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.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ka Baby, Well, good morning, and welcome to the show.
Jeff Beal's here at your service. Glad you have joined us.
You're not going to find another show in the area
that talks about what we discuss, and that is Omaha
growth and development, real estate, construction, economic development, really anything
related to your favorite city becoming bigger, more vibrant, and
(00:34):
more prosperous. Big thank you to our sponsors. Our title
sponsors are Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star
cheer Jim along with Dingman's Collision Center Best of Omaha
award winner and for metro area locations. Without any further ado,
it's time to bring on my co host, a man
who is a legendary real estate deal maker, Trenton Maggid.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Jeff, you look really good
for being enshrined.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, you're probably referring to the face on the barroom floor,
which was our honor Thursday night. You and I are
now the one hundred and eighty second face on the
barroom floor. Tell people what happened.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, we're kind of two faced if you think about it,
but that's what they call it. You know, three eleven.
They're all on there together as well. They're like five
faced or something. We were fortunate enough to be nominated
and chosen to be on the twenty second floor of
the first National Building, not the brand new one, the
taller one, but the one that sits by the DoubleTree
(01:37):
on sixteenth and Dodge. And what a cool place if
you get a chance, you don't even have to be
a member, if you can rent it out and things
like that, and you can check out the Omaha Press
Club dot com. But we did this in a couple months,
and we had about one hundred and fifty something of
our closest friends and people that we forced to be there,
and basically we for all of our contributions to making
(02:01):
to growing Omaha. We've had a lot of help doing
the show. But we are honored to be on the
bar floor for the next couple months. People walk all
over us and then if we're lucky enough, they put
us on the wall periodically along with a rotation of
one hundred and eighty one other famous people.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
So we thank you, We thank the Press Club for
that honor. And whenever you are one of these faces
on the barroom floor like Trenton and I are, now
you have a roast. And we were roasted by none
other than Scott Vorhe's from KFAB Radio as well as
Brad Williams. You know him really well. He is a
(02:44):
frequent contributor on here, photographer extraordinaire and guest host. And
Chris Corey who is our food and film critic and
also owner of Barbara Creative who does a lot of
work with Girl Maha. Then Gary Sandelmayer, the legend here
at KFAB was ORMC. So great night, and we're going
to go straight into our News of the week, which
(03:04):
is brought to you by Egle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company
dot com. They're located in person at one hundred and
fourteenth and Davenport, just south of Dodge. Whether you visit
them online or at the office, either way they help
you get your piece of the American dream. We like
saying that because it's a big deal getting a house, moving,
(03:25):
buying one, choosing one, figuring out the financing. They take
a lot of that pressure away from you because they
know so well what they're doing and they can help
work out the best lending solution for you. Egle Mortgage
is not a bank. They shop the banks as a
mortgage broker and so they find the best lending solution.
Like we said, give them a call if you're thinking
(03:45):
about buying a house. You can find them online once
again at Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. Well Trenton, we
have several news items on the dock at this week.
The first one is Lorets and Gardens is going to
unveil a new playground called Sofia's play Garden on May
twenty six, which is coming up in a couple days.
(04:06):
But guess what. This is not just your typical playground.
This is a thirteen million dollar playground.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Holy moly, what is in a thirteen million dollars And
you have to be named Sophia to play on it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
It's actually named after the donor's daughter, the daughter of
Paulina and Bob Schlott, and it is one hundred percent
donor focused. It's a big deal because they broke ground
on this thing in twenty twenty two, so pretty much
a three year build. Meanwhile, the state track Meet is
underway in Omaha and there's not much left of it.
(04:38):
It's been going on since Wednesday and it wraps up today.
But that brings in two thousand, six hundred athletes and
their families. And you don't really think of a high
school event being a big tourism driver, but believe it
or not, the Nebraska State Track Meet is one of
the biggest hotel consuming events of the year in a
(05:00):
And we used.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
To be down the street on a frontage road at
an AIMP dodge and we felt.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It, yeah, because there would be people wanting to park
and our lot and all that sort of thing. So
I made a lot of cash that way. Yeah, yeah,
you thought about it, but I don't think you actually
did it, Sorry, Nate. Nebraska is the number one state
in the nation for newly retired women. This according to
an article in Travel and Leisure magazine based on a
(05:28):
study by Manhattan Mental Health Counseling. This organization ranked all
fifty states on many factors, including cost of living, healthcare,
life expectancy, crime, climate, and other things. In addition to
being number one, or I should say, in addition to
number one, Nebraska. Several other states in this region made
the top ten. South Dakota nearby number two, Iowa across
(05:51):
the river number three, Kansas just to our south number four,
and then Wisconsin seven, North Dakota eight, and Wyoming number nine.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Can these women be married or there to be single?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
They're just retired women has nothing to do whether they're
married or not. Why would you ask that, are you
are you just hears of their husbands? Or are you
looking for significant others? Came around, Yeah, I'm looking for
a cougar. So I guess you couldn't pick a better
part of the country because Omaha being right between Nebraska,
on the edge of Nebraska, right between number one and
the number three. So that's encouraging to know that things
(06:24):
are pretty good here for people that want to retire,
especially women. The Omaha Planning Board approved plats for new
developments along North one hundred ninety second Street. Basically, there
is going to be a lot more development activity along
North one hundred ninety second Street, even though there already
has been quite a bit for some time. Specifically, we're
looking around one hundred ninety second and Fort Street. We've
(06:47):
got a two hundred and thirty six single family lot
subdivision named Whispering Oaks. We have another one called mccardal
Ridge with two hundred and sixty seven subdivisions, and then
finally we've got a mixed use development coming up to
that area called antler View West. You're still going to
see just an explosion of development in that northwest Omaha
(07:12):
area that is kind of in that arc between Elkhorn
and Bennington.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
And if you're on two hundred and four Street, you
should see the single family I think a lot of
it's single family for rent, but there's some huge developments
going on now that they are just really nice but
separated apartments if you will. Yeah, it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And then we finish up with a little bit of
news from north downtown. Crews have framed the fourth floor
of the Nova Apartments, which are under construction southeast of
Twelfth and Nicholas. That particular area is called Millwork Commons.
Nova will be a five story building with street level
retail and seventy four apartments. It is just a stone's
(07:54):
throw to the northeast from Charles schwab Field and while
floor two through five will all be apartments, ground level
retail will include a very unique sports bar from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
It'll only be their second location, and the sports bar
specializes in and focuses on Louisiana State University athletics. Now,
(08:18):
why would you think an LSU sports bar would go there?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Probably because even if they don't make the College World Series,
which is not that often that they don't make it,
their fans come to the College World Series and they
buy the most shots when there's a contest at Rocos
is it?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, Rockos? I think it's called Rocos or Rocos But anyway, Yeah,
there's kind of the special connection between Olman and Louisiana
State University. And I don't have that in front of it,
but we did report it in a previous Gromaha news brief.
So if you just go to gramaha dot com and
search Louisiana or LSU ball where you at Charles schwab Field,
(08:56):
that'll show up.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
In New Orleans, where I live for four years going
to Two Lane University, we get along friendly with LSU
because the state school and we're much higher. No, just kidding,
I couldn't get in anymore with my grades. But basically,
if you say where you're at in Louisiana. That could
be like how you doing, where are you? What time
is it? They just use it for everything.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Thanks Trenton. That's a pretty cool Cajun language education session
for this morning. And with that wrap up our News
of the week, which is brought to you by Eagle
Mortgage Egle Mortgage Company dot com. Going to take our
first break of the hour, and when we come back,
we're going to be talking with Dick Mueller. He is
the former owner of the Firehouse Dinner Theater. If you've
(09:41):
been around a while, you remember the Firehouse Dinner Theater
in the Old Market. It was a very special place
and a big part of the Omaha cultural scene. We're
going to talk about that and a few other ideas
that Dick has for strengthening the arts and Omaha and beyond.
