at
me is relevant for gro Omaha. Two weeks from now,
we will break ground on the Community Center at Levi
Carter Park by Carter Lake by Eppley Airfield. This huge
(06:56):
complex will include basketball, volleyball, wrestling room, weight room, computer, labs,
community meeting space, and several outdoor athletic fields as well. Now,
in other news, we had a very very big thing
drop into our laps this week, and that is US
News and World Report ranked Omaha for the first time
(07:19):
ever as the hottest housing market in the United States
of America. Defined as defined as just so much activity
houses being sold, apartments being rented, houses and apartments being built.
It talked about rent increases and price increases. Some people say, oh,
(07:39):
we don't like to see that. You kind of do,
because it actually is a sign of a city's economic health.
It kind of stinks if you're a tenant, and it's
one of the reasons why we're having to work on
some affordable housing stuff. But a healthy city has a healthy,
steady rising rate of real estate value. And of course
(08:00):
owners like that because their household wealth goes up as
their value of their houses increase.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
And also in migrants that come to Omaha, people that
are looking to buy in Omaha generally were a very
affordable city when it comes to buying houses and selling elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
So the hottest markets according to US News and World Report,
Omaha rated number one actually by a pretty sizable margin.
Over number two, which is a small town you may
have heard of, Austin, Texas. And then it was followed
by Houston, Texas, Charleston, South Carolina, Denver. Saint Louis, believe
it or not, came in at number six. They're having
(08:37):
a bit of a renaissance after being down for a while. Again,
this is growth and they were kind of due for this.
In fact, I'm going to mention one in a little
bit that will surprise you even more than Saint Louis.
But Saint Louis was followed by Columbia, South Carolina, a
tie for number eight between Greeley, Colorado, and Greenville, South Carolina.
Number nine was San Antonio, and ten, which is technically eleven.
(09:00):
There was an eight number eight time Detroit, Michigan, but
again it was so struggling and they've worked so hard
to bring it back Rocket Mortgage that it has made
it at one of the housing.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Having Omaha topped the list by a wide margin is
definitely turning heads in the industry. That is a very
impressive feat and a lot of it has to do
with the diversity of everything we do here as far
as the economy, the job of growth, the stakeholders that
invest that people selfishly give money unselfishly.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it seems like a bit of an oxymoron.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
My front three four hundred million dollar river front park.
You know, there's four or five families that each put
in fifty million dollars from foundations and personally and things
like that. So what a great time to be uh
in Omaha. What a great time to have a show
called grow Omaha.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Quick statistic that that article mentioned that really jumped out
at me and I had not seen this before, But
in the twelve month period ending just this past December,
the Omaha metro area gained more than twelve thousand non
farm jobs for a growth rate of two point four percent.
Let that sink in for a little bit. Our entire
(10:20):
population growth from July of twenty three to July of
twenty four was twelve thousand people, which was a very
healthy population growth rate, probably put us in the top
one third of the top one hundred metro areas for
fast growth. We actually had more jobs created than we
had humans that came here. A two point four percent
(10:41):
job increase in one year in a northern city like
this is frankly epic. So what it tells us is
more growth is to come. That's good, that's exciting, that's
what we love. We're called Gromaha's Trenton pointed out a
minute ago, but we have to work very hard to
keep increasing housing and we have to work really hard
to get more and more people in the city so
that we can manage our growth efficiently. And that's going
(11:03):
to relate really well to the interview topic we have
coming up here in a moment. But Trenton, before we
wrap up the news, I just want to throw in
one little, quick short story that you'll find exciting and interesting.
Mutual Omaha Tower, the skyscraper downtown, which we've been following
very closely throughout its construction. Glass panels started going on
(11:24):
the outside of the tower just this week.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
That's a sign that things are moving, no question about it,
and you're going to get a feel for it. It
looks like they're kind of putting on a section almost
to make sure it's going to have the look that
they thought it would have.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Make sure it sticks. Yeah, make sure it sticks.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
They use the right rubber, cement or whatever they use
to put glass on towers.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I hope that's some pretty powerful rubber cement. But with that,
we're going to wrap up our development News of the week,
brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company dot com.
