Weekly Market Report – December 30, 2021

The former Joe Banana’s building at 10th & Pacific Street will become a bar and restaurant next summer. The north side of the building will be a champagne and wine bar. The south side will be a casual-dining restaurant.

The reincarnated Piccolo Pete’s restaurant has officially announced its grand opening will be Thursday, January 6th. The restaurant, which was a long-standing South Omaha Italian steakhouse for many decades, is reopening at 115 North Washington Street in Papillion. Hours of operation will be 11 am to 8 pm Tuesday through Saturday and 11am to 6 pm on Sunday.

Good Evans is opening a third location in Omaha in February at 1040 South 74th Plaza in a former PepperJax location. Good Evans started in 2019 and opened locations in both Lincoln and Kearney Neb. The Omaha location will be one of two the brand plans to open in 2022.

Five Below will open soon at Westroads Mall. The Philadelphia-based retailer sells specialty items focused on younger shoppers at $5 or less. Five Below has four existing Omaha-area locations.

Sunglass Hut plans to open soon at Village Pointe shopping center near 168th & West Dodge Road. Also opening soon is Restore, which has become a market leader in one of the fastest-growing healthcare segments. They focus on extending your “healthspan,” the period of life spent in good health.

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!”

A Look Ahead: Growth & Development in 2022

Last week, we looked back at Omaha’s growth and development in 2021. Today, we look ahead.

Most people we talk to are feeling bullish on Omaha in 2022. We hear anecdotal evidence about faster population growth and a continuation of 2021’s construction boom. In fact, construction might even pick up, although it’s hard to imagine Omaha can come up with enough workers to drive all the bulldozers and operate all the cranes.

Let’s start downtown. The Gene Leany Mall is scheduled to open around Memorial Day. The park will not only look much nicer than its previous version, it will be more active and user friendly. Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority will be managing all three of the new Riverfront parks. That means better maintenance, security and planned programming than in the past.

Renovation of the three parks is expected to spark adjacent development, some of which could be substantial. We keep hearing rumors that large companies are considering new offices downtown. We also keep hearing about mixed-use/residential projects.

In 2002, we may learn about plans for redevelopment on the current W. Dale Clark Libary site as well as the city block directly to the east of the library, which was previously the western most block of the Gene Leahy Mall. Construction will continue on the Kiewit Luminarium, located on the Lewis & Clark Landing, but the museum is not scheduled for opening until the next year.

The first building in the Mercantile District (north side of the ConAgra campus) should open by the end of 2022. That mixed-use project will bring hundreds of new residents to the Old Market area. Just to the southwest, construction will continue taking place on the future Moxy by Marriott hotel at 12th & Harney Street.

On the southwestern corner of downtown, near 19th & Howard Street, we expect to see construction start on the Flatiron apartments, which will add density to that neighborhood and fill an existing surface lot.

North Downtown should see plenty of activity in 2022, and we’re not just talking about changing the baseball stadium’s signage from TD Ameritrade Park to Charles Schwab Field. A multi-family building is planned for the Builders District (near the Kiewit headquarters) as well as an office building. Just to the northeast, construction should wrap up on the large apartment building in Millwork Commons. There have also been rumors lately that a 2,000-employee office could be coming to Millwork Commons.

The epicenter of Omaha’s growth and development in 2022 just might be the Med Center area especially if Project NExt is officially kicked off. That multi-billion-dollar project would create thousands of jobs. The former Munroe-Meyer buildings, as well as a vacated elementary school, will need to be demolished. Just west of Saddlecreek, construction is expected to begin on a 16-story administrative tower for UNMC.

A 9-story mixed-use building is planned for the Blackstone District to be built on a surface parking lot immediately west of the Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel. This $44 million project will have 161 apartment units and 20,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail space. A parking garage will be part of the project.

Let’s take a look at some suburban development. We’ll start with Heartwood Preserve where large office buildings are under construction for both Applied Underwriters and Union Bank. Just south of the Union Bank’s building, construction is expected to go vertical on an 8-acre retail development right along 144th Street. We are hearing that this development should have a few restaurants.

We expect to see explosive single-family housing growth in the Bennington, Elkhorn, Gretna and Papillion areas. This should make at least a small dent in Omaha’s current housing shortage.

On the Highway 50 corridor in Papillion and Springfield, heavy construction will continue of both the Facebook and Google data centers. Combined, these projects are worth billions of dollars.

Speaking of massive data centers, will we get an announcement as to which company is behind the 1.4 million sq. ft. center under construction near Highway 133 and State Street? Many people believe it’s Google but nothing has been made official. Construction has already started on the 250-acre site.

We could go on and on, but it’s safe to say the metro area should have a banner year when it comes to construction in 2022.