You're going to enjoy this, so stay with us. You're
listening to grow Omaha. Brought to you by Dingman's Collision
(10:02):
Center along with Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten
KFAB And welcome back to the show. Jeff Beial sitting
next to Trenton Maggot. We are brought to you by
Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics, Ladies and gentlemen.
Cheer Athletics is the nation's number one all star cheer
jim and there are only fifteen of them in the
entire world. Headquartered in Dallas. They're in other countries, but
(10:23):
the most important one is right here in Omaha at
Highways fifty and three seventy and beautiful Papilia, Nebraska. Great
place for your kids and grandkids to get involved. If
you're looking for outstanding leadership opportunities for kids, go to
Cheer Athletics. You can find them at Caomaha dot com. Well,
for many years, the Old Market was the home to
(10:44):
a very special live theater venue. It was called the
Firehouse Dinner Theater and so many times when I was
in high school and college, I would go and see
some shows there. Professional. It was a professional theater and
respected throughout the country. And if you're wondering where in
the Old Market it was, it's now the Upstream Brewing Company.
(11:07):
And we have with us the proprietor and founder of
the Firehouse Dinner Theater and also a recent author. His
name is Dick Mueller. Dick, welcome to grom Hall.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Well, thanks for the invite.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It's good to have you here. And first of all,
this book you have came out about a year ago.
It's called The Firehouse Memoir. Tell us a little bit
about the book.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Well, over the years, I would bore people with my
anecdotes about what happened, you know, stories from the old
from the firehouse and nice people. They would humor me,
suggesting I should.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Write a book. I could never figure out how to
how to attack it. I hate books, you know.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I books that are like we did this, and then
we did this, and then we did you know?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
That bores me.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
But I finally came up with just writing stories about
little things that happened. And I was also fascinated by
the how one thing leads to another one. You meet
somebody today and who knows what twenty years down the road,
what it becomes.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
When did it open?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
It opened on May twelfth, I believe nineteen seventy.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Two, soeteen seventy it was right before that. It was
the fire It was actually a fire.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Well, no, it had been decommissioned. I don't know what
year the city decommissioned. Originally it was Omaha's firehouse number one.
It was a beautiful building. Unfortunately, they had a fire
back in the days and they took the roof.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Off of it.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
It took too long to put it out.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Story was when I was building the firehouse, firemen, old fireman,
retired fireman would stop in every day when we were
doing whatever we were doing, and they would tell me stories.
And supposedly these firemen were One day they were sitting
out there on the side and there are firemen's chairs
enjoying the sunshine, and a little kid walked up and says, hey,
your place is on fire. Of course they thought he
(13:03):
was joking, and the truth was the hayloft, which was
the third floor because they had horses back then, was
burning and it was a big fire, and they well embarrassing,
but yeah, yeah, Actually the basement. I was told by
another fireman that that was a place where the zoo
(13:25):
at the time kept their alligators during the winter in
the fire in the basement of that building.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
A lot of stories like that.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, and another twist of irony. I mean, it was
an old fire station that caught on fire while the
firemen were there. You named it the firehouse dinner theater,
and then sadly after you had turned it into the firehouse.
You had a fire?
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Yeah, somebody. We were doing a little show we did
called Red Dog, which was probably our biggest hit. That
show ran for combined probably about a year at the Firehouse,
eight shows a week.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Fifty two weeks.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
It was that original show.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Or is that that was the world premiere? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Uh that you wrote it or.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
I didn't write it. The Leland Ball wrote it and
it was a big hit for us.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
But anyway, so what year was the What year was
the Firehouse Dinner Theater fire? Nineteen seventy five, so that
we had a great year a couple of years after
it opened.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, we were doing great.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
We were putting in stools every night and selling them
for full price, and.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
All of a sudden it wasn't a friction fire. Then, Yeah,
a friction fire?
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Is that? Is that a successful fire?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Well, I don't know how you could find successful, but
a friction fire. The joke is when the mortgage rubs
up against the promissory note. So, since you're doing so well,
I don't think it was a friction fire.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Well, I'm sure the insurance company at first, I was
the first one they looked at.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
But we were doing Baffelo business. It sloaded down, it
really did.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
It shut us down for three months. We were the
hottest ticket.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
In town and literally and figuratively.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Yeah. Yeah. And uh.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Also that year, if you'll remember, we were we did
two world premieres at once firehouse was doing Red Dog
and we had another show also written by Leyland Ball
and we were going to do it at the playhouse.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It was called Battle Him.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
And if you remember, nineteen seventy five also was visited.
Where's Tornado and the Tornado? Pardon we were six years old,
but yeah, well, I guess you don't remember.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Tornado and a blizzard?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Yes, it was quite a year.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, okay, so you were so.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Somebody said that set the Red Dog on fire? Oh yeah,
somebody sneaked into the building during the middle of the
night and we torched the place and we were closed
for probably over three months.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Putting it back together.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So it was an arson situation. It was wow, did
you go the people? You didn't cast?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
I have no idea really who I got my sister,
but I really don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
We didn't have video back then as much as we
do know. So we're talking about Dick Mueller, the founder
of the Firehouse Dinner Theater which ran from nineteen seventy
three to their early nineteen nineties. And you know, Dick,
we talked about how popular it was, and I say,
I remember going to probably six or seven shows at
the Firehouse over the years, and they were always full.
(16:22):
But you don't see dinner theaters anymore. Were they were
so fun? But you don't see a lot of dinner
theaters anymore. What changed the world has changed?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
How many people do you know today who couples, let's say,
because our basic business was couples, how many people couples.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Do you know?
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Who could spend who could even conceive of the notion
of spending showing up in downtown o Mall, walking across
the cobblestones in their high heels and their business suits
and spending four hours on a Tuesday night, a Wednesday night.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Times a week.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
We did it, you know, So the world has really changed.
I don't know how many people.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Could I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
But at the same time, Omaha is pretty affluent place,
and yes it is, and compared to twenty years ago,
when we started the show twenty one years ago, it's
unbelievable that number of offerings.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
We have Steelhouse Omaha.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I love to go to the Funny Bone, and they
just got a new location. So I think people and
then we also have you know when you started that,
And obviously price is a lot different.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
But twenty five year.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Olds at Omaha, they may never have a house, but
they spend fifteen to twenty dollars on one cocktail, so
they seem to spend money.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Now.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I don't know if they're their target market, but I
wouldn't be surprised for a for profit theater if if
people would wouldn't show.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Up, well, we don't have enough time, I know to
talk about it all my theories of the problems that
exist out there for theater. It mean, theater has always
had its problems, but I think today the basic if
I had pinned on one thing, I think ticket prices
have gotten too expensive. It's just become an investment. I mean, yes,
(18:16):
kids will spend fifteen bucks. They seem to have no
concept of the value of a dollar. But middle aged
people who are the kind of people that we and
older that was our audience. Basically it's going to the
theater today. I mean you can spend it's an investment
(18:36):
and Unfortunately too often it doesn't pay off.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
You were going to say, would you like to pay
credit card or would you like to fight? Answer your
tickets tonight service? He gets expensive. I do want to
bring up in that shout out because the Deninburgh family
was very into the theater and Uni Edinburgh was that
your aunt. No, my sister Tiffany Maggot Denninburgh, Tippy Maggot
(19:01):
Deninburgh is married to Steve Denninburgh, and then his sister
was very involved.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Debbie was involved in that.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But Eunice and you and Ozzie Naug who's still going strong,
and one other person.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
We're in a Luis Philberg what do.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You call that a quartet or what do you call that?
