Weekly Market Report – November 17, 2022

Nov 17, 2022 | 0 comments

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Grow Omaha is proud to deliver this market report to you each week. This would not be possible without the support of our sponsor, The Offices at Turner Park!

Restaurant & Retail Updates

Ollie & Hobbs Craft Kitchen will open in the former 801 Grill space at 10387 Pacific Street in One Pacific Place. The bay is going through a complete renovation. Opening is planned for next spring. Ollie & Hobbs has existing locations in Papillion and Lincoln. The restaurant has the same ownership as Charred Burger + Bar in Sterling Ridge.

The former Rivera’s Mexican Food restaurant at 12051 Blondo Street will become Goose 120, an Italian restaurant owned by the same company that has Taxi’s Grille & Bar, Stokes, Twisted Fork and Stokin’ Goat.

Church’s Texas Chicken has opened its first Nebraska or Iowa location at 4042 North 168th Street immediately east of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 168th & West Maple Road. The San Antonio-based chain has 870 locations in 26 states. The brand operated in Omaha in the past but had been out of the market for decades.

The Sugared Ledge Bakery has opened in the former Spudnutz Donuts bay at 920 North 204th Avenue. The new business serves donuts, cakes and coffee.

Elie’s Chinchorro Caribbean Bistro has opened 3020 South 32nd Avenue. Locally owned by Elie Berchal, the new restaurant will serve Puerto Rican cuisine and is located across the street from the old Lo Sole Mio restaurant (soon to reopen as The Mio).

Tropical Smoothie Café, which has existing locations in Gretna and Papillion, is actively looking for sites in central and west Omaha, according to The Lerner Company.

The Winery, which closed at 741 North 98th Street in Clocktower Village, plans to reopen soon, according to John Lund of the Lund Company.

The Lululemon store at Village Pointe is expanding into a 5,000 sq. ft. space immediately to the west, which was previously a Soft Surroundings store. Meanwhile, Lululemon continues to build out its future store in the former Paradise Bakery space at Regency Shopping Center.

A major renovation project has been completed at Andrés Tortillery at 10317 Pacific Street, but the restaurant remains closed because of staffing shortages. Management plans to open in January.

Brought to you by:

The “Restaurant & Retail Updates” section is sponsored by Anderson Convenience Market, featuring Quality AMOCO Fuels and serving Omaha since 1952, and proud to announce the return of Quality Amoco Fuels. Look for changes this Summer at Anderson Convenience Market – 8 Omaha area locations!

Learn more about Anderson Convenience market at www.Anderson1952.com

The Big Story

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An Aerial Tour of Omaha Developments

Our newest edition of the Grow Omaha Construction Update video, produced by Brad Williams, is now available on our website or by clicking HERE.

Grow Omaha’s construction videos are full of footage and information about local developments. This latest episode features multiple projects across the metro area. While there are views of several commercial developments, this month focuses heavily on residential construction. The video also takes you on a helicopter flight right between the First National Tower and the WoodmenLife Tower.

This week’s Big Story highlights just some of the projects you’ll see in the video:

Big changes are underway in the 180th & Giles Road area of Gretna. 180th Street is now open between Giles and Harrison Street. Giles Road west of 180th is getting close to opening. Subdivisions are under development on all four corners of the intersection including Windsor West, Giles Point, Windsor East and Mirabel.

Heavy development is taking place along 192nd Street between Pacific Street and West Dodge Road. The Ravello project just north of Pacific is expanding. Just north of that, Agemark Senior Living is under construction. Even further north, construction is progressing on the MD West One building. Just to the northwest, the Sundance Apartments are under development.

The massive Applied Underwriters headquarters building with its thousand-stall underground parking garage is getting closer to completion but still has a way to go before opening.

Grading is mostly complete at the Gretna Logistics Park just south of Nebraska Crossing. That means construction on a million square feet of industrial space should begin soon.

