Grow Omaha 6-14-2025

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.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ka, Baby, Well, good morning, and welcome to the show.
Jeff Beils here at your service. So glad you joined
us on this College World Series weekend. This is the
only show in the metro area that talks about business expansion,
real estate, construction, really anything related to your favorite city
becoming more vibrant, more prosperous. All right, We're brought to

(00:34):
you by Dingman's Collision Center with four Metro area locations
along with Cheer Athletics. They have fifteen World locations, but
the one we really care about is at Highway three
seventy and Highway fifty in Papillion. So it's time to
bring on my co host, a man who is a
legendary real estate deal maker and all around interesting guy,

(00:56):
Trenton Maggot.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Good morning everyone, Good morning, Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good morning to you. Have you did Jamaica to either
of the College World Series games? Yesterday?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
I went to the after loop, meaning that I just
drove around the stadium and I saw the ferris wheel,
and I saw a lot of the attractions, and it's
looking good. Our city's looking nice and clean. They stopped
a lot of the construction, which is nice, so got
rid of some of orange cones.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
And you know, it's funny you should say that because
I kind of did the loop as well. I was
out of town yesterday in Kansas City and I arrived
in Omaha just before nine thirty and I thought, I'm
gonna go downtown and walk around and take in the scene.
So parked in the Old Market and walked through the
park and the second game was just ending as I

(01:42):
was walking by the stadium, and yeah, quite an active,
lively scene.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
We welcome all the fans, and LSU fans come no
matter what, and that's what they're always so welcome. Everybody's
welcomed to Omaha, and we appreciate all the thousands of you
that are tuning in this morning.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
The only problem, though, when the LSU fans come to town,
all of the other teams have pretty much no shot
of winning the jell O shot competition at Rocos across
the street.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Absolutely, and that's just a phenomenon. And you know, the
whatever amount goes to good causes and the food banks
and the different cities. That's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, it's our time. It's the time for the news
of the week, which is brought to you by Eagle
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(02:39):
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Doesn't matter whether you're going conventional FHAVA or one of
the others. Talk to Eagle Mortgage. They'll take good care
of you. Egle Mortgage Company dot Com. Well Trenton. On Monday,
Woodbury Corp. Will have a groundbreaking ceremony for the Crossroads
mall and more at Crossroads Development, I should say it
used to be a mall. More specifically, the groundbreaking will

(03:22):
be for Gamescape by Cinemark and entertainment venue, part of
the Cinemark Theaters chain. This will be the first occupant
of the Crossroads development northwest of seventy second of Dodge.
We've talked about that before. Interestingly, though, at that event,
Woodbury is going to unveil the new logo and the
property branding for the Crossroads. I'm hoping, I'm hoping we

(03:46):
get to see a new version of that hideous monument
sign that is on the corner that most of the
lights are not working.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
There must be a reason that they leave it in
case they can't put it back up. But I agree
with you on that. And you know, it just seems
like yesterday that Frank Crazie bought the whole place for
like ten million dollars it or like fifteen years.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
It was not yesterday, But as we've well documented on
this show, so many different things have happened over those
fifteen years, different people involved with it, the death of
Frank Crazie, the man who had owned it, and so
it's been a long waist coming, But a lot of people,
both privately and publicly, have worked so hard to get

(04:28):
to that point. So it's exciting to see that groundbreaking
taking place on Monday. Well, the Nebraska State Office Building
downtown at thirteen thirteen Farnham Street is officially listed for sale. Now.
The Nebraska Department of Administrative Services is responsible for doing that.
They had been considering selling it for a while. There

(04:49):
was an article that came out in Nebraska Examiner earlier
this year talking about it, and in the article, some
state centers were quoted saying, hey, is this a really
a good idea? But the people from the Administrative Services
Department said, this is an area of high interest and
we believe the building could go for a nice price.