Speaker 5 (19:17):
It was yeah, three guy, three gals and my son
what was it called the Foe Gone Conclusions.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
How long did that person?
Speaker 4 (19:25):
I think I think Uni and Ozzie came up.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
They were very clever people and I think they were
responsible for the name.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Then my mom, Carolyn Schimmel Maggant, part of the hotel
family with the Blackstone. She actually worked at Gemni for
a little while and did graphic design with them, and
so it's neat that that we need creative people at Omaha.
We have plenty of creative people.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Do you see live theater still, Well, I don't.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Pat and I my wife, we don't go as often
as we probably should. But you know, the last time
I was at the Playhouse about a month or so ago.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
I was shocked.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
I had never I started at the Playhouse. It's a
beautiful theater. It's storied in Omaha, it owns the theater
seat and I had never been in that theater with
so few people. I was sad Friday night, the second
Friday night of their run of a big main stage show.
(20:26):
But I also we went to the to see Emmanuel
Axe with the Symphony last a while back, empty seats.
We saw Witton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Band
at the Holland empty seats. It's just crazy. Those are
world class productions and they in the city the size
of Omaha.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
They should be packed.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
But you know, I just think the ticket prices have
become too much of a consideration for.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Too many people.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yet we saw Hadestown, the Broadway touring production at the Orphume,
my family and I a couple months ago, and it
was packed to the gills and those tickets are pricey,
so it's almost it's almost as if if it's a
big Broadway show, people say, we must go.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
But that's what it has to be.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
If it's a high quality local they do.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
I think people go when it's it's kind of a
status thing. You've got to see this show.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I would love to see and and hopefully things will
cycle in one way or another, but I would love
to see something like The Firehouse come back. Whether or
not it has a dinner component or not remains to
be seen. But just bringing you ran a lot of
mainstream shows that were very accessible local you would have
(21:41):
long runs. What a lot of your runs were? What
six weeks or something like that.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
We opened another world premiere called Shakespeare the Indians. Now
there's a title that's going to ring. Yeah, bring them
in right, And it ran for sixteen weeks.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Wow, that's a lotful business.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
It was fantastic.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, well eight eight shows a week. Yeah, yeah, so
we can do it and and all that. But there's
there's one thing I do want to throw out there.
Trenton made a personal note with you there with some
of his his family members or extended family members. I
just want to bring up one thing, Dick, while I've
got you on the radio. In nineteen eighty six, I
auditioned for Brighton Beach Memoirs and uh, and we.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Couldn't afford you.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And you were the guy you were, You were the director.
If I remember.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Cortly, weren't you but a great shows?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
If you had to do it all over again, would
you cast me today?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I would today?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yes, thank you? No cheriatric hears. Actually that's pretty good.
Actually I went and actually saw that show. And the
guy you did cast was actually I did a lot
better than I was.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
He was sort of a ringer. He was good.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
He was touted to me by a good dear friend
who worked at the theater a lot, and he had
done the show in Florida and he was terrific. And
he came up here. And that kid, Ricky Siegels his name.
He's still in California and still acting. But he did
all three for us. We did all the trilogy, Brighton Beach,
(23:12):
Blocks He Blues and Broadway Bound YEP, and we used
we may have been the only theater that used the
same actor in those shows. And he progressed in age
perfectly for when we did him, So yeah, I'm sorry
that you couldn't have been part of.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
That, but he did do a great job. And ladies
and gentlemen, if you want a very good read, especially
if you ever went to a show at the Firehouse
in the seventies, eighties, or nineties, you want to pick
this up. It's called The Firehouse Memoir by Dick Mueller.
Where can people find this.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Space, Well, it's on Amazon.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, so Amazon's the place just to google The Firehouse Memoir.
There's a picture of a young Dick Mueller on the
cover from a few years ago on the front, more
recent one on the and a more senior Dick Mueller
on the back.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
But that's called before and After a career in the.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Theater, and a lot of pictures within it is. It
is a fantastic read for Omaha people who love Omaha
history and love the arts. And Dick, we appreciate you
writing it, we appreciate you coming on the show, and
more importantly, thank you for everything you've done for our
city for so long, arts wise and every otherwise. You're
a great Omahon.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
You're very kind. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
That's Dick Mueller, founder of the fire hous Dinner theater
and author of the Firehouse Memoir. Got to take our
middle of the show break for the news, and when
we come back, we're going to have our nonel companies,
commercial real estate development spotlight, and several other news items
you want to hear. Stay with us. You're listening to
Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten kfab and welcome
(24:49):
back to the show, Jeff Muhle sitting next to Trenton Maggot.
We are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center along
with Cheer Athletics. Dingman's is that company that constantly wins
the Best of Omaha Awards because they do such a
great job of taking care of your automobile. Four metro
area locations that are all outstanding. I don't want to
jinx anything, but Nebraska is leading Oregon three to one
(25:12):
right now on the bottom of the second inning, live
at Charles Schwab Field in north downtown Omaha. I had
been three nothing, but those rascally little beavers from Eugene,
Oregon just scheduled a art scheduled scored a run of
their own. So hopefully they can keep the lead. Yet
what I call him? Oh, that's Oregon State. Those are
(25:35):
rascally little ducks from Eugene, Oregon Trenton. That's a pretty
good sports reference for you. Jan Good job. Good thing
they had jersey that said ducks on them. It's a
good thing. I've got you here, Okay, this afternoon one
pm at Charles schwab Field, UCLA versus Iowa, and at
five pm this evening the winner of the Nebraska Oregon game,
(25:55):
which is hopefully the team in red, not the Ducks
or the Beavers versus Penn State. So if you want
to go see some baseball today you can. It's time
for our commercial real estate development Spotlight of the week,
which is brought to you by Not All Companies Not
All Companies dot com. They are the premier real estate
development firm in Omaha doing projects all over the country.
(26:17):
Here in town, Not All Companies is famous for Xarbon Village,
but also you know the Builders District downtown so many
other projects. And Not All Companies is also famous for
building beautiful buildings like headquarters buildings, HDR, Valmont Global Headquarters,
both of those in Omaha. Not All Companies does it
all well. During this section we always talk about something
(26:40):
happening in or near one of the many Notle Companies projects,
and today we go to Xarbon Village and we are
happy to tell you that the exterior signage has been
installed for Godega Market. That is a coffee shop and
convenience market which will open its second location very soon
in Sarbon Village. It is remodeling a space at nineteen
(27:04):
seventeen South sixty seventh Street that is the ground floor
of the aforementioned HDR Global Headquarters building. The previous tenant
there was Zoop, you know, the kind of the soup
and sandwich restaurant you may have been to that closed
last year. Godega Market has an original location right at
a eleventh and Howard in the Old Market.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
They've got a lot of daytime and nighttime contingencies there
from the apartment dwellers, condo drowellers and then all the
workers there. So it's a great place to have a
convenience type place.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, and if you've been to that Godega Market downtown,
they have carry out food and beverage stuff, but it's
also a great coffee shop and a lot of people
will go there and get coffee. I know I have
when I've been walking around the Old Market, so that'll
be a great addition to x Sarbon Village.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
That's almost best example, Jeff of a true mixed use
development where you have working, you have entertainment, you have restaurants,
you have services, and you have residents.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yep. And that is your non company's commercial real estate
development spotlight of the week. You can learn more about
our sponsor at Nodelcompanies dot com. We have a girla
Maha Eats restaurant review this week. It is brought to
you by All Mikes, which is the legendary office furniture
and equipment store located near twenty fifth and Farnam, but
(28:28):
they also have locations in many other cities across Nebraska
and Iowa. All Mikes is a proud sponsor of Girlamaha Eats.
