Grow Omaha 9-13-2025

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 kfab.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, Good morning and welcome to the show. Jeff Beal's
here at your service. Thank you for joining us today.
We are the only show in the metro area that
talks about construction, real estate, economic development, really anything related
to Omaha becoming more vibrant, more prosperous, and and a
little more fun.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
I want to thank our sponsors.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
They are Cheer Athletics, the nation's number one all star
cheer Jim and Dingman's Collision Center Best of Omaha Award
winner for Auto Body and Mechanical Repair. And now, without
any further ado, I'd like to bring on my co host,
a man who is a legendary real estate deal maker
from nai NP Dodge Trenton Maggot.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning, jif Well, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
We have a little taste of summer this week. What's
somewhere technically it's hot. It's gonna be hot today. I'll
take it. It's gonna be a good day though, and hey,
it's always a good day when we have a grow
Omaha Eats restaurant review written by our friend Chris Corey.
Every other week we have one of these, and our
restaurant reviews are always brought to you by All Makes

(01:20):
the Legendary Office Furniture, an office technology company based at
twenty fifth and Farnham Street, but they have locations around
Nebraska and Iowa. And this week's grow Omaha Eats, our
friend Chris Corey reviews Vietnamese restaurant, not of Vietnamese restaurant,
just Vietnamese restaurant.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's the name of the place. I think that says
it all.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
And I've heard great Not only was the review glowing,
I've heard a lot of people really enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, Chris really liked it a lot. It is located
in La Vista in Brentwood Village, so really close to
eighty fourth and Giles. If you want to check it out,
and you can read that review about Vietnamese restaurant and
all of Chris's reviews in the past by simply going
to grow Omaha dot com, click on reviews on the
navigation bar, and then there'll be a drop down and

(02:11):
it is eats Eats for all of the restaurant reviews.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Are you ready for the news? I am. Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's brought to you by Eagle Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company
dot com. They are located at one hundred and fourteenth
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online give them a call at any rate. Eagle Mortgage
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(02:38):
American dream. Doesn't matter. They'll take care of you. You
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Speaker 3 (02:59):
You with the best that they possibly can, and.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
Get ready for it when these rates start coming down.
Are you guaranteeing that? I cannot guarantee it, but I
have a sneaking suspicion.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
You've heard it here breaking news on no I better
not say because someone might think we're serious. But anyway,
go to Eagle Mortgage one hundred and fourteenth and I
have Davenport Eagle Mortgage Company dot com. All right, let's
get into the news first and foremost, we had some
progress in the long awaited Crossroads Saga.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Heavy equipment appeared.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
On site this week and as of yesterday it wasn't
just sitting there, it was moving around and doing work.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
That's a nice mound they got going, and that's most
likely what they call a surcharge where they put a
lot of dirt on the ground, more than they need,
and before they scrape it off, the weight of that
dirt compacts what's underneath to get ready for building.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Ladies and gentlemen, Crossroads will be built in phases over many,
many years. The first phase is what they are starting now.
It'll have underground parking garages, a gamescape by Cinemark, massive
indoor entertainment center, and some apartments and maybe a little
bit of retail. So Phase one is going to be
coming along here pretty nicely. And the company Woodbury Corp.

(04:13):
Out of Salt Lake City that is now developing it
is full speed ahead. Well, Trent, and we have a
lot of big retail news this week. First of all,
we have been telling people for a long time that
Dillard's is going to move it's Oakview store.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
It for ten years, not that long. It's been a
long time, Okay.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
We started talking about this, I believe in twenty nineteen,
which has been a while, but not ten years. And
so we've been telling you this is happening. Dillards is
moving from Oakview to West Roads. Well, they officially closed
on the sale a week ago yesterday, so they own
it now, and they are going to add thirty two
thousand square feet to that existing former Yonkers building on

