Weekly Market Report – May 20, 2021

Restaurant & Retail Updates

No More Banana Cream Pie – The Village Inn restaurant at 44th & Dodge Street, which closed in early 2020, is getting a new occupant. Abelardo’s Authentic Mexican Food plans to open soon.

Council Bluffs to Omaha – Primo’s Mexican Restaurant at 930 5th Avenue in Council Bluffs has been preparing to open a second location in the former Petrow’s building at 60th & Center Street. Kitchen equipment has been delivered, and now Primo’s hopes to open the new location sometime in June.

When You’re Here, You’re Family – Construction bids are due June 24th for the remodeling of the former Old Chicago in Shadow Lake Towne Center into an Olive Garden. Construction on the 6,214 sq. ft., free-standing restaurant building is scheduled to begin August 2nd.

Spa No Mas – Construction is underway on a new building at 168th & Audrey Street on the site of the former Wardrobe Spa. That building had been destroyed in a fiery explosion in 2018 that was later determined to be arson. The investigation and legal case had a lot of bizarre twists and turns, which garnered a great deal of public interest. So what’s going into the new building? A free-standing Jimmy John’s restaurant.

Wood-Fired Pizza Details – Last week we told you about Smokin’ Oak Wood Fired Pizza and Taproom which is opening this month in Midtown Crossing. What we failed to tell you is that this will be Nebraska’s first location of what is proving to be an extremely popular restaurant chain. The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based company has stores existing or opening soon in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Texas. Smokin’ Oak uses a 900-degree oven, fueled by oak wood, that bakes pizzas in only 90 seconds!

Missouri River Entertainment – The River City Star cruising ship and the affiliated Dam Grill & Bar have opened for the 2021 season at 151 Freedom Park Road.

Look Pretty in La Vista – Garbo’s Salon and Spa will hold a ribbon-cutting June 1st for its new location at 12744 Westport Parkway in the Southport area.

Unleash Your Inner Teenager – Selfie WRLD Omaha has opened at Shadow Lake Town Center in Papillon, billing itself as the #1-Trending Selfie Museum in the world and “one of the most instagrammable places in the Midwest.” Inside this 5,000 sq. ft. store are 20 places to take pictures. The business is geared to friends and family just having fun as well as birthday parties, company staff meetings and corporate team-building events.

The Big Bank Loves Omaha – Chase, one of the nation’s largest banks, continues its recent expansion into the metro area with plans to open a 2,819 sq. ft. branch office near 132nd & Center. This is in addition to new branches at Aksarben Village and Midtown Crossing.

Hit the Brakes – Construction bids are due in early June for a 4,900 sq. ft. Brakes Plus store on the northeast corner of 180th & Pacific Street in front of Hy-Vee.

Discount Retail Near Offutt AFB – Construction is expected to begin around June 1st on a 10,276 sq.ft. Dollar Tree store at 4008 Twin Creek Drive in Bellevue.

There’s More Than Just This Week! – You can access all of our past newsletters by going to GrowOmaha.com and clicking “Market Report” on the navigation bar. Each of those newsletters has “New Restaurants & Retailers” list first, because EVERYONE wants to know that!

The Big Story

Flatiron District Project Will Begin Soon

The urban neighborhood just south of the county courthose in downtown Omaha has long been high on potential but low on results. That’s about to change in a dramatic way. Construction bids are due May 25th for a transformational project in the Flatiron District. Actual construction should begin late this summer or early this fall.

Neeraj Agarwal of Omaha-based Clarity Development is leading the $41 million Flatiron District project which will straddle both sides of 18th Street between Howard Street and St. Mary’s Avenue. Two, 5-story buildings would contain 120 apartment units as well as street-level retail space.

The new buildings would abut the Standard Building at 17th & Howard Street and the Redfield Building at 18th & Howard Street. Once a Buick dealership, the century-old Redfield was recently renovated into a mixed-use building. It is home to Modus, a co-working office space.

The new Flatiron District project is the first newly constructed building in the downtown area that will offer both market-rate and mixed-income apartment units.

You can watch our recent 9-minute interview with the developer by clicking HERE.

Grow Omaha Snippets

Grow Omaha Snippets Sponsored by:

Elkhorn Athletic Association plans to build a $23 million outdoor sports complex on a 142-acre site at 264th & Ida Street. Phase I calls for eight turfed baseball/softball diamonds, four turfed soccer fields, restrooms, concessions and parking for 1,500 vehicles. The fields would open in 2022 and 2023. Future phases would add more soccer/football fields and eight additional ball diamonds.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center has selected GreenSlate Development of Omaha and Koelbel and Company of Denver as co-developers of its planned Omaha Steel Works property.