When we come back, we're going to bring on Scott Dabby.
Scott is the executive director of Omaha by Design, and
we're going to talk about what's happening in the urban core,
what needs to happen. We are attracting people and jobs
(12:07):
here fast, and so we need to be really efficient
with the way we use and populate our urban core
because everything in the city emanates from the center, even
for those of us like me who live at one
hundred and eightieth and Q. So stick with us. This
is going to be a fascinating conversation that you don't
want to miss. You're listening to Jeff and Trenton on
(12:28):
Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten Kfaby. All right,
welcome back to the show. Jeff Beal's at your service,
sitting next to my friend Trenton Maggot. We are brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center. That is the place
you want to go if you are unfortunately in an accident.
Accidents equal bad dingman's equals good Dingman's equals make your
(12:52):
life better after something bad happens. I know I've used
them a few times. Trenton has used them a few
times over the years. They have always done a great
job for us for metro area locations. What we have
with us Scott Daby. He is the executive director of
Omaha by Design and architect by training and now lending
his services to making Omaha not only look better, but
(13:15):
be better organized and structured and have a better vibe
about its urban culture. And Scott, we are so excited
to have you back on the show today. Welcome, what's
great to be back. Well, tell us a little bit
about Omaha by Design, give us the thirty thousand foot overview.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Yeah, you know, Omaha by Design.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
We're just a small team headquartered in the Old Market
five of US, but we are thought of as the
region's nonprofit hub for people centered urban design and policy.
It's like, you know, we get this pleasure of getting
to see how our city grows, and to us it's
really important, you know, we really focus on the how
how we grow really matters just as much as how fast,
(13:53):
and so our mission is to make sure that growth
benefits you know, all the people who live, who work,
and who build their lives here.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
How does that How do you weigh in and relate
to working with the city.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Well, we like to work closely with all partners, and
you know it's the city of Omaha, but it's also
Citi's municipalities across the region. I mean, we are a
metro region.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
So are are you a department of the city.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Oh no, not at all. You're in a standalone, independent
nonprofit Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
So so Scott, you know, on this show we cover
the entire eight county metro area, but we spend a
lot of time focusing on the urban core. Like I
mentioned in the last segment, the success of the city
is determined the success of the metro areas determined by
the core. So let's talk a little bit about the core.
It's doing great. I mean when you look at the
(14:40):
amount of investment in the urban core, the activity, it's
very exciting. There's so much more potential to come. Why
don't you tell us a little bit about your assessment
of the urban core right now, and then maybe we
can get into what Amaha ba design is doing to
make it even better.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly, Jeff. I mean, we
care deeply about every core or the metro right and
every neighborhood needs to be great. But it's really important
that the urban core is happening, you know. I mean,
it's kind of like the beating heart of the city,
and if it's doing really well, the rest of the
metro is going to do really well. I mean, I'll
tell you, Fortunately, thanks to a babysitter last night, wife
and I were able to get out of the out
(15:17):
of the house and got downtown for dinner and friends
birthday party. And I have never seen outside of like
a special festival event or maybe college world series, that
many folks out and about. I mean, something was in
the air last night. The new riverfront parks were just packed,
and it's wonderful to see that kind of vibrancy happening.
And it really really matters how we move it forward.
(15:38):
I mean, you look at growth as a whole and
where we kind of punch on the listing of other metros.
And I loved how you started talking about, you know,
a new ranking, about how it's showing Omaha being number
one in housing growth. Okay, that means something.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I know.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Last week on the show, y'all talked about the one
million marks or passing that. I mean, that's that's actually
a big deal. It's more than just statistic. It's like
a statement that we are now one of the bigger
cities in the center of the country.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
In nineteen ninety six, I went and visited a friend
in Austin, Texas. So that was a while ago, but
not forever ago, and I remember going to breakfast. He
slept a little later than I did, so I got
up and went to breakfast, and I was reading the
local Austin newspaper and there was a front page headline.