(04:56):
the west side of the West Roads. When that is done,
it'll be a two two hundred and seven thousand square
foot department store, which is big, two stories, And we
don't know what they're going to do with the current
Oakview store once they move. They have not said, although
Dillards does have a history of using recently closed stores

(05:17):
as clearance centers, but we don't know for sure if
they're going to do that.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Maybe they haven't even decided, and we're probably.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
What two years out, maybe twenty twenty seven before they
open the new store at West Roads.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, that is correct. Twenty twenty seven will be the
year they open. And then in addition to that, West
Roads is getting really close to announcing another new retailer.
Not as big as Dillard's, but pretty darn big at
about thirty one thousand square feet. If you're familiar with
West Roads, you may recall that Forever twenty one, which

(05:49):
you know pretty much went could put nationally. Forever twenty
one had all of the basement space and an escalator
that went up to a small first floor space all together. Yeah,
that's thirty one thousand feet. West Roads has a retailer.
They have not yet announced who it is because there's
like one final little lease formality that has to done

(06:11):
to be done before they can announce it. I can
tell you it's a big name. It's a recognizable name,
and it will be open before Black Friday to take
advantage of the Christmas shopping season.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Almost to pop up. Now we're almost to October.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's going to go fast. They're going to use a
lot of what's already in there. So it's a permit,
but it's a permanent edition. It is a permanent edition,
and they're going to go really fast.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
And then it's very likely, ladies and gentlemen, that the
Granite City building, which is about eleven thousand square feet,
is going to come down for additional parking.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
They've tried to run it.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
I showed it to a couple different tenants, and that's
been vacant for a long time. But that'll probably come
down and just be parking.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Okay, we have some more retail news though. The retail
news is going to keep going and it involves Baker Supermarkets.
Reported weeks ago, if not months ago, that Bakers will
build a one hundred and twenty three thousand square foot
building near two hundred and fourth and Q Street Northwest Corner.

(07:12):
We can tell you that the official groundbreaking for that
site is going to be on September nineteenth. And then
the other news that just came out this week, Bakers
announced that it will build a one hundred thousand square
foot grocery store along the West Maple Corridor. The exact
addresses one hundred and eighty third in Evans Street, and

(07:33):
that will be on thirteen acres of a twenty acre
lot that was originally going to be a Fleet Farm store.
Fleet Farm is not going to go there. So they've
sold that site to Bakers. We don't yet have a
timeline for that second Baker's. I think it's going to
be at least a year or two. They bought that
site pretty quickly. Fleet Farm wanted out. But Fleet Farm

(07:55):
I think more than double their money in about four years.
That is a hot area.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
They meant to have a retail store there and on
three seventy one hundred ninety second West, and so Fleet
Farmers not coming to this market anytime soon. And to
go back to the groundbreaking in September at two hundred
and fourth and Q, Spencer Morrisey and I have a
couple pat sites right next to the Bakers. We have

(08:24):
some inline space about seventy two hundred square feet. So
if you know of a retailer, a coffee shop, service,
whatever it is, we have lots for sale or for
lease and some inline space. And so that corridor, that
two hundred and fourth Street corridor just keeps growing.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, and then Trenton going back up to the one
hundred and eighty third in Maple just announced Baker's Supermarket
you had mentioned to double their money. Here are the
exact numbers in twenty twenty one, Fleet Farm purchased those
twenty acres for four point eight four million. Last within
this summer, Baker's purchased it for ten million, so that

(09:06):
that's a pretty that's not a bad return for four
years work.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
And there's you know, there's there's a Green Slate, Green
Slate Bank that's there, Green State or Green State Bank.
There is Kyoto Steakhouse that's building right now. There's some
other retailers and service providers that are loving that they
took a chance and bought that thinking that Fleet Farmer
is going to be there. But people will probably go

(09:31):
to Bakers a lot more than they'll go to Fleet Farm.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
In other economic development news, the Council Bluff City Council
over the past week approved a resolution to provide tax
increment financing to a major data center project in East
Council Bluffs. This data center is going to be on
the southwest corner of the Interstate eighty and Highway six interchange.
This is a farm field right now that is extremely

