Omaha Development Update

[UrbanNebraska]

Now that Devon Tower is topped out OKC is sure to be getting a lot of recognition around the country because of this gleaming new tower. By my lurking here it is obvious that Devon is simply the most visible of loads on great developments.

Omaha doesn't have anything Devonesque(that makes sense right?), but we are still churning out some really exciting projects right now.

SUBURBS

Werner Park



This is the first year at this new $36 million minor league specify ballpark. Attendance has been fantastic averaging just under 6,000 a game. Plus the Storm Chasers are poised for a post season berth for the first time since '99.

The biggest bummer about the ballpark is that it is smack in the middle of corn fields. There is a plan to change that though.

Pennant Place



This is a very long term project though. Probably 2020 until it starts to resemble the plan laid out.

Outlets at Southport



A new $100+ million Cordish development. It includes a new outlet mall and 60,000sq ft entertainment destination.

Crossroads Mall redevelopment--"University Village"

It will convert a completely dead indoor mall into a mixed use area geared towards the college crowd.



The plan includes 500 apartments on top of the old Dillard's building(I am really interested to see how that happens.) A new city library and transit center are included as well.

Some big time names have been floated. H&M, Apple, Trader Joe's, and REI.

LaVista's Golden Mile

LaVista(a Omaha suburb) is working on turning their main strip from big box stores into this amazing mixed use project. The future for suburbs in my opinion.



TD Ameritrade Headquarters

And finally our current tallest U/C in Omaha.



The 230 foot 12 floor building in west Omaha has topped out and will become the tallest building west of 52nd Street in Omaha.

URBAN

Northern Natural Gas Building



This 260 foot office building has sat empty for the past decade after First National Bank moved into their new tower. It will undergo a $30 million renovation to convert it into 180-200 high end apartments.

The Art Deco's

These rundown apartment buildings in midtown are undergoing a $10 million renovation. This long neglected area is about to take off for the city the 8 building complex should go from this...



Back to their heyday 80 years ago.



Old Market Hyatt



This 11 story hotel includes integrated parking and street level retail. It will be right in the middle of the "Old Market." The tallest buildings in the Old Market are about 6 floors so this building should have an amazing presence in the area.

Old Market Apartment Buildings



Two apartment buildings will be built in the Old Market. One on a vacant lot and one will be where a car wash currently stands(yes Omaha had a car wash a block away from its major entertainment district ).

Aksarben Village

A huge mixed use development that is about half way done and is being completed in phases.

BCBS opened a new 10 story building. HDR architecture moved into a new building there as well. The development includes a movie theater, restaurants, retail, offices, grocery store, apartments and coming soon condos.

The new park along with the project has hosted multiple music festivals this summer because of the flooding by the river.

UNO also finished 400 new dorm rooms right next to the development, providing a lot of foot traffic for the area.

North Downtown Zesto's



Zesto's, a CWS tradition, is building a new location directly across the street from TD Ameritrade Park. It is supposed to be ready for next years CWS. It looks like the fanciest ice cream shop that I have ever seen.

Riverfront Place

This photo is a little old, but I could find a good one of both of the towers completed.



The 2nd condo tower on the river is complete and residents are moving in.

TD Ameritrade Park

The place has been open for a while now, but it is our $131 million crown jewel right now.









Events

Omaha has a few big time events in the coming year as well.

2012 US Olympic Swim Trials at the CenturyLink Center.
CWS obviously.
2013 US Senior Open is being held at Omaha Country Club.
2013 US Figure Skating Championships.
Rumored Lady Gaga wedding at the CenturyLink Center, knock it if you want but I can only imagine the economic impact that could have for Omaha. Omaha would be the center of the entertainment world for the day.
Red Sky Music Festival. It is held at TD Ameritrade, this year was its first year and the headliners for the 5 day event were: 311, Journey, Kid Rock, Zac Brown Band, and Jason Alden. Not my style of music, but could prove to be a big event for Omaha in the coming years.

Transportation

We launched out new Bike Share program this summer.

A study is currently underway to investigate transportation options downtown and midtown(I predict that it will suggest streetcars and then the closed minded people will complain that "my tax money shouldn't be spent on something I'll never use!" yet they continue to want their 4 lane roads out to 204th street that I never use.

We also recently got Megabus service! If you schedule ahead early enough you can get a ticket for a buck. My round trip cost to Chicago and back in October is only $4 and the bus has free wifi. Awesome.

[betts]

I was just in Omaha and was very impressed with what they have for a city of their size. It's a nice place.

