News from Omaha

Want to talk about your favorite places besides Kansas City? Post any development news or questions about other cities here.
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News from Omaha

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Trader Joe's coming to Omaha's One Pacific Place
Trader Joe's is scheduled to open its first food store in Nebraska and Omaha sometime this year at One Pacific Place, the company announced Wednesday.

Arrival of the grocery chain, known for its extensive array of imported and domestic foods and its avid fan base, was rumored for some time.

The company will open a 13,000-square-foot store in the building that housed Allen Edmonds shoe store, which closed last June, and other businesses.

Company spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said Trader Joe's was excited to come to Omaha, but she declined to say exactly when it would open or why the company chose Omaha or the upscale outdoor mall at 103rd and Pacific Streets.

Jay Lerner of the Lerner Co., which handles leasing for One Pacific Place, said the store is a good addition to the shopping center and to the area.

When The World-Herald asked readers in 2007 which national chains they’d most like to see in Omaha, Trader Joe’s received the second-most responses.

“No one carries the kinds of things that Trader Joe’s carries, and I have to stock up whenever I’m in another city,” one woman said.

The chain also emphasizes ongoing variety in its offerings and introduces about a dozen new items every week.

A Facebook page called “Bring Trader Joe’s to Omaha” has 1,436 fans.

Trader Joe’s was founded in 1958 in the Los Angeles area. It now has more than 330 stores in 25 states.
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New TD Ameritrade headquarters in Old Mill

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TD Ameritrade wants to go vertical with its new corporate headquarters.

The online brokerage firm is planning to build a 230-foot-tall headquarters building as part of its new corporate campus in the Old Mill area.

The headquarters would be Omaha's tallest office building outside downtown and midtown and rank 12th in the city overall.

The building which will have 12 floors, according to plans on file with the city would be so tall that TD Ameritrade will need a special waiver of city zoning rules.

TD Ameritrade announced plans in October 2008 to consolidate 2,000 employees from four area offices, including Bellevue's former Southroads Mall, at Old Mill. The announcement was significant because it affirmed the company's decision to maintain Omaha as its headquarters.

The corporation didn't set out to build a tall headquarters, but had “no choice but to go up,” said Kim Hillyer, spokeswoman for TD Ameritrade.

Hillyer said TD Ameritrade has limited space on its Old Mill campus to accomplish its redevelopment plans. One of the goals is to achieve an exclusive LEED Platinum environmental certification, which requires half the property to be green space, limiting the company's construction options for the site.
TD Ameritrade, which has estimated it would spend up to $80 million on its project, wants its new campus to reflect the corporation's long-term commitment to the community, Hillyer said.

“We're building for sustainability here, which is not only good for us, it's good for the community as well,” she said.

TD Ameritrade's plans call for a campus of three leased and renovated buildings east of 108th Avenue and south of the West Dodge Expressway, plus the new headquarters west of 108th Avenue. In all, the campus would have 685,000 square feet of building space more than the Woodmen Tower.

Employees already fill the three leased buildings, Hillyer said, and work to tear down other buildings to make way for construction is continuing.

TD Ameritrade's move is a boost to the Old Mill area.

Major employers ACI Worldwide and First Data Resources had left the office park. Just three years ago, the area's offices were one-third empty one of the metro area's highest commercial property vacancy rates.

But as of December, Old Mill had one of the lowest vacancy rates, 12 percent compared with almost 18 percent citywide, according to Grubb & Ellis Pacific Realty.

TD Ameritrade has said it would have room for 400 additional employees in the future.

The headquarters would be one building with two connected sections: a main part for corporate and technology operations and a smaller three-story section that will house meeting and training rooms, a dining area and fitness center. It would hold about 1,450 employees.

The company's plans are subject to city government approval but already have the support of the City Planning Department. The company needs a special use permit for such a large project and a waiver of rules that limit buildings in that area to 120 feet tall.

The request will go before the Omaha Planning Board on Wednesday, then to the City Council later.
Chad Weaver, assistant planning director, said that even though the building would be taller than normal for the area, TD Ameritrade's request is not unreasonable.

A planners' report endorses the request and says the proposal would contribute growth, revitalization and jobs.

A construction schedule originally called for the headquarters to be built by spring 2011. The headquarters is now scheduled to be finished and occupied by fall 2012, with a groundbreaking set for this summer.
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Re: News from Omaha

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More accolades...

