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TRUST WOODS BROS REALTY.

INDEX

CREDITS Lincoln continues to grow — new housing, new high-rise buildings, new startup communities.

A FAST START: Don’t Panic Labs hopes to pave way for more startup success. L14 CLOSE PROXIMITY: builder focused on pocket neighborhoods. L16

Directions 2019 is the Journal Star’s annual look at what’s driving progress in Lincoln.

MAGNETIC ATTRACTION: uNL professor and tourism expert sees state’s potential. L17 GROWING AND GRAYING: Downtown housing shifting from students to adults. L18-19

Editor: Dave bundy

GETTING WILDER: Expansion growing, reshaping Lincoln Children’s Zoo. L20

City editor: Todd Henrichs

OPTIONS GALORE: Senior living centers are expanding their offerings. L22

L4-5

L14

TALL ORDER: On the site of a former restaurant, Lied Place will tower over Q Street. L4-5

SWITCHING GEARS: Telegraph District work shifts from business to residential. L24-25

BLACK TO GREEN: Monolith is revolutionizing the manufacture of carbon black. L6-7

INVESTING IN GROWTH: Olsson adding a second building, building for future. L28-29

SHAPING THE SKYLINE: Hausmann Construction has made a big impact in a little time. L8-9

FILLING A GAP: Canopy Street Market brings groceries to a food desert. L30-31

COLD COMFORT: Runza’s Temperature Tuesdays warm up business the colder it gets. L10

NEW GENERATION, OLD VALUES: Total Image unlimited still focused on customer. L35

THE RIGHT TOOLS: uNL spinoff Virtual Incision creates robots for surgery. L12

SMALL-TOWN PRIDE: Tool-making returns to former home of Vise-Grip. L42

STAYING CLOSE TO HOME: Talent Plus cofounder reflects on success, Lincoln roots. L13

BROKERAGE FIRMS THAT SOLD MORE HOMES IN LINCOLN THAN HOME REAL ESTATE IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS:

L6-7

WORKING TOGETHER: Colleges, small towns feed off each other’s success. L44-45

Contributing editors: Julie Koch, Shelly Kulhanek, alex Lantz, Matt Olberding, Pat Sangimino Section design: Matt arroyo, Lee Regional Design Center Have thoughts on our Directions coverage?

Is there something you’d like to see next year?

Contact section editor Todd Henrichs at 402-473-7468 or thenrichs@journalstar. com.

FOR 20 CONSECUTIVE YEARS

Midlands MLS, 1-1-18 to 12-31-18 as of 1-29-19 This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied

by Midlands MLS Inc. The Midlands MLS Inc. does not guarantee or marked responsible for accuracy. Data maintained by Midlands MLS Inc. may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. These statistics include single family homes only and may not represent all real estate information in our market. All averages are for HOME Real Estate only over all price ranges.

402.436.4663 | HomeRealEstate.com DIRECTIONS • SuNDay, FEbRuaRy 24, 2019 • L3

LIED PLACE RESIDENCES

‘Prominent on the

SKYLINE’ Planned high-rise 25 years in the making PETER SALTER

Lincoln Journal Star

S

o much work to be done before Lincoln’s second-tallest building is towering over Q Street like a spike in the city’s skyline.

Scrape away the old Applebee’s. Get the wind tunnel results from Denver and the engineering specs from the Atlanta highrise pros.

Build down first, by sinking 150 concrete pilings more than 90 feet into the earth.

Then build up, by pouring concrete floor after concrete floor and concrete floor — 20 in all — until Lied Place Residences has risen 250 feet, its highest floor-to-ceiling windows offering an unobstructed view of Memorial Stadium, and beyond.

Then, more work: Find a first-floor restaurant, fill the next three floors with offices and build out the 40 high-end condos, where the prices will climb with the elevation.

And during all of this, marry this $32 million building to the Que Place Garage, which will cradle the high-rise’s lower floors on three sides, without damaging the parking ramp.

“It will definitely be our tallest building,” said Chad Wiles, vice president of Hausmann Construction, which will break ground this spring. “And anytime you’re building next to a structure like that, you have to do a lot of planning up front.”

But some of that planning was done a quarter-century ago.