[Just the facts]

Intersting stuff UrbanNebraska. Thanks for posting. I really like the suburban makeover into a town center, that is actually town center and not another shopping center that everyone has to drive to. Unfortunately, a lot of the other proposed stuff has way too much surface parking for my taste.

[Pete]

River / waterfront cities almost always have a leg-up when it comes to the urban core, as the water provides a natural focus and and tons of historical development. In addition, it provides natural recreation areas and nice frontage for modern development / redevelopment.

OKC has had to create it's own focus, and we are kind of all over the map, with tons of districts and initiatives. At least Bricktown and our CBD has seen a decent amount of concentrated effort but it would have been far easier to just start with a historic waterfront and build outward from there.

Credit to Omaha for what looks to be lots of quality development.

[UrbanNebraska]

I agree Just the Facts. I wish I had more urban centric things to share, but the new construction downtown has slowed quite a bit, after a decade of a new arena, convention center, baseball stadium,600+ and 300+ footer and ~500 DT condos we were probably due for a lull. The suburbs are seeing their renewal in a way so I threw them in b/c technically they are the biggest projects in Omaha right now. There are a few exciting rumors about downtown Omaha, but it is looking like 2013 before the take root.

Pete you are spot on. The river is huge for Omaha it gave us a focus and a big starting point. Now there are condo towers, rowhouses, a large employer, a $22 million dollar pedestrian bridge and tons of trails on our river. It is one of the places to be now.



I really like Bricktown in OKC it is one of my favorite "districts" that I have ever been too. I hope our North Downtown can take a few tips from OKC when developing our next project area. Right now the only thing close to the new stadium is a handful of decent street fronting hotels and one developed block. The rest is surface parking, ugh.

[Pete]

LOVE that bridge! And the waterfront in general looks very nice.

[UrbanNebraska]

Hello from Omaha!

We got some big big news the other day. Introducing our new $178 million mixed use development downtown across the street from our arena and convention center! It will go where a current surface lot is. I am really excited.











Some of the #s.

350 room 14 floor Marriott Hotel. This will give us 950 hotel rooms directly across the street from the convention center. That will be huge for attracting conventions.

280 apartments.

140,000 sq feet of office space.

61,300 sq feet of retail space.

To be completed by December 2014.

[mcca7596]

When o when will Oklahoma City ever get something like that? :-(

[MDot]

That's beautiful! I'm happy for Omaha to be getting such a wonderful development. I wish someone here would try and pull off something like that.

[UrbanNebraska]

When o when will Oklahoma City ever get something like that? :-(

Hopefully soon!

That's beautiful! I'm happy for Omaha to be getting such a wonderful development. I wish someone here would try and pull off something like that.

The development company doing this has their offices less than a block from this project. It just goes to show a developer investing in their own city and area of downtown. I am confident OKC would support something like this, there just has to be someone willing to take the leap.

[UrbanNebraska]

A nice update of our first true suburban skyscraper.



The 230 foot tower has a great presence in an area littered with 4-6 floor offices.

[UrbanNebraska]

Merry Christmas!

Here is a project that totally slipped my mind just south of downtown in the "Little Italy" neighborhood.

CO2 on 10th. LEED certified 9 unit apartment building.

[Reno and Walker]

Very nice!! its been 20 years since i have been there and it was sooo boring, Looks like things have changed

[UrbanNebraska]

Yet ANOTHER streetcar study for Omaha. This one promises to be the end all be all for the city and includes a VAST portion of the city.



http://www.omaha.com/article/20120127/NEWS01/701279876

After more than a decade of dreaming about streetcars, Omaha is beginning what promises to be the definitive study on the idea.
If the streetcar concept is meant to move toward reality, it will have to prove worthwhile in an 18-month analysis of mass transit options for the developing area from downtown to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The study also will add a new twist to the idea, looking at the possibility of extending a route to the main and south campuses of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Aksarben Village and a redeveloped Crossroads Mall.

I hope this map works for you guys. I just push pined every location mentioned by name in the article to show you how extensive the study area is. This would be no starter line if it included all of these locations: Baseball Stadium, Convention Center and Arena, Old Market, CBD, 5 Fortune 500 companies, Nebraska Medical Center, 4 separate large scale mixed use sites, 2 DI Universities with 22,500 between the two and the tens of thousands living in the area already.
http://binged.it/xeJIlk

We are pushing 20 years talking about streetcars in Omaha. This study is taking 18 months, but at least we are still actively pursuing the issue.

[UrbanNebraska]

Zoom out once on that map to see all locations if it works.

[catch22]

Looking good! Thanks for the updates.

