Omaha Development Update

[UrbanNebraska]

That is massive. I know the one in Austin will be a decent size but will not be as big as the one UNMC building. With that said Medical Schools like these will play a vital role in our local and national economy.

Nothing on Houston, 106,000 employed there. That is insane.

[JoninATX]

Very.

[UrbanNebraska]

Some pretty big transit news for Omaha. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx was in town on Monday to hold a press conference about the $14.9 million in TIGER funds that were awarded to implement a $30.6 million 8 mile long Bus Rapid Transit line.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx Announces $14.9 Million in TIGER Funds for Omaha Bus Rapid Transit | Department of Transportation

The TIGER funds go toward final design and construction of an 8-mile BRT system in Central Omaha, which is expected to cost approximately $30.6 million. The project will include 14 stations along a busy corridor that serve major retail outlets, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, three major medical complexes, Omaha’s five Fortune 500 companies and the dense, mixed-use Midtown Crossing urban area. Once completed, the BRT line will intersect with nearly every route in Omaha’s existing transit system, becoming the spine of a regional transit network. The route will serve many disadvantaged and economically distressed riders, who will benefit from an affordable, accessible connection to centers of employment, education and training. Roughly 16 percent of the households within a quarter of a mile of the proposed BRT route do not currently have access to a vehicle.

Here is the mockup video put out this summer. The video includes the "urban circulator" streetcar project that is further down the line than the BRT project is. Central Omaha Transit Alternative Analysis- Options on Vimeo

One of the really cool ideas being rolled into this project is that at least 5 of the stops will have B-Cycle bike sharing stations integrated into them. The system currently has 57 bikes and 11 stations and will add another 5 stations and 30 bikes in Council Bluffs early next year bringing the total to 87 bikes and 16 stations. Integrating bike sharing into the BRT stations will really push B-Cycle from recreational/novelty to a useful transportation tool.

[UrbanNebraska]

The Iowa side of the river is finally joining in on the urban development fun.

One of the main developers of Aksarben Village have announced their plans for the undeveloped land at the foot of the pedestrian bridge. There is a new park on the wet side of the levee, this development will be on the dry side.

Current site of the land:


View of the skyline during one of the concerts held on the river:


The park also includes a nightly light show including interactive lighting feature.


Rays by Dan Corson on Vimeo

The development now. Should really help grow the Riverfront area for the Omaha Metro, basically like a Wheeler District on a smaller scale. Anyways some specs and renderings.

~$100 Million in investment.
300K SF in office and retail space. A 4 and 6 floor office building are to overlook the river.
1,606 parking stalls.
353 residences ranging from row homes to apartments to two 10 story condo towers.
Also includes a bike trail along the main street in order to play off the 150 miles of bike trails that line both sides of the riverfront. It will include a curb-less street that is designed to be closed off for events.

[ljbab728]

That looks terrific. Thanks for sharing.

[HOT ROD]

Omaha gets it. These are great projects and it looks like developers there are delivering high quality urban projects.

I think this is something OKC can learn. Despite Omaha being smaller, their construction standard is second to none and speaks of a much larger city. Does Omaha have a design committee or are these projects organically done this great? OKC should adopt these standards for low-rise infill developments at least within 2 mile of downtown [23rd to 25th, Penn to MLK]. ...

Kudos on the BRT funding as well. It's nice for the Feds to send some startup help to the cities in the middle of the country for a change.

I think BRT would only work on NW Expressway in OKC; with the current plan for streetcar within 3 miles of downtown and CR connecting regional transit hubs. We do need to work on the outside of 3 miles from downtown but I suspect a comprehensive revamp of the bus system could do that trick.

[UrbanNebraska]

Omaha gets it. These are great projects and it looks like developers there are delivering high quality urban projects.

I think this is something OKC can learn. Despite Omaha being smaller, their construction standard is second to none and speaks of a much larger city. Does Omaha have a design committee or are these projects organically done this great? OKC should adopt these standards for low-rise infill developments at least within 2 mile of downtown [23rd to 25th, Penn to MLK]. ...

Kudos on the BRT funding as well. It's nice for the Feds to send some startup help to the cities in the middle of the country for a change.

I think BRT would only work on NW Expressway in OKC; with the current plan for streetcar within 3 miles of downtown and CR connecting regional transit hubs. We do need to work on the outside of 3 miles from downtown but I suspect a comprehensive revamp of the bus system could do that trick.

We do have design standards in place. Omaha By Design is the non-profit that deserves a lot of the credit. Here is an interview with Omaha By Design's Director Connie Spellman about the history and their goals.

