Grow Omaha 4-19-2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Grow Omaha, the only radio show that talks
about economic development, construction, business expansion, and all of those
things that make Omaha a great place to live or visit.
Grow Omaha on News Radio eleven ten Ka Baby.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, good morning, and welcome to the show. Jeff Beals
here broadcasting live on Nebraska's superstation, Nebraska's radio station of record.
Glad that you have joined us. You're not going to
find another show in the Omaha area that talks about
what we discuss, and that is the growth and development
of your favorite city. Big shout out to our title
sponsors who make this possible. The first one is Cheer Athletics.

(00:39):
They are the nation's number one all star Cheer Jim
fifteen locations in the world, and the best one is
right here in the Omaha area Papillion Highways fifty and
three seventy. Our other sponsor is Dingman's Collision Center, frequent
constant Best of Omaha Award winner for metro area locations. Well,
before we get into our content today, I want to

(01:01):
bring on my co host a man who is a
legendary real estate deal maker, local celebrity and all around
interesting fellow Trenton Maggot.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Good morning everyone, Good morning mister Biale.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, good morning Trenton, and we want to start the
show just by putting something out there. First of all,
if you were affected by the severe storms that came
through North Metro a couple days ago, we are thinking
of you, and our sponsor, lock Box Storage, wants everyone
to know that they are offering two months free rent

(01:35):
to anyone affected by the storms who might need storage
while conducting repairs to their homes or business. They do
have locations near the affected area Waterloo, Blair and Benning ten.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
They do a great job.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
And we also have another big announcement before we get
into our news of the week. You know, at Gromhall
we are constantly looking to bring more and more value
to you and as a media company that meets content,
content is king and we launched two new news sections
this week. The first one is Nonprofit News. It'll appear

(02:11):
as a section each week in our newsletter. It also
has its own page on grow Omaha dot com. And
our second one is Arts and Culture News. You know,
we added sports a couple months ago, now we have
Arts and Culture News again. It's also on the newsletter
and has its own section on gromaha dot com. I
want to welcome our two new writers who are doing

(02:32):
those sections for us. Nonprofit News is written by Mark Champion.
Arts and Culture News written by Joe Champion. And if
you're thinking, gosh, those guys have the same last name,
it's because they're brothers. So we have the Champion brothers.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
And they come from a long line of champions.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
If you want to go and see their first report,
just go to gromaha dot com and once you're on
the homepage, just scrolled down a little bit and you'll
see the Nonprofit News and the Arts and Culturenews. Still
have all of our old stuff as well.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
So we're up to twelve contributing writers.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, we have a nice team of people who are
out there scouring the metro area looking for news that
grow Omaha followers value. And we will continue to grow
at in development as we continue to become the number
one source for local news in the Omaha area. Well,
speaking of news, it's time for our development News of
the week, which is brought to you by Eagle Mortgage.

(03:27):
Eagle Mortgage Company dot com is where you find them online.
You can stop by the office too if you like
one hundred fourteenth and Davenport. Either way, Holly Schneidewin and
her team at Eagle Mortgage do a great job of
helping people with the American dream. It is late April.
Prime home buying season is just starting. Like I guess

(03:48):
the craziest month of the year is June, but it's
really picking up right now. And if you're thinking about
doing that, call Eagle Mortgage. I'll take good care of you.
Eagle Mortgage Company dot Com.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
I want to give a shout out to a wonderful family,
the Schneidowin family. We work with Todd and his son Will,
and we worked with Holly and her team at Eagle Mortgage,
and Holly's father in law and Todd, Todd's father and
Will's grandfather, Bill Schneidowen, who was a longtime public accountant CPA.