Forbes: America's Most Livable Cities

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/29/cities ... ncome.html

1. Pittsburgh
2. Ogden, UT
3. Provo, UT
4. Ann Arbor, MI
5. Harrisburg, PA
6. Omaha
7. Manchester, NH
8. Trenton, NJ
9. Bridgeport, CT (tie)
9. Lincoln (tie)
LenexatoKCMO
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Re: News from Omaha

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What's it say that they include the two US locations I would never consider living in under any circumstance - UT and NJ, Trenton no less.    :puke:
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Re: News from Omaha

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harrisburg, PA!  :lol:

the only place on that list i would voluntarily live is ann arbor.  maybe pittsburgh.
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Re: News from Omaha

Post by LenexatoKCMO »

chrizow wrote: the only place on that list i would voluntarily live is ann arbor. 
One winter would cure you of that.  My idea of "liveable" doesn't include needing snow tires six months of the year.  :lol:
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Re: News from Omaha

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Out of curiosity, how many of those cities have you guys actually been to?
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
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Re: News from Omaha

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mean wrote: Out of curiosity, how many of those cities have you guys actually been to?
six - ironically the two nebraska cities not included. 
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Re: News from Omaha

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I've been to Pittsburgh... it is a gorgeous city in my opinion.  Of course I've been to Lincoln... which is sort of like comparing Omaha to KC.  There's not much to it, but it's all very wholesome and family oriented to a proportionately greater degree than Omaha and KC. :)

I've been through Provo and Ogden... which are basically just bedroom communities bookmarking SLC.

Never been to any of these others.
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Re: News from Omaha

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chrizow wrote: harrisburg, PA!   :lol:

the only place on that list i would voluntarily live is ann arbor.  maybe pittsburgh.
Nothing wrong with Harrisburg!  Go Senators!
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Re: News from Omaha

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I was really impressed with SLC and it's surrounding areas.

Greg
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Re: News from Omaha

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Capitol Rows
Omaha World Herald wrote:A row-house-style apartment project could replace a parking lot between Joslyn Art Museum and Creighton University.

Tetrad Development Corp. is proposing a $10 million project to build 82 apartments and a corner retail site northeast of 24th and Davenport Streets.

The Capitol Rows development is believed to be the first new private development proposal to emerge since Omaha adopted its downtown master plan last year.

Doug Bisson, an urban planner at HDR Inc. who led the creation of the downtown plan, said Capitol Rows is exactly the kind of project envisioned.

It would provide new housing downtown — one of the plan's key goals — and would do so in a neighborhood projected to develop into the Joslyn District. By repurposing parking lots, the project also would fulfill a goal of seizing small redevelopment opportunities.

“That's what we've always envisioned,” Bisson said. “Little by little, people are starting to find those neat opportunities.”

The project would be geared toward Creighton upperclassmen and graduate students, said Don Mohlman, president of Tetrad Development. It would have 60 one-bedroom apartments and 22 two-bedroom units — all renting at market rates, Mohlman said.

The buildings would be designed in an urban row house style. Two apartment buildings along 24th Street would be three stories high, and a building along Davenport Street would be four stories tall.
The developer would like to finish construction by late summer 2011. “We're quite excited about the project,” Mohlman said.

Tetrad Development is a subsidiary of Tetrad Corp., a development and construction services firm headed by W. David Scott, son of Omaha businessman and philanthropist Walter Scott.

America First Real Estate Group would manage the property. America First is a subsidiary of Burlington Capital Group, headed by Lisa Roskens, daughter of Omaha businessman and philanthropist Michael Yanney.

The project is going through the city approval process.

The Omaha Planning Board has signed off on the necessary zoning changes, land plats and a redevelopment plan that would provide the project with $765,000 in tax-increment financing, or the temporary use of new property taxes generated by the improvements to pay some of the project's costs.
The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on part of the plans on June 29.
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Re: News from Omaha

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University of Nebraska Medical Center campus continues to expand with announcement of a $100 million, 270,000 square foot cancer research center.

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Brad Williams aerial showing the campus today... new cancer center would fall below the lower left corner.

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And long term plans for a Brush Creek like transformation on the campus' west edge.

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Re: News from Omaha

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Tower crane is starting to go up in Old Mill for the new Ameritrade headquarters building.

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Re: News from Omaha

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Second Riverfront Place tower is nearly topped out

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Re: News from Omaha

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Our suburban highrise is well underway... TD Ameritrade's new headquarters, 12 stories

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Ambitious plans for the failing Crossroads Mall at 72nd and Dodge... 'University Village at Crossroads'... 'Legends' developer is behind it.

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http://www.ketv.com/news/26639755/detail.html

Although already talk of an Apple tenant...
http://macdailynews.com/2011/05/26/appl ... -flagship/
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Re: News from Omaha

Post by ignatius »

i like omaha a lot and if i were to live in a city that size, would be one i'd consider. is also economically strong for its size.  go omaha.
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Re: News from Omaha

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Thanks for that.
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Re: News from Omaha

Post by mean »

Gotta love backhanded compliments.
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