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August 18, 2024 • 37 mins
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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 Beils here at your service. We are brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics. Cheer
Athletics is the nation's number one all star cheer Jim
and they do such a fantastic job of taking care
of kids and providing athletic and leadership opportunities. This is

(00:36):
the only show in the metro area that focuses on
the growth and development of said metro area. And so
we're glad that you joined us. My co host Trenton
Maggot is on his way doing a special assignment this morning,
and we're going to get into the news. And before
we do that, I'm going to bring on our special
guests that we have today. I'm going to introduce her

(00:57):
a little bit early, just for fun, and maybe she
might even jump in a little bit with the news
if she feels so inclined. But Mayor News, Yeah, Mayor
Jean Stothard is here. Good morning, Mayor, welcome to the show.
Having me. Well, it's good to have you here. And
I looked up the last time you were on the
show was back in March, and I suspect a few
things have happened in Groma.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
A lot has happened since then. We have a lot
to talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
All right, Well, I'm going to before we get into
some specific questions with the mayor, I do want to
go through a few announcements that we have and then
during the news uh, if Mayor stother wants to jump in,
we would certainly welcome her to do that. But first
of all, big announcement. We have added a nonprofit news
section to the Gromha newsletter. If you don't get the

(01:41):
Granma newsletter, you need to sign up for that comes
out every Thursday afternoon. Thursday afternoon. Mayor Stothard has told
me that's where she gets a lot of her news
from the newsletter.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Front from you.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Yes, I do more than at city Hall sometimes, which.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
We love the good word.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
If you want to get the same news source that
the mayor reads, just send an email to news at
Gromha dot com. We added a nonprofit section to it though.
You know, we have all these news things and Darcy
Dingman Willie is our writer for that doing a great job.
It debuted just this past Thursday. It'll be a regularly
occurring section. The other thing I want to remind you

(02:18):
grow Omaha dot com. Check it every single day. You know,
if you read the newspaper, you read this or you
check that. Put it as part of your routine. Go
to grow omaha dot com every day. We have new
news on there all of the time. Want to let
you know we have a restaurant review every two weeks.
Chris Corey, our official restaurant reviewer of grow Omaha, does
a review. This week. It was Sauced by Alfaro Sauce

(02:42):
sau ced and it has something to do with the
creamy stuff you put on food not getting sauced, but
sauced by Alfaro is in downtown Papillion. And the question
Chris asks in the review is is sauce the best
chicken sandwich and Omaha. You have to read the review
in order to find out what he thinks. But first

(03:03):
of all, let's go into our news of the week,
which is brought to you by Egle Mortgage. Ego mortgage
company dot com. They're located at one hundred and fourteenth
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(03:23):
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a call. We're not going to give you the number
because it's too hard to remember that, so instead just
go to Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. Okay, a couple
of quick news items, and the first one is that
the INNU Board of Regents made a move in the

(03:46):
last week for some improvements at the Medcenter. It was
an interlocal agreement between you and MC and the City
of Omaha regarding the Midtown Medical Center Bikeway connection project.
This is a dedicated bike trail that will be built
along Emily and Jones Street between thirty ninth and Saddle
Creek Road. Hopefully you can picture that area in your head.

(04:07):
A pedestrian bridge will be constructed over Saddle Creek Road,
connecting the trail to the new Catalyst facility. That's the
reuse of the old steel factory west of Saddle Creek.
Another bridge will be built over Levenworth to better connect
the campus to the Field Club Trail. Fifteen million dollar
project funded by a combination of federal grants and local matches.