(04:22):
Wonderful man, passed away yesterday. Lived a full life and
everyone that knew Bill I worked with him twenty five
years ago with different clients. We're thinking about the Schnidowen
family and we wished Bill to rest in peace.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, we've got some big news today in the new section.
The first story is the City of Council Bluffs is
exploring the possibility of a major, very dense real estate
development on the east bank of the Missouri River. The
space is currently m P Dodge Park that's been a
golf course for a long time, donated by the family

(05:02):
who runs in P Dodge, where Trenton and I spend
a lot of our time. At any rate, this area is,
as I said, on the east bank of the river,
but just south of Interstate four to eighty, just north
of Harri's Casino. This is not a done deal or
a for sure thing. The idea is to kind of
figure out ways that Council Bluffs can increase housing. They,

(05:26):
like the City of Omaha, have a severe housing shortage
and Counts Bluffs the rental vacancy rate is only one
point seven percent, an owner occupied home vacancy rate is
only half a percent. So there's a serious shortage of
housing there. And so the idea is, hey, we could
put in a bunch of town homes, apartments, high rise

(05:48):
apartments and condos in this area and to.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Kind of give you an idea if they do go
through with this.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
The golf course right now brings in only about thirty
five thousand bucks a year, in annual revenue for the city.
That's like practically so small you can't even measure it
when you're talking about a city's budget. The redevelopment of
the golf course, if fully built out, would be almost
twenty three million dollars in taxes. So from thirty five
k to twenty three million looks like it would be

(06:17):
about a billion dollars of assessed value if it happened.
The early early plans are looking at four thousand new
housing units, two hundred and fifty thousand square feet of
commercial space, and the renderings which you can see on
gromaha dot com look pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
I think that that is something that they should explore.
Have they picked a developer or is this development driven
or city driven?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
This is city driven, and it's extremely early. It'd be
way too early to even have a developer as far
as I understand.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
I wonder what the soil conditions are because you're so
close to the river, saggy, soggy would be you're going
to go down pretty far with the pilots.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, and you know the area is pretty flood protected. There.
There's a really good levee system, but I'm sure there
would be a lot of those considerations.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah, I think i'd start like on the third or
fourth floor. As far as apartments go, you're not going
to buy a garden level, not as subtrainean though.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the first
intermediate design report, which means there's still a long ways
to go, but it's coming along nicely for Project Health.
Project Health, what's that. It's the two point two billion
dollar hospital that is planned for the southeast corner of

(07:28):
Farnham Street and Saddle Creek Road. It's a seven and
a half acre site was once home to the Monroe
Meyer Institute and the JP Lord School before both moved
to different parts of town. So this thing is still
probably looking at an opening date well after the year
twenty thirty, so we have a long ways to go,
but it will be a game changer for Omaha. Thousands

(07:52):
of jobs, will probably save a lot of lives, by far,
the biggest investment the university will have ever made, and
it is projected to be close to a four hundred
foot tower, so it'll be the fourth tallest building in
the city.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
That's gonna make a skyline change for sure.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
But we'll be talking about this for a long time
because there are many, many steps that have to happen
before you actually have patients going to this hospital, which
will be one of the coolest hospitals in the country.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
I think is great is that Jeff is the whole
Nebraska Medicine Campus. There UNMC included, which is part of
the same thing. Is in concentric circles. Basically you're seeing
apartment projects, you're seeing revitalization, just like we saw with
Midtown Crossing that the neighbors it's kind of their boost

(08:42):
to say, hey, you know, maybe I should paint my house,
maybe I should clean it up and do some redevelopment
and things like that. So I think it's really positive
to increase the density. You know, we talk about the
thirty thousand people by two thousand and thirty and thirty
thousand jobs, right yep, Okay, I wonder how far along
we are on probably getting there.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
We're making good progress and construction is underway on the
final piece of the three hundred million dollar Riverfront Parks project.
You're probably thinking final piece. I thought that thing was done.
Lewis and Clark landing, Jean lehe Mal Heartland of America Park. Yeah,
mostly there was one lingering part just north of the

(09:21):
Keiwait Luminarium, and that is an outdoor pickleball court complex
that was just kind of the last piece. And then
the Mecca which runs all that was ready to go
with it, but they were waiting on these permits. They
have to get permits from the US Army Corps of
Engineers because of its proximity to a navigable river. That's
all been taken care of now and construction has indeed

(09:43):
started on the pickleball courts, and so once that happens,
the the Riverfront Parks complex as envisioned will be finito.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
You know, when I was playing pickleball over my dentist
office the other day waiting for my turn in the chair,
I'm like, you know what, I don't think the downtown
Front Park as pickaball. Say need pickaball.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
It's like the one place in Ohahuah that doesn't have pickaball,
And soon it will.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
And finally, Nebraska is a middle of the road state
for older workers. According to Senior Lee's analysis of the
best states for workers over sixty five and six data
care categories, we're only twenty first place the best states
for older workers are Washington, New Hampshire, and Alaska. The
worst state is Mississippi. But get a load of this.

