Weekly Market Report – April 14, 2022

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New Life for the Old Zesto – The former Zesto Ice Cream at 3901 South 13th Street near Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium will become a new location of Lina’s Mexican Restaurant. Opening is planned within two months. Lina’s has existing locations in west Omaha, La Vista and North 90th Street.

The Grove Juicery & Wellness Café at 2401 Farnam Street downtown is looking for a second location. Plans call for a second store to be between 1,700 and 2,500 sq. ft. located somewhere west of 90th and between West Center Road and West Maple Road.

Construction has gone vertical on the future Church’s Chicken going in just east of the Wal-Mart store on the northwest corner of 168th & West Maple Road. The exact location is 168th & Spaulding Street. Church’s is based in Atlanta and has more than 1,700 locations. By the way, a coffee drive-through kiosk is planned next door to Church’s.

The Dandelion Pop-Up has released the 2002 line-up on its Facebook page. The first one is tomorrow – April 15th – and is Omaha Cheesesteak Co. The Dandelion Pop-up takes place each Friday between April and October from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 13th & Howard Street.

The Joint Chiropractic has opened in Metro Crossing at 3808 Metro Drive in the Metro Crossing development in Council Bluffs.

A ribbon cutting will take place May 4th for ReMain at 192 Main Street in Springfield. ReMain is a retail store selling new and vintage furniture, home décor, housewares and accessories.

Shimmy Shack will hold a ribbon cutting May 12th for its new location at 1340 South 119th Street (next to Brother Sebastian’s). Shimmy Shack is a “body-positive” dance studio offering classes for adults in cabaret belly dance, fusion belly dance, MixxedFit group fitness and Lazy Yoga restorative wellness.

The “Restaurant & Retail Updates” section is sponsored by Tommy’s Express Car Wash. Love your ride! Sign up in the app for your first month of unlimited washing, and make Tommy’s Express Car Wash part of your clean routine.

Two National Rankings for Omaha Metro Area

We occasionally highlight some of the positive press that comes Omaha’s way. Today we cover two national rankings.

Best Paying Cities for Generation Z

Generation Z—or Gen Z for short—is the generation succeeding millennials that represents about 20% of the U.S. population. The Brookings Institute’s definition of Gen Z is people born between 1997 and 2012, the oldest of which are now just beginning their careers. While members of Gen Z currently account for less than 5% of the U.S. full-time workforce, this number will increase rapidly in the coming decades.

Estilos Media has compiled its top 15 metro areas where Gen Z’rs get the best deal:

1. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
2. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
3. Worcester, MA-CT
4. Boston
5. Indianapolis
6. Omaha
7. Milwaukee
8. Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
9. Cincinnati
10. Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
11. Salt Lake City
12. Springfield, MA
13. Lancaster, PA
14. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
15. Minneapolis-St. Paul

Regarding Omaha, Estilos Media said Omaha’s adjusted median annual wage for full-time Gen Z’rs is $31,476. Actual median wage for that age group in Omaha is $30,000. Omaha’s cost of living is -4.7 percent compared to the national average. Gen Z makes up 5.4 percent of the Omaha labor force.

Number of Military Families

Omaha is ranked number 10 according to Lattice Publishing’s list of large metro areas with the most military families. Here’s the ranking:

1. Virginia Beach-Norfolk
2. San Diego
3. San Antonio
4. Oklahoma City
5. Richmond, VA
6. Jacksonville, FL
7. Tucson, AZ
8. Baltimore
9. Birmingham, AL
10. Omaha
11. Kansas City
12. New Orleans
13. Washington, DC
14. Providence, RI
15. Buffalo, NY

In Omaha, 4 percent of the population lives in a military household while 6.8 percent are veterans. No surprise, but the military branch with the largest presence in Omaha is the U.S. Air Force.

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Arch Icon and NuStyle Development are teaming up to build the Howard Apartments, a $28 million apartment building at 2323 Howard Street. The 6-story building will have 120 market-rate apartment units and 132 indoor parking stalls. The building will sit on a surface parking lot and on what is now a building for Nebraska Urban Indian Coalition (that organization is moving to 23rd & N Street in South Omaha.

The new building will be part of the Flats on Howard, a multi-building residential renewal project which was kicked off several years ago. Completion is planned for the summer of 2023.

Community Alliance, a non-profit that has provided mental health services for 40 years, has announced plans to expand services and build a 120,000 sq. ft. headquarters at 71st & Mercy Road, according to the Omaha World-Herald. To make way for the project, workers will demolish a 5-story office building currently on the site. The new headquarters is expected to open in late 2023. Community Alliance is currently located at 41st & Leavenworth Street.