Project for Public Spaces | How to Really Look at Your City: An Interview With Connie Spellman

Here is the Urban Design Handbook that they put together to help developers to understand the new standards that they need to adhere to. http://www.cityofomaha.org/planning/...ook%20V1.1.pdf

That being said I really wish it had more teeth, there are still things that need to be improved upon, like we haven't even adopted a complete streets policy yet...

Plus our current Mayor has floated the idea of lowering the standards they we put in place less than a decade ago. She has made claims that we are losing out on development because the standards are too strict, saying a Sam's Club backed off from building because we wouldn't let them drop their standard design into the city. A lot of people have spoken out against those comments so hopefully there wont be any cuts, if anything they need to be strengthened.

I think it also helps to have some huge architecture firms HQd in Omaha. Per Wiki three of the 30 largest architecture firms are HQd here. Leo A Daly, DLR Group and HDR Inc. Gives us a lot of talent for larger projects.

Speaking of HDR, hot rumor is that they will move their offices from the suburbs to one of the proposed DT towers, they designed the white tower from a few posts up. Could be up to 1200 jobs added to the core which was be an awesome boost, especially getting a company that won a nationwide cycling competition for businesses that employ over 5000. They would really inject a great pedestrian energy.

A taste of the kind of things that still infuriate me. This week a century old building got the wrecking ball because Mutual of Omaha wants to make the land "more inviting to developers." The Clarinda-Page has sat on Turner Boulevard since 1909 and had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981. Amazing how fast deep pockets get that rescinded...


Mutual claimed the building needed to be torn down because it was hurting potential future development near their awesome Midtown Crossing project. They brought in an architect that said the building could not be repurposed. Lo and behold some fine folks from Leo A Daly decided that was a bunch of bull and came up with an idea(on their own dime) to show how the building could be intergerated into a larger modern office/parking structure.


To no avail. Mutual continued their push toward demolition. Preservationists protested in the rain.



And again this week as workers were stripping the beauty.


Sadly this was the state yesterday...


Seeing how you guys were able to save a very similar building with your Marion project it just frustrates me that my city is still doing things like this.

On the other side of the coin at least we have a cool project happening in the are between Downtown and Midtown. 12 historic buildings are getting a $20 million rehab to create 153 units in what is now a nearly vacant area of downtown. They consists of row homes and traditional apartment buildings. The one thing I found kind of interesting was one of the development companies involved in this. TFL Development is one of the main developers and former Husker Ndamukong Suh is the principal of that company. Apparently he has been looking around for a substantial investment in downtown Omaha. Can't hurt to have a guy soon to get a $100 million contract actively involved in urban development.

Most of these buildings are involved:


And these four buildings across the street:


And a couple facades:





Even more development at the Nebraska Medical Center:

$70 million 170K SF outpatient surgery center:


$35 Million 85K SF College of Pharmacy Building:


$6 Million to renovate ~12K Sf and add ~6500 SF to the student life center. Small potatoes compared to the rest, but will really help the growing campus:


That brings the total construction at the Medical Center up to $434 million adding up to 838,500 SF in floor space u/c right now. INSANE construction boom for the campus.

The Pacific Life Building is well on it's way:




And just some awesome photos from the top of our city's tallest building. They are all by an awesome photographer named Jesse Attanasio of Onelapse.

Here is looking over the Old Market:


Looking into Midtown:


Looking over Central High School and a portion of Creighton's campus:


Looking past Woodmen Tower and the Courthouse into the SW portion of downtown. This area has had the least investment over the last decade. I really think the first people the make a statement in this area will have something special on their hands. Tons of awesome building stock available.

[bchris02]

Omaha gets it. These are great projects and it looks like developers there are delivering high quality urban projects.

I think this is something OKC can learn. Despite Omaha being smaller, their construction standard is second to none and speaks of a much larger city. Does Omaha have a design committee or are these projects organically done this great? OKC should adopt these standards for low-rise infill developments at least within 2 mile of downtown [23rd to 25th, Penn to MLK]. ...

Kudos on the BRT funding as well. It's nice for the Feds to send some startup help to the cities in the middle of the country for a change.

I think BRT would only work on NW Expressway in OKC; with the current plan for streetcar within 3 miles of downtown and CR connecting regional transit hubs. We do need to work on the outside of 3 miles from downtown but I suspect a comprehensive revamp of the bus system could do that trick.

Placemaking is simply something OKC doesn't do very well. Omaha and Wichita do it very well. In terms of actual amenities offered, OKC beats them both, but when it comes to the human experience Omaha rates very well and may actually seem like a larger city thanks to their design standards and placemaking.