It said Austin area passes one million people. This was
(16:28):
nineteen ninety six. They're now over two so they've grown
really really fast. So we're kind of in some ways
now Austin is a bigger tech center than almost anywhere
else in the world.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
It's a state capital.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
The weather's a little warmer there, But to me, it
feels like there's a lot of similarities between where Austin
was that morning I had breakfast reading that newspaper and
where it is today, and it just so happens that
you and eight of your colleagues were in Austin this
week studying what's going on there.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Totally yeah, I mean really fortuitous as well. You know
you hear that Austin was number two on that little
list you read it. It was fascinating just to think
when we went down there with this kind of cross
sector delegation earlier this week, it was amazing to see
I'd been before, I'd done some project work in Austin
about ten years ago. City has really transformed even in
that time. And then before we went, we'd looked at
(17:20):
some of the metrics, you know, where do we stack
on all kind of the census data, and it was
fascinating for me and I think all of us to
see that it really wasn't that long ago, maybe just
over three decades ago, that Omaha was actually a larger
metro area than Austin. And now that we've seen great growth,
Austin has seen like exponential growth, you know, a city
of two point five million people now and you really
(17:40):
feel it now. A lot of that is great because
they got a lot of amenities, a lot of things happening.
But as we went about the reason we went down
there was to learn from them. And the thing that
we you know, heard again and again was that we
wish we had planned earlier. We wish we had gotten
ahead of some of the issues. And so there was
a lot of good to learn from in being down
there and speaking with folks and touring projects, but there
(18:02):
was also kind of that cautionary gosh, you know, the
transportation traffic down there is a mess. Affordable housing has
become a real crisis down there. It's become very unaffordable.
And they're saying, you know, if we could tell ourselves
twenty five years ago what we should be doing, it's
starting to proactively invest in those issues.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And that's why I think it's such a critical juncture
in Omaha when it comes to planning. And I was
at some shurets and discussions about the Omaha's master Plan
when this is nineteen ninety seven and now they're finally
putting it back together and saying, Okay, we're going to
(18:39):
do some stuff. And what do you see think is
key elements of that, especially in the urban core.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Yeah, funny you should mention that because like right now,
as you know, Trenton is ongoing a new effort to
rewrite the city's Comprehensive Plan, which is the master plan
that guides growth and development. It's the very same thing
you participated in nineteen ninety seven, and that plan has
served us well. We've grown well, We've had a lot
of great things happen as a city. But obviously, like
the world's a little different than it was in nineteen
(19:07):
ninety seven. And so we at Omaha a Design are
really proud to be partnered in kind of co leading
an effort with some other wonderful nonprofits and the City
of Omaha to remake that. It's called We Make Omaha.
It's going to be a multi year effort. There's already
a lot of public engagement happening, committees to be formed,
thoughts put together because, like you say, we need to
be thoughtful about the urban core and how do we
(19:30):
gently densify in a way that is appropriate to what
we want to see as Omaha. And that's why we're
talking with residents about what do y'all want to see?
What's your vision? And we're resoundingly hearing some of the
same themes. So I believe some of those guiding principles
that have come out of this community engagement are going
to be soon formalized and shared.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
So, Scott, you mentioned when you were talking about lessons
learned in Austin to really prepare for transportation. Well, we
have a very impactful transportation project that's just getting started,
the modern street car that will connect downtown Omaha with
midtown Omaha, ready to in a very positive way fundamentally
change Omaha. Talk to us about the importance of that
(20:10):
project as we continue to build the Surban core that
can be somewhat Austin like, but without the problems of
Austin exactly.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Yeah, we are un of actually, you know, advocates of
the street car, and long have been because we see
its potential to be a lot more than just a
transportation tool. It's really a neighborhood building tool. It's really unique.