(04:31):
Mayorst author will get into a lot of things during
your interview, but that's another example of the city and
the Med Center working together, and another example of all
of this connectivity we're trying to do in the urban core.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
Absolutely we are, and you know it's not just the
Med Center, but we have so many great public private
partnerships right now, more than I think the city has
ever had. And another great example is what happened with
the Riverfront Park. That was a true public private partnership.
And look what we have down there.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Now, setting records and attracting millions of people and an
absolute smashing success. Well, a couple other quick news items
we want to share with you today. First of all,
wood House Auto Group plans to build two new dealerships
at West Dodge Point that's just north of Village Point,
kind of that auto mall area. The planning board this

(05:21):
a couple weeks ago or a week or two ago,
past a major amendment to the West Dodge Point Mixed
Use Development Agreement. That's a mouthful right there, allowing automotive
sales on land southeast of Burt and Old Lincoln Highway.
So if you can picture Audiy Omaha, it's right across
the street from that. Gonna be two dealership buildings totaling
forty five thousand square feet. The brands are Cadillac and Genesis.

(05:44):
If you're not familiar with Genesis, that's the upscale brand
from Hyundai. And then finally, we have a groundbreaking earlier
this week for Treehouse. Treehouse is a mixed use project
on the West Broadway corridor of Council Bluffs at about
thirty fourth Street. Treehouse will have ultimately two hundred and

(06:06):
twenty one apartment units, thirty four town homes, and eleven
thousand square feet of retail space. And before we take
our first break of the hour, Trenton is back in
from assignment. So what exactly were you researching this morning?

Speaker 5 (06:20):
I was researching the well spent dollars by the City
of Omaha. Thank you, Mayor Stothard one hundred and sixty. Well, first,
I'm late because I left late.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
I can't here. I have provided you perfect Covet.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
House, and I was waiting for a compliment.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
But in all fairness, it was the It was the
tree cleanup along one hundred and sixtyeight. There's road construction,
but there's also tree cleanup. So they did the two
stop signs and drive slow signs. So I honored that
rather than driving over people. We appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
So people were getting rid of the workers were getting
rid of debris, and you got caught.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
Up in it and your bond issue on the street.
On the streets that we're getting four lanes across lakes
and they're going they're going fast.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
That project is very expensive too. It's in the forty
million range because of the bridge. But Hawkins is doing it.
They're doing an excellent job.

Speaker 5 (07:11):
I tell people I live in on an island.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
That's what it's like.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
That what's getting close. I mean that one that one
get ahead of schedule, is that by the end of
the year, I think, isn't it next year?

Speaker 3 (07:21):
I think it's next year.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
But they're doing a great job.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
And I have to admit I sent public Works out
to that stretch as I made the request yesterday, just
because I was coming in, there was so much debris
and then there was so much many weeds because of
the rain. So yeah, because you were coming in, I
made sure they were doing it didn't.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Work because I left late. Well with that advertising, gentlemen, Yeah,
I totally. I teed him up a softball so he
could carry on the lie and not admit that he
came late, and he did anw it. That just shows
you how much integrity.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
That's why I'm not a politician. I'm too honest.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
He's too honest, he's too hones local.

Speaker 5 (07:55):
I'm talking about national of course, there go.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
He's too honest and he's too damn late. All right, anyway,
so we're going to take our first break of the hour.
We have Mayor Jean Stothart with us. She was kind
enough to jump in for the news section, but we're
gonna interview her for real when we come back. A
lot of things on the discussion docket with the mayor, streetcar,
urban core projects, downtown police and fire, you know, city

(08:18):
bond issues coming up in the November election, and more so,
stay with us. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics on
News Radio eleven ten KFAB and welcome back to the show,
Jeff Beale sitting next to Trenton Maggot. We're brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics, and

(08:42):
we are the only show in the metro area that
focuses on business expansion, real estate construction, economic development fund
things related to Omaha becoming bigger, more vibrant, and more prosperous.
So I want to remind everyone if you unfortunately have
a fender bender or door dinger, make sure you give
a call to Dingman's Collision Scenery. Don't even need to

(09:05):
call them, you can just actually show up at one
of their four metro area locations. But they do a
fantastic job of taking care of your investment. We know
that cars are becoming bigger and bigger investments all the time,
and you want to take good care of it, and
Dingman's will do that with their four metro area locations.
We have with us the Mayor of oh Maha, Jeans
Stouthert is in the studio and we like to have

(09:28):
the Mayor here a couple few times a year just
to kind of catch up with all sorts of economic
development projects and Mayor, let's just jump right into it.
I want to talk transportation first, and the big story
is a street car.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Street car.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Where are we right now? How's it coming?