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Welcome Home is a newly formed nonprofit coalition aimed at reducing starter home costs and growing the number of area houses. The coalition includes individuals, businesses and real estate professionals, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Welcome Home’s mission is “to educate and nudge local policymakers into changing or creating regulations to accelerate housing development and make new homes accessible to more families.” At $374,000 in 2021, the median price of Omaha houses has increased nearly 9 percent over past year.

Developers are planning a four-story, 136-unit multi-family building on a long-vacant lot on the northwest corner of 39th & Dodge Street. The area is seeing a great deal of Transit-Oriented Development like this proposed project because of the ORBT line and fast growth in the nearby Blackstone and Med Center areas. The site was once home to a controversial hotel, but that building was demolished many years ago.

A new retail strip center is now open at 10748 Virginia Plaza in La Vista. That’s on the southeast corner of 108th & Giles Road. The 10,268 sq. ft. building has one 2,503 still available for lease.

A local developer is planning two “apartminium” projects in suburban Omaha. Allora168 is located at 168th and Highway 370 in Gretna. Capriana Homes is located in at 212th & West Maple Road. Allora 168 will have 175 to 200 units, while Capriana Homes will have 150 to 175 units. Construction on both projects is scheduled to begin summer of 2022. An “apartminium” is an upscale, all-inclusive development consisting of units that look more like houses or condos.

The Sarpy County Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting on January 4th for Holo Sail Technologies, Inc.’s office at 1243 Golden Gate Drive in Papillion. Holo Sail Technologies is a New Jesey-based “BlueTech” startup focused on automating the global supply chain.

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Real Estate News from CoStar – Retail landlords with tenants such as restaurants, gyms and grocery stores will be more likely to secure even bigger premiums when it comes to rent increases next year, according to a CoStar analysis.
Nontraditional retail tenants, be it those that offer experiences such as eateries and fitness centers, or provide necessities that people can’t do without, including grocery and discount stores, are inherently resistant to competition from e-commerce. So mall and shopping center owners who have a relatively large amount of space leased to such occupants have had more stable foot traffic and sales. That’s helped them increase rents at their properties.

And while many so-called experiential retailers weren’t immune from the disruptions of the pandemic, the boost they still managed to give to landlords will permit owners to seek rent premiums again in 2022, according to CoStar.

With the closings of a large number of department stores, nontraditional tenants have been fueling leasing activity in the retail sector in general.
So the outlook for landlords blessed with a large stable of nontraditional tenants, or those that have built strong omnichannel platforms that can compete with e-commerce, is rosy. Those retail properties should continue to outperform the overall sector in the year ahead.

Koley Jessen of Omaha acted as U.S. advisor to a leading provider of self-service commerce technology to the foodservice industry – 365 Retail Markets, based in Michigan, on its acquisition of Spoonfed, a Glasgow, Scotland-based company whose software is used by global contract caterers, restaurant chains, and independent caterers across the US, UK, and western Europe.

Werner Enterprises, Inc., an Omaha-based transportation and logistics provider, will release its fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings on Thursday, February 3, 2022, after the market close. The company will also hold a conference call to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2021 results and 2022 outlook on the same day, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

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Ag Processing, Inc. has promoted Courtney Lawrenson to vice president for oils and energy. In this role, she will lead AGP’s commercial efforts in refined oils and renewables. Lawrenson has more than 20 years of experience in the natural gas and renewable fuels industries, including almost seven years with AGP. Most recently, she served as AGP’s Senior Commercial Director for Oils and Energy.
Adam Piper has been promoted to vice president of soy processing. In this role, he will oversee AGP’s soybean processing business. Adam has 15 years of experience with AGP, working in roles of increasing responsibility in AGP’s Soybean Processing Group, most recently as director of marketing.

Eric Rausch has joined Scooter’s Coffee as vice president of distribution. Rausch will further develop, implement and manage a distribution network to support the Scooter’s Coffee system. Rausch brings more than 30 years of food and beverage industry experience to Scooter’s, with a background in finance, operations and supply chain management. Rausch previously served as director of supply chain management at Whataburger, where he developed a new custom distribution infrastructure.

Baird Holm Partner Gray Derrick has been selected as a member of the 2022 Board of Directors for Community Alliance, an integrated health care organization that offers a whole-person approach, including psychiatric services, mental health and substance use counseling, primary medical care and a range of rehabilitation, employment, community supports and family and peer support.

Lindsay Corporation, a global manufacturer and distributor of irrigation and infrastructure equipment and technology, has announced Michael Stern, former head of The Climate Corporation and Digital Farming for the Crop Science division of Bayer, has joined the company as an innovation advisor. Stern will serve as a direct advisor to Lindsay’s president and CEO, Randy Wood, providing input on Lindsay’s technology product portfolio, product marketing and development, mergers and acquisitions and industry partnerships.

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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