(10:30):
A record eleven point two million Americans sixty five and
over are in the workforce. In the next eight years,
it'll be up to almost fifteen million.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
Wow. It kind of reminds me of like seventies bands.
If they were not working so hard and still performing
on stage well into their eighties, we wouldn't have a
lot of touring bands to go see.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
And there's your News of the week, brought to you
by Egle Mortgage. EGO Mortgage Company dot Com. Going to
take our first break of the hour and when we
come back, we're going to bring on Steami McCoy. He
is the chief strategy officer for the Omaha Airport Authority.
We're going to talk about Eppley, all sorts of construction
going on there, whether it's the front drive, whether it's

(11:11):
the canopy. Billion dollars in total with this expanded and
remodeled terminal, So we're going to get an update on
all of that. It's going to be very interesting. Whether
you are a frequent traveler or not, you don't want
to miss this. You are listening to grow Omaha brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics
on News Radio eleven ten kfab and.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Jeff Beils and Trenton Maggot with you. We are brought
to you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics.
Cheer Athletics is the nation's number one all star cheer
Jim and that is really becoming a massively popular sport
for kids to learn to compete, learn leadership, and tremendous
physical fitness skills. It's actually gonna be an Olympic sport

(11:55):
in twenty twenty eight. So get involved in the All
Star Cheer Revolution by going to ca Omaha dot com.
That's c A as in Chair Athletics Caomaha dot com.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Well.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
One of the biggest projects going on in the state
of Nebraska right now is at Eppley Airfield. That is
where a billion dollars of construction activity is in full
throated sprint. It's really impressive. If you haven't been there
for a while, we're going to get an update with it.
We have with us our our good friend Steve McCoy.
He is the chief strategy officer with the Omaha Airport Authority, Steve,

(12:29):
Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Thank you, Jeff, thank you trend. Pleasure to be here.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah, it's good to have you back on.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
And so I usually over the course of a year,
usually end up going through Eppley about maybe twice a month,
which is a nice amount of increments for me to
keep tabs and as a Omaha development nerd, my favorite
thing to do is to get there a little bit
early for my flight and walk around to see the progress.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
It's mind blowing right now.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
You know, even for me going every day just seeing
how much change is happening. You know, I've been at
the airport for twenty three years and this is the
most significant thing that's ever been done at Omaha's airport.
So we're really excited about what it means for travelers.
It's really truly going to transform the travel experience here
in Omaha.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
Well, thank you for all the way finding, the sign edge,
the easy pick up, the cell phone lots that people
can call and so they don't clutter and they don't
have to pay for anything, just pick up their friend
on the curb side. But give us a thirty thousand
square foot thirty thousand foot overviewed, especially at airplanes about

(13:35):
the project and what's going on.

Speaker 5 (13:37):
So, if I were to look at the entire program,
which we call Build O May, this is really the
culmination of our twenty year master plan that we started
actually back in twenty seventeen with the new North parking garage,
the rental car facility, we started the entrance roadway project.
We're doing this front drive roadway and canopy project, and
really kind of the capstone on this whole thing is

(14:00):
the terminal monetization. This has been decades in the work though, gentlemen,
a lot of planning, a lot of design, and now
we're in that implementation phase and so this is really
kind of the most impactful part of the program. But
the end results are just going to be again transformative
for travel.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
And we've talked about this a lot on the show,
but remind everyone some of the new features that will
be in the terminal when it's fully completed in a
few years.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, one of the first things we're doing is we're
going to consolid I shouldn't say consolidate our pr folks
don't like that term. We're going to centralize the security checkpoint,
to have one security checkpoint in a new central pavilion.
That central pavilion is really going to be the centerpiece
of the entire airport facility. It's going to be a
very volume of space, thirty three foot ceilings. You could

(14:46):
actually fit a football field inside this central pavilion. Are
security checkpoint is going to be in there. We're going
to have a whole new concessions program in that space.
I know that's something you all have covered in the past.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
We're gonna have a.

