Grow Omaha
Projects

Flower Child plans to open its first Nebraska location in late June at 120 Regency Parkway, on the north side of Regency Shopping Center. The restaurant is under construction in the parking lot northeast of Bonefish Grill and Borsheims. The 5,002 sq. ft. building will have a covered outdoor patio. The fast-casual restaurant focuses on healthy eating. Flower Child started in Arizona and currently has 43 restaurants in 15 states. The closest existing locations are in St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Denver.

Opus has started construction on the Highway 370 Logistics building at 13760 Highway 370 on a 12-acre site near Amazon’s regional distribution center in Papillion. The 168,486 sq. ft., speculative, industrial building will have 32-foot clear ceiling heights, 10 dock doors, two drive-in doors, 115 vehicle parking stalls and 31 trailer parking stalls. Minneapolis-based Opus has developed several Omaha projects, including the Storz Warehouse and build-to-suits for Omaha Box Company, Gavilon Group and CSG Systems.

As part of its $950 million terminal modernization and expansion project, the Omaha Airport Authority is investing $40 million in a state-of-the-art baggage-handling facility at Eppley Airfield. It will allow more bags to flow through the facility in a shorter period of time. The baggage facility will have 1.25 miles of conveyor belts and much more room for TSA bag screening. The public-facing baggage carousel area will be 50 feet deeper than the current facility, so passengers won’t feel so crowded. There will continue to be six carousels, but they’ll be longer. Two of them will have international flight capability. The upgraded baggage facility will be operational early next year. 

PENN Entertainment, Inc., parent company of Ameristar Casino Hotel, plans to relocate its existing Council Bluffs casino operations from its riverboat into a 2-story, 135,000 sq. ft. building to be constructed in Ameristar’s current parking lot, according to City of Council Bluffs planning documents. As part of the project, PENN Entertainment will change the venue’s name to Hollywood Casino. 

As the accompanying architect’s rendering shows, the Hollywood Casino building will be accompanied by a 566-stall parking garage. All the existing buildings will be retained, including the Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn hotels. The Ameristar Hotel will be connected via a porte-cochère, which will provide a cover over the drop-off and pick-up areas. 

The current riverboat casino will remain in operation during construction. Once Hollywood Casino is operational, PENN will begin the process of decommissioning the Ameristar boat. PENN plans to start construction as soon as it receives final city approval. The project will take 24 months.

Construction has gone vertical on a $40 million Baker’s Marketplace store northwest of 204th & Q Street. At 123,000 sq. ft., Baker’s Marketplace will be approximately 55,000 sq. ft. larger than traditional Baker’s stores. The property will include a Baker’s fuel center. The store will employ more than 300 people. Opening is expected toward the end of this year.

Most of the steel structure is now installed atop Mutual of Omaha’s future headquarters tower downtown. Topping-out – when the final piece of structural steel is welded into place – is expected to take place next week. In the accompanying photo by Brad Williams, construction workers can be seen working on the architectural crown 677 feet above Farnam Street.

The 44-story tower is the equivalent of a 48-story tower because of the crown and the fact that the 44^th floor has a double-height ceiling. The developer is Lanoha Real Estate. Pickard Chilton is the lead architect and JE Dunn is the general contractor. Completion is planned for late this year, but it’s already the tallest tower in a multi-state region. It’s also one of the tallest office buildings currently under construction in the United States.  

Construction is underway on a 7 Brew Coffee location at 2901 West Broadway in Council Bluffs. Crews were pouring concrete for the drive-thru lane today. The site was once home to a U.S. Bank branch building, which was previously demolished. Arkansas-based 7 Brew Coffee opened a west Omaha location earlier this year near 182nd & West Maple Road.

Construction has reached the fifth floor on part of the future mixed-use building under development on the southwest corner of 72nd & Farnam Street. The $44 million, 5-story building is a Lockwood Development project. The building will have 176 apartment units plus ground-level retail space that will host a Williamsburg Pizza restaurant and a Jimmy John’s sub-sandwich shop. Once Jimmy John’s opens in the new building, the existing, free-standing Jimmy John’s building will be demolished.

 Photo by Brad Williams