Weekly Market Report – March 17, 2022

Mar 17, 2022 | 0 comments

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Hurry Bird has replaced Bob’s Donuts at 3824 Farnam Street in the Blackstone District. Attached to the original Early Bird restaurant, Hurry Bird serves “brunch to go” and is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Qdoba is planning to build a new restaurant near 189th & West Maple Road.

The Tired Texan BBQ restaurant at 108th & L Street plans to close permanently. The last day of business will be May 8th.

Rally House will open its first Nebraska location in a 7,500 sq. ft. former Dress Barn space at Shadow Lake Town Center in Papillion. Rally House is a Kansas City-based retail chain that sells specialty sports apparel, gifts and home décor. The company has 102 stores in 12 states.

Sur La Table is coming back to Omaha. The upscale, Seattle-based retailer of kitchenware and culinary items plans to reopen this spring in the same One Pacific Place bay where it previously operated.

Also at One Pacific Place… J.H. & Son’s Clothier is planning to open in a former Jos. A. Bank store space. According to One Pacific Place’s website, “J.H. & Sons is a fashion-driven store with roots based in traditional men’s tailored and casual style. Concentrating on a variety brands that deliver consistent quality and style, J.H. & Sons appeals to anyone from the traditional businessman to the hip weekend warrior.”

Construction is coming along at Regency Landing near I-680 & Pacific Street. Here’s a list of tenants that are planning to open after construction is completed: Early Bird; Blue Sky Patio & Pickle Ball; Twisted Cork Bistro; Subway; Scooter’s; Superior Dental Health; Regency Fitness Club; Omaha Elite Kettlebell; Cheeseburgers, a Take-Out Joint; Noli’s Pizzeria; The Collection Co-Working Space; and The Vault Craft Cocktails.

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The “Restaurant & Retail Updates” section is sponsored by ACX Cinema 12+ located near 204th & Q, featuring Dolby Atmos sound, leather heated recliners, and laser projection!

The Big Story

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What the People Want

At Grow Omaha, we hear from newsletter readers and radio show listeners every week. Indeed, our audience is very engaged in Omaha growth and development! Some people ask us questions, while others just want to make a comment or state an opinion.

We thought it would be interesting to share some of the most commonly mentioned things we hear from readers and subscribers…

When are we going to get…? This statement is usually followed by a popular national retail business that is not currently operating in Omaha. Among the most commonly mentioned are Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, IKEA, West Elm and RH (formerly Restoration Hardware).

Will we ever get these? Perhaps not all of them but some are actively looking at this market right now.

Part II of “When are going to get…?” (Restaurants) – We get the same question above regarding national restaurant chains. While the Grow Omaha team is partial to locally owned restaurants, we like the chain concepts too. Here are some of the most commonly mentioned: Ruth’s Chris; Morton’s The Steakhouse; The Capital Grille; Fogo de Chao; Maggiano’s Little Italy; Shake Shack; In-N-Out Burger; Waffle House; Giordano’s; and Corner Bakery.

Will we get these? Probably some of them. National restaurant chains are not expanding as fast as they were before the pandemic, but some are thriving more than others. One of the challenges for national restaurant chains around here is that Omaha has a surprisingly strong local culinary scene for a city its size. Some of the national chains that are “good enough” in a lot of cities our size don’t measure up here.

When will we see progress at the Crossroads? We believe you’ll see something soon. We keep getting intel about what might be going into that development, but nothing has been publicly announced. It sounds like construction is just around the corner.

What’s going in at Heartwood Preserve? A lot. When completed, this billion-dollar-plus development will feel like a city center for west Omaha. Headquarters buildings are now open for Carson Group and Fortune 1000 company Valmont. Union Bank’s 5-story Omaha-area headquarters is under construction on the corner of 144th & West Dodge Road. The future headquarters of Applied Underwriters is under construction and will be a strikingly beautiful building when done. All the luxury home lots around Applied Underwriters have been sold, and the first houses are now under construction.

Retail development is underway just south of the Carson building and the Onyx BMW dealership. Plans call for several restaurants, a membership cigar lounge and the nation’s largest Rolex showroom. Further down the road, construction of a major mixed-use village is planned for the middle of the development.

Will the downtown park renovations make a big difference? We believe the $400 million park renovations already are having a positive impact. Mutual of Omaha’s 45-story skyscraper might not have been announced had it not been for all the public-private investment downtown. Other companies and developers are actively looking downtown. These people weren’t interest in the area a few years ago.

What’s going to happen to all those data center buildings if the tech companies no longer need them someday? Your guess is as good as ours. Billions of dollars and millions of square feet are being devoted to Google and Facebook data centers in the metro area (and a few other companies). Combined, these data centers take up several square miles of the metro area’s land. Technology changes fast, so there’s a chance they’ll be obsolete someday. But if there’s one thing we know about real estate, it’s that land and buildings are highly adaptable. In other words, don’t worry about it. Just be glad so many Fortune 10 tech companies are investing in our local market

And last but not least – Why don’t we build a major amusement or theme park in Omaha? We may have missed the boat by not building one decades ago. Nowadays, these parks frequently lose money. Some person or some entity would probably have to subsidize it in order to make a new theme park a reality.