The $45 million, 140,000 sq. ft. project will include the renovation of two existing (currently abandoned) industrial structures into a mixed-use innovation technology campus. Researchers will use the facility to turn ideas into commercial products and companies. The project will also include a food hall, market, event center and collaborative office space. Design work will begin immediately with the goal of breaking ground by the end of this year.

Construction bids are due late this month to renovate parts of the Blackstone building, the former Kiewit headquarters and current location of Warren Buffett’s office. Plans call for renovating the fourth-floor lobby and the 15th floor “Cloud Room.”

Developers are planning to renovate the historic Hulac Building at 6120 Military Avenue in Benson into a mixed-use building with both office and retail uses. The building, which is currently used for parking, opened in the 1930s and was used as a Chevrolet dealership for many years.

The future Buena Vista High School under construction near 60th & L Street will include a 3,600 sq. ft. wellness center occupied by OneWorld Community Health Centers and a miniature YMCA.

Anytime Laundry has purchased a building at 46th & Saddlecreek Road and will open its sixth location around August 10th. The seller was represented by Gabrielle Estivo and Jorge Sotolongo of NAI NP Dodge. The buyer was represented by NAI NP Dodge’s Tracy Earnest and Kim Henrichs of ACCESS Commercial.

NuSpine Chiropractic has opened at Legacy West. NuSpine is an affordable chiropractic clinic that does not require appointments. The business offers hydrotherapy, which is a massage technique that uses water and pressured jets within a hydrotherapy bed.

Plans are underway for a 95,000 sq. ft. Army National Guard Readiness Center to be constructed at 25th & Capehart Road in Bellevue.

A four-story mixed-used building known as “Elkhorn Station” is under construction on historic Main Street in downtown Elkhorn. When the final two-building project is complete, 90 apartment units and street-level retail bays will be available.

This section is sponsored by Midtown Crossing, an energetic, eclectic destination in the heart of Omaha. Be sure and stay connected to all the new retailer announcements, food and drink specials and the lively line-up of events in Turner Park by clicking HERE!

Eagle Mortgage Home Loan Services

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Local Business News

Local Business News Sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland:

Casey’s General Stories, Inc. of Ankeny, Iowa has closed on its purchase of Omaha-based Buchanan Energy, owner of Bucky’s Convenience Stories. The acquistion brings Casey’s total store count to 2,300. Casey’s will divest six stores as part of a consent order the company agreed to with the Federal Trade Commission.

U.S. Customers and Border Protection has opened Nebraska’s first Global Entry Enrollment Center at Eppley Airport, allowing Omaha-area travelers the opportunity to complete the Global Entry enrollment process without the need to travel out of the area.

The center is at 3737A Orville Plaza on the general aviation side of the airport. Global Entry is a Trusted Traveler Program under the Department of Homeland Security that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon entering the United States.

The Farnam, a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, officially opens today (May 20th) at 1299 Farnam Street in the 15-story Landmark Building.

Holiday Bright Lights is moving its office and warehouse from 13424 Industrial Road to a 70,000 sq. ft. space at 4433 South 96th Street. Approximately 20 employees will work in the new building. The company sells holiday decorating products to retailers, garden centers, wholesale distributors and independent lighting installers.

According to the most recent economic indicators report from the Greater Omaha Chamber, employment growth from March of 2020 to March of 2021 was -2.8 percent. Commercial construction permits in that same time period were up a whopping 62.5 percent. Single-family residential permits were up 5.5 percent. Private hourly wages over that one-year period were up 1 percent from $29.19 per hour to $29.50.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska received a 2021 Business Excellence Award from the Greater Omaha Chamber. The awards include four categories: Leadership, Innovation, Philanthropy and Sustained Excellence. Blue Cross was recognized in the leadership category.

NAI NP Dodge’s John Meyer brokered the sale of a 12,122 sq. ft. retail strip at 7428 Eastport Parkway in La Vista’s Southport area. The building sold for $1.575 million.

Omaha-based HDR will sponsor the U.S. Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, an exhibition held every other year in Venice, Italy, in which architecture from nations around the world is presented.

Koley Jessen received an award at the 2021 USA M&A Atlas Awards, sponsored by the Global M&A Network. The Omaha law firm was awarded the Recapitalization Deal of the Year ($50-$100 million) for serving as legal counsel to DBI, Inc. on its recapitalization by Spire Capital.

Omaha-based Scoular announced the name for its new sustainable and innovative barley-based protein source for aquaculture and pet food: Emerge™. Emerge, both traceable and non-GMO, is the only barley-based protein for feed customers.

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!”

Have You Seen Grow Omaha Uncut Yet?

The Grow Omaha radio show broadcasts live every Saturday morning at 9:00, but now you can watch videos of each episode instead of just listening.

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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