Speaker 5 (14:58):
Unified concourse, larger gatehold rooms. Our gatehold rooms right now
about fifteen hundred square feet, we're going to increase that
to twenty six hundred square feet. We're going to add
additional gates. We're gonna have international flight capabilities, which I
know is something we've talked about on the show in
the past, a whole new baggage system, and it goes
on and on. There's just a lot of really important amenities.
We're actually growing the square footage of the terminal almost

(15:19):
seventy two percent from three hundred and eighty five thousand
square feet up to six hundred and forty six thousand
square feet.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
So when you have one centralized check in system. I
assume when it comes to TSA and staffing, it's easier
to keep your eyes in one place rather than two separate.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
It will be a much more efficient operation for TSA absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Summer talking with Steve McCoy with the Omaha A Report Authority.
And once you get past security, the new terminal will
have I think it was nineteen good memory retailers that
are mostly food and beverage, while also some stores. When
you look at the site plan renderings, the site planned
and the renderings, it's almost kind of like it's a

(16:05):
miniature shopping mall once you get past, kind of like
some of the big airports. We fright through at the
at the big hubs.

Speaker 5 (16:12):
And part of the planning process we looked at some
best practices from other airports similar size, similar operations, and
again we want to have a really premier customer experience
post security. And so you're right, every passenger that's arriving
at a partying, whether they're a resident or whether they're
a visitor to this city, is going to have the
same opportunity to move through that space and take an
opportunity to maybe you know, partake in some of the food,

(16:33):
beverage and retail options.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
There are we going to have a moving walkway or two.

Speaker 5 (16:38):
There's no moving walkway that trends out.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
You know.

Speaker 5 (16:42):
I mentioned the square footage increase, but the walk distance
change compared to what we currently have is going to
be very minimal.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
I like them. Moving walkway is going to end. The
moving walkway is ending. Caution, Yeah, except for you.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Could you imagine if you're in working as an employee
one of the retailers right next to one of those
things for eight hours in a row, you hear caution?

Speaker 5 (17:04):
Yeah, right, you know. I'll say this though, one of
the program goals and objectives was to maintain the customer
convenience of the existing airport facility. And I think you'll
see when we move into this space, it'll still be
a very convenient space.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
I'm gonna raise, I'm gonna do crowdfunding and where we're
gonna do like twenty feet of moving walkway.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
Thank you, Trent. That's a good contribution.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
So we are talking with Steve McCoy from the OMAHI
Report Authority, and Steve, right now, when when you're in
the terminal, it's hard to see a lot of the
terminal construction because there's walls in the way. But when
you get into your plane and you start taxing, you
see it very clearly, and it appears to me that
a major portion of the future long concourse is framed

(17:48):
out and partially enclosed. Kind of give us an idea
about where where we are in the progress for terminal
progress right now.

Speaker 5 (17:54):
That's a great question, Jeff. So if you've come into
the terminal, obviously you've seen the work on the canopy
project in a front drive that's actually wrapping up right now.
And so as folks have seen that, you're right, they
haven't seen a lot of what's behind the scenes. We
have a lot of temporary walls and temporary conditions, but
behind those walls significant progress being made. In fact, we're
about thirty percent of the way already through with construction

(18:17):
on the terminal monernization program. One of the most important
early milestones is a new central utility plant. This has
all the cooling, heating, power, utilities data that's going to
serve the long term growth of the airport. We actually
just completed that central utility plant recently. That's an important
piece to do because we have to split the terminal
you've probably heard about this terminal split that's occurred to

(18:38):
build that new central Pavilion that I've talked about previously.
In the meantime, work on the new Unified Concourse is
also progressing, and there's just a lot of work going
on again behind the scenes. So when we turn this
over to the public in twenty twenty seven, I think
people are going to be really impressed with the work
that's been done.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
So eventually the time will come where the current North
Satellite terminal will be demolished. How far away is that
and how is that transition going to work when we
get there?

Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah, that North Concourse is one of the oldest components
of the existing terminal and that will be demolished to
extend the Unified Concourse furthest to the north. That's really
the last phase of construction. So once we open that
new central Pavilion with the new checkpoint concessions the Unified Concourse,
at that point, the North Concourse will be demolished and

(19:30):
will extend the new Unified Concourse out in that direction.
A component of that last phase are those international gates
in that international rivals facility.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
So you said twenty twenty seven is that the year
where the whole entire project will be done.

Speaker 5 (19:44):
Twenty twenty seven is really when we're going to have
the big kind of grand opening piece of that central
pavilion that North Concourse will finish up in twenty twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
So you're talking about the central pavilion and the utilities
plant right next to it. All the baggage handling stuff.
Will that be under the central pavilion or part of
the utility plan.

Speaker 5 (20:03):
Actually, it will be under that central pavilion. We're really
excited about this feature. Again, it'll be behind the scenes
so the public won't really get a chance to see it,
but a highly sophisticated automated inline check bag inspection system.
We've worked with the TSA on this for a number
of years. It'll be a market improvement from an efficiency
standpoint from what we currently have at the airport. But

(20:24):
that will be underneath the central pavilion. So as you're
moving through the security and you're grabbing something to eat
or buying a newspaper or whatever, that'll be happening underneath
your feet. How many carousels for the inbound baggage system
There will be initially six carousels. We currently or I
should say we formerly had six caresels, but they were
much small, or the linear foot on those care cells

(20:47):
did not really support the larger aircraft that we're seeing
in Omaha right now. So these carousels will be much
larger and be more efficient than what we previously had.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
We're talking with Steve McCoy from the Omaha Airport Authority
about all of this construction and the real total reformation
of Eppley Airfield. But we've got more to talk with
him after we break for the news, so stay with us.
The news is coming up and then more airport talk.
You're listening to Grow Omaha brought to you by Cheer

(21:16):
Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center on news Radio eleven ten
KFAB And welcome back to Grow Omaha brought to you
by Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center. Please know that
we hope you never ever get into a car accident,
but statistics say every day a certain number of people
in this town will and if that happens to you,

(21:37):
you just go to Dingman's Collision Center.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
They will make it.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Just like new Trent and I have used Dingman's for
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of you. Dingman's Collision Center.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yes, I don't wait till you finish, but go ahead.
It's all you, okay.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
So you don't have to be in your car for
it to get damage, like a tree could fall on it,
a neighbor back into it.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Metea right, yeah, meteor lightning strike.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Hailed image. They do that, they do mechanical and carry on.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Thank you. So we have with us Steve McCoy today.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
He is with the Elmaha Airport Authority and we have
him on the show periodically just to kind of keep
us updated with everything that's going on there. Billion dollars
worth US construction right now in full swing at the airport.
And Steve, let's talk a little bit about the front entrance.
The canopies really come in along, lot of concrete work

(22:32):
outside the front door, and for the last several months
people have been temporarily doing drop off and pick up
on the first floor in the garage. Where are we
with this project? How is it coming along? And how
soon before I can drive my car on the new concrete.

Speaker 5 (22:47):
Let me say, Let me start by saying the point
we're at right now is the most impactful part of
the entire program. Between the canopy, roadway thermal monernization program
with that terminal split, this is the most impactful part,
and so we really appreciate the patience of the traveling
public as we work through these developments. It's not going
to get any worse than this. We're going to progressively
continue to open up facilities, so that canopy itself is

(23:10):
wrapping up, Jeff, but the work on the terminal monization program,
which brings that central pavilion all the way out to
the curb front, is going to continue for the next year.
And so because of that, the passenger pickups and drop
offs will remain in the first level of that south garage,
and in fact, travelers have gotten really acclimated to that operation.
Covered it's covered, it's only a short walk in. We

(23:33):
continue to have commercial vehicles, so shuttle buses picking up
and dropping off folks underneath that canopy, and the canopy itself,
we just put the last piece of glass in it
on Tuesday, so it's completely covered a mile start of
the elements. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, So Steve, let me ask you this last year
Epley had record traffic a very impressive number for a
city this size. By the way, we reported this on GROLLM.
We looked at several airports at a there cities that
were like maybe within a half a quarter million people
Omaha Saize either smaller or bigger, and it compared extremely favorably.

