Weekly Market Report – December 2, 2021

Dec 2, 2021 | 0 comments

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Two Restaurant Start-ups – Little Ve’s Latin vegan cuisine is opening soon inside the Switch Beer & Food Hall at 36th & Farnam Street in the Blackstone District. Roll-N-Sweetz rolled ice cream is opening soon at 5921 Ames Avenue.

Rusty Taco will be one of the tenants in a new retail strip under construction southwest of 204th & Q Street in the Coventry development.

Rebel Monkey Pizza has opened at 16919 Audrey Street in Harrison Village in the former Pudgy’s Pizzeria space. The locally owned and operated restaurant sells pizza, appetizers, pasta and salads.

Arby’s has opened at 184th & West Center Road. This new location replaces an existing one about a mile to the east.

New Opening Date – Crisp & Green is now planning to open its first Nebraska restaurant on December 11th at 80th & Dodge. The Minnesota-based chain serves grain bowls, salads and smoothies. The Omaha location will feature Crisp & Green’s first-ever drive-thru.

Reebok held a ribbon cutting last weekend for its 6,500 sq. ft. store at Nebraska Crossing. It is the only new store that Reebok will open anywhere in the country in 2021.

Pottery Barn Kids is closing its store inside Regency Court. The closing does not affect the Pottery Barn store in the same building.

LeadBelly is closing its restaurant at 3201 Farnam Street in Midtown Crossing on December 31st.

Brought to you by:

The “Restaurant & Retail Updates” section is sponsored by Backlot Pizza + Kitchen located near 204th & Q, where you can enjoy Detroit-style pizza, classic favorites and craft cocktails!”

The Big Story

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Major Sports & Rec Campus Planned in South O

Community Health Development Partners (CHDP) plans to develop a major recreation and wellness campus just south of downtown Omaha.

“The Intersections” will be located on approximately 25 acres near 24th and Martha Streets and provide convenient access to North, South, and West Omaha residents. Developers believe the planned services and amenities will help to fill existing gaps and draw people from across the city and the region.

“After months of conversations with the city, local organizations, and citizens, we are developing the project at this specific location because we saw a need for a central hub that brings our community together and provides affordable services that will be accessible to all parts of our city,” said David Lutz, CHDP principal and senior managing director.

Preliminary plans for the five-building campus will include the following amenities:

Technology and Esports Center: This center will feature technology labs, educational spaces, and a large Esports arena that will be unique to the region.

Action Sports: This facility will house an indoor skate park, bouldering area, foam pit, and tumbling gym.

Wellness Center: This facility will offer a broad range of medical and wellness services, including primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, integrative care, behavioral healthcare, massage, yoga, and relaxation/meditation with onsite daycare.

Sports, Total Fitness, and Rehab Center: This facility will house athletic training, physical and occupational therapy, an athletic performance training center, 8 basketball and volleyball courts, 4 multi-turf fields, sports simulators, fitness gym, and opportunities for everyone and all fitness levels.

Community Hub: This facility will include a food hall, urban farming center, office space, and a corporate and community training center.

CHDP plans to break ground on The Intersections in the Fall of 2022 and be open to the community in the Spring of 2024.

This section is sponsored by SEi. For more than 50 years, Security Equipment Incorporated has been your Omaha owned, trusted security partner. SEI protects life and property by designing, installing, monitoring and servicing your security, fire, video surveillance and access control systems. Learn more HERE!

Grow Omaha Snippets

Grow Omaha Snippets Sponsored by:

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City Ventures, owner of Central Park Plaza’s iconic red-brick twin towers, has announced a $105 million expansion and renovation of the 39-year-old complex bordered by 15th, 16th, Douglas and Farnam streets downtown. The project’s name will be changed to The Apex.

Plans call for a 17-story, glass-walled office tower to be constructed between the two existing towers, increasing the complex’s total size from 490,000 sq. ft. to 570,000 sq. ft. Upper level floors will be designed for class-A office tenants.

The lower level, already home to Starbuck’s and Sullivan’s Steakhouse, will have additional retail space. The targeted completion date is 2024.

The Greater Omaha Chamber held a ribbon-cutting November 18th for a new Cobalt Credit Union branch office at 7643 Cass Court.

The City of Omaha plans to relocate the W. Dale Clark Library from its current location along 14th Street between Douglas and Farnam streets to an historic building at 1401 Jones Street. The current building, a hulking concrete-bunker-like structure built in 1976, serves as the downtown branch, library system headquarters and the central distribution hub. The office and distribution functions will move to a former Shopko space near 84th & Frederick Street.

The new downtown branch will open in a 30,000 sq. ft. space next fall. The city is leasing the space for 10 years from White Lotus Group of Omaha. The building will require substantial renovation. The estimated cost to design, renovate and equip the building is $3 million to be split between the city and the landlord.