Speaker 4 (09:43):
You know? Not meant to be a pun but that
train has left the station. That streetcar will happen. You know,
I get a lot of emails from people saying, nobody
wants the street car, the streetcar name desire, why are
you doing this?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Will you stop it?

Speaker 4 (09:57):
And you know what not everybody is against the street
many many people are for it. We have the Urban
Core Committee which was developed several years ago. All the
business leaders in the urban Core downtown area were part
of it. They released their strategic plan about a year ago.
The number one most important component of that strategic plan
was we needed a streetcar to move people in around

(10:20):
and out of downtown. And you know, Steve Jensen, former
planning director, and I do about a thirty minute PowerPoint
presentation on the streetcar. So far, we've given it to
at least thirty five hundred people, and we can turn
the most skeptical opponents into supporters when they just listen
and understand why we're doing it, the benefit and how

(10:42):
we're paying for it. So you know, right now, I
just have to say, we got all this great stuff
going on downtown.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
You know, new stuff.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
We have a ballpark, all this that, We have new restaurants,
we have the luminarium, you know, we have the riverfront parks,
we have this steelhouse. And yet there's not any easy
way to get from one to another. You have to
get You go to the ballgame, you get in your car,
you pay. Then you want to go out to eat,
you get in your car and you pay. Then you
want to go to a bar, you get in your
car and pay. And this will connect all of those

(11:09):
venues downtown to make it easier to get around downtown.
It's also important for people to know that you are
not going to have a successful vibrant city without a
successful downtown. In urban core, right now, fifty percent of
the urban core is dedicated to parking fifty and at
any given time half of it is empty. That is

(11:33):
not a good use of land in an urban core.
Our goal in Urban Core Committee is to bring thirty
thousand more jobs than thirty thousand residents into the urban
core in thirty years. That's kind of what our goal is,
and we can do that if we better control and
manage how people can get in and move around and
park in the downtown area. Now people will say it

(11:54):
should have gone to a vote. It didn't need to
go to a vote. There are a lot of things
that we do within city government that don't need to
go to a vote of the people. All the votes
that I needed were already done by the City Council
and by the Streetcar Authority, So those votes are done.
An example, we didn't put the ballpark downtown to a

(12:15):
vote to the people. We didn't put the Riverfront parks
to a vote to the people, or the Dodge Expressway,
or the Luminarium, or I could name all sorts of
projects that the city has done that did not go
to a vote of the people. So not everything has
to go to a vote. But the streetcar is on schedule.
It's it's it's probably not. We originally said it would

(12:37):
start running in twenty twenty six. It's probably twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 5 (12:40):
Now.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
The cars, the street cars, the six cars, are being
ordered a company out of Spain. We have evaluated and
reevaluated the design, working with HDR Key. With that we
are about ninety percent. Now we knew in the beginning
we were using the number of about three hundred and
six million. We knew it would be more because when

(13:01):
we were saying that's our first estimate of the cost,
we didn't even have a design done yet, and we
didn't know what the utilities would cost. Right now we
are at a cost of about three hundred and eighty
nine million for the actual construction of the streetcar. Originally
it was about one hundred and I think it was
around one hundred and eighty million, and now the actual

(13:22):
construction of the streetcar is two one hundred and six million.
That's a construction two six so that the construction of
the street car itself hasn't gone up a lot. It's
the utilities that have gone up. For example, mud in
the beginning estimated about ten million. They're over forty million
now for utilities. So but all in all, we are

(13:43):
paying for it with the value of the development that
occurs along the route. And this is important to know.
We had a company called Muticap come in and evaluate
every parcel along the route. They were here for nine
months and they gave us a conservative estimate of what
value would be generated by development along the route. And