(24:09):
In fact, there was more traffic through Epley than Oklahoma City,
which has like four hundred thousand more people. But that's
great record traffic. Are we concerned at all during construction
because some people will see it as a headache or
a hasshole that we could actually affect numbers temporarily for
a couple of years. Are what people just fight through it.

Speaker 5 (24:30):
I think folks are really excited about what this program
is going to bring, and there's a lot of community support.
We have folks advocating for this terminal, including YouTube gentlemen
here with Groham how I've always been big advocates of
everything going on out the airport. They see the vision
of what's happening and it really bought into it. Again,
this is the most impactful time. In fact, we've lost
over fifty percent of the public space and the existing

(24:53):
terminal due to the renovations that are ongoing right now.
But what we're seeing from our airline partners, they continue
to add new service and the traveling public is looking
forward to making use of that. That five point two million,
obviously a record number bounced back from COVID, and you know,
this terminal is really going to support that growing traffic
here in Omah for many years to come.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Trenton during the break was was asking, hey, let's say
this new terminal is a smash hit, which we know
it will be, and Omaha continues this very impressive growth
that's going on right now. How is the new terminal
being pre engineered for even more expansion, because hey, you know,
someday we'll have ten million passengers going through the terminal.

Speaker 5 (25:36):
That's really the beauty of the design what we're doing.
The existing terminal had no ability to grow. This new
terminal design is very scalable, so we're building right now.
The contract that we have will build a terminal that
will allow for up to six million annual passengers. However,
it has a scalability to grow to eight million annual
pastors and beyond, and so everything is being equipped so

(25:58):
that it can continue to grow, continue to add equipment,
continue to add security, checkpoint lanes, concession space, new gates
in the future.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
I was just thinking about, Jeff, and you know, ten
maybe eight years that when global warming really takes effect
and we have year round seventies weather, we'll probably have
four or five million people here. So we need that
to pascit.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah, I like the way you know you should.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
You know, if it wasn't for real estate, you could
be a city planner because you think so far ahead climatologist.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
So when we think about.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Adding new airlines, or new NonStop routes, or even bigger
planes on existing routes, my understanding is that is almost
exclusively driven by numbers. However, would the existence of a better, bigger,
more desirable, modern terminal help us maybe get some of

(26:52):
some of those new routes or maybe attract some more
traffic by itself? I mean, in other words, when this
thing opens and it's a lot bigger, it's a lot nicer,
does that alone help us.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
Attract more air service or is it just purely a numbers.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
Game in a word, No, it's not a field of dreams.
If you build it, they'll come. You're right. The airlines
make business decisions based on general economic conditions, and you know,
we have a great, growing, vibrant community. You cover it
every week here on Grow Omaha, and so the airlines
recognize that and they want to make sure that they
can provide air travel needs to this community. And so

(27:28):
the terminal itself will not provide new opportunities outside the
fact that we are adding the international arrivals hall. So
this facility will unlock those travel opportunities.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
And there's no guarantee we get international flights when or
regularly scheduled international flights, but with the way we're growing
and trending, it looks pretty good. Without making any promises,
what would be the most likely non stop international flights
that EPLEY might be able to get within the next
five to ten years.

Speaker 5 (27:59):
Again being an airline decision, but we do know there's
a tremendous amount of interest from the airline to fly
from Omaha, especially near international and that's really kind of
Mexico and the Caribbean. We see a tremendous amount of
demand from Omah, especially in the first quarter of the
year when it's cold here in Omaha. People want to
go to Cancun, Mexico. We have one hundred and fifty
people every day boarding flights in Omaha connecting somewhere else

(28:21):
to go to can Kun. And so there's an opportunity
there for nonstops places like can Putaban Cabos on that
list trend and I know Combo is your favorite, So
somewhere down the lines, we hope that'll provide opportunity for those.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
What about private airplanes, especially Berkshire Halfway Weekend College World Series,
And I don't know if that's handled by the other
adjacent private services, but when private airplanes want to come
internationally to Birch or Halfway Weekend or something, is that
a possibility.