[Spartan]

I don't know about Wichita, but I definitely agree about Omaha. They are developing multiple nodes into strong places, which starts to resemble a vibrant city. All of this development is very impressive for a city the size of Omaha.

[UrbanNebraska]

I am going to preface this saying I will probably not describe the project as well as I could. I need to read up more, but this seems like a really bold idea for the city.

This project is one of the more interesting happening in Omaha. Seventyfive North is spearheading a mixed use/mixed income development on the site of a now demolished public housing complex. "The Highlander" as it is called is a 36 acre $76 million development that is in what much of the city considers the "ghetto." High crime and high poverty rates in the area.

There is a ton of information available, but to boil it way too far down this is an attempt to improve the most impoverished area of Omaha through well planned and thought out investment and a strong community.

The basic raw components of the final project:

280 units, both for sale and rental
The Accelerator building, a 70K SF space for entrepreneurship and cultural amenities
A greenhouse, aquaponics facility, orchard and a community garden
Retail space
Art Barn/Event Space

Master Plan:


Phase One is centered around the community items and the housing would fill in the block in later phases.

[UrbanNebraska]

Lots more news coming through, but only about half of it has renderings.

Starting with North Downtown. The neighborhood around the baseball stadium is seeing the most construction since the stadium opened and will double it's residential units in 2015. Granted that will still only bring it about to 300 total, but progress none the less.

Nichol Flats, 67 unit $9.2 million 5 story apartment building. No rendering, but it is out of the ground.


The Rochester, 75 unit $10.6 million apartment project. Converting the old warehouse, this developer has completed thousands of units in the urban Omaha area and is marketing this as a more affordable downtown option with less frills. Rents starting at $650.

Existing Building, both the red brick and the grey annex are being included:


Looking over the building's long time neighbors:


And the rendering, not much changing:


Potentially my favorite North Downtown project. A capitol management firm is rehabbing an old firehouse into their office space. I had really thought this building would be torn down b/c it has a huge crack along the side of it. Very happy to see it put to use.


And it has an awesome relative of the Fred Jones Building in OKC as a neighbor:


The shipping container fad is hitting Omaha too. Plans for the $1.5 million project include 16 containers that will be installed into the last unfinished portion of the Mastercraft Building. The Mastercraft is a 140K SF building that was converted from a furniture factory to the tech/entrepreneurial hub of the city.


Two other smaller buildings being gutted. No real info on specifics, but I love seeing all this history being activated.




Some other really good momentum in the oft overlooked North Omaha that I mentioned in my last post.

30 Metropolitan Place is set to break ground on a 5 floor mixed use building across the street from the community college campus. 110 apartments with commercial space.

Rendering is a little old as it only shows 4 floors, but it has been upped one:


Speaking of the MCC Campus. They themselves are making a massive $90 million investment in a campus expansion. That kind of investment would make ripples at any 4 year university let alone a 2 year CC.

Site Plan:


Renderings:




30 Metropolitan Place is being built on the site of the parking lot on the far right of the last rendering to show how much that stretch will transform.

Back to downtown.

$22.5 Million 125 unit apartment building The Corvina is well underway.




The final look:


One of my favorite projects going right now. Boxcar 10 and Blue Barn Theater. Condos, restaurant and live theater all in one project, pretty damn cool.




Rendering:


And a nice cross section gif:


$17.8 million 132 room Hotel Omaha has broken ground. Six retail bays involved with this project as well.



Rendering:


This one is a few years off, set for 2017 finish. An old power plant along the river is going to get a $36 million renovation to become apartments.



Rendering:


Small project in Midtown. A local bank is tearing down their old branch to update the location. Should have a much better presence on the street and will really modernize the area a bit.





No rendering for two of these projects, but the burgeoning Blackstone District is getting ready to pop the historic neighborhood had become a downtrodden area even since the street was made one way and turned into a quasi highway out of the core, that all began to change when the street was converted back to two way traffic. The neighborhood between UNMC and Midtown went from having next to nothing to having a mexican restaurant, brewery, neighborhood bar, real estate office, tattoo parlor, late night food/bar, floral shop, bike shop, clothing store, barber shop, coffee shop and event space all in 2014 alone. Another brewery, pizza by the slice, wine bar, yoga studio and office space for startups are going to open in the early part of 2015 too.

Above view of the corridor. There are three apartment buildings announced. Point A will be a 5 floor 53 unit building with 4300 SF of retail, also only 19 parking stalls in the project. Point B will be a 4 floor 39 unit apartment building no retail, but again only 19 dedicated parking stalls.