(05:10):
It is a one hundred and eighty thousand square foot building.
It has four hundred parking spaces underneath it. Now, I
don't want to be critical because I'm sure back in
the late seventies there was an architect who worked very
hard on that building and was very very proud of
his or her work. But I am going to say

(05:31):
it is perhaps my most hated building in the city
of Omaha.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
News at groma dot com for Jeff Biels.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
And here's why, because, first of all, it's only three stories,
and it looks like it either looks like a prison
or a high school. Some would say that's kind of
the same thing. At any rate, it's only three stories.
And here's the real reason why I hate it. In
order to build it, they tore down an eighteen story

(05:59):
building that was constructed in nineteen twelve. It was the
Woodman of the World building before the Woodman Tower, and
upon its construction, was the tallest building between Chicago and
San Francisco. And we tore it down to build a prison,
high school, three story state office building. So if now,
the only reason you would sell that building likely would

(06:20):
be for redevelopment. Is on the streetcar line. It is
right across the street from Mutual. So if if, and
we hope if there is someone who wants to put
something special there, that would be great news.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I wonder if they can keep those four hundred parking
stalls so they're all underground.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Right, yeah, underneath? Well, actually I take that back. There
is parking underneath the building, but it comes with a
four hundred stall garage across the street. But it's my
I've never been underneath the building, but I understand there's
quite a bit of parking underneath. But how I don't know.
How would you tear down a building and save the
parking underneath. You'd like to go vertical, obviously. Yeah, and

(06:59):
so they don't the government offices, they're saying, because no,
they do. They would The plan would be to relocate
those state office workers somewhere else in Omahall presumably they
would lease space. I mean, you're sure take plenty of it. Yeah,
there's plenty of space even in the downtown area where the.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
State or they can make a deal where they get
commensurate at rent and they could stay in part of
the building that gets rebuilt.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, that's possible. Although where would they go during the
construction is get temporary space elsewhere down There are several
hundred of them down there. I believe that work out
of the building, So that could be a good But
you know, I think folks get ready, get ready for
more and more talk like this because that building, as
I mentioned earlier, is on the streetcar line, and the

(07:43):
whole reason, or one of the biggest reasons why we're
doing that thing is to enhance real estate development and
create more value and there a been core so that
that's probably going to be a serious target and we'll
see what happens in that area. So, speaking of big
project in Council Bluffs, there has been a project underway

(08:05):
that is secret. It is called Project Lola. If you're
a regular listener, you know a lot of times when
the economic development people are working with a big project,
they want to keep things secret for a variety of
quite legitimate reasons. Project Lola planned for Council Bluffs. It
is going to be smaller than originally anticipated. The Council
Bluff City Council last year approved a four hundred and

(08:28):
fifty thousand square foot data center building that would be
eighty feet tall for this Project Lola. That was to
be constructed on a little bit of farm land that
is between Iowa Western Community College and Interstate eighty south
of Canesville Boulevard. Well, now they've downgraded it to two
hundred and eighty five thousand square feet and thirty six

(08:49):
feet tall. Still a very substantial building, but not quite
as big as it had been. We've been hearing some
intel though that that might be only one of a
handful or more of data centers that are actively looking
in the Council Bluffs part of the metro area and
surrounding part. So Council Bluff seems to be in play
right now for new data centers, and I think that's.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Great, and we have relatively inexpensive utilities and ground and
city services. They don't employ a ton of employees, but
certainly for many years they employ a lot of construction workers.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Next up, there is a nonprofit in Lincoln that is
known as The Bay Bay The Bay. It's planning an
Omaha location in Benson. This is a free pay or
free or pay as you go services for youth to
participate in skateboarding, art, fashion, music. They have workforce training
and career exploration services down on Lincoln. They're inside a

(09:50):
twenty thousand square foot warehouse where they have an indoor
skate park and community and office space. The Omaha location
is going to be an adaptive reuse of a three
store a thirty four thousand square foot warehouse in Benson.
The exact addresses sixty one to twenty Military Avenue. The
first floor we'll have an indoor skate park with street

(10:11):
skating elements. I don't know what it says street skating
elements and avert. I don't know what the hell that is,
but I bet avert looks cool.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
I think I'm gonna avert it.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
The second and third floors will feature classrooms, office space,
a performance stage, fashion room, sound production studio, an e
sports room. The project side is currently under consideration for
rezoning to make this possible. Sounds like a cool thing,
and you know, need to see more and more of
these types of things going into areas like Benson pay
as you.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
Go insurance, medical insurance with a skateboard park.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
I am definitely not in charge of that, so I'm
sure whoever it is is got it under control. And finally,
the Military Avenue and Hamilton Street intersection on the near
north side is coming alive with development. On the northeast corner,
the Papio r Das started construction on kind of a
trailhead entrance to the Beltline trail and that's coming along