(14:05):
they first estimated that in the first fifteen years it
would be one point three billion dollars worth of development
in first fifteen years, which would generate around six hundred million,
much more needed to pay for the street car for them,
the construction which just free for the riders, right which
is free right now. By the end of this year
twenty twenty four, we already have one point three billion

(14:28):
and new development. And they said two billion in fifteen years.
We have one point three billion by the end of
this year of new development along the route. And I
will tell you I have a lot more to announce
coming up with the developers.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Really really good. Yeah, yeah, and you know what.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
It's so it's really successful before the construction has even begun.
So we know it will be successful. We know that
we will have enough money to pay for it. The
only people, the only people that will be paying for
the streetcar are revenue producing commercial property along the route.
Revenue producing commercial property. No single family, no duplexes. There

(15:09):
will be some multi family of course along the route,
but no new taxes, no increase in property taxes. I
think us we could sitting here, us three live more
out mid or West Omaha. We won't be paying for
the street car, but we could sure use it, and
it's free to use. So the streetcar is going to
be a great, great development to and benefit to our

(15:31):
urban core in Midtown because you know it's going to
go up to Midtown. People ask me all the time.
They said, well, I live in Millard. Like I live
in Millard, I won't use the streetcar. You know, why
would I need the streetcar. But the City of Omaha
is going to purchase the three garages at Midtown that
Mutual of Omaha owns. Now, we're going to purchase those
owne and operate them. We build garages and purchase garages

(15:55):
a lot because we pay for them with the revenue
they produce their revenue producing. We're going to buy those.
So what I can do is I can drive my
car from Millard, I could park at Midtown. I could
park in one of the city on garages for a
low amount. I could hop on the street car there,
and I could do everything I want to do in
the urban core with the streetcar, jumping on and off
of it for no cost to me at all, and

(16:16):
then go back and get in my car. So there's
a great benefit to all of us for the street car.

Speaker 5 (16:21):
And until then and probably after then, the Omaha Park
the parking meters the one dollar per hour, and like
if it's at nine o'clock, it stops, it's three on
Sunday or whatever. I love that app by the way,
and it's really working mobile Omaha.

Speaker 4 (16:36):
It's a great app, you know. And that's another thing
we did. We have a parking division. Now I've done
that since I have been mayor, and it's an enterprise
and so all of the revenue from our parking enterprise
for the parking garages, the meters and now they're kiosk
basically it goes back into parking so we can upgrade
our garages and improve our system. But what we wanted

(16:59):
downtown is not to have meters, not to have to
give people citations and tickets, and not to have areas
that we restrict the amount of hours you can park.
You know, there used to be one hour parking, two
hour parking. Now there's alls you do. You park there,
you put your money in a kiosk or you use
a mobile app. And if it's say the first two
hours is if it's a high turnover, area, you might

(17:21):
be charged a certain amount, and if you stay there longer,
you're not going to get a ticket, You're just going
to be charged more.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
And so the.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
Whole system is to turn parking over quicker and make
it more convenient for people, and less tickets too, less
citations operating well.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yes, okay, So so may Or I have to bring
this up because you you had mentioned eleven projects in
the urban core a couple few months ago, and then
just a few minutes ago you said you have some
other things to bring up that would be an addition
to that bigger than expected one point three billion dollars
worth of investment already that has been announced. We know

(18:00):
you can't spill the beans and say what they are
on the air right now on KFAB maybe what they
rhyme with yeah and starting letter in any letter yeah.
But but we could at least ask you this, what
can you tell us about those eleven projects in macro?
What can you tell us broadly about him? What should
we get excited about?

Speaker 3 (18:20):
You know there?

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Well, obviously there's a lot to get excited about in
some of these projects we've already announced. Obviously one of
them is Central Park Plaza and I think it's worth
saying that that is about the and everybody knows what
the two towers, the duo it's going to be called.
Where Sullivan's is at the base at the end of
the gene Leahy Mall. That's about seventy five percent vacant,
now soon to be one hundred percent vacant. It was

(18:42):
purchased by Todd. He staid, he is turning it into
over seven hundred apartments. He's we're going to build a
tear down an old vacant grudge. We're going to build
a new grudge in that area. But he's going to
make use of other parking in that area. But the
only way he could do this is because of the streetcar.