This week, our writer and reviewer Chris Corey reviews Akkadian Grill.
This is the outstanding Cajun restaurant in Miracle Hills, Trenton.
And I believe you know the owner of that restaurant.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Absolutely, Jennifer and Dan O'Brien. They're good friends, but just
as importantly as their food is awesome and very consistent.
They've been there a long time, They've won awards and
everything on the menu is great and I love grits
in the shrimp and the Cajun meatloaf, and go check
(29:10):
them out. They're on the east side of one hundred
and fourteenth in Dodge called the Northeast Side, and now
they serve breakfast, So go to their website and check
it out. And they are the nicest people ever.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And if you want to read all about Acadian Grill,
you can find Chris Corey's review at Grollamaha dot com.
Just click on Reviews on the navigation bar. There's a
drop down menu, then choose eats Eats and all of
Chris Corey's reviews are on their in addition to the
most recent one Acadian Grill. That is Your Girl Omaha
(29:44):
Eats restaurant review brought to you by All Makes. And finally,
for this segment, here is a proof positive in case
you needed it, that Omaha continues to expand to the West.
Just this week, we had a story on grollmha dot
com about Hubble Real Company out of Des Moines, Iowa,
which plans to develop the Rye at Harrison, a twenty
(30:05):
million dollar apartment and town home project at two hundred
and thirteenth in Harrison Street. Wow, when you're seeing all
of these apartment projects at two hundred and thirteenth in
Harrinson Street, you know there's a lot of westward expansion.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah, if you're if you're living in the Old Market
and you've been down there for a while, pack a lunch,
go out and check. Go out to the major quarters
and see what's going on, because it goes far.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So this Ryan Harrison development will have two hundred and
eighty six units and construction will begin later this year
and project completion is scheduled sometime in twenty twenty seven.
And with that, we're going to take our final break
of the hour, and when we come back, we are
going to jump right into our Perkins Chreizer Construction Lightning Round,
(30:53):
in which we talk about a lot of retail and
restaurant things very fast, and there are a lot of them,
so don't miss any of you. Are listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Digmann's Collision Center, Chair Athletics and
Perkins Chrisler Construction on News Radio eleven ten Kyfaby and
welcome back to the show, Jeff Biel's and Trenton Maggot,
at your service, It is time for your Perkins Chritzer
(31:16):
Construction Lightning Round, into which we talk about a lot
of things really fast, and we want to thank Perkins
Chritzer Construction for making this possible. That organization is very,
very aptly and professionally run by Dave Kreitzer, our good
friend Dave, and he and his team do an outstanding
job of delivering high quality projects on time, on budget,
(31:38):
and they are so easy to work with. You know,
the companies that are having these projects built, the principles
that are investing in these projects, feel so much better
when they have Perkins Chritser Construction on their team. Doesn't
matter if you're just going to build out the interior
of an existing building, or if you're going to construct
from the ground up an office building, a retail center,
a church, what have you. They can do it all.
(32:00):
Perkins Chreutzer Construction serves the Metro area plus all of
eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. You can find them I'll
find them online rather at PDASHCA construction dot com. Well
Tara Goucha Brazilian steakhouse plans to open its doors to
the public Friday, May thirtieth. This is in the former
Charleston's building near one hundred and thirty eighth in West
(32:23):
Dodge Road. The business is based in Jacksonville, Florida. This
will be the fifth Tara Goucha in the world and
the second one in the Midwest. It is in the
first National Business Park And if you haven't driven by,
it looks really nice right now old Charleston's. The old
(32:43):
Charleston's has been painted black and white, so it looks
quite a bit different. There was also an addition put
onto the east side of the building. And so this
is a classic Brazilian steakhouse, the kind where you know
they bring the skewers of meat. I would imagine after
being in there you go home and sleep off the
meat sweats. But it's going to be really good. In
(33:04):
the reviews from people who have enjoyed the other four
Terra Gaucha locations have all been.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Doing fill up on the salad, even though the salad
is really good too.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, fillers, you gotta avoid your fillers. Tell them to
take the soup from the bottom smoking barrel. Barbecue has
signed a lease at twenty four to fifty seven South
one hundred and thirty second Street. That's just east of
like Fazzoli's and runs around the west side. This is
on the east side. Used to be a firehouse subs location.
(33:35):
Smoking Barrel is local barbecue joint. They are currently located
at one hundred and thirty fifth in Discovery Drive over
by the Millard Airport. That's a good place. Yeah, I've
tried it. It is really good. Speaking of new places
going into old restaurant spaces, Tomo Sushi and Ramen has
opened at two ten North one hundred and fourteenth Street
(33:55):
in the former Green Belly space. The restaurant serves traditional
japan these dishes sushi, sashimi, and ramen. And if you're
looking for some of that in west central Omaha, take
a look at the Tomo out in Elkhorn. Cedar Creek
Coffee and Art has started building out its future space
at two six Zho three Elkorn Drive that is on
(34:17):
the west side of old Town Elcorn. It's opening as
scheduled four September. The space is inside a newly constructed
three story building. Now this is a specialty coffee shop.
It'll be a multi roaster concept, which means that it
carries coffees from roasters all over the country. Another cool
thing about this Cedar Creek Coffee and Art. They will
(34:40):
have a stage for live jazz and the whole shop
will become an art gallery, and there will be a
resident ceramacist who will have a studio, and the ceramics
studio will be viewable from the coffee shop, so you
can watch a ceramacist serama size. I had a.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Serama remove a ceramic from my back like three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Hope it turned out okay. Tacorea eighty four Tacos Burritos
Emas has opened. It opened last week at eighty fourth
inn Q Street. That is the northwest corner and a
former cake bakery space. This is from the same owner
as Bomb Taco. Now Takorea eighty four serves eight varieties
of tacos, nine burritos, case ideas, beverages. Nice little street
(35:27):
taco shop that looks like a pretty fun little place
to pop in and grab a snack, maybe even a lunch.
Signage is up for Unity Seafood at seventy sixth in
cass The exact address is seventy six oh five Cass Street.
This is the former out Back steak location. It is
a Cajun grill and bar and will feature an outdoor
(35:48):
area as well. The liquor license filings list previous ownership
ties to Grand China Buffet and Hot Pot eighty eight.
Looks like it'll be a cool place. I drove by
this morning on the way to the studio, although it's
still kind of looks like an outback steakhouse when you
drive by. Yeah, I'll stick with a Kadie and grill
things reservation. Oh I already said that. Okay. Next thing
we have right here is kin Keyed Optical Company. This
(36:10):
is an independent eyewear and sunglasses store. It's opening next
week at ten oh one North thirteenth Street. That is
in Milwark Commons. This is in the ground floor southwest
corner space of the five story Dizzey Mule building. Actually,
Dizzey Mule is a complex, so that includes a couple
new construction buildings and an historic renovation that are all connected,
(36:32):
one hundred and seventy two apartments all together. And that's
encouraging to see service businesses like eyewear going to the
right it shows that it's becoming a real neighborhood. And
as we said earlier in the show, in that same
district you've got the Nova apartments which have already reached
the fourth floor. And then also in that district there
(36:53):
is a large apartment building called the Frame. It is
at twelfth and Nicholas north West Corner that has already
hit the second floor. So a lot of activity there
in Millwark Commons. Now the music is playing, which means
that we have to shut it down for a week,
but we'll be back next week, so don't you worry.
I'm Jeff Beils and I'm Trenton Megan. You've been listening
(37:16):
to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center,
Cheer Athletics and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll chat with you
next week at nine right here on news Radio eleven
ten KFAB
This is Grow Omaha, the only radio show that talks
about economic development, construction, business expansion, and all of those
things that make Omaha a great place to live or visit.