(09:57):
close to Iowa Western community and there's been talk about
things going onto the site for some time. Well, now
that's determined. It'll be a data center project from a
global company called Edged and the project will be built
in two phases. Each phase will include a two hundred
and eighty three thousand square foot data center. The first

(10:19):
phase will also have a twenty three thousand square foot
office administrative building. And so the tiff amount the taxi
financing that the City of Council Bluffs is going to
provide is fifty million dollars and the first phase is
to be expected to be complete no later than twenty
twenty nine, and the second phase no later than twenty

(10:40):
thirty three. There could be more of these, I know
you and I talked with the Mayor of Council Bluffs
back in late May, and at the time he said
there were a lot of data center projects that were
floating around Council Bluffs. This is obviously a big one.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
This is really cementing our region and our metro area
for data centers. I mean with Google having probably fifteen
hundred acres by the Bungie Plant and all over in
Council Bluffs. Google also is on this side of the
river as well, And we've got all the majors they

(11:16):
like it here, that the land is reasonably priced, we
have the utilities, we have the plenty of water and
things that you need. Electricity is reasonable as well.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
We have the electricity on the Iowa side. I don't
think we have it on the Nebraska side anymore. I
keep hearing rumors and rumblings about big projects data center
and manufacturing that have been turned away on the Nebraska
side for lack of power. So I don't think you're
going to see a ton of data center expansion on
the Nebraska side anytime soon based on what I'm hearing,
but we shall see it. Sounds like Mid America Energy

(11:46):
might be better positioned for it. Yeah, So on that
ITAs to step up, Yeah, yeah they do. And that
might relate a little bit to a thing we're going
to talk about in the third segment today about job
growth in the Omaha area. But before we get to
any of that, the Great Rama Chamber just yesterday announced
the Midtown Small sorry, the Midtown Small Business Resiliency Fund.

(12:10):
And this is an effort to help out some companies
that have really been struggling because of streetcar construction. We
haven't even started building the rails and the stations yet,
but there has to be so much work done underground
with utilities in order to make the streetcar possible. That
a lot of businesses along the line are really suffering

(12:32):
right now, and so this fund is about one million dollars.
The Chamber will distribute it to qualifying businesses that have
been most significantly impacted by all of this streetcar related
utilities work to date, and also for businesses that will
be affected once rail and station construction starts here pretty soon.

(12:54):
Funds for this distribution were given to the Chamber by
a donor.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (12:59):
A community stakeholders are really stepping up, and yeah, I
can see with Harney Street Bridge going out and even
downtown around the new Mutual Olamha tower and stuff, that
some of these businesses are going to be in prime locations.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
But it could take a couple of years.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, it's one of those, you know, no pain, no
gain sort of things, because once the street car is
up and running, businesses will have an amazing conduit to
bring customers to and fro and it'll be a great thing.
But I tell you it's going to be a rough
two years for these business as well. The construction's going on,
and lately this summer in late spring, one of the

(13:37):
worst places for it, Ground zero has been basically Midtown
crossing area up to about Blackstone and in fact, we
just found out and this could be related, we don't
know for sure. Camp Food Hall. The Camp Food Hall
at thirty six and Farnham, on the ground floor of
a five story mixed use building directly north of the

(13:58):
Kempton Cottonwood Hotel, is now permanently closed.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
And that's unfortunate because it's really an incubator of a
lot of different types of restaurants, seeing what works, what
doesn't works, and they've had some graduates that have been
in there and then gone to bigger spaces. But a
we'll have more on that in the future.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your economic development and
construction news of the week, brought to you by Eagle
Mortgage Eagle Mortgage Company dot Com. Going to take our
first break of the hour, and when we come back,
we're going to talk about the Builder Foundation, talk about
what they do and what they're doing to help our
labor force which is in dire straits not nearly big