Speaker 5 (18:59):
And putting apartment above the garage.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
And putting apartments above the garage. And you know, they
have tiff for that development, which we give. But if
there is new development, this is something else about the
streetcar along the streetcar line, and these developers are more
than happy to do this because they benefit so much
from the streetcar. Twenty five percent of their tiff for

(19:21):
the first fifteen years goes to the streetcar, the last
five years one hundred percent because they truly. If you
think about Todd heastad at the duo, you think that
usually when you build apartments, you kind of look at
the area within so many blocks. You guys know this
better than I do about who their customers will be.
But it broadens who his customers will be because now

(19:42):
he has the whole streetcar line. And so that project
is just an example of what is happening because of
the streetcar. But others we named with this one point
three billion of new development. We've already named some of
the projects, but there are others coming and it goes
from Midtown all the way to downtown. I will say

(20:02):
one that we will be announcing soon and I can't
wait to do it is what is going to happen
with Mutual's old property at Midtown?

Speaker 5 (20:10):
Oh really, So that's.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Coming up soon.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
And this is going to be something that I think
is going to excite people and thrill people.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
Is that one developer or multi developer.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
It's it's it would be it would be lanaha, wow,
the whole thing, uh huh, And and it's it. It
may be done in phases, but it is a you
two are looking at each other. I wish people could
see this you're like, oh, this is exciting.

Speaker 5 (20:34):
Congratulations, that's exciting.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
It's it's it's going to be great. And we're going
to be announcing something soon with that project around the
Blackstone area and the old WWT site by the Blackstone.
We've got something that we're going to be announcing soon there.
So there's just a lot of excitement about, you know.
And Todd heastaid again, if people are famili you with downtown,

(21:00):
for example, the al Farnham just it would be just
West and Nineteenth Street. He owns a lot of those
surface garages which would be just west of Wells Fargo.
He owns those and now he's going to be building
apartments there and he's going to be able to build
a lot taller apartments because of the streetcar.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Well, we are talking with Omaha Mayor Jean Stouthert and
we have her for another segment, So got to break
for the middle of the show. News listen to that,
get your weather update, and then get ready because there's
more to come with the Mayor of Omaha. You're listening
to Grow Omaha brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center
and Cheer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten kfab and

(21:41):
welcome back to the show, Jeff Peels and Trenton Maggot,
at your service. We're brought to you by Dingman's Collision
Center along with Cheer Athletics. And it is time for
our nonel Companies Commercial Development Spotlight of the Week. Novel
companies based right here in Omaha doing amazing developments around
the country. Here in town Marquee blockbuster developments like Xarbon Village,

(22:04):
the Builders District in North Downtown, and they were also
involved in creating River's Edge. And we've got a news
item today coming from River's Edge. We're making some progress
there with the anticipated construction of the Adventure Tower and
related amenities on the Council Bluffs riverfront. This would be
right north of the Bobcarey Pedestrian Bridge. Just recently, Southwest

(22:27):
Iowa Nonprofit for Collective Impact That's a Mouthful, along with
the City of Council Bluffs, were awarded a nearly five
million dollars Destination Iowa grant for the project. That'll contribute now.
Construction is on hold, though until issuance of a permit
from the US Army Corps of Engineers. The City of

(22:47):
Council Bluffs anticipates that issuance early September, so keep your
fingers crossed, and then after that construction can follow soon as.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
Both plans look really cool. Is it's still Mid American
tower they're calling it. That's what I believe the name.
They have some kind of a ride that you ride
these steel rails. I'm sure you're tied in somehow. Yeah,
and I put a request in for you to be
the very first rider. That'd be awesome. Crash test dummy.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
And that is your Nodel Company's commercial real estate development
Spotlight of the week. You can learn a more about
NODL Companies by going to the website, which is Noel
Companies dot com. They also have some pretty active Facebook
pages and we appreciate Nodel companies contribution to the show.
We have the Mayor of Omaha on with us today
and you know, Mayor, one of the big topics we're