And the two story building here is being converted into 16 apartments and commercial space. The empty lot to the left is where the 5 story apartment building mentioned above is going.


Tons more work going on at Aksarban Village.

The PacLife mixed use building is all framed up.


180K SF of office and retail set to begin later this year. Waitt Plaza.


I will leave it with this awesome drove video of Memorial Park and the Dundee/Happy Hollow neighborhoods. The original "suburbs" of Omaha. Granted they started as streetcar suburbs.

[UrbanNebraska]

Really interesting article about the labor shortage in the Omaha metro area. We have billions in construction right now and it says that there are over 1000 skilled laborers from across the country in the area working on projects and we still cannot keep up with the construction demand.

Major Omaha-area construction projects face a shortage of workers - Omaha.com: Money

A sampling of major projects in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area
» Google data center expansion, Southlands facility, opposite MidAmerican plant along Interstate 29 south of Council Bluffs; $400 million. Since 2007, Google has invested more than $1.5 billion in data center operations in the Lake Manawa area and now the Southlands facility. Expected completion date not yet announced.
» Strategic Command headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base near Bellevue; $524.4 million. The 915,876-square-foot facility, located on the former Warrior Nine golf course, replaces the existing StratCom headquarters. Expected completion: 2016.
» Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha; $323 million facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Expected to open in 2017.
» Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, just west of the Village Pointe shopping center, Omaha; $93 million. The 200,000-square-foot, 110-bed hospital is expected to open in late 2016.
» University of Nebraska at Omaha sports arena, between 64th and 67th Streets; $81.6 million. Fall completion expected.
» Aksarben Village, Omaha. Construction of a new office-retail-garage complex expected to begin in late 2015; $50 million. Also, 40 more upscale apartments are to go up this spring and a five-story, $33 million office and retail building with Pacific Life Insurance Co. as the anchor tenant is to be completed later in the year.
» Six-story Think Whole Person Healthcare facility, northeast corner of 72nd Street and West Center Road, Omaha; $42.6 million. Expected to open this summer.
» The Lumberyard District of office, retail and apartments on the former Millard Lumber site near 135th and Q Streets, Omaha; $54 million. Construction expected to start this summer.
» Construction remains in progress on office, retail, residential, hotel and religious spaces at Sterling Ridge near 132nd and Pacific Streets, Omaha; original price tag in 2012 was $200 million to $250 million.
» Papillion expects to see construction next year on the Bellino Ninety Six project, about 25,000 square feet of commercial space and a 345-unit apartment complex at 96th Street and Cornhusker Road. Also to be completed: the $50 million Hillcrest Grand Lodge near 60th Street and Highway 370.

And that is only a sampling of the large projects. There are dozens that are smaller than that u/c right now, probably most of the picture in earlier posts aren't even covering these huge projects. Just staggering amounts of investment.

[Pete]

Thanks so much for the updates. Always appreciate them.

Is there anything like OKCTalk in Omaha?

[bradh]

I will be in Omaha this weekend, anything worth checking out besides the bourbon bar I have heard about?

[UrbanNebraska]

Thanks so much for the updates. Always appreciate them.

Is there anything like OKCTalk in Omaha?

Yeah, Omaha Forums ? Index page is our forum, I think this is the forum's 10 year anniversary actually. There aren't as many active members as here, but a solid core group that are pretty dedicated to finding good info. I just wish we could get a bigger active base. I like all the action over here.

[UrbanNebraska]

I will be in Omaha this weekend, anything worth checking out besides the bourbon bar I have heard about?

There are two killer bourbon/whiskey/scotch bars in Omaha. I have a feeling you are talking about Grane.



Grane is a literal first of it's kind. The owners developed a dispensing system with a company in Italy similar to how wine bars have with their small pours by machine. They got the exclusive rights to the technology for a couple years so the owners are quickly pursuing expanding the brand to Vegas and NYC. Grane is in the new Midtown Crossing development.

The other much older place is the Dundee Dell. They claim to hold one of if not the largest whiskey selections in the country. I have seen articles say anything from 500 to 900. They have a killer fish and chips too.


Beyond that I am sure The Old Market would be fun. It is kind of like our Bricktown. Lots of local restaurants and bar with brick streets. I personally think Benson is the best Omaha has to offer though. It is an old streetcar suburb's downtown and is full of great beer bars, music venues and breweries. Other than that Dundee(where the Dundee Dell is obviously) and Blackstone are solid urban local neighborhoods. My regulars are Krug Park, 1912. Nite Owl, Wilson & Washburn, Scriptown Brewery, Infusion Brewery, Benson Brewery, Jake's Cigars and Crescent Moon/Huber Haus. I can give you a breakdown of some more if you are interested in anything.