The sliver above Applebee’s To find that forethought, look at the walls inside the parking garage’s stairwells.

L4 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

Now look more closely. On every landing, the smooth concrete yields to a doorway-sized section of concrete blocks.

They were built to be easily punched out, to provide parking access to an eventual neighbor. When the city built the Que Place Garage in the early 1990s, it envisioned another building slipped in against its north side, something attractive to face the Lied Center for Performing Arts, which had just gone up across Q Street.

“A multi-story building was always intended,” said Tam Allan, who’s developing the planned high-rise.

“The Lied Center stakeholders didn’t want to be facing a slab of parking garage.”

Allan Instead, they would get a low-slung chain restaurant.

Initially, three developers submitted plans for the site, and the city chose a project pitched by the Downtown Lincoln Association Foundation — a seven-story building with retail on the first floor and apartment and condos above.

But in late 1994, the foundation pulled the plug — too much money for the nonprofit to spend — and the site remained unused, until Applebee’s opened six years later.

Allan would see that restaurant when he was leaving the Lied Center, and he’d see all of the missed potential in the empty air above it.

“I kept noticing the sliver above the Applebee’s. Not many people noticed it over the years,” he said. “There’s tremendous frontage. And the view, my gosh. You’re

COURTESY IMAGE

At 250 feet, Lied Place Residences — on Q Street between 11th and 12th streets — would be the city’s second-tallest building. The Capitol rises 400 feet, and the U.S. Bank building 220 feet. looking at Memorial Stadium. You can see Hawks Field. You can see Pinnacle (Bank Arena).”

The restaurant closed in 2013. A year later, Allan and a partner bought the slim piece of property for $1.2 million.

It’s a narrow footprint for a big building — only about 5,300 square feet — but it came with built-in parking, something critical to a downtown development.

They started developing a plan that would change the skyline, but they weren’t alone.

Other projects grounded In 2016, and with great fanfare, the mayor unveiled plans for Block 54, a 15to 17-story project at Ninth and O streets that included two hotels, up to 50 condos, a restaurant, ballroom and parking garage.

Its developers leveled the three existing buildings —including Knickerbockers and Recycled Sounds — and then, nothing happened. The corner remains empty, the $72 million plan dead, though developers hope to propose a smaller project.

And in 2017, a New York company an-

nounced another grand plan, this one a block away at Ninth and P. The $92 million City Centre would replace the Journal Star building with a nine-story structure, hundreds of apartments, a rooftop pool, offices and retail space. But the developer has since told the city it’s facing significant difficulties, and the chances of the project moving forward are remote.

In each case, the developers had entered into redevelopment agreements with the city to receive tax-funded incentives.

But two key problems can surface after those agreements are signed and before construction begins, said David Landis, director of the city’s Urban Development Department.

The first: Significant cost increases, like the price of steel and other building materials. The second: Failing to line up all the financing, because lenders can have requirements developers can’t meet.

The 20-story Lied Place appears to have avoided those problems. By the time its developers met with the city to try to secure $5 million in tax incentives, they had their financing in place, and they had a firm grasp of the overall cost.

“So they had a good strategy, through diligence and preplanning, to satisfy both those difficulties that the developers have to overcome,” Landis said.

The developers had done their homework. “We’ve had a limited number of surprises along the way that seem to set back other projects,” Allan said. “Everything has gone pretty much the way we had anticipated it. That has been good.”

And before they went public with their plans, Lied Place’s developers had already booked buyers for nearly half of its condos.

Condo buyers commit They found their future tenants through word of mouth, Allan said. No marketing.

No sales pitches.

Almost all the buyers are from Lincoln.

And more than half plan to live at Lied Place year-round.

That sets it apart from a newer condo collection down the street in the West Haymarket. Hobson Place opened at Canopy and Q in 2014 and sold out its 32 high-end condos, which range in value

COURTESY PHOTOS

The developers of the Lied Place Residences are spending $60,000 on a wind tunnel study so engineers can design the high-rise to withstand wind loads of more than 125 mph.

Nearly half of the condos planned for Lied Place Residences have been sold. from $440,000 to $780,000. But only two owners list Hobson Place as their permanent residence, according to county property records. Most live in other Nebraska towns and other states, including Colorado and Arizona.