(23:32):
curious about as this downtown police and fire construction, and
we understand it's actually two separate projects that we're talking about,
the actual stations and a future headquarters.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
That is correct, and it's a little confusing, and hopefully
we have a bond issue campaign that will be starting
because you know, we have a bond issue that is
coming out on the ballot in November, and what we
are doing downtown with the new precinct and the fire
station will be on that bond issue, So there'll be
a campaign to make sure people are fully aware. We
have been talking about a new combined police and fire

(24:06):
headquarter building, a public safety headquarter building.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
This is not it.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
You know, we are in design for that. We don't
have a site for that combined headquarter yet, we don't
know how we're going to pay for it. So it's
it's we're moving towards it, but this is not it.
What this is is basically preparing for that and saying
that if we do have a new fire and police,
combined public safety headquarters somewhere hopefully in the in the

(24:31):
urban core, that we will number one.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
We will need a new police.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Precinct downtown because of all the development downtown. You know,
we've always had four precincts. I edit a fifth out
nail Corn, but I believe we will need a six
precinct to stay downtown. And then we will also need
a place because we will we will end up demoing
the old police headquarter and the fire station down there,

(24:57):
we will need a place for fire to dispatch downtown.
You can't do away with fire dispatching from downtown with
all the construction and building going on. So what we
decided would be a good thing to do would be
to combine those two facilities and have a new police
precinct and then basically a fire station they could dispatch
from together downtown. This is what is on as far

(25:20):
as the bond issue goes. This is not a combined
public safety headquarter. That will be fair for that for
the headquarter are for the We have a preferred location,
but we haven't settled on it quite yet.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
So we do have that.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
But the bond issue that is going to be on
the ballot, we do this usually every four to five years.
It's only been two years since the last one. But
there are five types of bonds that we put out
for a bond issue. They are public safety, public facility,
street bonds, sewer bonds, and park bonds, and we schedule

(25:56):
those so when we put them out for a vote,
they do not raise raise taxes and we are going
to be very clear that these bonds we have what
they will be paying for on the bond issue, but
they will not raise taxes.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
How do we do that.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
We refinance some of our current bonds and pay them
off early, some of our current bonds, So you can
vote on these and they will not raise your taxes. Now,
I do have people that will always come to me
and say, but however, Mary, you're not pulling anything over
on me. If I vote no on this, my taxes
will go down. That is not true at all, because
these are things we are obligated to do. Again, these

(26:32):
are our parks, our roads, our streets, our sewers.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
Our water treatment plants.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
All of these things are in this bond issue and
we are still obligated to do those. So if the
bond issue wouldn't pass, we would be pay as you
go and we would need more money and we might
potentially have to raise taxes. So these things are really
a good positive thing to vote for and vote yes on,
and they will not increase your taxes. But voting no

(26:59):
won't decrease your taxes either.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Part of that bond issue is for expansion of CHI
Health Center Omaha, the convention center side on the east
of the building. Can you tell us a little bit
about that.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
I certainly can, and that would go under the public
facility bonds, and there's one hundred and forty six million
of those. The total bond issue is three hundred and
thirty million. But again that again it won't raise taxes
because we're already paying the bond debt. The public facility
bond comes to one forty six. There's one hundred million
marked in there for the expansion of CHI. Now keep

(27:32):
in mind that is a city owned facility. It will
be paid off completely in a couple of years. In
twenty twenty six, that will be paid off. We pay
about twenty million dollars a year in debt on that
arena convention. But it is wildly successful the arena side,
you know, Creighton basketball, all the concerts we have. The
convention side is what we're concerned about because we are

(27:54):
losing out on a whole different level of conventions that
we could get into Omaha that brings a tremendous amount
of revenue into our city and sales tax, but we
don't have the meeting rooms at all. And so what
this extension will do, and it will go out the back.
A lot of the extension will go where people don't
usually see it because it's over the loading docks towards

(28:14):
the river. That's where the expansion will happen, and it
will more than double the number of meeting rooms and
so it will basically just open up to a whole
different level of conventions we can have. Now along with that,
we will need a new hotel down there by the
convention center. But when we are expanding the convention center,
there will be a lot of hotel businesses that will

(28:37):
want to build their hotel. This will not be a
city built, city owned hotel. Some other company will build
a hotel down there, and hopefully we could get it
connected with a skywalk over to the convention Center.