(14:37):
enough for all the construction we have going on. We're
going to talk with Chairman of the Board Mike Redman
and executive director Melissa Glenn, stay with us. You're listening
to grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center
and Chaer Athletics on News Radio eleven ten kfab and
welcome back to the show. Trenton Maggot and Jeff Beils Here.
He's Trent and I'm Jeff. We are brought to you

(14:59):
by Dingman's Collision Center, which has four Metro area locations,
famous for auto body care, they also do some mechanical
work as well. Our other title sponsor is Cheer Athletics.
And we are here today with the Chairman of the
Builder Foundation, Mike Readman and newly appointed executive director Melissa Glenn.

(15:24):
Mike and Melissa, welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (15:25):
Well, thank you, good to be here, love to being here.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, good to have you guys back on the show.
You've both been here before. And first of all, let's
start as we usually do with these types of features.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
What is the Builder Foundation?

Speaker 6 (15:38):
Sure?

Speaker 5 (15:39):
Well, the Builder Foundation has been around for about thirty
years now with the primary focus on getting more people
into the construction trades. So we do that through a
number of different ways, primarily by supporting teachers who are
vital to the skilled and technical sciences trades, and also
putting the opportunity into the hands of students to build

(16:01):
something tangible, so that's anything from a shed all the
way up to a full house build.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
Are high schools getting more involved? You know, twenty thirty
years ago, when you're looking for trades people, I'd imagine
they didn't think to go all the way back to
the high schools. What has changed in your mission?

Speaker 6 (16:19):
Yeah, the high schools are now seeing that this is
a great career path for their students, and a lot
of schools are revigorating their industrial science programs and we
work with those schools to get those programs up and running. Currently,
we're working with forty four.

Speaker 7 (16:33):
High schools in the Greater Metropolitan Area, and I know
that Westside High School with own industries, has a welding lab,
which is pretty unique, isn't it?

Speaker 6 (16:47):
It is very unique. But we're seeing more and more
industries partnering with high schools because there's a dire need
for skilled trade labors and if kids aren't exposed to
working with their hands doing projects, the chances of them
going into that as a career is almost nil.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
So just how bad is this labor shortage? I mean,
we've been hearing about the lack of plumbers, carpenters, welders,
other trades persons for a long time, and sometimes we
hear the word crisis. Give us an idea just how
bad it is here, maybe both nationally and in Omaha.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
Sure well, I think one of the things that we
need to pay attention to is that we have a
shortage now and it's only going to get worse. So
right now, we have about twenty percent of the workforce
is fifty five years and older. They're going to be retiring.
And in addition to that, right now, we have a
thirty to thirty four percent shortage currently for skilled workers.

(17:49):
So yeah, we can go down to some of the specifics.
You know, nationwide, we'll need about three hundred and thirty
thousand welders. We need fifty five hundred plumbers. You know,
we can row those numbers down through Department of Labor
for what we need here in Nebraska and Iowa. But
when we're looking at it, we need everything from skilled
hourly workers all the way up to project managers and

(18:10):
architects and everything in between.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
Go ahead, you.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
Hear about kids wanting to go into it and they're
playing video games and things like that, and how do
you get them out of the out of the basemin
playing video games and show them that they can make
a good living in the trades.

Speaker 6 (18:30):
Well, we started a program because a lot of high
schools had dropped industrial science altogether. So we started a
program called Builders of the Future, and it was basically
a club that met after hours and we would get
a teacher would sponsor it and they would build playhouses,
doghouses and other types of small projects. That has really
grown a lot of those schools that initially we're only

(18:52):
building playofses. We now have four high schools building homes annually.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
You know, we're in the next segment. We're going to
talk a little bit about sluggish job growth in the
Omaha metropolitan area. And one of the reasons, or among
the reasons for that has often been said lack of people,
very very low unemployment rate here. You know, why do
you create too many new jobs if your unemployment rate