(11:04):
quite natzily, supposed to be completed by October of this year.
And then across the street, plans call for the redevelopment
of the long vacant Johnson Sash and Door building. The
exact address is fourteen twelve Military Avenue. That company closed
permanently back in twenty eighteen and went before the planning
board this week. There will be a structure. The structure

(11:25):
will be transformed into a mixed use building with ground
floor commercial space and eight residential units on the second floor.
So good to see redevelopment coming to that area.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
It seems like the construction, which is not an expense
of these days, hasn't really slowed development now. A lot
of these projects that are getting tiff and a lot
of stuff that are downtown, maybe they benefit from other things,
but I'm just glad that the construction and redevelopment continues.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
My guess. A lot of that is kind of a
demand thing, you know, if the population is growing like
it's sure appears lately that it has been. I mean,
there's been a lot to talk about how a hottest
housing market, and we saw some pretty good population growth
in the numbers from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty
four that came out earlier this year. You got to

(12:14):
put these people somewhere, so it could just be demand driven.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
That's for the next segment.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Actually, the next segment is going to be a feature
about a new construction project. A new construction project that
will be at twenty second in Howard Street, and we're
going to interview the developers behind that project, Brian and
Lee Mueller, who chose to move to Omaha to become

(12:41):
real estate developers after living in Boston for a pretty
good period of time. You'll find this a very fascinating
discussion about what draws entrepreneurs to Omaha and about a
specific project in the urban core as well. So stay
with us. That is the next interview project after this
News of the Week brought to you by Eagle Mortgage.

(13:01):
Going to take our first break, and when we do,
you're going to enjoy that conversation. Thank you to our sponsors.
They are Cheer Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center, and we'll
be back in a moment. On News Radio eleven ten
Kfaby Jeff Beils here sitting next to Trenton Maggot. It
is Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center
and Cheer Athletics. Let's say you are down at the

(13:23):
College World Series and the parking in your area is
very scarce. It is very tight, and there's one spot
and you look at it and you think, I don't
know it's awfully narrow, but you squeeze and wiggle your
car in there. You come back from the game and
someone door Dingdia, no problem, Just go to Dingman's Collision Center.
They will take care of you. They're used to this

(13:43):
sort of thing. It's what they do, and there's nobody
in town that does it better. Well, we want to
introduce you today to a couple that is making a
splash in the Omahire. In fact, at her final State
of the City address, Mayor Stothert mentioned them as a
couple of entrepreneurs who moved from Boston in twenty eighteen

(14:05):
to Omaha because there was a lot of real estate
development opportunity here and they are getting really invactive, really
active building here in Olman. I want to introduce you too,
Brian and Lee Mueller. Brian and Lee, good morning and
welcome to the show.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
Good morning. Thank you guys for having us. Appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (14:21):
I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, you guys have you guys have a great story.
You were, if I remember correctly, New York Natives.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
New York Natives, so grew up on the East coast. Yeah,
so we moved here about seven years ago. I grew
up in New Jersey.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Okay, and you were Long Island. Le Yes, I was
Long Island, Okay. And you guys went to school in Philadelphia.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
We did, Yeah, we both. We went to Saint Joseph's
University in Philly, and that's kind of where we met.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Okay. And then first, first to aft job after Philadelphia.
If I remember from our conversation a few months ago,
wasn't that in New York? Did you go to New York?

Speaker 4 (14:59):
Well, first job yet? We moved back up from Philadelphia
into New York New Jersey area, and we actually entrepreneurs
at heart. We opened a bakery. It was the first
gig outside of you.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Can pick avocations.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
Oh my gosh, time to make the donuts. We were
up early, you know, in there late.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
We venture those.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
It was that was a great commercial. It's time to
make the donuts. So you got out of the bakery business.
And then what.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
Happened, Yeah, baking was not our calling.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Then you slept in Yeah, exactly exactly, So entrepreneurs at heart.
We ended up moving up to Boston at that time
after the bakery, where we joined the corporate ranks. So
I joined a software company out of Cambridge.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
I was at Mass General, so I did development for
major Gifts, and you know, it was having a corporate
job was obviously more stable than the bakery and kind
of owning your own business. And it really wasn't until
we started to have a family. We loved both of
our careers, but we kind of took a step back
and said, you know, I don't think this is our path,

(16:00):
not be the right path for us.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
So at that time, we were starting a family, so
we sat down and we said, how do we architect
our life? And as we started doing research, that's what
brought us out here to Omaha.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
And you know, we kind of the way we look
at life, we ask ourselves like, there are three really
big questions and three major questions that we fail. You
need to answer you to have this fulfilling, happy life, right,
it's going to be who you spend your time with,
what you do, and then where you live, your location.
And again that's kind of one of the reasons why

(16:30):
we took a step back to say where do we
want to live, where do we want to start our family?