It's been studied a lot, and the manner in which
this is being funded and built is learning from the
best of cities that have gone before us and also
(20:41):
being very cautious to avoid some of the pitfalls that
maybe they have run into. So these systems are in
place in performing really well across the nation, and I'm
excited to see because it's already driving that kind of
investment and the early results are well ahead of projections.
And that's great because it's not just you know, helopers
who are been benefiting from this, it's the community. It's
(21:02):
developers who are paying for it ultimately. But the community
is getting these wonderful additions in terms of you know,
jobs and housing and opportunity and vibrancy and new business creation.
It's really helping us grow up and kind of grow
into our stature of a major metro.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And you know, when we at Grollmaha have studied it,
and believe me, we have for several years, I have
been very impressed with the not only the creativity, but
the fiscal responsibility of the funding mechanism. A lot of
these cities that build them, they just like pay for
themselves with taxes or they depend on federal grants, which
(21:41):
is a colossal headache and can take decades to get
I think in you know, kudos to the local leadership,
both political, not both, but political, neighborhood, community development, and
even the businesses in the district for coming up with
a way that allows us to build this without depending
on the federal government and without depending on the tax payers.
(22:03):
And it'll be free to ride.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You're right, and that's a big thing, and all those
things were like deeply studied in part of what put
this together with I think a lot of great intelligence.
It's going to be it's going to be great. I
can't wait for it.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, me too, to think that we're getting within a
few years of the thing actually being operational.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Well, in connecting to our earlier discussion, is it related
to like learnings from Austin for example, I think it's
really important and often missed that the mechanism that kind
of creates this and allows the street car to function,
which is really novel and I think again really advantageous
to us as just regular citizens of the city of Omaha,
is that you know, is based on what was called
the Housing and Mobility Redevelopment Plan, and it's important that
(22:44):
housing comes first there. So these are actually tied together
in a way that when the streetcar surpasses expectations, which
is very well on track to do right now in
terms of that tiff development, it spins off that the
additional revenues come into the city can actually be deployed
for things like affordable housing and other mobility enhancing needs.
You know, going north and south, protected bicycle infrastructure, things
(23:08):
of that nature. That's really novel and I think really
forward thinking. I'm glad you mentioned the affordable housing partner.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
We've got to take a break for the news here,
but that doesn't get a lot of coverage because everyone's like,
how are we going to pay for it? The street
car has to come up, We have to have in
order to pay for the street car, we have to
have a certain amount of development. In about fifteen years
following its opening. We're already over halfway there. So it's
like the apartment's going up and down the tracks. Yeah,
(23:33):
it's like falling off a log. So that part we
don't even have to worry about. That's a given. The
exciting part is how much extra credit create, and a
lot of people are not saying what you're saying. The
plan is to apply that to affordable housing in the
urban core long term, which will make even Omaha more vibrant,
and we can have this growing city without having to
build new freeways on the fringe or make more traffic
(23:56):
for suburbanites when they're trying to go get milk at
highv At any rate, We're going to take our middle
of the show break. When we come back, we're going
to talk more about urban core development with Scott Dobby.
He's the executive director of Omaha by Design. But in
the meantime, you're listening to Grow Omaha brought to you
by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center on news Radio
(24:17):
eleven ten kfab and welcome back to Grow Omaha brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics. Ladies
and gentlemen, if you are looking for a great place
for your kid, or your grandkid or any kid that
you care about, to get involved and to have a positive,
life changing experience, look no further than cheer Athletics. There
(24:39):
are only fifteen cheer Athletics locations in the world, and
I say world because they're even in England.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
But one of.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Those fifteen is in Omaha right at Highways fifty and
three seventy and beautiful Papilia, Nebraska. And if you want
to learn out more about it, learn more about it,
just go to Caomaha dot com. Ca as in cheer
eta let Xcaomaha dot com. It's time for your not
all companies Commercial real estate development Spotlight of the Week
(25:07):
This is when we talk about activities in or near
one of Not All Companies many many projects, and let
me tell you, Not All Companies has many many projects,
not just a Omaha nationwide, but they're headquartered here. This
is their hometown. This is the place that they love,
and this is the place where they do a big
portion of their projects. Builders District in North Downtown is
(25:29):
an example. We talk about that a lot, and perhaps
they're best known. A Not All Companies project is a
Sarbon village right in the heart of the city where
so much activity happens. And in today's Not a Companies Report,
we talk about a Sarbon village and we are very
happy to announce that Sunny's the airstream What is it?