Sienna Francis House broke ground April 12th on “The Cottages,” it’s tiny home project near 16th & Charles Street in North Downtown. When completed next March, The Cottages will have 50 tiny houses of 275 sq. ft. each designed to provide housing for people who have experienced homelessness.

The City of Omaha will begin a pedestrian safety pilot project in May to slow traffic and provide greater safety for pedestrians on Farnam Street in the Blackstone District. The street currently has two westbound and one eastbound lanes. One of the westbound lanes will be converted to a turn lane. The lanes will be narrowed and “unsignalized pedestrian crossing treatments” will be installed.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the creation of the Nebraska Center for Women’s Health Research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The goal of the center is to coordinate and organize research activities in women’s health.

Speaking of health, fundraising will begin soon on a $50 million inpatient pediatric behavioral health facility planned at CHI Health’s Immanuel Medical Center. The facility would have 36 to 40 beds and care for children and adolescents between 5 and 18 years of age.

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Real Estate News from CoStar –  Persistent supply constraints paired with the effect that the war in Europe is having on commodity markets — of both energy and agricultural products — are pushing overall prices higher once again.

The consumer price index grew by 1.2 percent in March, its fastest monthly pace in more than 18 years, and was 8.5 percent higher than a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, grew by 0.3 percent in March, decelerating for the second month in a row, and is now 6.5 percent over the year.

Mead Lumber Company has purchased of Triple “S” Building Center, Inc. of Butte, Mont. Triple “S” is a family owned business and has serviced the southwest Montana area as a full-service lumber yard and building material supplier for professional builders and remodelers, homeowners and commercial contractors since 1988. Omaha-based Mead Lumber is employee owned and has 49 locations in eight states.

Mutual of Omaha has been named as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2022 by Fortune magazine, and global research and consulting firm, Great Place to Work®. The company is ranked 84 out of 100.

The Lozier Foundation has leased 10,166 sq. ft. inside the Landmark Building at 1299 Farnam Street downtown.

Tom Failla and Maddie Graeve of NAI NP Dodge represented both parties in the lease of a 2,143 sq. ft. retail space in Nelson Square at 6819 South 167th Street. Apex Performance & Chiropractic joins All State Insurance, Green Beans Coffee, Sylvan Learning and more at this fully occupied retail strip.

Valmont Industries, Inc., an Omaha-based provider of engineered products and services for infrastructure and irrigation equipment for agriculture, will host its first quarter 2022 earnings conference call on Thursday, April 21, 2022 beginning at 8:00 a.m. CDT.

Project leaders and local and provincial officials marked the start of construction on Canada’s Ontario Line subway project on March 27, with a groundbreaking at Exhibition Station in Toronto. Omaha-based HDR has assisted Metrolinx as technical advisor on the $10.9 billion (Canadian dollars) Ontario Line project since 2020.

Union Pacific’s famed Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest steam locomotive, is set to return to the tracks this summer for its “West Coast Steam Tour.” Kicking off June 26 from Cheyenne, Wyoming, this year’s tour will celebrate Union Pacific’s 160th anniversary, railroad heritage and the communities the railroad serves, visiting the Pacific Northwest for the first time since its return to service. In 2002 Big Boy will visit Sparks, Nev.; Roseville, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; and Boise, Idaho.

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Scooter’s Coffee has appointed Kelsey Regier as vice president of application development. As the Omaha-based company continues its rapid national expansion, Regier’s team will advance technology-enabled capabilities for the company.

Lutz has added Laurie Cradick and Abraham Driewer to its Omaha office. Cradick joins the talent division as a client relations manager. She is responsible for helping business leaders find long-term talent to reach their business goals. She graduated from Truman State University with a Bachelor’s degree in business administration. Driewer is a staff accountant in the audit department. He is responsible for performing audits, reviews, and compilations for clients in a variety of industries. He received a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Notre Dame.

Veridian Credit Union has promoted Alex Ablan to branch manager at the soon-to-open office at 7529 Dodge Street and DJ Cotton as manager of the existing Council Bluffs branch office.

Ag Processing, Inc. has promoted Tony Stephanek to vice president – engineering and environmental and Paul Wahlmeier to vice president of finance. Stepanek has been with AGP since 1998. He holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, as well as being a Licensed Professional Engineer. Wahlmeier joined AGP as Senior Director of Finance in March of 2021 from Gavilon where he was vice president of strategy, leading their business development and expansion efforts. earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Hastings College and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

HDR has named Erin Hunt, P.E., to succeed Glen Ellmers as president of its global water practice, upon Ellmers’ retirement in June. For the past three years, Hunt has served as area manager for HDR’s operations in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. In her new role, she will focus on leading one of the Top 5 water business programs in the United States (by revenue), comprised of more than 1,600 HDR employees.

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.

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