Grow Omaha on News Radio eleven ten.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ka Baby, Well, good morning, and welcome to the show.
Jeff Beal's here at your service. Glad you have joined us.
You're not going to find another show in the area
that talks about what we discuss, and that is Omaha
growth and development, real estate, construction, economic development, really anything
related to your favorite city becoming bigger, more vibrant, and
(00:34):
more prosperous. Big thank you to our sponsors. Our title
sponsors are Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star
cheer Jim along with Dingman's Collision Center Best of Omaha
award winner and for metro area locations. Without any further ado,
it's time to bring on my co host, a man
who is a legendary real estate deal maker, Trenton Maggid.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Jeff, you look really good
for being enshrined.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, you're probably referring to the face on the barroom floor,
which was our honor Thursday night. You and I are
now the one hundred and eighty second face on the
barroom floor. Tell people what happened.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, we're kind of two faced if you think about it,
but that's what they call it. You know, three eleven.
They're all on there together as well. They're like five
faced or something. We were fortunate enough to be nominated
and chosen to be on the twenty second floor of
the first National Building, not the brand new one, the
taller one, but the one that sits by the DoubleTree
(01:37):
on sixteenth and Dodge. And what a cool place if
you get a chance, you don't even have to be
a member, if you can rent it out and things
like that, and you can check out the Omaha Press
Club dot com. But we did this in a couple months,
and we had about one hundred and fifty something of
our closest friends and people that we forced to be there,
and basically we for all of our contributions to making
(02:01):
to growing Omaha. We've had a lot of help doing
the show. But we are honored to be on the
bar floor for the next couple months. People walk all
over us and then if we're lucky enough, they put
us on the wall periodically along with a rotation of
one hundred and eighty one other famous people.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
So we thank you, We thank the Press Club for
that honor. And whenever you are one of these faces
on the barroom floor like Trenton and I are, now
you have a roast. And we were roasted by none
other than Scott Vorhe's from KFAB Radio as well as
Brad Williams. You know him really well. He is a
(02:44):
frequent contributor on here, photographer extraordinaire and guest host. And
Chris Corey who is our food and film critic and
also owner of Barbara Creative who does a lot of
work with Girl Maha. Then Gary Sandelmayer, the legend here
at KFAB was ORMC. So great night, and we're going
to go straight into our News of the week, which
(03:04):
is brought to you by Egle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company
dot com. They're located in person at one hundred and
fourteenth and Davenport, just south of Dodge. Whether you visit
them online or at the office, either way they help
you get your piece of the American dream. We like
saying that because it's a big deal getting a house, moving,
(03:25):
buying one, choosing one, figuring out the financing. They take
a lot of that pressure away from you because they
know so well what they're doing and they can help
work out the best lending solution for you. Egle Mortgage
is not a bank. They shop the banks as a
mortgage broker and so they find the best lending solution.
Like we said, give them a call if you're thinking
(03:45):
about buying a house. You can find them online once
again at Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. Well Trenton, we
have several news items on the dock at this week.
The first one is Lorets and Gardens is going to
unveil a new playground called Sofia's play Garden on May
twenty six, which is coming up in a couple days.
(04:06):
But guess what. This is not just your typical playground.
This is a thirteen million dollar playground.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Holy moly, what is in a thirteen million dollars And
you have to be named Sophia to play on it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
It's actually named after the donor's daughter, the daughter of
Paulina and Bob Schlott, and it is one hundred percent
donor focused. It's a big deal because they broke ground
on this thing in twenty twenty two, so pretty much
a three year build. Meanwhile, the state track Meet is
underway in Omaha and there's not much left of it.
(04:38):
It's been going on since Wednesday and it wraps up today.
But that brings in two thousand, six hundred athletes and
their families. And you don't really think of a high
school event being a big tourism driver, but believe it
or not, the Nebraska State Track Meet is one of
the biggest hotel consuming events of the year in a
(05:00):
And we used.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
To be down the street on a frontage road at
an AIMP dodge and we felt.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It, yeah, because there would be people wanting to park
and our lot and all that sort of thing. So
I made a lot of cash that way. Yeah, yeah,
you thought about it, but I don't think you actually
did it, Sorry, Nate. Nebraska is the number one state
in the nation for newly retired women. This according to
an article in Travel and Leisure magazine based on a
(05:28):
study by Manhattan Mental Health Counseling. This organization ranked all
fifty states on many factors, including cost of living, healthcare,
life expectancy, crime, climate, and other things. In addition to
being number one, or I should say, in addition to
number one, Nebraska. Several other states in this region made
the top ten. South Dakota nearby number two, Iowa across
(05:51):
the river number three, Kansas just to our south number four,
and then Wisconsin seven, North Dakota eight, and Wyoming number nine.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Can these women be married or there to be single?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
They're just retired women has nothing to do whether they're
married or not. Why would you ask that, are you
are you just hears of their husbands? Or are you
looking for significant others? Came around, Yeah, I'm looking for
a cougar. So I guess you couldn't pick a better
part of the country because Omaha being right between Nebraska,
on the edge of Nebraska, right between number one and
the number three. So that's encouraging to know that things
(06:24):
are pretty good here for people that want to retire,
especially women. The Omaha Planning Board approved plats for new
developments along North one hundred ninety second Street. Basically, there
is going to be a lot more development activity along
North one hundred ninety second Street, even though there already
has been quite a bit for some time. Specifically, we're
looking around one hundred ninety second and Fort Street. We've
(06:47):
got a two hundred and thirty six single family lot
subdivision named Whispering Oaks. We have another one called mccardal
Ridge with two hundred and sixty seven subdivisions, and then
finally we've got a mixed use development coming up to
that area called antler View West. You're still going to
see just an explosion of development in that northwest Omaha
(07:12):
area that is kind of in that arc between Elkhorn
and Bennington.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
And if you're on two hundred and four Street, you
should see the single family I think a lot of
it's single family for rent, but there's some huge developments
going on now that they are just really nice but
separated apartments if you will. Yeah, it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And then we finish up with a little bit of
news from north downtown. Crews have framed the fourth floor
of the Nova Apartments, which are under construction southeast of
Twelfth and Nicholas. That particular area is called Millwork Commons.
Nova will be a five story building with street level
retail and seventy four apartments. It is just a stone's
(07:54):
throw to the northeast from Charles schwab Field and while
floor two through five will all be apartments, ground level
retail will include a very unique sports bar from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
It'll only be their second location, and the sports bar
specializes in and focuses on Louisiana State University athletics. Now,
(08:18):
why would you think an LSU sports bar would go there?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Probably because even if they don't make the College World Series,
which is not that often that they don't make it,
their fans come to the College World Series and they
buy the most shots when there's a contest at Rocos
is it?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, Rockos? I think it's called Rocos or Rocos But anyway, Yeah,
there's kind of the special connection between Olman and Louisiana
State University. And I don't have that in front of it,
but we did report it in a previous Gromaha news brief.
So if you just go to gramaha dot com and
search Louisiana or LSU ball where you at Charles schwab Field,
(08:56):
that'll show up.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
In New Orleans, where I live for four years going
to Two Lane University, we get along friendly with LSU
because the state school and we're much higher. No, just kidding,
I couldn't get in anymore with my grades. But basically,
if you say where you're at in Louisiana. That could
be like how you doing, where are you? What time
is it? They just use it for everything.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Thanks Trenton. That's a pretty cool Cajun language education session
for this morning. And with that wrap up our News
of the week, which is brought to you by Eagle
Mortgage Egle Mortgage Company dot com. Going to take our
first break of the hour, and when we come back,
we're going to be talking with Dick Mueller. He is
the former owner of the Firehouse Dinner Theater. If you've
(09:41):
been around a while, you remember the Firehouse Dinner Theater
in the Old Market. It was a very special place
and a big part of the Omaha cultural scene. We're
going to talk about that and a few other ideas
that Dick has for strengthening the arts and Omaha and beyond.