[MDot]

Going over a few of the comments it seems that the people of Omaha don't want a streetcar. I'm not trying to bash them but could someone explain to me why they don't as I am clueless about the situation.

[UrbanNebraska]

Going over a few of the comments it seems that the people of Omaha don't want a streetcar. I'm not trying to bash them but could someone explain to me why they don't as I am clueless about the situation.

Haha yeah we have a rather combustible political climate in Omaha. Those comments about streetcars don't hold a candle to what people said about the new baseball stadium and especially our convention center and arena when they were being proposed.

Every mayor since the 80s has faced a recall attempt. It is seriously moronic.

My reasoning behind it is that Omaha is getting more and more liberal by the day. We have had democratic mayors for over a decade now, which is new. Also since Nebraska is one of two states that gives their electoral votes by district results instead of the whole state in the '08 election Obama got 1 additional electoral college vote from our district while the states other 4 votes went to McCain. A pretty historic outcome in my opinion.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe later acknowledging that single electoral vote from Nebraska had been "my personal favorite target,"

The older more conservative generation that lives mostly in the suburbs can feel the tide shift in the city and is fighting tooth and nail to keep a hold on a long time conservative city.

[Spartan]

Glad to see that we have a new Omaha thread on here, definitely some great development going on up there.

Especially intrigued by that large NoDo project, in the Qwest Center parking lot. Reminds me of the old "Bricktown Village" plan in the Coca Cola Events Center parking lot. Or what Fred Hall wanted to do with the convention center site...

[UrbanNebraska]

Glad to see that we have a new Omaha thread on here, definitely some great development going on up there.

Especially intrigued by that large NoDo project, in the Qwest Center parking lot. Reminds me of the old "Bricktown Village" plan in the Coca Cola Events Center parking lot. Or what Fred Hall wanted to do with the convention center site...

It will technically be located in the newly dubbed "Capitol District." The decided I-480 was too much of a barrier to include it in the North Downtown neighborhood. It will be located on this parking lot.


Pretty much can't get a better improvement.

[SoonerBoy18]

I think I have a private love affair with the city of Omaha and Oklahoma City. Very nice developments to attract the city even more.

[MikeOKC]

I've watched Omaha grow up over the past 25 years or so. Old Market was developed and really hopping before Oklahoma City had Bricktown. As much as I like Bricktown, I actually like the Old Market better because, to me, it simply has more charm. How is Old Market doing these days?

Those twin condo towers are nice. What's the price range?

The new development looks great! We're envious of that as we gave away a prime spot for something like it to a.....convention center. Oh boy.

Thanks for all the updates and pictures.

Omaha and Des Moines are two places I really enjoy visiting. Again, it's Pete's "river" thing; much older, historic and Des Moines just has that urban vibe. Two great cities.

[UrbanNebraska]

The Old Market is as popular as ever!





The two riverfront condo towers range from 250K to 1.4 million. First one is filled and the 2nd is over half sold I know. Honestly I isn't a tough sell considering the view...

[betts]

Old Market has far more retail than Bricktown. That's the biggest difference, to me. If a city the size of Omaha can support downtown retail then we surely should. But you have to have enough starting at once to make it a destination. That's why the odd retail store in Bricktown doesn't survive.
Most people don't go there to shop.

[Spartan]

OKC can do whatever we put itself to, like getting an NBA franchise, or a new skyline, etc. In the 90s and early 2000s, Bricktown was our modus operandii and now it's simply fallen off and isn't even a top priority anymore. I also firmly believe that the low standard for new developments on the BUDC not only confirms the low priority status but also holds the district back tremendously. I highly doubt that you'd have "developers" like Chris Johnson in the Old Market.

Then again, I don't know that the Old Market is still Omaha's priority with downtown. Something makes me think that NoDo or as Urban Nebraska says it's now called, "Capitol District," is the priority now. I remember after the Qwest Center opened and then soon followed retail along the likes of Urban Outfitters, and I haven't even mentioned Mutual of Omaha's Midtown Village development, which is just a mixed-use masterpiece for lack of a better phrase.

OKC has the Dallas syndrome where downtown is great for elite things. Our downtown is chock-full of elite things, and there's almost even an aversion to letting normal things (like retail) cultivate downtown. That's almost how it comes off (maliciously preventing real mixed-use development) when you do things like gobble up the absolute best real estate, that certain major players already announced plans to develop, for a freaking convention center. So we are literally saying that we would prefer to have a convention center rather than destination retail and other mixed-use, and I just have to think that our Yankee brothers up north are way too smart to fall into that self-destructive trap.