(19:20):
is already so low? It seems like it's a big
hole for us to dig out of around here. Your
guys' thoughts on what it takes in order for us
to even come close to catching up with what we
need for plumbers and carpenters and welders and electricians, et cetera.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Absolutely we start. Now what it takes is I think
two things, Jeff. Is one getting back to and understanding
that these jobs are secure, that they are not going
to be replaced by AI, and they are fulfilling. You
can build a wonderful life and a business focused on
the trades. So one is reminding people of all of

(19:57):
the opportunities that are available at any age. And for us,
we start by going into the high schools and saying
this is the career path that you could carve out
for yourself and literally putting the materials into their hands
so that they can understand which part of the construction
industry they might want to go into. So when we're
talking about the need and the number of people that

(20:17):
we need to impact, I think it starts. It starts small,
but it grows very quickly.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
So does the Builder Foundation also partner with Metro and
the other trade schools, because after high school that's when
the stuff gets serious and they need further training and
getting the licenses and the qualifications.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yes, we do.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
In fact, we partner with Metropolitan Community College for their
associate program, which is two year program you can get
an associate degree. Our students are eligible for twenty five
hundred dollars scholarship.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
For that school.

Speaker 6 (20:52):
We also work with the Northeast Community College in Norfolk.
We currently have sixteen schools now up in the north
east corner of Nebraska around the Wayne State College area
that are a feeder program for the community college up there.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
One of the ways that you're funding the Builder Foundation
is a really really cool event a place that I've
been to and Peter Fink's Musclecar Museum on North ninetieth Street,
which is an incredible place. You have an event coming
up on Thursday, October second, five point thirty pm. Can
you talk a little bit about that and what the
opportunities are for sponsors.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
Absolutely, we'd love to. We're thrilled. Like you said, it's
October second. What we're going to be showcasing is almost
a rebirth of what the Builder Foundation is and what
we're trying to accomplish. So we're going to have teachers
and students there to talk about some of the projects
that they're working on, showcase some of the pictures of
the builds that they've done, you know, selfishly, we are
trying to raise money because we have a big goal

(21:55):
and a fantastic organization to put it into place. So
we're going to have a live auction, a bit of
a silent auction, some really good food and drinks, and
like you said, a fantastic, beautiful muscle car museum.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
The only way that you can get at a Peter
Fink's muscle car museum is to attend an event that's
for a fundraiser. He makes sure that he takes care
of local foundations and things like this that really add
to the vitality of Omaha. And if people go to

(22:29):
Builder Foundation dot org you can learn all about it.

Speaker 6 (22:33):
That's exactly right, and that museum is fantastic. Peter Fink
is a prime example of somebody that came out of
high school when in the trades, he opened a transmission
shop and now today he's a great benefactor to many
organizations using his collection of muscle cars.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
It's called the Builder Foundation, and yes, feel free to
look into that Builders of the Future event that they're
talking about on October second. Mike and Melissa, we appreciate
you joining us and continued success. Thanks for everything you're
doing to try and build our workforce here in Omaha.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
That is Melissa Glenn, executive director and Mike Readman, board
chair from the Builder's Foundation. We're going to take our
middle of the show break for the News and when
we come back, it'll be time for your novel companies,
commercial real estate development Spotlight and we're going to talk
more about workforce issues and a couple other things.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Stay with us.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
You're listening to Grow Omaha brought to you by Cheer
Athletics and Dingman's Collision Center on News Radio eleven ten
KFAB and welcome back to the show, Jeff Beal sitting
next to Trenton Maggot. We're brought to you by Dingman's
Collision Center along with Cheer Athletics, which is the nation's
number one All Star Cheer Jim. The Omaha location is

(23:52):
located in beautiful Papillion, Nebraska, just a little bit southwest
of Highways fifty and three seventy and All Star Cheer
is an absolutely fantastic way for your kids to get
involved and learn competition and grow and develop as future leaders.
And basically, Cheer Athletics is the Cadillac brand in the