You're going to enjoy this, so stay with us. You're
listening to grow Omaha. Brought to you by Dingman's Collision
(10:02):
Center along with Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten
KFAB And welcome back to the show. Jeff Beial sitting
next to Trenton Maggot. We are brought to you by
Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics, Ladies and gentlemen.
Cheer Athletics is the nation's number one all star cheer
jim and there are only fifteen of them in the
entire world. Headquartered in Dallas. They're in other countries, but
(10:23):
the most important one is right here in Omaha at
Highways fifty and three seventy and beautiful Papilia, Nebraska. Great
place for your kids and grandkids to get involved. If
you're looking for outstanding leadership opportunities for kids, go to
Cheer Athletics. You can find them at Caomaha dot com. Well,
for many years, the Old Market was the home to
(10:44):
a very special live theater venue. It was called the
Firehouse Dinner Theater and so many times when I was
in high school and college, I would go and see
some shows there. Professional. It was a professional theater and
respected throughout the country. And if you're wondering where in
the Old Market it was, it's now the Upstream Brewing Company.
(11:07):
And we have with us the proprietor and founder of
the Firehouse Dinner Theater and also a recent author. His
name is Dick Mueller. Dick, welcome to grom Hall.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Well, thanks for the invite.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It's good to have you here. And first of all,
this book you have came out about a year ago.
It's called The Firehouse Memoir. Tell us a little bit
about the book.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Well, over the years, I would bore people with my
anecdotes about what happened, you know, stories from the old
from the firehouse and nice people. They would humor me,
suggesting I should.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Write a book. I could never figure out how to
how to attack it. I hate books, you know.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I books that are like we did this, and then
we did this, and then we did you know?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
That bores me.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
But I finally came up with just writing stories about
little things that happened. And I was also fascinated by
the how one thing leads to another one. You meet
somebody today and who knows what twenty years down the road,
what it becomes.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
When did it open?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
It opened on May twelfth, I believe nineteen seventy.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Two, soeteen seventy it was right before that. It was
the fire It was actually a fire.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Well, no, it had been decommissioned. I don't know what
year the city decommissioned. Originally it was Omaha's firehouse number one.
It was a beautiful building. Unfortunately, they had a fire
back in the days and they took the roof.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Off of it.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
It took too long to put it out.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Story was when I was building the firehouse, firemen, old fireman,
retired fireman would stop in every day when we were
doing whatever we were doing, and they would tell me stories.
And supposedly these firemen were One day they were sitting
out there on the side and there are firemen's chairs
enjoying the sunshine, and a little kid walked up and says, hey,
your place is on fire. Of course they thought he
(13:03):
was joking, and the truth was the hayloft, which was
the third floor because they had horses back then, was
burning and it was a big fire, and they well embarrassing,
but yeah, yeah, Actually the basement. I was told by
another fireman that that was a place where the zoo
(13:25):
at the time kept their alligators during the winter in
the fire in the basement of that building.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
A lot of stories like that.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, and another twist of irony. I mean, it was
an old fire station that caught on fire while the
firemen were there. You named it the firehouse dinner theater,
and then sadly after you had turned it into the firehouse.
You had a fire?
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Yeah, somebody. We were doing a little show we did
called Red Dog, which was probably our biggest hit. That
show ran for combined probably about a year at the Firehouse,
eight shows a week.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Fifty two weeks.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
It was that original show.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Or is that that was the world premiere? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Uh that you wrote it or.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
I didn't write it. The Leland Ball wrote it and
it was a big hit for us.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
But anyway, so what year was the What year was
the Firehouse Dinner Theater fire? Nineteen seventy five, so that
we had a great year a couple of years after
it opened.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, we were doing great.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
We were putting in stools every night and selling them
for full price, and.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
All of a sudden it wasn't a friction fire. Then, Yeah,
a friction fire?
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Is that? Is that a successful fire?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Well, I don't know how you could find successful, but
a friction fire. The joke is when the mortgage rubs
up against the promissory note. So, since you're doing so well,
I don't think it was a friction fire.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Well, I'm sure the insurance company at first, I was
the first one they looked at.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
But we were doing Baffelo business. It sloaded down, it
really did.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
It shut us down for three months. We were the
hottest ticket.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
In town and literally and figuratively.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Yeah. Yeah. And uh.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Also that year, if you'll remember, we were we did
two world premieres at once firehouse was doing Red Dog
and we had another show also written by Leyland Ball
and we were going to do it at the playhouse.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It was called Battle Him.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
And if you remember, nineteen seventy five also was visited.
Where's Tornado and the Tornado? Pardon we were six years old,
but yeah, well, I guess you don't remember.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Tornado and a blizzard?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Yes, it was quite a year.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, okay, so you were so.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Somebody said that set the Red Dog on fire? Oh yeah,
somebody sneaked into the building during the middle of the
night and we torched the place and we were closed
for probably over three months.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Putting it back together.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So it was an arson situation. It was wow, did
you go the people? You didn't cast?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
I have no idea really who I got my sister,
but I really don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
We didn't have video back then as much as we
do know. So we're talking about Dick Mueller, the founder
of the Firehouse Dinner Theater which ran from nineteen seventy
three to their early nineteen nineties. And you know, Dick,
we talked about how popular it was, and I say,
I remember going to probably six or seven shows at
the Firehouse over the years, and they were always full.
(16:22):
But you don't see dinner theaters anymore. Were they were
so fun? But you don't see a lot of dinner
theaters anymore. What changed the world has changed?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
How many people do you know today who couples, let's say,
because our basic business was couples, how many people couples.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Do you know?
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Who could spend who could even conceive of the notion
of spending showing up in downtown o Mall, walking across
the cobblestones in their high heels and their business suits
and spending four hours on a Tuesday night, a Wednesday night.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Times a week.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
We did it, you know, So the world has really changed.
I don't know how many people.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Could I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
But at the same time, Omaha is pretty affluent place,
and yes it is, and compared to twenty years ago,
when we started the show twenty one years ago, it's
unbelievable that number of offerings.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
We have Steelhouse Omaha.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I love to go to the Funny Bone, and they
just got a new location. So I think people and
then we also have you know when you started that,
And obviously price is a lot different.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
But twenty five year.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Olds at Omaha, they may never have a house, but
they spend fifteen to twenty dollars on one cocktail, so
they seem to spend money.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Now.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
I don't know if they're their target market, but I
wouldn't be surprised for a for profit theater if if
people would wouldn't show.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Up, well, we don't have enough time, I know to
talk about it all my theories of the problems that
exist out there for theater. It mean, theater has always
had its problems, but I think today the basic if
I had pinned on one thing, I think ticket prices
have gotten too expensive. It's just become an investment. I mean, yes,
(18:16):
kids will spend fifteen bucks. They seem to have no
concept of the value of a dollar. But middle aged
people who are the kind of people that we and
older that was our audience. Basically it's going to the
theater today. I mean you can spend it's an investment
(18:36):
and Unfortunately too often it doesn't pay off.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
You were going to say, would you like to pay
credit card or would you like to fight? Answer your
tickets tonight service? He gets expensive. I do want to
bring up in that shout out because the Deninburgh family
was very into the theater and Uni Edinburgh was that
your aunt. No, my sister Tiffany Maggot Denninburgh, Tippy Maggot
(19:01):
Deninburgh is married to Steve Denninburgh, and then his sister
was very involved.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Debbie was involved in that.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But Eunice and you and Ozzie Naug who's still going strong,
and one other person.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
We're in a Luis Philberg what do.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You call that a quartet or what do you call that?