Speaker 3 (16:33):
And weather it was like number eight or nine exact undred.

Speaker 5 (16:36):
Percent, it was probably ten.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
We're used to the seasons, but I have to say
it gets a little bit colder, a little bit different
type of wind chill out here.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
You know.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, when you're in mid when you're in mid continent,
the summers are hotter, the winners are colder, and the
wind blows harder. So we're talking with Brian and Lee
Mueller and so so Trenton's asked you before the show.
He said, okay, you were in and what did you
throw a dart at a map? But how did you guys?
How'd you guys settle on Omaha as your your new destination.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah, it's a great question because we get that a
lot from individuals, and we said, hey, we're moving out
to Omaha, Nebraska. I think we started to do some
research about how we wanted to architect our life, and
real estate was one of those things that we wanted
to invest in and wanted to do so as we
did research of you know, stable economies, the pace of life,
we wanted the barriers to entry to be able to

(17:30):
do it. Cost of living, cost of living Omaha kept
coming up in those top ten top twenty list. Now,
family is also very important to us. So I had
a brother who moved out here about twenty twenty five
years ago, so that kind of sealed the deal for me.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
You visited very much over the years.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
I visited probably a handful of times. Yeah, two to
three times. Came out here, helped, you know, powerwash his
fence and things along those lines, and even he got
married out here at the Jocelyn Jostly Museum. And just
to see the difference in twenty years ago from where
we are now is pretty impressive.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
And so so you guys got started in development and
owned some multifamily buildings, but now you're getting ready to
break ground on a building called the Molar after your
last name, and this is going to be at twenty
second in Howard Street. Talk to us a little bit
about this project and what it'll be like, and I

(18:28):
don't know what it will look like when it's all
said and done.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
I mean, we're not career developers, but we certainly are
interested in the future of Omaha. Again, we've only been
here for about six seven years now, and it's a
city we have kind of both loved or grown to love,
for sure, and we want it to be a city.
As we look to the future of what Omaha could
be a city that our kids will not only grow
up in, but wherever their life might take them, they

(18:52):
will either stay or want to come back to. So
when we kind of had the opportunity to physically develop,
like you mentioned war in real estate a little bit
before we you know, would developers, we property managed some
other buildings, we saw this as an opportunity to create
thoughtful density in the urban core. And this building is

(19:14):
it's about thirty eight units. What it does for the
city is as far as density, you know, density as
we all know, it equates to vibrancy. It creates culture,
it creates safety. And what it does is it allows
us to grow Omaha not only bigger, but it allows

(19:36):
it to grow smarter.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
And it also it also consolidates services, utilities, and all
that kind of stuff so that it's less cost than
spreading out with.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
Yeah, I think this is a classic info project. So
it's a community right there that new style has built
up a vibrant area and this location was underutilized single
family home and we saw an opportunity to continue what
they've started to build out there. I think you we
have kind of we're at a crossroads here, right. We
can build a lot of building on the fringe and

(20:07):
going out, or we can build in and really create
that urban density and strengthen the core. I think that's
a key aspect to what we want to help do
within within Omaha.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I just want to make sure you guys are spending
enough time together.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
I mean, we we work and live together. I'm not
sure it's enough time.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Well, I think, I think I think we checked that
first box of the question of like who you partner.

Speaker 5 (20:27):
With, happy wife, happy life, Yeah, smart, Brian's a smart guy.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
So this this, uh, this building will be four stories
plus a level of underground parking.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
Correct for over one so it's a podium, So that
parking underneath was a big decision for us.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Expensive.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Isn't it very expensive?

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
So it's not a lot of units, but when we
look at the trajectory of where we see Omaha going,
we think that's going to be an asset long term,
and as we talk to the community and individuals in
that area. We were sitting into planning board one time
and someone leaned over and said, hey, I took a
look at your project and like, appreciate that parking that
you put in there. I think it's important aspect, but
it is something that you know, as you go through

(21:10):
value engineering, people are like, how about we get rid
of this parking lot on the bottom here.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, because you don't have to have parking downtown service. Right.