Speaker 5 (28:49):
And Roger Adiction if you're listening, a little less country
and a lot more rock and roll. That's the arena
side of the facility.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
I know, I know, but they are Josh and so
Barry Manilo a couple of weeks ago, and that one
was great. I mean, they have some really good things there.
But you know, the transportation bonds we continue on our
major street works, those are on the bond issue. There's
ten million public safety bonds in there, our street preservation bonds.

(29:17):
That was the bond issue we passed in May of
twenty twenty. The two hundred million that continues with this
bond issue. Environmental those are sewer bonds. Those are all
important things that are part of our infrastructure. And then
of course there's parks in rec at ten million dollars
for parks, and that's just to keep our parks up.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
I want to give kudos to day fans Law and
your planning staff and the Planning board. They all do
a great job. I tell you to work with day
fans When I was on the planning board.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
Fans Law is the best. I mean I was the
one that hired him as our planning director. He was
one of the assistants. I met him first when I
was on city council. I liked the way he worked
and I always told him this he hit. He had
that ability to tell people know, which sometimes planning does.
But he would always come back and say, but I'm
going to help you find out a way to get
this done. He had a way of say and no,

(30:05):
but still getting things done. I really like working with
fans Law.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
We have just another minute or so with the mayor,
and I want to work this one in before we
let you go. Gene Union Omaha's new soccer stadium is
planned for the riverfront area, big grassy area northeast of
the Gallop headquarters. Can you talk to us a little
bit about where that project is at this point in time?

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Sure, you know, and it's moving along. I did the
announcement with him several months ago, with Gary Green, who
owns a Liance Sports, one of the greater oh He
has been great for Omaha. They are going to build
about a three hundred million dollar project there. The actual
soccer stadiums about sixty million, but around that area will
be It's on the Gallup campus, about sixteen acres of

(30:48):
mixed use project there are along Gallop along Abbit Drive
there and so a sixty million dollar soccer stadium. There
will be apartments there. There'll be a plaza there where
people can, you know, walk across the street, you get
something to eat. They'll be The soccer stadium itself is
about seven thousand seats. The housing they want to build
in that area is about three hundred and thirty residential.

(31:10):
There would be a lot of retail space in that
area too, and a hotel. They want to have a
hotel there.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
I could be the street car to be expanded that
way towards the airport, you.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Know, and plans are we already back to the streetcar.
We already applied for a federal grant. We're not using
any federal money at this initial rout of the streetcar,
but we already applied for a planning grant to and
received it to bring the streetcar north up more towards
the airport, and this will help the soccer stadium. But
it's on track and it's moving forward.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Well, Mayor, I wish we had more time because there
were other things to ask you, but this always happens.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
I know, there's so much to talk about.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah, we'll definitely have you back in a couple few
months of your game.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
I would love to Levy Carter Park. I mean that
all sorts of good stuff is going on developed in
northeast Omaha there, so there's a lot to talk about.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
All Right, we'll have her back, folks. Mayor Jean, stop
giving us an update about Omaha growth and development. We're
going to take our final break of the hour, and
when we come back, it'll be the Perkins Chritzer Construction
Lightning Round, in which we have a lot of things
to share with you. You're listening to Grow Omaha, brought to
you by Dingman's Collision Center and Cheer Athletics on News

(32:18):
Radio eleven ten KFAB and welcome back to the show.
It's time for your Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round, in
which we talk about a lot of things in a
very short period of time. Thanks to Perkins Chritzer Construction
for making it possible sponsoring this segment. They are a
full service class a general contractor. They work here in