In La Vista, field turf has been installed on several of the fields at Nebraska Multi-sports Complex in the Southport area. Some of the fields are already being used for competition.

The video ends downtown with a stunning view of The Mercantile (pictured above). That’s the project going in on the north side of the old ConAgra campus. Next to The Mercantile, you’ll see a nice aerial view of the skating ribbon and many other attractions going into the under-renovation Heartland of America Park.

This section is sponsored by TR Construction. With over 25 years of commercial concrete construction experience, TR Construction has expertise with projects large and small to include commercial building concrete, footings, paving, remove and replacement of concrete, industrial projects, and special projects for clients. TR Construction can deliver Concrete Excellence on your next project. Learn more HERE!

Grow Omaha Snippets

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Children’s Hospital & Medical Center is planning to build an $89 million pediatric mental health hospital, according to the Omaha World-Herald, that would include 38 inpatient hospital beds, a pediatric mental health urgent care center, a behavioral health emergency assessment center, an expanded partial hospitalization program and a pediatric primary care clinic with outpatient mental health services.

The 103,500 sq. ft. building would sit on a 7-acre site that was recently cleared when crews demolished a building, that for many decades, served as the home of Nebraska Methodist College. The new hospital is projected to open in 2025.

Now that restaurant software company Toast has leased 50,000 sq. ft. at 1926 South 67th Street, all of Aksarben Village’s office space is fully leased for the first time in the development’s history.

The Omaha City Council approved McNeil Company’s planned $40 million apartment development near 168th & Shirley Street this week. The 194-unit complex will have six residential buildings, garages and a pool facility.

NP Dodge is developing executive office suites in its recently renovated, 3-story, mixed-use building at 8601 West Dodge Road. The furnished offices come with utilities, internet and printing services included. The offices are located on the first floor near the building’s west end. Leasing is underway now with offices available for occupancy March 1st.

Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines will become Eppley Airport’s eighth airline when they begin twice weekly service between Omaha and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport starting May 26th. Sun Country will fly the new route with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft seating 186 passengers, and will operate between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Delta Airlines offers several existing daily non-stops between Omaha and Minneapolis.

Royal Land, LLC has sold 38 acres of industrial development land to Willa-Amazon, LLC at Highway 50 and Prairie Corners Road immediately north of Amazon’s regional distribution center, according to Todd Schneidewind and Bryan Hartmann of NAI NP Dodge, who listed the property. The parcel was left over after King of Kings Lutheran church sold 94 acres to Amazon in 2020.

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.

Omaha Car Care “We’ll be along for the ride.”

Business News

Local Business News Sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland:

Real Estate News from CoStar – Retail tenants continued expanding in the third quarter by leasing just over 53 million square feet of store space and remaining resilient in the face of growing concerns surrounding the trajectory of the U.S. economy

The total amount leased is expected to increase as deals completed near the end of the quarter are recorded. Once those deals are added, the third-quarter total is estimated to reach 68 million square feet, putting the U.S. retail market on pace for its best year for leasing activity since 2018.

One year after President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, Omaha-based HDR has assisted clients in obtaining $649 million in discretionary grant funding for 26 transportation projects across 19 states — with more 2022 grant applications pending.

Valmont Industries, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its offshore wind business to Euro Steel, a Denmark-based supplier of steel products to the European wind market. The offshore wind business, known as Valmont SM, was acquired in 2014. It is expected to generate approximately $100 million of revenue in fiscal 2022. Valmont plans to utilize the net cash proceeds from this transaction toward repayment of short-term borrowings.

Scoular has completed a high-seed shuttle loading facility in Grainton, Neb. The facility is only the fourth of its kind in southwest Nebraska, which includes Omaha-based Scoular’s facility in nearby Venango. The new shuttle loader provides high-speed loading and unloading capabilities and has track capacity for 110 cars. The facility has the capability to receive grain at a rate of 45,000 bushels per hour, while loading out railcars at 60,000 bushels per hour. That is five times the loadout volume than before the upgrade.