Speaker 5 (21:18):
We did rezone it to CBD so we wouldn't have
to have that requirement for parking. But it certainly was
a pretty large decision in one of the lessons that
you know, we learned as far as scalability and the
economics of that sweet spot of the number of units. Again,
this is only thirty eight, but when you get you know,
past that as far as sixty to one hundred, that

(21:39):
economics of having the cost of that garage gets spread
out over the units more economically for sure. So this
is a challenge.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
And this lee where this building is going up twenty
second on Howard Street. That area has seen a lot
of renewal in recent years. In fact, just what maybe
not even a year ago, the flats on Howard a
pretty big project. Several years before that, all the other
historical buildings in that area were redone. And so it's
right there, it's it's right there, and you're gonna and

(22:08):
you're putting us on a really small piece of land.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
This is postage stamp development. I think one of the
things that is key to us is how do you
how do you build on that you know in Omaha
and create those kind of small, mid size kind of areas.
But to your point, New Style has you know, really
built up that area, and I think we want to
continue that legacy. They're they're kind of thought there is
like work hard, play hard, and part of our building

(22:34):
is going to be like co working space. So if
you're living there, you can go down to a work
pod or something along those lines. Or if you're study,
you're creating student, you can go somewhere and study. So
the constructibility on the postage stamp is really small, but
I think it's something we need to get really good
at here in Omaha to be able to continue that
density in the urban core, especially as we have these
economic engines like the streetcar. We need to see more

(22:56):
development like this along and along the line.

Speaker 5 (22:59):
Yeah, I mean, this project certainly is a good opportunity
to say that urban infil can happen in Omaha, not
just in the bigger cities like Boston and New York
and Denver.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Well, we're gonna have Brian and Lee Muller stay with
us over the break if they don't mind, and I'll
ask them, well, maybe two more questions when we come
back on the other side. Plus, we'll have the Nodel
Company's Commercial Real Estate Development Spotlight of the Week. You're
listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Cheer Athletics
and Dingman's Collision Center on News Radio eleven ten Kfaby

(23:31):
and welcome back to the show, Jeff Beals and Trenton
Maggot Here brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center and
Cheer Athletics. If you are looking for the perfect way
for your kid to get involved in competition program that
will make them a better person and more confident and
ultimately more successful in the life, just go to Cheer Athletics.

(23:51):
It is outstanding and you can find out more about
that organization by going to see Aomaha dot com. It's
time for our Not All Companies Commercial Real Estate Development Spotlight,
in which we talk about development in or around a
Not All Companies project. And we are very very proud
to have Not All Companies on board. I mean, they

(24:13):
have done so much here in Omaha. Whether you know
it's so many shopping centers over the years, office buildings
like the Valmont Global Headquarters, the HDR Global Headquarters, and
of course they're places. They are spaces and places makers
our Sarbon Village, Builders District, so many places that we
love to go to, our not ale companies projects. You

(24:34):
can find out more about not All Companies by going
to easy enough Not All Companies dot com. Well, we're
going to talk about the Builders District area today in
this report. There is an event going on in that
district called the College World Series, and that's off to
a great start if you want to read about it.
We have our man Cole Young who is there in

(24:57):
the stadium for every game and he is doing to
daily recap of what happens. You can see that on
Gromaha dot com and then going to sports when you
get to Gromaha dot com. But we want to talk
about something that happened this week just to the west
of the Builders District and that is where Creighton University
broke ground for its brand new baseball practice facility. At

(25:19):
the same time, they also celebrated they called it a
groundbreaking for the softball stadium as well. But the softball
stadium is almost done. Yeah, it's getting close. It opens
officially this fall. So it was more of a groundbreaking
for the baseball stadium and a celebration of the softball thing.
But the baseball practice facility is being The field dimensions

(25:42):
are exactly the same as Charles Schwab Field because in
addition to serving as Creighton's practice facility, it will be
the College World Series practice facility. Very very nice stuff.
If you want to go over and take a look
at what this is all like, just go on Coming
Street right at about twentieth is where you can see this.
There's also a sophomore residence hall under construction in that

(26:05):
same area, and that is your novel Companies Commercial real
Estate Development Spotlight of the Week, not all companies dot Com.
We have some guests with us today, Lee and Brian Muller.
They are developers of a four to over call it
a five level building right around twenty second and Howard Street,