Lied Place’s developers have fielded interest from university staff and faculty, who like the proximity to campus. And they’re selling condos to others already living downtown but wanting an upgrade.

Lower-level units will be the least-expensive, at about $375 per square foot, so a 1,000-square-foot, one-bedroom unit will sell for just less than $400,000.

But the price goes up as you go higher, Allan said, and most of the units above the

10th floor — after it clears the parking garage, and the condos offer both north and south views — are already committed.

More than a half-dozen buyers bought two apiece, either side-by-side or on consecutive floors, so they can combine the condos and double their space.

“We didn’t necessarily anticipate that,” he said. “But we’re delighted.”

Lied Place will sell the second, third and fourth floors as office space, and it’s searching for a restaurant to fill the first floor.

Allan and his partners will take their time to find the right operator, willing to offer low rent to help the business succeed.

“We will, in effect, be subsidizing it,” he said. “We’re going to be very careful to make sure the restaurant is a good match for the building.”

It won’t be Applebee’s, or any other national chain.

‘A long-term building’ This will be new ground — and new sky — for builders in Lincoln.

Nothing this tall has been built in nearly 90 years, when the Capitol reached 400 feet. The U.S. Bank Building, which went up in 1969, stopped at 220 feet.

So the developers of the 20-story, 250-

foot Lied Place hired a high-rise firm in Atlanta to help with the engineering.

“We said, ‘We’re just trying to be really, really careful,’” Allan said. “They laughed.

They said, ‘We build 80-story buildings.’”

Still, they want to be careful. They paid a Denver firm $60,000 to analyze a miniature mock-up of Lied Place and much of downtown Lincoln in a wind tunnel, so engineers can design it to shoulder wind loads of more than 125 mph.

“You try to model as exact as possible,” said Wiles of Hausmann Construction.

“When you have different angles of wind that travel through existing buildings, it will hit our building in a certain way.”

The building will move in the wind, but builders want to limit how quickly it sways, not necessarily how far.

“It’s the acceleration, not the distance,” Wiles said. “When you’re up on the top floor, you don’t want to feel like you’re being shaken back and forth.”

The project will present other challenges. The small area will make for a crowded workplace. And they must be careful not to undermine the foundation of the 25-year-old parking garage.

But construction should begin in April, once Applebee’s disappears, and end in early 2021. They’ll sink 150 pilings into a rock layer 90 feet below — pouring concrete into a drill bit with a hollow shaft in the center.

Then they’ll start building, pouring a concrete level, and then another. They’ll thread each floor with steel tendons in plastic sheets, and tighten those to stiffen the building.

That’s a different approach than most recent construction, Allan said. Think about the new Railyard-area buildings to the west, the student housing to the south.

Masonry bases, steel construction above.

It’s cost-effective, but it limits the height.

“There has not been a building built like this, certainly for residential purposes, for well over 25 years. It’s very expensive,” Allan said. “But this is a long-term building; it’s going to be prominent on the skyline.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7254 or psalter@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSPeterSalter DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L5

MONOLITH

Turning carbon black into green Monolith investing millions in reinventing industry using clean energy MARGARET REIST

Lincoln Journal Star

C

arbon black is everywhere.

It reinforces the tires on motorists’ cars and colors the ink in writers’ pens. It’s in dark-hued plastic silverware and eyeliner. Cellphone batteries and rubber soles and printer toner contain carbon black, as do many other rubber products and almost anything that’s black in color.

Eight tons of the powdery substance also fill large black containers stacked inside a nondescript metal building just off West O Street, the work of entrepreneurs determined to harness the clean-energy capability of hydrogen and reinvent the carbon black market.

Over the past three decades, the production of carbon black has shifted overseas, and today the United States produces just 20 percent of the world’s supply.

Fifteen aging plants operate in the U.S., and the traditional method of manufacturing the substance creates a substantial amount of air pollution.

Monolith, a business begun by two mechanical engineers in California that announced it would relocate its headquarters to Nebraska in 2016, plans to change that.

Rob Hanson and Pete Johnson both earned their master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and met at a solar company in Silicon Valley where they both worked. When the small company was sold to a bigger one, they decided to venture out on their own.