The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index fell below growth neutral for a sixth consecutive month, according to the monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy. The November index did increase to a weak 45.7 from 44.2 in October. The index ranges between 0 and 100 with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.

Werner Enterprises, Inc. has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.13 per common share. This dividend will be paid on January 17, 2023, to stockholders of record at the close of business on January 3, 2023. Werner Enterprises has paid a quarterly cash dividend to its stockholders every quarter since July 1987.

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!”

Grow Omaha Residential

The Cost of Waiting for Mortgage Rates to Go Down

By Joe Finlay

If you put a pause on your home search because you weren’t sure where you’d go once you sold your house, it might be time to get back into the market. If you’re willing to consider a newly built home, you may have even more options and incentives than you realize.

More Options to Choose from and Potential Builder Incentives

When looking for a home, you can choose between existing homes and newly constructed ones. While the inventory of existing homes has increased this year, it’s still below more typical years like 2019. Currently, according to the Great Plains Regional MLS, there is a 1-month supply of existing homes for sale in the Omaha area. For reference, a roughly 6-month supply is considered a balanced market, leaving us in a sellers’ market today.

While it’s a smaller segment of the overall inventory of homes for sale in Omaha, the supply of newly built homes has grown. New single-family home inventory remains elevated at a 7-month supply (of varying stages of construction). This represents the most amount of new construction homes available in the Omaha area since 2011.

Here’s why this matters for you – While you have more homes to choose from in either category, one extra benefit of newly built homes is that builders are motivated to sell their properties before they build more.

Back in the housing crash of 2008, builders were building too many homes, and that oversupply was part of what contributed to the housing bubble bursting. Now, builders don’t want a surplus of inventory in their pipelines, so many are offering buyers incentives to help move that inventory along.

Some current builder incentives include $10,000 in closing cost credits, mortgage rate buydowns and builders willing to negotiate on price.

In addition to more supply and the potential for builder incentives, newly built homes have various benefits that may suit your lifestyle. For example, you likely won’t have as many little repairs to tackle, like leaky faucets, shutters to paint, and other odd jobs around the house.

Another perk of a new home is that nothing in the house is used. It’s brand new and uniquely yours from day one. You’ll have all new appliances, windows, roofing, and more. These things can help lower your energy costs, which can add up to significant savings over time. You may even have the latest and greatest technology features built into your home.

The Metro Omaha Builders Association (MOBA) hosts a number of events every year open to the public including the Spring and Fall Parade of Homes, the Omaha Home Show and the Street of Dreams. With more than 100 builders registered with MOBA, these events allow you to identify the latest trends and figure out which builder might be best for you.

Bottom Line

If you’re considering a newly built home, let’s connect so you have an expert guide on what’s available in Omaha. Together we’ll explore your options and the benefits of an all-new home.

Grow Omaha Residential is developed and sponsored by Joe Finlay, REALTOR with NP Dodge Real Estate.

Grow Omaha University

Leadership & Sales Insights for Ambitious People

Compiled by Grow Omaha co-founJeff Bealsder and sales trainer 

Sponsored by MyStaff, Inc.

Leadership & Management

When employees make significant progress in work that matters to them, they feel more intrinsically motivated, according to The Hustle. Track results and celebrate with your team whenever a milestone is achieved to keep the positive momentum going. Also, instead of daily meetings where everyone shares what they’re working on, consider a reverse to-do list, where each person shares the tasks they completed at the end of each day, week, or month. Knowing they have to report on their achievements could help your employees stay disciplined.

The formula for being more productive is simple. The most important step is blocking your day into “high intensity sprints,” says author Jeb Blount. During these sprints, focus on only one thing. Turn everything else off and remove all distractions. Sprints can be 10 minutes to several hours depending on your project. Concentrate all your power on one thing with no “leakage of time” to distractions.