(26:27):
and I want to ask you guys in the time
we have left. First of all, your building is in
the streetcar zone of influence. Tell us a little bit
about what role the future streetcar had in you guys
deciding to do this project and what the project looks like.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
Yes, so the streetcar itself is about, you know, less
than a block away from the current building. And what
the streetcar we felt was extremely compelling the idea of
transit and walkability brought to the city of Omaha is
you know what is what creates the density of an
urban fell project like the one we're currently building, and

(27:05):
the urban fell density of Omaha is what's going to
keep it competitive with other cities. I mean, we definitely
need these infol projects here to create a city that
again our kids one day will want to come back
to or stay in.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
So when we first saw the land, we didn't actually
know the street car was going there, so we walked it,
we looked at it. As soon as we knew that
was happening, we knew it was a no brainer to
invest in that area. When I think of the streetcar,
it's it's an investment. There'll be some price of progress there,
but it'll be as it's a decision, and it's an

(27:41):
investment that in order for us to keep up with
neighboring cities and pure cities, to be able to really
keep our kids and everything along those lines here reduce
brain drain so on and so forth. So major benefit
for our project. And I think we need these projects
across and up and down that line that's coming in.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
So besides a big grocery store downtown, which when we
started this show almost what are we at twenty one
and a half years ago, we always said we need
a grocery downtown. Besides that, with all your travels and
being in larger cities, besides more traffic and the chaos
of larger cities, what do you see that Omaha needs?

(28:23):
If you talked about things, Oh God, I wish it
had this or.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
That, you know, I think, did you want to go ahead?

Speaker 5 (28:30):
No, Well, it needs more more urban fil density. I mean,
we need a city that is walkable. We need a
city that has more humans in it, that allows people
to feel safe and can get from one place or
another potentially without a car. I mean right now. Again,
we do have some parking in the bottom of our building.

(28:51):
It's certainly after communication with our neighbors and what the
community needs. It is something that was a must. But
we with the streetcar being within its closed vicinity, we
feel like projects like this will only allow Omaha. As
far as the next chapter of Omaha to continue.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
And I think the grocery store is number one, right,
you need to have that grocery store. I think we
I think people are more and more likely to order
their groceries have them delivered everything along those lines. That
kind of reduces that. But I think we need the transportation.
We need the right zoning from city planning and things
along those lines to match the streetcar to make sure

(29:33):
we have development there that's you know, things like tiff
and so on and so forth that allow us to
be able to do it. I think we have a
vibrant city. It's where I consider it early innings for
Omaha on where we are. We have arts that punch
above its weight as it relates to the city. We
have great you know, vibrants, the walk ability, I you know,

(29:53):
grocery stores, great restaurants scene. I would love we have
some family going back to Boston right now, and man,
we are talking about all the restaurants they should be
going to. I think we have a great restaurant scene.
I'd love to see a little bit more of that
there as well. And then I just think we need
the community to invest in the urban core. I think
we need people to patron, the restaurants that we have
down there, the different different theaters, and so on and

(30:16):
so forth, but grocery stores are number one. Probably to
get down there.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Just one more minute with Brian and Lee Moeller, who
are developing the molar of five level building at twenty
second and Howard Street. Guys, as you look into the future,
you just told us something you'd like to see or
need in the urban core. When you look in the
future ten years from now, your building will have been

(30:40):
open for quite some time. At that point, What does
the urban core in Omaha look like? What do you envision?

Speaker 5 (30:49):
I envision a place similar to where we've come from
as well, but also different, where people are walking to
grocery stores, people are using the transit system and being
able to get from one place from another quickly and safely,
and more importantly, we kind of envision a city that

(31:09):
is exciting and has a high energy level and a
young energy level. We want to build Omaha for its
next chapter, and we want to build the next generation
of Omaha and the streetcar and again the grocery stores
and urban infl like this is only the tipping point
to what will bring us.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
There, right anything they atter.

Speaker 4 (31:29):
I think she nailed it. I think we need to
continue to innovate. We need to make sure that we
have these additional infill properties. I think there isn't a
better city that I can think of in the US
that's built for a streetcar with opportunities to develop along it.
With a housing crisis. We have thirteen renters for every
open unit right now. We need to have the development

(31:51):
community come into the urban core and really build out
that infrastructure. You all had some individuals on the show
a couple of days ago about infrastructure. Right as you
go out on the fringes, you don't have the sewers.
You have to build in. You have to build up
in the city and I think we need to see
more development and we need to really invest in that
innovation there.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Well, Brian and Lee, we appreciate you guys joining us,
and more importantly, we appreciate the contributions you're making. Omaha,
thanks for being.