Kind of like bar, concession stand, takeout restaurant, dog park
(25:53):
next door. Yes, so cool. Like have you ever have
you ever just like hung out in that area on
a nice weather evening.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's great. People are playing cornhole, cornhole, they're dancing, there's
usually a DJ or a band.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Sometimes in the fall they've got like a little campfire
thing going there. But Sunny's is opening for the season Friday,
April fifth. That's less than a week away, so you're
going to enjoy that. By the way, last week we
talked to you about Oto, which is the new upscale
cocktail bar which is coming to Xarbon Village. We've got
(26:26):
a couple new details about that. It's going to be
in the ground floor of the HDR building. That's the
ten story building where so many retailers are going to
be located. You know, there's another one coming to that
area soon, Godega Market. This new OTO, it's not going
to open until October because there's a lot of interior
(26:47):
buildout that has to happen. But it's going to be
a high end cocktail bar with this super advanced, high
fidelity optimal sound experience.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
It's going to be really really cool.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Get your Trenton has a hell of a groove and
when he gets that groove on, it's like nothing you've
ever seen. But it's going to be a fifteen hundred
square foot space. It'll be immediately adjacent to south of
the lobby that leads you up eventually into the HDR offices.
And that is your Not All Companies Commercial real Estate
Development Spotlight of the Week, brought to you by who, Well,
(27:17):
not All Companies of course, we've got Scott Dobby with
us today, executive director of Omaha by Design, and we're
just talking about the importance of the urban core and
how even people that live in the farthest fringes of
the metro area benefit when we've got a strong urban core.
And Scott, we were talking about the streetcar and how
(27:40):
it will make the course so much stronger, so much
more vibrant, and lead to so many more opportunities for investors,
businesses and regular Omahons who are looking for entertainment and recreation.
But let's talk a little bit about what exactly some
of those changes will be when we get the streetcar
up and running. How will it change Central Omaha's We
know it.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
It's a fun thing to think about, you know, I
think it starts and you're starting to feel it already.
There's a different expectation when you come downtown for what
we are. It is not a place now that we
come in the old fashioned way from eight to five
and then leave and depart. It's what we're growing into
is like an eighteen hour, vibrant, you know, really active
(28:22):
core where we have a lot of rooftops, a lot
of folks living. It's a place where tourists are really
drawn to and could find, you know, as we were
talking offline, like a whole vacation downtown. We can conceivably
see that now. We like to as we travel kind
of share. I mean, we're always Omaha boosters about how
great it is get down here. We love even just
a little staycation downtown. There is a lot a lot
(28:44):
happening in the urban core.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I think when the street car gets up and running,
if you live anywhere near the streetcar, you can have
a cista. You could like go to work early and
then go home for lunch, take a little bit of
a snoozer, refresh, and then you know, work late.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Trent and I only take my siestas on Saturday and Sunday.
But that said, I love them and I appreciate where
you're going with it. Yes, Scott. The other thing that
comes to mind with streetcars is something that is really
the scourge of the central core of the city, and
that is the surface parking lot. You know, a lot
(29:20):
of times people who just come down to downtown for
you know, dinner or bars, they think, oh gosh, it's
great to have a lot of surface parking lots, and
we don't want to get rid of those. Actually, they
kind of ruin a downtown because they're so inefficient, and
that's one of the things that I'm really looking forward to.