Speaker 5 (28:51):
Yeah, they're already coming. We already have US Customs and
Border Protection at the airport. They're located in what we
call a general Aviation facility and they can clear non
scheduled arrivals of a to twenty two passengers, I believe.
But this will unlock the ability to have scheduled international
rivals for larger aircraft.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, and Trenton really would like to lobby for that
whole Cabo flight there. But if you talk about can
Kun though one hundred and fifty a day in that
first quarter, you know that could almost justify a daily
flight I mean, but certainly probably a three to five
day a week type flight.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
Yeah, people here in Nebraska, especially when it's January February,
love to go where it's warm there in Mexico.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Gusta kN kuhn. All right, So Steve, as we look ahead,
why don't you tease a few of the retailer and
restaurant brands that will be in the new terminal come
twenty twenty seven to twenty eight.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
Jeff, As you mentioned, we've got nineteen locations in the terminal,
and the vast majority of these are post security as
opposed to presecurity, which was the case with the existing terminal.
So really excited about that. But of those nineteen locations,
we'll have seventeen different venues, and of those seventeen, nine
are local, so great places like Pitch Pizza, Block sixteen, Fernando's,

(30:06):
The Mill, Coffee and Tea Runza. I mean, people are
really excited to just have Runza in the airport. And
then beyond that, there are going to be twenty two
plus additional brands. Local brands, food, beverage, retail brands are
gonna be offered and sold throughout the terminal as well.
So it's a really exciting change to the passenger experience,
and we know that the community is pretty excited about
it too.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Jamba juice, no.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
Jama juice in there right now. We will have a
sambazon O s i E bowls and.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Juice bar with that.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Pickleball courts.

Speaker 5 (30:35):
No pickleball courts again, a big volume of space in
that central pavilion, but no plan for pickleball courts.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
That's part of the twenty that's part of the twenty
thirty five twenty forty expansion. It'll be gone by the
No one'll like pickleball by then. Steve, We really appreciate
everything you and your colleagues are doing to bring a
world class airport facility to Omaha. So hey, thanks, keep
up the good work and maybe let's have you back
in the second half of the year and we can

(31:02):
talk about progress.

Speaker 5 (31:02):
Sounds good, Thank you, gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Steve McCoy, chief Strategy Officer at the Omhire Report Authority,
talking about Epley Airfield expansion. Going to take our final
break of the hour, and you know what that means
when we come back. It is the Perkins Chritser Construction
Lightning Round, in which we talk about a lot of
things in a very short period of time, and the
list is long, so stay with us. You're listening to
Grow Omaha brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer

(31:26):
Athletics and Perkins Chritser Construction on News Radio eleven ten KFAB.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
And welcome back to the show.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Jeff Beal's here at your service, sitting next to Trent Maggot.
It is your Perkins Chritser Construction Lightning Round brought to
you by who Perkins Chritser Construction. Of course, they are
doing all sorts of projects around town. It doesn't matter
whether you know you need to build an office building,
if you want retail, if you have a civic or
community or philanthropic building that you need to have for

(31:55):
some purpose, they build it.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
They do a great job.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
You know that Funny Bone Comedy Club is leaving Village
Point and going to Miracle Hills one hundred and fourteenth
and Dodge. Perkins Kreutzer Construction has been busy getting that
project ready to go and that center is looking awesome.
Funnybone will be one of several new businesses coming to
that area. But at any rate, make sure you reach
out to Perkins Kreutzer Construction. Anytime you need help with

(32:22):
any project, you can find them at pdashcconstruction dot com.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
All right, Trenton, here we go.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
The former Omaha Bakery space and Elkhorn will become an
Eileen's Cookie store.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, that's right by the UBT Sports Complex and Bolero
opening June twenty eighth.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Trend still hanging on June twenty eighth is the opening date.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Ashland Brewing Company getting really close to opening its signature
destination attraction type of building southwest corner of Highways six
and sixty six in Ashland, Nebraska. The opening is this summer.
This is like eleventh thousand square foot building, very prominent
up on a hill. It looks like it just looks
like one of those places where you could easily spend

(33:05):
an afternoon, like the Elsdore Brewery. And I'm sure a
lot of people will all right. K Pot Korean Barbecue
and Hot Pot, plans to open its first Nebraska restaurant
in the former Johnny's Italian Steakhouse at Village Point shopping Center.
A year ago, k Pot announced it would move into
the former Granite City building at West Roads, but the

(33:25):
deal fell through, so that kind of delayed things a
little bit, but they did find a new spot, Village Point.
This is a very rapidly growing chain out of New Jersey.
Originally all you can eat Korean food. What could possibly
be wrong with this? That's where you go cook your
own food, right. I have not been to one, but
I know they have one hundred and six locations. You
cook a lot of your food, you know, the meats

(33:47):
and stuff at your table. So it's like, hey, honey,
I don't feel like cooking a night at home. Let's
go cook at a restaurant. Shouldn't you have to pay
less if you cook your own food?