(24:14):
All Star Cheer world, so check them out. You can
find out more by going to Caomaha dot com. That's
ca Omaha dot com. Well, it's time for our not
A Companies Commercial real Estate Development Spotlight of the Week,
in which we highlight projects going on in or near
one of the not ale Companies Many Omaha area projects,

(24:35):
and when we say many not A Companies does have
a lot. Not A Companies is famous for Xarbon Village,
the Builders District downtown. They're doing an amazing mixed use
project northwest of one hundred ninety second and Highway three
seventy in Gretna, and Autal Companies does projects elsewhere as well.
They're a national firm that just happens to be located

(24:56):
here in Omaha, but they love their hometown. And today
for the Nodel Companies Report, we're going to look at
Exarbon Village and we've got a news item. HDR, the
one of the world's biggest and best architecture and civil
engineering firms, is headquartered in Xarbon Village in a Nodel
Companies building. It's a ten story building right along sixty

(25:19):
seventh Street in the heart of Xarbon Village. It's got
a bunch of retail on the ground floor at any rate.
I can tell you that that headquarters building now procures
one hundred percent renewable electricity through Omaha Public Power District.
HDR is accomplishing this virtually through agreements with the building owner,

(25:40):
Nodel Companies and a program administered by our local utility.
And this change helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions attributed to
hdr's largest office. HDR has offices around the world, but
as its headquarters, that is its largest office. And get this,
there are more than one thousand, one hundred employes who
worked there for HDR.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
That's great.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
You go to Czar Village, you don't even know the
great things that they're doing behind the scenes and behind
the buildings.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
And that is the Nodle Company's Commercial real Estate Development
Spotlight of the week. We thank nod All Companies for
making that possible. You can find out more about them
by going appropriately enough to nod Alecompanies dot com. Well,
we've got some changes coming to the Chi Health Center
Arena and the Charles Schwab Field so inside the CHAI.

(26:30):
Earlier this week, they unveiled the brand new scoreboard video
boards around the arena, new ribbon boards, and it is amazing.
I can tell you that the internal scoreboard, the center
hung scoreboard, the main one, will be the biggest and
finest wrap around scoreboard with that pixel quality anywhere in

(26:53):
the United States of America.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
And Brad Williams captured it all on video and on
still photograph on our website and Facebook, and it is cool.
Imagine just seamless video going around the corners, not just
boxes on each side.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you will really enjoy that new scoreboard if you
go to Creighton basketball games, almos how super Nova's volleyball games,
or any other type of event that uses the scoreboard
in the arena. Now at the same time, across the
street in the parking lot, if you will, there's some
construction work happening at Charles schwab Field, home of the
College World Series, and work is being done to add

(27:37):
a second scoreboard. So you have the first scoreboard that
has always been in right field. Now we're putting a
scoreboard in left field under that big light tower that's
always been there. I can tell you I am excited
about this because my seats for the College World Series
are on the first baseline and it is a pain

(27:57):
in the backside to look at that score all the time.
You almost get like sore neck from looking at it
so much, and I don't want to soar next. So
I'm very very happy about this. Now, not only are
they adding a second scoreboard to the outfield, they're going
to upgrade the existing one. So great, great user experience
coming to Charles Schwabfield.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Guys got to stay up with the times. Indeed you do.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
And staying up with the times, we have to remember
that Omaha is always in a cutthroat battle with every
other metropolitan area in the United States to attract jobs, people, investment,
you name it. It's a competitive world and that's good.
That keeps moving our cities forward and our entire country forward.
And Omaha has enjoyed a long period of time in

(28:40):
which it had job growth that really outpaced a lot
of other cities. Apparently that has stopped. The Xcarbon Foundation
commission to report, and there was a pretty link the
Omaha World Herald article on it this week that basically
said job creation in Omaha over the last four or
five years has declined and now trails a lot of

(29:03):
competing cities in our region such as Kansas City, Des Moines, Iowa,
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and a couple
others that were mentioned, and it is somewhat concerning, and
so one of the things that trent and I want
to talk about for a few minutes here are what
are some of the possible reasons that could be happening now?