At the streetcar. We can actually increase the number of
parking stalls available while at the same time getting rid
(29:42):
of surface parking lots that provide really no value whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
No kidding, Nobody likes looking for parking and most of
the time those sit empty. Most of the time those
are not needed, and instead we can replace them. Remember
that they don't contribute much to the city in a
lot of ways. Environmentally they're really bad, but fiscally they
don't help us much. We'll need parking lots where we
need parking lots, sure, and everybody, a lot of folks
are still going to continue to drive. But as we
(30:08):
see that behavior starting to shift, because look, there's this
great free vehicle, I can hop on, I can maybe
park once and ride, or I can live downtown and ride.
As that transforms into now something that is filled with
like ground floor retail and there's shops and restaurants, and
there's new businesses created there, maybe there's housing, maybe there's
offices above suddenly have something which actually has much greater
(30:29):
value than a bunch of asphalt, and it is then
paying back in in terms of taxes that will benefit
our schools and our parks and our city services that
we need.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
And so what you guys are alluding to is say
places like Midtown Crossing, which the city will own those
parking garages, and you could park at Midtown Crossing and
then just jump on the street car and then go
to the show, go to dinner, not have to worry
about the guy or gal flagging me in for twenty
dollars or whatever. More affordable parking free streetcar ride down
(30:59):
to the or you.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, absolutely, and Scott one of the things I else
want to and we only have a couple of minutes left.
But sometimes there's a lot of misperceptions about the street car.
A lot of people haven't studied it very carefully, and
some of that company is driven by, you know, what's
going on politically right now, and that's normal politics. As politics,
people always use things for political reasons. But one of
(31:24):
the questions we get at Gromha is from someone maybe
who lives in the city limits but is way out west,
and they say, why do I care about this?
Speaker 3 (31:32):
It's not going to benefit me.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I actually disagree with that, and I suspect you to too.
How would you answer to that question when someone says,
I don't live anywhere near downtown, but how is it
going to benefit me?
Speaker 4 (31:45):
Yeah, you know, I think it's a reminder that we
have a lot of options here in America and in
this city where we want to live, how we want
to do it, but we all work in it together,
and so we're all investing. I mean, when we built
the West Dodge Expressway, for instance, that was one hundreds
of millions of day of investment to help unlock things.
Not everybody in the city uses that every day, but
it was a wise investment something we needed to do.
(32:06):
In a similar way, this is going to unlock a
lot of development and for those who then are going
to utilize it downtown, and I think by and large
you'll you'll feel it. It's going to bring jobs to
the core, it's going to bring vibrancy to the whole town.
And when that happens, it really lifts us all. And
that's why, you know, we stay out of the politics
of it. But I think you can admit that, you know,
big cities do big things. And we're in this moment
(32:28):
where we've got an invitation, an opportunity to think bigger
about how we approach housing and mobility and how we
kind of support our growing population.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Well, it's exciting to think about Scott, and we appreciate
everything you and your colleagues are doing to keep the
metro area strong and certainly the core of Omaha, and
in the future will definitely talk again.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
I look forward to it.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Omaha Buddy's Iron Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Scott Dobby, Executive Director, going to take our final break
of the hour, and when we come back, it'll be
time for the Perkins crits Er Construction light We have
a lot of things to talk about in a very
short period of time.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
It'll be the grand finale you're listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, Chair Athletics and
Perkins Chritzer Construction. Back in the moment, News Radio eleven
ten kfab it's the Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round, in
which we talk about a lot of things you need
to know super fast. Thanks to Perkins Chritser Construction for
making this possible. We love what they're doing to the
(33:27):
Omaha built environment, and that is building beautiful buildings on
time and in a budget. And Perkins Chritzer Construction is
ably led by our good friend Dave Kretzer. We talked
to Dave a lot. He lets us know some of
the things they're working on, and my gosh, it's very,
very impressive. Dave has assembled a team of outstanding project managers, administrators, superintendents, carpenters, laborers,
(33:52):
all of whom are dedicated to the craft and many
of whom have more than thirty years experience in the
construction industry. If you're looking to build an off building,
a church, a retail center, a community building, anywhere in
eastern Nebraska or western Iowa, contact Perkins Chritzer Construction. You
can find them online at Pea dash C Construction. That's
(34:14):
Pea dashcconstruction dot com. Well, we've got some good news.