Speaker 5 (19:17):
It was yeah, three guy, three gals and my son
what was it called the Foe Gone Conclusions.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
How long did that person?
Speaker 4 (19:25):
I think I think Uni and Ozzie came up.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
They were very clever people and I think they were
responsible for the name.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Then my mom, Carolyn Schimmel Maggant, part of the hotel
family with the Blackstone. She actually worked at Gemni for
a little while and did graphic design with them, and
so it's neat that that we need creative people at Omaha.
We have plenty of creative people.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Do you see live theater still, Well, I don't.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Pat and I my wife, we don't go as often
as we probably should. But you know, the last time
I was at the Playhouse about a month or so ago.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
I was shocked.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
I had never I started at the Playhouse. It's a
beautiful theater. It's storied in Omaha, it owns the theater
seat and I had never been in that theater with
so few people. I was sad Friday night, the second
Friday night of their run of a big main stage show.
(20:26):
But I also we went to the to see Emmanuel
Axe with the Symphony last a while back, empty seats.
We saw Witton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Band
at the Holland empty seats. It's just crazy. Those are
world class productions and they in the city the size
of Omaha.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
They should be packed.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
But you know, I just think the ticket prices have
become too much of a consideration for.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Too many people.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yet we saw Hadestown, the Broadway touring production at the Orphume,
my family and I a couple months ago, and it
was packed to the gills and those tickets are pricey,
so it's almost it's almost as if if it's a
big Broadway show, people say, we must go.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
But that's what it has to be.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
If it's a high quality local they do.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
I think people go when it's it's kind of a
status thing. You've got to see this show.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I would love to see and and hopefully things will
cycle in one way or another, but I would love
to see something like The Firehouse come back. Whether or
not it has a dinner component or not remains to
be seen. But just bringing you ran a lot of
mainstream shows that were very accessible local you would have
(21:41):
long runs. What a lot of your runs were? What
six weeks or something like that.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
We opened another world premiere called Shakespeare the Indians. Now
there's a title that's going to ring. Yeah, bring them
in right, And it ran for sixteen weeks.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Wow, that's a lotful business.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
It was fantastic.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, well eight eight shows a week. Yeah, yeah, so
we can do it and and all that. But there's
there's one thing I do want to throw out there.
Trenton made a personal note with you there with some
of his his family members or extended family members. I
just want to bring up one thing, Dick, while I've
got you on the radio. In nineteen eighty six, I
auditioned for Brighton Beach Memoirs and uh, and we.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Couldn't afford you.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And you were the guy you were, You were the director.
If I remember.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Cortly, weren't you but a great shows?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
If you had to do it all over again, would
you cast me today?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I would today?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yes, thank you? No cheriatric hears. Actually that's pretty good.
Actually I went and actually saw that show. And the
guy you did cast was actually I did a lot
better than I was.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
He was sort of a ringer. He was good.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
He was touted to me by a good dear friend
who worked at the theater a lot, and he had
done the show in Florida and he was terrific. And
he came up here. And that kid, Ricky Siegels his name.
He's still in California and still acting. But he did
all three for us. We did all the trilogy, Brighton Beach,
(23:12):
Blocks He Blues and Broadway Bound YEP, and we used
we may have been the only theater that used the
same actor in those shows. And he progressed in age
perfectly for when we did him, So yeah, I'm sorry
that you couldn't have been part of.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
That, but he did do a great job. And ladies
and gentlemen, if you want a very good read, especially
if you ever went to a show at the Firehouse
in the seventies, eighties, or nineties, you want to pick
this up. It's called The Firehouse Memoir by Dick Mueller.
Where can people find this.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Space, Well, it's on Amazon.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, so Amazon's the place just to google The Firehouse Memoir.
There's a picture of a young Dick Mueller on the
cover from a few years ago on the front, more
recent one on the and a more senior Dick Mueller
on the back.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
But that's called before and After a career in the.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Theater, and a lot of pictures within it is. It
is a fantastic read for Omaha people who love Omaha
history and love the arts. And Dick, we appreciate you
writing it, we appreciate you coming on the show, and
more importantly, thank you for everything you've done for our
city for so long, arts wise and every otherwise. You're
a great Omahon.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
You're very kind. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
That's Dick Mueller, founder of the fire hous Dinner theater
and author of the Firehouse Memoir. Got to take our
middle of the show break for the news, and when
we come back, we're going to have our nonel companies,
commercial real estate development spotlight, and several other news items
you want to hear. Stay with us. You're listening to
Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten kfab and welcome
(24:49):
back to the show, Jeff Muhle sitting next to Trenton Maggot.
We are brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center along
with Cheer Athletics. Dingman's is that company that constantly wins
the Best of Omaha Awards because they do such a
great job of taking care of your automobile. Four metro
area locations that are all outstanding. I don't want to
jinx anything, but Nebraska is leading Oregon three to one
(25:12):
right now on the bottom of the second inning, live
at Charles Schwab Field in north downtown Omaha. I had
been three nothing, but those rascally little beavers from Eugene,
Oregon just scheduled a art scheduled scored a run of
their own. So hopefully they can keep the lead. Yet
what I call him? Oh, that's Oregon State. Those are
(25:35):
rascally little ducks from Eugene, Oregon Trenton. That's a pretty
good sports reference for you. Jan Good job. Good thing
they had jersey that said ducks on them. It's a
good thing. I've got you here, Okay, this afternoon one
pm at Charles schwab Field, UCLA versus Iowa, and at
five pm this evening the winner of the Nebraska Oregon game,
(25:55):
which is hopefully the team in red, not the Ducks
or the Beavers versus Penn State. So if you want
to go see some baseball today you can. It's time
for our commercial real estate development Spotlight of the week,
which is brought to you by Not All Companies Not
All Companies dot com. They are the premier real estate
development firm in Omaha doing projects all over the country.
(26:17):
Here in town, Not All Companies is famous for Xarbon Village,
but also you know the Builders District downtown so many
other projects. And Not All Companies is also famous for
building beautiful buildings like headquarters buildings, HDR, Valmont Global Headquarters,
both of those in Omaha. Not All Companies does it
all well. During this section we always talk about something
(26:40):
happening in or near one of the many Notle Companies projects,
and today we go to Xarbon Village and we are
happy to tell you that the exterior signage has been
installed for Godega Market. That is a coffee shop and
convenience market which will open its second location very soon
in Sarbon Village. It is remodeling a space at nineteen
(27:04):
seventeen South sixty seventh Street that is the ground floor
of the aforementioned HDR Global Headquarters building. The previous tenant
there was Zoop, you know, the kind of the soup
and sandwich restaurant you may have been to that closed
last year. Godega Market has an original location right at
a eleventh and Howard in the Old Market.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
They've got a lot of daytime and nighttime contingencies there
from the apartment dwellers, condo drowellers and then all the
workers there. So it's a great place to have a
convenience type place.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, and if you've been to that Godega Market downtown,
they have carry out food and beverage stuff, but it's
also a great coffee shop and a lot of people
will go there and get coffee. I know I have
when I've been walking around the Old Market, so that'll
be a great addition to x Sarbon Village.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
That's almost best example, Jeff of a true mixed use
development where you have working, you have entertainment, you have restaurants,
you have services, and you have residents.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yep. And that is your non company's commercial real estate
development spotlight of the week. You can learn more about
our sponsor at Nodelcompanies dot com. We have a girla
Maha Eats restaurant review this week. It is brought to
you by All Mikes, which is the legendary office furniture
and equipment store located near twenty fifth and Farnam, but
(28:28):
they also have locations in many other cities across Nebraska
and Iowa. All Mikes is a proud sponsor of Girlamaha Eats.