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Grow Omaha Snippets

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New Life in Miracle Hills – After sitting relatively fallow for the past couple years, the retail center on the west side of 114th Street north of West Dodge Road is getting new life. Part of the former Bag ‘N Save and Cub Foods grocery store on the property’s north end is being renovated into a Nebraska Medicine facility. A FedEx retail store is under construction on a pad site directly north of an empty restaurant building that was once a Boston Market.

A New Name for an Old Hotel – The Sheraton Omaha hotel in Old Mill closed during the pandemic. Renovations are now underway that will convert the property into the Wyndham Omaha Hotel with opening planned for May 1st. The Wyndham will keep the same floor plan as the Sheraton and will have 221 rooms and 10,000 sq. ft. of ballroom space.

The City of Omaha has chosen HDR to design the new downtown branch of the Omaha Public Library as well as the administrative and circulation center inside a former Shopko store near 84th & Frederick Street. The contract is worth $494,614. The new downtown branch will be located in an historic building at 1401 Jones Street. The current W. Dale Clark Library building is slated for demolition later this year.

Steel beams have been installed for 88 Tactical’s facility expansion southeast of Interstate 80 & Highway 370. Plans call for adding additional shooting lanes, a large sports bar and a year-round skating rink that will use an artificial surface instead of ice.

The Omaha City Council approved a preliminary plat this week for a proposed $44 million mixed-use development on the west side of Saddle Creek Road at Pacific Street. The project would have 195 apartment units plus commercial space.

A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs report released earlier this week recommends that the Nebraska-Western Iowa VA build a $1.7 billion hospital in Omaha to replace the existing VA at 41st & Woodworth Avenue, according to Nebraska Examiner. The report also opens the door to moving the VA hospital to the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.

How Cool Is This? – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium announced that yet another baby elephant is expected to arrive about a year from now. Two baby elephants were born in Omaha earlier this year, the only elephants expected to be born in a U.S. zoo this year.

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.

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Business News

Local Business News Sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland:

Real Estate News from CoStar U.S. retail sales in 2022 won’t keep pace with last year as spiraling inflation and the Ukraine war cloud the outlook, according to the National Retail Federation.

The Washington, D.C.-based group, the world’s largest retail trade association, on Tuesday released its annual forecast, predicting sales will rise 6% to 8% this year to between $4.86 trillion and $4.95 trillion. The 2022 estimate compares with last year’s record of a 14% sales increase, the highest growth rate in more than two decades, in the year after the peak of the pandemic. READ MORE

Smartlift, a Denmark-based company that uses robots to install glass panes has chosen Omaha for its U.S. headquarters. The company is located at 8929 J Street.

Unison, a San Francisco-based fintech company, has opened its second office in Omaha at 13th & Farnam Street inside the Landmark building, according to the Omaha World-Herald. The company eventually plans to employ 100 people in locally. Unison extends cash payments to homeowners in exchange for sharing in the home’s value.

Construction has started on H&H Shine Shop, a high-speed exterior and interior carwash on the northwest corner of 150th Street & Highway 370 in Steel Ridge. Opening is planned for 2023.

The American Council of Engineering Companies has recognized 28 HDR projects with national awards. The projects represent a wide range of disciplines and regions across the United States. Omaha-based HDR received four Grand Awards, which are in the running for the Grand Conceptor and will be recognized at ACEC’s 55th Engineering Excellence Awards Gala on May 24th. A panel of nearly 30 judges selected this year’s most outstanding engineering accomplishments from nearly 200 entries, in what’s known as the “Academy Awards” of the engineering industry.

A new study from CareerCloud shows a record 8.8 million Americans quit their jobs in November and December, but Nebraska saw the sixth lowest increase in quit rates during the pandemic.

The Association of Professional Builders unveiled its 2022 “State of Residential Construction Industry” data report, naming Omaha-based Buildertrend as the top technology choice for home builders. More than 1,000 pros from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand participated in a survey to create this comprehensive report covering trends in marketing, sales, financials and operations.

ACCESSbank has opened a new branch office at 6405 Center Street near Aksarben Village and Baxter Arena.

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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WoodmenLife has hired Deborah Bogar as Portfolio Project Management Office (PPMO) Director. In this role, she will transition the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) to PPMO. Bogar will also assess and implement a staffing plan, focusing on work intake, budgeting, portfolio management for WoodmenLife, education in the Agile methodology, and partnership building. Prior to her time at WoodmenLife, Bogar was assistant vice president of technical product management for the group protection division at Lincoln Financial Group.

NAI NP Dodge brokers John Meyer, Gabrielle Estivo and Samantha Estivo represented all parties int eh lease of 2,725 sq. ft. by the Omaha Municipal Land Bank in the AIM Exchange Building at 1905 Harney Street downtown.

Lamp Rynearson has promoted Regan Pence as lead of the company’s landscape architecture and planning group, according to the Midlands Business Journal. Lamp Rynearson is an Omaha-based civil engineering firm with additional offices in Fort Collins, Colo. and Kansas City, Mo.

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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