(29:25):
Before we have Trenton kind of give some of his
thoughts on this, I do want to mention a couple
things that are interesting because we do hear some pieces
of information that are very encouraging, but not necessarily in
straight unison or comparing apples to apples to this report
we just mentioned by the x ARBON Foundation. Just in
July of this summer, LinkedIn named Omaha the number ten

(29:50):
fastest growing city for jobs and talent. So that's obviously
something different than what this EXARBON report showed. And we
also know that we are growing housing here pretty fast,
although there's still a terrible shortage. US News named this
the hottest housing market in America earlier this year. Another
survey named Omaha top ten for apartment construction, and yet

(30:12):
another study named Omaha and the top ten for most
office to residential apartment conversions. So we're getting all sorts
of news here, Trenton. Why do we think that we're
lagging behind these pier cities in our region for job growth?

Speaker 4 (30:25):
As you said, it's cut throat, Jeff, I sat next
to a long time Omaha business person at a dinner
last night and we're talking. He brought this article up,
and we were talking about Gromha, of course, and he
said that he and his wife are moving to Minneapolis
because his three children. He's got one in I think Denver,

(30:47):
and then he's got a bunch of grandkids in Minneapolis.
And he says, you know, my kids, we showed them
the world and we sent them away to college and
they're fine, but they're not coming back.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, And that's a big concern. And Minneapolis is a
good example. They actually had slower job growth than us,
which I guess is encouraging. But you know, that's a
place you can't use the cold weather as an excuse
because Minneapolis is about as bad as it gets for winter,
and those guys chose to go there. I think some
of the things there are a couple of things that
stand out to me. One is I think our state

(31:25):
has become laxed visa the other states when it comes
to aggressive tax incentives and business incentives. State of Kansas
just through obscene money at Fiserv, got them to put
a huge regional office in Overland Park that will almost
surely take jobs from Fiserve operations in Omaha as the
years go by. And when that was announced, I kept thinking,

(31:46):
would we do that in Nebraska. I'm a little worried
about electrical capacity from OPPD. We've got the housing shortage,
which has driven up our housing costs quite a bit,
although we're aggressively dealing with that. I think we've done
a tremendous job of adding cultural attractions, recreation attractions, and entertainment.
I think we're doing well there. But I think we
have to we have to step on the gas. I

(32:08):
remember talking at a political function during the last gubernatorial race,
and one of our guber and ternal candidates may have
been the one who won, told me that we didn't
need to keep recruiting jobs so heavily. We need to
focus on the jobs that are already here. So I'm
afraid in state government we might we might be a
little laxed.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Right now, we get too comfortable. We get too comfortable
patting ourselves on the back. And Heath Mellow, the chairman
and President of the Chamber of Commerce, comes on here
a regular basis, and we've talked about it with him.
But and I hope that the stakeholders that listen to
the show, and if you know these stakeholders and the
heads of foundations, we have so much money going into

(32:49):
parks and venues and educational programs and a lot of
great stuff, and maybe some of that money, I think
for sure it needs to be diverted towards growth. And
if you could do if Omahawk coun do a project
in a brask and do a project where maybe it's
a twenty five thousand dollars forgivable loan to get people

(33:11):
to come if you're in here for two or four years,
however long it is a forgivable loan for down payment
on a house or something. That's a program that could work.
And I know they're looking at it, but we got
to find those.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
All right, It's time for your Perkins Chritzer construction lightning round.
As soon as we come back from this, you're listening
to grow Omaha. Brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center
and Share Athletics. On news radio eleven ten kfab, it's
your Perkins Chritzer Construction Lightning Round in which we talk
about a lot of things really fast. Thanks to Perkins
Kretzer for making this possible. They are a class A