A recent ZipRecruiter survey identified the top-10 most-regretted college majors and the percentage of graduates who would pick a different major if they could:

  1. Journalism – 87%
  2. Sociology – 72%
  3. Liberal arts/general studies – 72%
  4. Communications – 64%
  5. Education – 61%
  6. Marketing management + research – 60%
  7. Medical/clinical assisting – 58%
  8. Political science + government – 56%
  9. Biology – 52%
  10. English language + literature – 52%

What does this tell us? Well, in a staffing-shortage world, people with these backgrounds might be more amenable to career and industry changes.

Sales

Let’s talk about pre-Judging versus pre-qualifying a prospect.

When you pre-judge a prospect, that comes from an internal emotion where you create an opinion about whether that prospect is worthy of your time and energy. Pre-judging means that you have a preconceived notion about whether they will buy into your product or service or not.

Often, as salespeople, we rule prospects out due to things like personality style, appearance, demographic, or other subjective things about a person that might or might not affect their interest in your product or service.

Pre-qualifying a potential prospect differs because it is based on objective reasoning, not an instant impression. It is considering factors to determine whether or not you have a good likelihood of winning over a prospect and making a sale.

Pre-qualifying is a necessary and good skill to reduce the risk that you will waste your time and resources on someone who is most likely not going to follow through with investing in you. It involves more than emotion and presumptions and opinions.

Wisdom

“Whether we’re in good times or hard times, we need to create opportunities, fill the pipeline and close sales.” – Mike Weinberg, best-selling sales author

Grow Omaha University is sponsored by MyStaff Inc, a locally owned staffing firm whose purpose is helping Nebraska companies recruit for corporate office positions.

My Staff Inc – Our team helps you find yours!

Upcoming Events in the Metro

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The Nutcracker on November 19th & 20th: Looking for a fresh, charming, and lively form of entertainment? The Nutcracker highlights the versatility of AMB’s international cast of professional artists, backed by a polished ensemble of student dancers from across the metro area. The Nutcracker features lavish sets and more than 250 beautiful costumes. Bring your friends and family out for a night you won’t forget!

Bright Nights on November 19th: Set a merry mood with friends and family and explore the illuminated indoor gardens on select nights beginning November 19th! From a 20′ tall poinsettia tree to a tropical paradise, see festive installations that glow and shine, and showcase nature in a new light.

Fireside Chat with Ishmael Samuel on November 23rd: Come out for a monthly fireside chat to meet other successful entrepreneurs within the community! This month features Ishmael Samuel, CTO and co-founder of Paragon, an embedded integration platform that allows SaaS companies to connect their product to their customers’ data and expedite their integration roadmap. If you’re interested in scaling tech startups, this is a great place to meet with founders, investors, and local startup supporters!

Making Spirits Bright Concert on November 24th: Winter season is in full swing! What better way to celebrate than enjoying a live concert with family and friends? Holland Performing Arts Center is hosting a free & family friendly concert featuring special guest vocalist Ryan Daly and the Nebraska Wind Symphony!

Thanksgiving Light Ceremony on November 24th: Celebrate the start of the holiday season and see the newly renovated Gene Leahy Mall dazzle! Celebrate the return of the Thanksgiving Lighting Ceremony at 6pm on November 24th. Countdown to the start of the 23rd annual Holiday Lights Festival and see the lights illuminate the Gene Leahy Mall and Downtown Omaha!

Holiday Lights Festival beginning on November 24th: See Omaha dazzle every night from Thanksgiving to New Year’s! Lights will illuminate the Old Market, North Omaha, and South Omaha every single night from November 24th to January 2nd. Celebrate the holidays and enjoy our beautiful city!

This Upcoming Events section is sponsored by Eagle Mortgage Company, is a locally owned and full-service mortgage company in Omaha.

Eagle Mortgage can help you realize your dream of owning a home.