[zookeeper]

I had someone tell me just last month that Omaha is America's "best kept secret." Wouldn't matter much except this guy is COO of a company in the top 100 of the Fortune 500. I asked him how it can be a secret when everybody associates Warren Buffet with Omaha and he's in the news all the time? His response: "Exactly." It took me awhile to catch on, but a brilliant response. Omaha is poised to explode. (He was saying that in so many minds Omaha IS Warren Buffet. But it is soo much more, which makes it a real gem or a "best kept secret.")

[UrbanNebraska]

I had someone tell me just last month that Omaha is America's "best kept secret." Wouldn't matter much except this guy is COO of a company in the top 100 of the Fortune 500. I asked him how it can be a secret when everybody associates Warren Buffet with Omaha and he's in the news all the time? His response: "Exactly." It took me awhile to catch on, but a brilliant response. Omaha is poised to explode. (He was saying that in so many minds Omaha IS Warren Buffet. But it is soo much more, which makes it a real gem or a "best kept secret.")

I really do think our biggest issue isn't job creation or creativity or a lack uniquely Omaha things. It is purely perception and he is right, nationwide Omaha isn't synonymous with great food or music or art or sports, but Buffet. Until people start figuring out we actually have some great stuff to offer I will enjoy my cheap drinks, short waits for great food and easy tickets to concerts.

[Dubya61]

I know it's not Omaha, but ... I heard a report on NPR last night about Silicon Prairie. Lincoln, Nebraska was the new hot place to start up a dot-com. Low cost, great synergy. The only catch: keep your coastal (CA or NY) cell phone number so that you don't scare off investors.

[UrbanNebraska]

I know it's not Omaha, but ... I heard a report on NPR last night about Silicon Prairie. Lincoln, Nebraska was the new hot place to start up a dot-com. Low cost, great synergy. The only catch: keep your coastal (CA or NY) cell phone number so that you don't scare off investors.

Lincoln has a fantastic tech and startup scene. I am very happy that the city down I80 has figured out ways to keep grads there. Lincoln is doing a lot of things I wish Omaha was doing, they are becoming much more than a simple college town.

There is actually a small digital media company based in Omaha called Silicon Prairie News that highlights companies, breaks news and organizes events in Omaha, Lincoln, KC and DSM. They run the AMAZING event called Big Omaha that actually just announced it's first batch of speakers for this year's version. Here is the video they released today too https://vimeo.com/122062721. Big Omaha has been called "The most important conference you've never attended" and "SXSW before SXSW got huge and crazy." It sold out its over 600 tickets in less than a week last year to people all over the country.

The comment about investors is obviously the biggest issue in flyover country, although sometimes being overlooked can create good things. That lack of interest has led to our city creating things on our own. We have a great community of entrepreneurs in this city. Dundee Venture Capital | Investing in dynamic and passionate entrepreneurs, Straight Shot, Linseed Capital |, https://interfaceschool.com/ and Omaha Code School

[EricOK]

Omaha really does remind me of Austin before the 90's. I'd rather see Omaha remain a secret. Rampant "exploding" growth would ruin it.

[AP]

I'll be in Omaha the week of the 30th so any recommendations for cool places to check out would be awesome.

[EricOK]

I guess it would depend on your interests and age. Music? Arts? Food? Tourist attractions? Everyone likes the Old Market (what Bricktown should aspire to be), so I'd start there.

[UrbanNebraska]

I would be more than happy to give some specifics if you have certain things you are interested in seeing or doing. We have a bunch of breweries and good beer bars, a couple the focus on cocktails and wine. Like EricOK said the Old Market is the catch all. Pretty much something for every taste lots of great restaurants, although I do think the OM can get kind of college crazy at night. I personally prefer Benson or Blackstone/Midtown.

[AP]

I would be more than happy to give some specifics if you have certain things you are interested in seeing or doing. We have a bunch of breweries and good beer bars, a couple the focus on cocktails and wine. Like EricOK said the Old Market is the catch all. Pretty much something for every taste lots of great restaurants, although I do think the OM can get kind of college crazy at night. I personally prefer Benson or Blackstone/Midtown.

I mostly meant areas to check out. I will be there for work for a week and kinda want to explore after work. I'm definitely into beer bars and breweries so anything of that nature, although college crazy doesn't sound too bad either. I am staying at the DoubleTree downtown, so anything within walking distance to that would be great, although I don't mind driving.