Restaurant at sixtieth and Center, Primos, has been temporarily closed
for some time, but they are reopening on Monday, March
thirty first. And speaking of that, we've got a lot
of restaurant news. Are you ready, Trenton, Yes, start the
(34:35):
clock here we go. La Traga Zona has opened next
to Mexit Lee Restaurant in the historic Key Line building downtown.
The exact address is sixteen twenty two Harney Street. It's
a locally owned cafe and bar. They specialize in sweet
and savory crepes, but that's just one of the things.
They also have like ice cream, waffles, grilled ham and
(34:56):
cheese an interesting name for that, cheese, sandwiches, milkshakes, and
even alcoholic beverages. They're connected to Mexit Lee Restaurant and
I believe the same owners. A local food truck proprietor
plans to open a brick and mortar location in Bennington.
It's called Johnny Rico's Brooklyn Pizza. They've filed the building
(35:16):
permit to tenant finish a bay and the retail building
at eight thousand and one North one hundred and fifty
seventh Street. This is the same building that has Bennington
Urgent Care, heyj Cafe and Coffee and Rock Valley Physical Therapy,
so along one hundred and fifty sixth Street between Northwest
Omaha and Bennington.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
And then we have Rebel Rise.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Bakery, a gluten free bakery in La Vista will soon
open a second or a new location. They're going to
replace their current store, which is at one hundred and
seventh in Virginia Plaza inside the m Salon Studios. In
the meantime, while this transition is taking place, the business
will operate via online ordering. Rebel Rise has only been
(36:01):
in that existing space though since December, a very new place,
and so they're basically moving up and getting a new
Lavista location. Details to come. Okay, Next, we have Smoothie King.
This reminds you Trenton of your years in New Orleans.
Absolutely Smoothie King.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
It was a good product. I Remembay got me through
college and we've had a few in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Where's the new one, Well, the fifth one is going
to be in a new multi tenant commercial building under
construction on the northeast corner of one hundred and eightieth
and Maple Gotch So the relatively new Costco is on
the southeast corner.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
This Smoothie King will be on the northeast corner.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
There's also an Ortho Nebraska building under construction there as well.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Got a new.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Food truck business called Shara Hallal Eats. They're calling it
the sag or She Food truck for short. Grand opening
is today and the parking lot of Minards near one
hundred and twentieth and Dodge. They eventually hoped to have
a brick and mortar location someday. In South oh Shiley
Town Market, which is a cool plant nursery and gift shop,
(37:10):
is relocating. Sorry easy for some people to say, relocating
from thirty fifth and Center near Hanscombe Park to one
seven to one six South tenth in Little Italy, just
a little bit south of Cassio's Steakhouse downtown. We've got
Block Fitness opening in the oh It used to be
the Schooler headquarters building. Block Fitness is going in there
(37:34):
May sixth as their opening date. And then we've got
a couple closings, sad but true. Roxy Omaha retro bar
concept from Iowa City suddenly closed in the Capital District.
Their sister bar, the Stuffed all of Martin Bars remaining
open next door, and then Curry in a hurry plans
(37:54):
to close permanently tomorrow at eighty third in Maple. Looks
like they're going to be replaced by a business called
Flaming Bulls.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
We'll find out what that is.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
But the music is playing which means that we have
to take our flaming bowls and go home for a week,
but we hope you enjoy the weekend. I'm Jeff Beils
and I'm Trenton Maggott. You've been listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Chair
Athletics and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll chat with you next
week and nine right here on news Radio eleven ten
(38:24):
KFAB
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