People in the News

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

a beautiful blue and white house with a green lawn
digital rendering of Flatiron District project buildings

Mayor Jean Stothert has hired the City of Omaha’s first homeless services coordinator. Tamara Dwyer will begin December 5th and will work with organizations that provide services and shelter for persons experiencing homelessness. Dwyer is currently employed by the Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless.

Omaha Storm Chasers’ radio broadcaster Jake Eisenberg has been called up to the majors. He will join the Kansas City Royals radio broadcast team next season. Prior to coming to Omaha, Eisenberg, 27, worked on New York Mets radio broadcasts.

Omaha Children’s Museum has selected Fawn Taylor as its new Chief Executive Officer. She previously served as vice president of family & community services at the Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative.

Farris Engineering has rehired Chris Burkert as an electrical designer. In his previous tenure at Farris, Burkert designed mechanical systems for projects including schools, government buildings, hospitals and assisted living facilities.

The American Heart Association Nebraska division has added Sarah Tselentis as development director. In her new role, she is in charge of the Omaha Heart & Stroke Ball as well as Kearney Go Red for Women.

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.

Wall Street: The Week in Review

with George Morgan

The author is founder of Morgan Investor Education of Omaha.

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

Views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author.

Views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author.

Those of you who are devoted followers of our periodic words of wisdom know that we are passionate advocates of Ben Graham’s admonition to ignore the needle, buy the hay stack.

This begs the question, which hay stack? In Graham’s day, the answer was simple: the S&P 500, because that was the only option. However, today’s discount broker platform provides investors with a plethora of choices.

There are more than 3,400 funds that mimic more than 700 indexes. Of those 700 indexes, 697 are some bastardized form of the big three; The Dow, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

What is a bastardized index fund? It’s a product of the Wall Street marketing paradigm and business model.

They begin with a perfectly good index, and then manipulate it to look like the best thing since sliced bread. Next step, they charge big bucks because they know more than investors do. In his opus magnum, “The Intelligent Investor,” Ben Graham, preached that investors are better off taking investment advice from a relative, neighbor or co-worker than from a Wall Street type.

Moral of the story? Stick with plane Jane and avoid goosey loosely.

Filings just released by the SEC reveal that during Q3 2022, Buffett poked his thumb in Wall Street’s blood-shot eye by purchasing $9 billion worth of Occidental Petroleum and Chevron. (Prior to this recent acquisition Berkshire owned $24 billion of Chevron, making Berkshire its largest shareholder).

This came at a time when Wall Street’s obsequies lackies on CNBC opined that Biden administration’s war on fossil fuels would result in a significant decline in the price of energy stocks. Since Berkshire’s purchase, energy stocks have risen 17%. Before you run out and bet the farm on gas stocks, let me point out that you are not Berkshire Hathaway and neither is Buffett. When he passes to the big boardroom in the sky, all of his Berkshire shares that go to his wife will be sold and transferred into shares of the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund.

Over the course of the past decade, Buffett’s investment methodology has evolved along with the evolving investment environment. Thirty years ago, he pounded the table that his sacred ten holdings would never to be traded. Post pandemic, he has sold Wells Fargo, and Coke is no longer the cornerstone of his portfolio. Today’s top three are Apple – he swore he would never own a tech stock – and Chevron and Occidental.

What has not changed is his conviction that individual investors should focus on reducing their fees and avoid listening to the Wall Street jibber jabber.

Midtown Crossing Trvia Time

Q: What do the following businesses have in common?

  • Rexius Nutrition
  • Sea Thai
  • Stories Coffee Company
  • Milan Laser Hair Removal
  • Visit Omaha

A: They’re all opening at Midtown Crossing! For updates and details on each, be sure to bookmark MidtownCrossing.com and check back often.

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.

Have You Watched Grow O on Video Yet?

Jeff Beals, Trenton Magid and a guest in the KFAB 1110 Radio Booth

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.

Support the Grow “O” Mission

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