This week, our writer and reviewer Chris Corey reviews Akkadian Grill.
This is the outstanding Cajun restaurant in Miracle Hills, Trenton.
And I believe you know the owner of that restaurant.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Absolutely, Jennifer and Dan O'Brien. They're good friends, but just
as importantly as their food is awesome and very consistent.
They've been there a long time, They've won awards and
everything on the menu is great and I love grits
in the shrimp and the Cajun meatloaf, and go check
(29:10):
them out. They're on the east side of one hundred
and fourteenth in Dodge called the Northeast Side, and now
they serve breakfast, So go to their website and check
it out. And they are the nicest people ever.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And if you want to read all about Acadian Grill,
you can find Chris Corey's review at Grollamaha dot com.
Just click on Reviews on the navigation bar. There's a
drop down menu, then choose eats Eats and all of
Chris Corey's reviews are on their in addition to the
most recent one Acadian Grill. That is Your Girl Omaha
(29:44):
Eats restaurant review brought to you by All Makes. And finally,
for this segment, here is a proof positive in case
you needed it, that Omaha continues to expand to the West.
Just this week, we had a story on grollmha dot
com about Hubble Real Company out of Des Moines, Iowa,
which plans to develop the Rye at Harrison, a twenty
(30:05):
million dollar apartment and town home project at two hundred
and thirteenth in Harrison Street. Wow, when you're seeing all
of these apartment projects at two hundred and thirteenth in
Harrinson Street, you know there's a lot of westward expansion.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah, if you're if you're living in the Old Market
and you've been down there for a while, pack a lunch,
go out and check. Go out to the major quarters
and see what's going on, because it goes far.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So this Ryan Harrison development will have two hundred and
eighty six units and construction will begin later this year
and project completion is scheduled sometime in twenty twenty seven.
And with that, we're going to take our final break
of the hour, and when we come back, we are
going to jump right into our Perkins Chreizer Construction Lightning Round,
(30:53):
in which we talk about a lot of retail and
restaurant things very fast, and there are a lot of them,
so don't miss any of you. Are listening to Grow Omaha,
brought to you by Digmann's Collision Center, Chair Athletics and
Perkins Chrisler Construction on News Radio eleven ten Kyfaby and
welcome back to the show, Jeff Biel's and Trenton Maggot,
at your service, It is time for your Perkins Chritzer
(31:16):
Construction Lightning Round, into which we talk about a lot
of things really fast, and we want to thank Perkins
Chritzer Construction for making this possible. That organization is very,
very aptly and professionally run by Dave Kreitzer, our good
friend Dave, and he and his team do an outstanding
job of delivering high quality projects on time, on budget,
(31:38):
and they are so easy to work with. You know,
the companies that are having these projects built, the principles
that are investing in these projects, feel so much better
when they have Perkins Chritser Construction on their team. Doesn't
matter if you're just going to build out the interior
of an existing building, or if you're going to construct
from the ground up an office building, a retail center,
a church, what have you. They can do it all.
(32:00):
Perkins Chreutzer Construction serves the Metro area plus all of
eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. You can find them I'll
find them online rather at PDASHCA construction dot com. Well
Tara Goucha Brazilian steakhouse plans to open its doors to
the public Friday, May thirtieth. This is in the former
Charleston's building near one hundred and thirty eighth in West
(32:23):
Dodge Road. The business is based in Jacksonville, Florida. This
will be the fifth Tara Goucha in the world and
the second one in the Midwest. It is in the
first National Business Park And if you haven't driven by,
it looks really nice right now old Charleston's. The old
(32:43):
Charleston's has been painted black and white, so it looks
quite a bit different. There was also an addition put
onto the east side of the building. And so this
is a classic Brazilian steakhouse, the kind where you know
they bring the skewers of meat. I would imagine after
being in there you go home and sleep off the
meat sweats. But it's going to be really good. In
(33:04):
the reviews from people who have enjoyed the other four
Terra Gaucha locations have all been.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Doing fill up on the salad, even though the salad
is really good too.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, fillers, you gotta avoid your fillers. Tell them to
take the soup from the bottom smoking barrel. Barbecue has
signed a lease at twenty four to fifty seven South
one hundred and thirty second Street. That's just east of
like Fazzoli's and runs around the west side. This is
on the east side. Used to be a firehouse subs location.
(33:35):
Smoking Barrel is local barbecue joint. They are currently located
at one hundred and thirty fifth in Discovery Drive over
by the Millard Airport. That's a good place. Yeah, I've
tried it. It is really good. Speaking of new places
going into old restaurant spaces, Tomo Sushi and Ramen has
opened at two ten North one hundred and fourteenth Street
(33:55):
in the former Green Belly space. The restaurant serves traditional
japan these dishes sushi, sashimi, and ramen. And if you're
looking for some of that in west central Omaha, take
a look at the Tomo out in Elkhorn. Cedar Creek
Coffee and Art has started building out its future space
at two six Zho three Elkorn Drive that is on
(34:17):
the west side of old Town Elcorn. It's opening as
scheduled four September. The space is inside a newly constructed
three story building. Now this is a specialty coffee shop.
It'll be a multi roaster concept, which means that it
carries coffees from roasters all over the country. Another cool
thing about this Cedar Creek Coffee and Art. They will
(34:40):
have a stage for live jazz and the whole shop
will become an art gallery, and there will be a
resident ceramacist who will have a studio, and the ceramics
studio will be viewable from the coffee shop, so you
can watch a ceramacist serama size. I had a.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Serama remove a ceramic from my back like three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Hope it turned out okay. Tacorea eighty four Tacos Burritos
Emas has opened. It opened last week at eighty fourth
inn Q Street. That is the northwest corner and a
former cake bakery space. This is from the same owner
as Bomb Taco. Now Takorea eighty four serves eight varieties
of tacos, nine burritos, case ideas, beverages. Nice little street
(35:27):
taco shop that looks like a pretty fun little place
to pop in and grab a snack, maybe even a lunch.
Signage is up for Unity Seafood at seventy sixth in
cass The exact address is seventy six oh five Cass Street.
This is the former out Back steak location. It is
a Cajun grill and bar and will feature an outdoor
(35:48):
area as well. The liquor license filings list previous ownership
ties to Grand China Buffet and Hot Pot eighty eight.
Looks like it'll be a cool place. I drove by
this morning on the way to the studio, although it's
still kind of looks like an outback steakhouse when you
drive by. Yeah, I'll stick with a Kadie and grill
things reservation. Oh I already said that. Okay. Next thing
we have right here is kin Keyed Optical Company. This
(36:10):
is an independent eyewear and sunglasses store. It's opening next
week at ten oh one North thirteenth Street. That is
in Milwark Commons. This is in the ground floor southwest
corner space of the five story Dizzey Mule building. Actually,
Dizzey Mule is a complex, so that includes a couple
new construction buildings and an historic renovation that are all connected,
(36:32):
one hundred and seventy two apartments all together. And that's
encouraging to see service businesses like eyewear going to the
right it shows that it's becoming a real neighborhood. And
as we said earlier in the show, in that same
district you've got the Nova apartments which have already reached
the fourth floor. And then also in that district there
(36:53):
is a large apartment building called the Frame. It is
at twelfth and Nicholas north West Corner that has already
hit the second floor. So a lot of activity there
in Millwark Commons. Now the music is playing, which means
that we have to shut it down for a week,
but we'll be back next week, so don't you worry.
I'm Jeff Beils and I'm Trenton Megan. You've been listening
(37:16):
to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center,
Cheer Athletics and Perkins Chritzer Construction. We'll chat with you
next week at nine right here on news Radio eleven
ten KFAB
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