Plans call for the current downtown library site, an entire city block, to be turned over to a yet-to-be-announced private developer.

Metro Area Planning Agency is hosting a live virtual public meeting for its Highway 75 Corridor & Freight Strategy Study on December 14th at 6 p.m. Anyone interested in attending should register at: mapacog.org/highway75/
According to MAPA, the study will “identify feasible, planning-level concepts that meet study mobility, safety and community goals for the corridor.”

Grow Omaha Snippets are brought to you by Omaha Car Care with four metro area locations – 131st & Dodge, 58th & Center, 85th & L and 144th & Harrison.

Omaha Car Care “We’ll be along for the ride.”

Eagle Mortgage Home Loan Services

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Business News

Local Business News Sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland:

Real Estate News from CoStar – Walmart has been using pop-up container yards to improve the flow of products to fill store shelves. An empty lot near the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports has been processing 500 containers a day. Walmart is doing the same in Savannah, Ga.

At Southern California ports, which had the biggest bottlenecks, Walmart has seen a 51 percent improvement in containers flowing through them. The retailer has more inventory on hand now than it did for last year’s holiday season.

First National of Nebraska has entered into an agreement to acquire Western States Bank of Laramie, Wyo. The deal is expected to close in early 2022 pending regulatory approval. Western States Bank has $542 million in total assets.

Ag Processing Inc of Omaha plans to expand the crush capacity of its soybean processing facility in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. Chairman of the Board Lowell Wilson stated, “The project is aligned with our strategic plan of continued growth of our core soybean processing business to better serve the cooperative system and our rural communities. We would like to thank The Siouxland Initiative, Woodbury County and the Iowa Economic Development Authority for their support of this project.”

Since declining to a record low in April of last year, the Creighton University Mid-America Business Conditions Index, a leading economic indicator for the nine-state region stretching from Minnesota to Arkansas, has remained above growth neutral for 18 of the last 19 months. The index fell to a still-healthy 60.2 from October’s even stronger 65.2.

Green Plains’ wholly-owned subsidiary Green Plains Obion LLC has broken ground on the construction of Fluid Quip Technologies’ MSC™ system in Tennessee. Obion is the fifth Green Plains location to install the MSC™ technology, with completion expected in 2022.

Just one year after launching operations, Petsource by Scoular plans a $75 million expansion that will triple its production capacity to meet increasing demand for freeze-dried pet food. Petsource’s expansion of its Seward, Neb. manufacturing facility is projected for completion in early 2023 and is expected to create up to 80 new jobs. Petsource is an indirect, wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Omaha-based Scoular.

Werner Enterprises, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement and has closed on the acquisition of NEHDS, based in Monroe, Conn., for a purchase price of $64 million, which includes a $4 million earnout. NEHDS operates a fleet of over 400 delivery trucks primarily in the Northeast and Midwest. NEHDS delivers primarily big and bulky products using two-person delivery teams performing residential and commercial deliveries through a network of 19 cross dock, warehouse and customer facilities.

This section is sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland, the local, trusted franchise experts. They are “in the business of helping you get into business!”

People in the News

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

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digital rendering of Flatiron District project buildings

Applied Underwriters has named John Schlosser to lead the infrastructure underwriting section of the company’s new Applied Specialty Underwriters’ infrastructure and construction practice.

Cobalt Credit Union has appointed Bob Doucette as Chief Information Officer. He most recently served as vice president of information technology and marketing for a Kentucky-based credit union. Doucet holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston.

Hannah Wickard has been promoted to vice president and actuary at Mutual of Omaha. She is responsible for capital management functions including capital analysis and efficiency, economic capital, asset liability management and asset projections. Wickard joined Mutual of Omaha in 2014 as an actuarial assistant. She was promoted to actuarial associate in 2016 and finance director and actuary in 2018.

WoodmenLife has appointed Nic Olari to Chief Compliance Officer of the WoodmenLife Variable Annuity Account. In conjunction with this role, Olari has also been appointed as chair of WoodmenLife’s Variable Annuity Committee. He will be responsible for overseeing compliance efforts of the WoodmenLife Variable Annuity Account with state and federal law. Olari joined WoodmenLife in 2011. He has served as staff attorney and assistant general counsel, and currently serves as director and associate general counsel.

The “People in the News” section is sponsored by Baird Holm LLP. Baird Holm’s dedicated team of real estate lawyers has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate law, including purchases, sales, zoning and land use, leasing, and dispute resolution. Click HERE for more information.

Have You Watched Grow O on Video Yet?

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Grow Omaha’s brand-new website features video footage shot inside the radio studio during each week’s show!

Videos include News of the Week, Lightning Round, guest interviews, and “Grow Omaha Uncut,” a behind-the-scenes look at what happens during commercial breaks.

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