“We’re more startup guys,” Hanson said. “We wanted to do something in energy with a clean environmental impact.”

They looked for a year, and finally came L6 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

GWYNETH ROBERTS PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR

Chemist Connor Adams runs a surface-area test on carbon black in the analytical lab at Monolith’s research and development center in Lincoln. Fourteen of the company’s California employees have relocated to Nebraska, and Monolith has hired another 20 here in highly skilled, high-paying jobs. across carbon black — something neither had ever heard of, Hanson said.

They learned the substance used in so many products was manufactured primarily by burning heavy oil.

“We asked the question, could you make it starting with natural gas?” Hanson said.

The answer was yes. Others had worked on the technology, but it hadn’t been fully developed. They acquired some early research and development work done by a Norwegian company and partnered with a university in France, and brought on a third partner, Bill Brady, who’d worked in

the carbon black industry for years.

In 2012, they opened a demonstration plant in the San Francisco Bay area — the first carbon black operation built in the United States in 30 years. They chose the location because of the technical talent in Silicon Valley, Hanson said.

But the fact that the plant operated without problems 60 yards from the bay, 100 yards from a national wildlife refuge and within a few hundred yards of a Google campus helped make the argument for its clean-energy capabilities.

Once the $70 million investment in California proved successful and cost-

competitive, Hanson led the effort to find a location for their first commercial plant.

They investigated 18 locations in 17 states and Canada, said Steve Baillargeon, director of commercial development.

Monolith needed a locale that offered low and stable electricity costs, access to an abundant supply of natural gas and a good rail infrastructure. Nebraska had all those.

So did Alberta, Canada, and Louisiana.

“The thing that pushed it over the edge (for Nebraska) was the partnerships,” Hanson said. “NPPD is such a solid, strong partner. And just the people and the culture and the view that yeah, we can

build a company here.”

They opened a corporate office in downtown Lincoln, entered into an agreement with the Nebraska Public Power District and last year opened the laboratory just off West O Street.

“We consider it a very valuable partnership,” said John Swanson, NPPD’s general strategies manager.

Monolith has begun construction of a plant at NPPD’s Sheldon Station near Hallam, and NPPD officials are converting one of their two coal-fired units to burn hydrogen coming from the Monolith plant.

“This is a unique thing, mostly because hydrogen is one of those sought-after substances but it’s expensive to produce,” Swanson said. “The bottom line is when you burn hydrogen instead of coal there’s no carbon in the hydrogen, so you will substantially reduce your carbon dioxide emissions.”

Meanwhile, 14 of the California employees have relocated to Nebraska, and Monolith has hired another 20 here, said Kristi Oltman, a senior recruiter. Monolith plans to hire another 50 people for highly skilled, high-paying jobs in Nebraska for the first phase of the project.

Of the company’s $125 million investment in expansion, $80 million to $100 million will take place in Nebraska, Hanson said.

Monolith officials hope to have the Hal-

Ned Hardman, vice president of product development, stands in front of eight tons of carbon black stored at Monolith’s research and development center in Lincoln. The company sought low and stable electricity costs, access to an abundant supply of natural gas and a good rail infrastructure in relocating to Nebraska. lam plant up and running later this year, increasing production from the 1,000 tons of carbon black produced each year at the demonstration plant in California to 14,000 tons a year, or 38 tons a day.

In the second phase, Monolith will expand the plant and hire another 50 people, Baillargeon said, so that by 2022, it will produce 220,000 tons of carbon black a year and provide enough hydrogen to power one of NPPD’s units.

Monolith executives estimate their plant will reduce carbon emissions by 1 million tons a year — the environmental

equivalent of taking more than 200,000 cars off the road.

“So it’s meaningful,” said Baillargeon.

“It’s very meaningful.”

Inside the lab at 2610 W. L St., past the black containers full of carbon black powder, scientists continue to analyze and improve carbon black’s many attributes and ready the powdery substance for sale.

The lab’s world-class instrumentation is used to study the bulk property of the carbon black, which is turned into highdensity pellets that are easier to ship and for customers to handle, said Ned Hard-

man, a chemist and Monolith’s vice president of product development.