(32:38):
Omaha and they really extend out to the region years
and years of experience. Our friend Dave Kreutzer runs PC
Construction and a lot of times we talk about certain
projects they do. You know, they'll do big things like
office buildings and retail centers and churches and schools and
this sort of thing, and then they'll do smaller things

(32:59):
like building out retail spaces and restaurants. So they do
it all very diverse, wide ranging general contractor services include
cost estimating and pre construction, general contracting, construction management, and
design build services. Perkins Chreutzer Construction, you're sponsor of this section.
First up on the docket, Napoli's a new authentic Italian

(33:22):
restaurant is coming soon to Council Bluffs one hundred Action
Style to say one to fifty seven West Broadway in
downtown Council Buffs in the former Lincoln's Pub location. Traditional
Italian restaurant should be pretty exciting place to try. HEYJ Coffee,
a drive through coffee shop, will close its Midtown location

(33:43):
at fourteen sixteen North Saddle Creek on August eighteenth, which
is tomorrow. The business is then moving to the Bennington
area eight zero zero one North one hundred and fifty
seventh Street, where it will introduce an updated concept featuring
a full coffee and cafe restaurant menu. Official opening date
has yet to be announced. We have the Dandee Lion,

(34:06):
not the Dandelion that the Dandee Lion. An upscale bar
and lounge opened last week in West Omaha at one
hundred and fifty fourth and Ruggles Street. That's near one
hundred and fifty sixth in Maple next to Porky Butts. Now,
when you say Porky Butts, everyone knows where it is.
Trent and I can speak that language. The business renovated
the former retro rewind Trent, you got a special deal

(34:29):
to tell us about absolutely.

Speaker 5 (34:31):
I'm very excited for Ray Anderson Junior and his whole family,
an extended business family, that the Anderson Autocare, which was
on Q Street, is moving to just north of Old
l at forty five twenty six South one hundred and
thirty ninth Street. This was the old Anderson with an E.
They're an O Anderson with an E Electric building. They've

(34:52):
taken it, They've made it their own, They've painted it
and put a lot of money into that. So anybody
that's looking for mechanical work, check out Anderson Autocare because
they will treat you right.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
We have a couple of new retailers at the West Roads.
Squishable Yeah you heard that right. Squish a Bowl has
opened its first Nebraska or Iowa location inside the mall.
This national brand retailer sells toy merchandise meant to be squeezed, hugged,
and squished.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
Hopefully have big T shirts I can wear.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
The company's website says, over the last decade and a half,
we have released millions of Squishables to their new homes
in the wild. Based in New York City, thirty four
locations in twenty three states. Also at the West Roads.
Marcel and Men's formal wear store plans to open in
early September at West Roads. This locally owned retailer will

(35:44):
be located on the first floor between DSW and Journeys.
They talk about on their signage European Style and couturetre couture,
coture cutur good for you doing. You're one of those
high falutin guys. Cruis and Cones, a Gretna based ice
cream shop, is rebranded as Glazed and Raised, effective last week.

(36:09):
The new name reflects the shops focused on creating high
quality donuts and enhancing the everyday dont experience. You can
find that it's an online business, so just look for
Glazed and Raised on Facebook. Sugar consumption in this city
has really grown over the years. It sounds like Amen,
Pen and Dagger. New indie bookstore in La Vista will

(36:30):
open soon in La Vista City Center. The actual address
is seventy eight sixty one Main Street. The business will
offer a range of new and classic books across popular genres,
with a focus on science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction.
Soft opening is planned for mid October, with full opening

(36:51):
later in the month of October. The music is playing,
which means that we're done, and that's sad because we
always have more to talk to you about than we
have time, So you'll have to come back next week
for everything else. In the meantime, I'm Jeff Beils and
I'm Trenton Maggot. You've been listening to our grow Omaha
radio show, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center, Cheer Athletics,

(37:12):
and Perkins Chritzer Construction. I'll chat with you next week
right here at nine o'clock on news radio eleven ten
KFAB
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