Speaker 3 (33:54):
I would think so.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
The Hollows, an upscale wine and cocktail BARB will soon
open in Dundee at fifty nineteen Underwood Avenue, just across
the street from Kfab. It's next to Pitch Pizzeria. In fact,
it's actually going into the former Pitch party room space.
Tentative opening date set for June fifteenth. A company by
the name of Unity Seafood, Cajun Grill and Bar has

(34:19):
filed for a liquor license with the City of Omaha
for a new restaurant concept at seventy six oh five
Cass Street. That is a former Outback Steakhouse. Trent and
I remember when that outback steakhouse opened in the nineties.
You and I went to the soft grand opening wow.
And now it's becoming a Cajun restaurant. Artisan Boards of

(34:40):
Omaha will host a grand opening event April twenty third
for its new brick and mortar location in the Shops
of Legacy. The exact address is one six nine two
zero Write Plaza. The local business launched in twenty nineteen
as a catering company and will offer grab and go
sharcutery boards plus sandwiches, wine, free samples, and a selection

(35:01):
free samples.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
I'll go just for that in candles and.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
A free selection of honey, honey and candles for purchase
at the event. That's pretty cool, all righty Tera Gaucha,
a Florida based Brazilian steakhouse, plans to open May twenty
ninth in the former Charleston's Restaurant building near one hundred
and thirty seventh and West Dodge Road. We previously reported
April twentieth. Sorry our apologies, we are a little off

(35:26):
on that, but hey, that's what the city documents said.
At any rate there, I say, you know, there's people
that played drinking games with Every time I say at
any rate, I've been told that when people run into
me in public, sometimes you are suit At any rate,
at any rate, the restaurant is the ultimate Churus Geria
experience with fire roasted premium cuts of carved tableside meat.

Speaker 4 (35:48):
Sounds delicious. At least they cook it for you, so.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
It's worth a little something extra there.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
I want to know these listeners are drinking right now
at nine and ten o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
At any rate.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Corn To Brewing, a Lincoln based brewery, will officially open
its Omaha tap room today April nineteenth. The address is
one oh seven seventeen Virginia Plaza in La Vista. This
is kind of an interesting spot because they already have
Cross Strain Brewery Pint nine Breweries, so if you want

(36:20):
to go get a lot of brewed beer, you can
just go to one spot in La Vista.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Liquid Business.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Hey, Artemis t and Botanical Shop is making an intra
Blackstone District move next month. They're already in Blackstone District
at fortieth in Farnham forty thirteen Farnham to be exact,
but they're moving a few blocks east to the Lazy
Leopard cocktail lounge space what used to be the Lazy
Leopard at thirty six eighteen Farnham Street. They're going to

(36:47):
keep their current space as a production and fulfillment space
because they have very nice online business as well.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
So Trenton.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
There was a study done by Nation's Restaurant News trying
to figure out what teenagers love and if you can
figure out that, you're quite the marketer at any rate
among beverage place see I did it again. Among beverage places,
teenagers love Starbucks fifty seven percent, Duncan eleven percent, McDonald

(37:15):
six percent, Dutch Brothers six percent, Scooters three percent. Right
based right here in Omaha.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
It's unbelievable. The Scooters with it with venture capital and operations.
It's cool to see a home grown favorite.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
And that's your show for today. I'm Jeff Beils.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
And I'm Trenton maggot.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
You've been listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by
Dingman's Collisions Center, Cheer Athletics and Perkins Chritzer Construction. Well
chat with you next week in nine right here on
Nebraska superstation, The blow Torch News Radio eleven ten kfab