Speaker 5 (32:16):
Here today, Thanks for having us.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
That is Lee and Brian Muller and we are going
to take our final break of the hour and when
we come back, it'll be your Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round,
in which we have a lot of things really fast.
You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on news Radio eleven ten
kfab it's your Perkins Chritzer Construction lightning round. A lot
of things on the list today. Thank you to Perkins

(32:40):
Kretzer though, for making it possible. They are a top
notch outstanding, a plus class a general contractor based right
here in Omaha, doing work all over eastern Nebraska and
western Iowa. And if you are looking at building a building,
give Perkins Kritzer Construction a call. It doesn't matter whether

(33:01):
you're doing an interior buildout building, a brand new shopping center,
or an apartment building or an our office building. To
hand you all of that stuff for you, you want
Perkins Chritser Construction on your side. Dave Kreutzer runs a place.
Trent and I have had a chance to get to
know him really well over the years, and we're so
impressed with his leadership and everything. His company does, good

(33:22):
projects on time that look awesome. Perkins Chritser Construction p
dash C Construction dot Com. All right, we've got three
new businesses coming to one hundred and eightieth and West
Maple Road shopping center that's under construction. Northeast corner. They
are Cross Strain Brewing, which is going to have a
food and beverage concept there, a nail salon and smoothie

(33:44):
King from New Orleans were used to live to all
Right Bora Bora Juice plans to open its first Nebraska
franchise and one of the very first in the United
States June seventeenth, Southeast corner one hundred and thirty second
and West Maple Road in the Eagle Run Plaza. Different
kind of smoothie, A different kind of smoothie. Yeah, now

(34:06):
here's a completely different type of food. Coffee Primary Coffee
Company Soft opened this week at one oh six nine
five Portal Road in La Vista. Their next to Reality Church,
which actually launched the concept. It's an independently run coffee
shop that serves coffee exclusively from local roaster archetype coffee.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
They should have a coffee place and a pick a
ball thing.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Maza Middle Eastern Cuisine Will Soft. Maza Middle Eastern Cuisine
Soft opened yesterday in the former Sofa Kitchen space in
Midtown Crossing, as the name would indicate, Mediterranean and Middle
Eastern Food Roll Them Up. Taquitos will open its first
Nebraska or Iowa location in the Southport West area of

(34:53):
La Vista between Chardburger and Dirty Dough. That's coming very soon.
This is a California based franchise launched in twenty nineteen.
And then we have Qudoba Mexican Eats, a much bigger franchise.
They plan to open an Elkhorn area location on July
seventh in the former Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue space two hundred

(35:14):
four Street south of Pacific, and then the Spice and
T Exchange is going to do an official ribbon cutting
and grand opening next Friday, June twentieth, and Village Point
shopping center. Leela and Lavender, a women's fashion boutique, plans
to open in mid July at Regency Court Sorry it's
now called Regency Shopping Mall. About a four thousand square

(35:36):
foot store. It occupies the former White House Black Market
space next to Lululemon in Anthropology. This organization, Leela and Lavender,
is based in Fargo, North Dakota, and they have six
existing locations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Saphora,
a national makeup and beauty store is renovating the former
Eddie Bauer space at one Pacific Place. They had their

(36:00):
grand opening just yesterday, fifty three hundred square foot space.
Second of its kind of Omaha in that it is
a free standing, standalone Sephora. The others in town are
all part of Cole's department store inside the Coals. And
this is an odd story. BT, I'm sorry. BT. Party Cove,
private event venue in downtown Springfield closed just a few

(36:24):
days after opening grand opening. They opened June sixth, then
they closed June eleventh, So don't know why, but that's odd.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
If there's a partnership squabble or landlord squabble or something.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Sometimes personal problems or anything else could be there. It's
it's definitely hard to know what would cause that. And
then on the national level, Michaels has acquired Joanne's private
label brands and intellectual property. Don't know what their plans
are for the brick and mortar stores, but there was
one in one hundred and thirty Second and Center in Omaha.
Music's playing, which means we're done. I'm Jeff Beils. Trenton Maggot,

(37:01):
you've been listening to grow Omaha, which is brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics, and Perkins Chriutzer Construction.
We'll chat with you next week at nine o'clock right
here on news Radio eleven ten kfab