(33:42):
general contractor and Perkins Chreiser does big, big jobs. They
can do big jobs, huge jobs, but a lot of
times we talk about some of their littler jobs here
because oftentimes they relate to this section, which when we
talk about a lot of retail and restaurants. So in
recent weeks, we've told you that they're doing a very
cool event center in North Downtown. They're building the Popeyes

(34:04):
that will open soon at one hundred and sixty eighth
in Maple. They've building a jewelry store in Village Point.
But Perkins Chritzer Construction does it all. Dave Kreutzer is
in charge over there, does an outstanding job. He's a
friend of ours, a friend of Girl Maha, and we
full with full faith and confidence and a warm heart,
recommend Perkins Chritzer Construction. You can find them online at

(34:27):
p dash SA construction dot com. All right, a lot
of things really fast. We've got a restaurant out of
Kansas City called Red Door Wood Fired Grill coming to Gretna.
They have six KC locations known for scratch made food
and smoky smoky smoke with pecan, oak, kickory and all.
That should be a good place.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
So I think you see a few of those pop up.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
A roy Asian Cuisine is gun to open shortly inside
the Horse Shoe Casino in Counts Bluffs. It's an Asian
fusion restaurant. We've got agin a little bit of casion
thrown in there for good measure. We have Masa Luna
tamal Aia coming actually has opened in the former Muchacho
space on Thirteenth Street in Little Bohemia. Merrow has officially

(35:14):
opened in Gretna Trenton. This is a casual fine dining
restaurant concept that offers lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. It
has the same ownership as timber Woodfire Bistro in Countryside.
Is Railcar in West oh and Pasta More and Rockbrook.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
That part of town needs more upscale restaurants. Yeah, I
think so too.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
You know, it is lacking that in Gretna, despite the
fact there's a lot of growth there and a lot
of good restaurant demographics. Good Evans, a breakfast and lunch
restaurant out of Carney, has opened its third Omaha store
and within the last week or so. It's in a
former old Chicago space on the northeast corner of one
hundred and forty fourth and West Center Road. They have
existing locations at seventy fourth in Pacific and two hundred

(35:55):
and fourth and West Maple. And then we have a
restaurant coming to the Miracle Hills area. The address is
six forty five North one hundred and fourteenth Street. It's
called Bloom and Board. We don't know a lot because
this information comes from a city building permit, but it
appears to be a sharcutery board restaurant. And in the
same area, Hawaiian Brothers opened its second Omaha store within

(36:21):
the last week. Their first one is in Gretna, and
we understand it's off to a great start.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
Absolutely, And Dean Hodges, who is a proprietor and has
a lot of the restaurants, he had a few days
of big opening and then we talked about on our
website and forty percent increase, he said on the fourth day,
so the power of Groamha's out there.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Big Grove Brewery is going to soft open within the
next week or so. The official grand opening is scheduled
for September twenty fifth. That is the brewpub place out
of Iowa City that is opening. In the Catalyst project.
We have the fourth Supermercato, Nouestra Familia grocery store opening

(37:03):
at twenty third in El Street, and a former Walgreens.
The other stores are all about forty thousand feet. This
one's only going to be fifteen thousand feet, so it'll
be quite a bit smaller. And we also have Porky Butts,
the barbecue place that everyone loves that has been closed
down for a while because of flooding, is now resuming
catering and they hoped open the actual restaurant soon. Music's playing,

(37:23):
which means we are finito. We have enjoyed spending the
weekend with you, though, hope you guys have a great week.
I'm Jeff Beils and I'm Trenton Maggot. You've been listening
to Grow Omaha, brought to you by Dingman's Collision Center,
Cheer Athletics and Perkins Kreutzer Construction. Well, chat with you
next week at nine right here on news Radio eleven
ten kfab