The lab also analyzes the chemical makeup of carbon black to tailor it to customers’ needs, and it tests how the different forms of carbon black work in rubber.

The three main uses of carbon black are to reinforce rubber, as a conductor and as a pigment, Hardman said.

About 85 percent of carbon black is used in rubber products and 65 percent specifically in tires. Tires use several different grades of carbon black for different purposes, Hardman said, and the makeup of the carbon black differs for all of them.

The company’s expansion plans follow what Hanson said is a resurgence of tire and auto manufacturing in the United States.

“This is a growing market that we hope to be a big part of,” he said.

But Monolith is also focused on hydrogen production and its uses beyond powering electrical plants.

“People ask me are you a carbon black company or a hydrogen company?” Hanson said. “The answer is we’re both. Carbon black is our focus now, but over the long term, they are both very, very important to us as a business.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSreist

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MOVIN’ ON UP MATT OLBERDING

Lincoln Journal Star

J

oey Hausmann said he often gets asked, “When did you take this over from your dad?”

He said a lot people assume that, because many of Lincoln’s major construction firms are second- or even third-generation businesses, his is, too.

But Hausmann Construction has only been around for a little more than 15 years, and in that time it has seen tremendous growth.

From humble beginnings, it has grown to be one of Lincoln’s largest general contractors, with nearly 300 employees and a list of current and past projects for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln Electric System and other large organizations.

Pretty impressive for a guy who just turned 40 and didn’t grow up in a construction family.

Hausmann, who was raised on a farm near Butte, a town of about 300 people in Boyd County, said he knew from a young age that he wanted to build things.

“When I was 8 or 9 years old, I knew that I wanted to be a construction person,” Hausmann said.

That dream got started at UNL, where Hausmann learned about the university’s construction management program from his freshman roommate.

That started him on the road to literally building a career from the ground up.

After graduation from UNL, Hausmann spent a couple of years working for local construction firms before deciding to strike out on his own in 2003.

It was a tough go at first, and he took any job he could, which often meant roofing jobs.

“Me and my wife were on the roof tearing off shingles,” Hausmann said.

Eventually, he moved into home building, with his first big project being 83 L8 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

GWYNETH ROBERTS, JOURNAL STAR

Hausmann Construction CEO Joey Hausmann has built his company from scratch to become one of the largest general contracting firms in the city. “A lot of people say, ‘Man, I can’t believe how fast you’ve grown,’ but for me, it’s seemed like forever.” houses on 40 acres at Southwest 40th and West A streets.

When he decided to move into commercial contracting, “my resume was a blank sheet of paper,” he said.

Hausmann said his first big break was when he was low bidder for a project at Elliott Elementary School that cost somewhere between $1 million and $2 million.

“At the time it was a big project for us,” he said.

The company kept working its way up to bigger projects, winning a bid to do a $5 million project at Culler Middle School and then a more than $20 million project to build the Nebraska National Guard Joint Force Headquarters building at the Lincoln Airport.

Hausmann said all the projects his company has done have been important, but two particularly stand out. One was the Norris Intermediate School, which was the first time Hausmann was chosen

to participate in what’s known as a negotiated bid — where instead of a low bidder being chosen from a blind bid, companies are invited to bid and are chosen based on a range of criteria.

The other project that sticks out in his mind is the 50/50 building, a student housing/parking project at 18th and R streets.

Hausmann said the building had a tight timeline and many other contractors shied away, but his company completed the project on time and within budget.

“That was really a huge springboard for us,” he said.

The company has grown to around 300 employees operating out of a sleek, modern two-story headquarters building near the Wilderness Ridge Golf Course.

These days, you’ll find Hausmann doing many large projects, not just in Lincoln but throughout Nebraska and in surrounding states.

15-year-old company growing its business, Lincoln’s skyline Among the company’s current projects are the new headquarters building for Lincoln Electric System, the Lied Place Residences and the Kindler Hotel in downtown Lincoln, the expansion of the Lincoln Children’s Zoo and the new four-story parking garage and rental car facility at Eppley Airfield in Omaha.

Completed projects over the past few years have included the UNL College of Business, the joint Moore Middle School and Copple Family YMCA, and the new veterans home in Kearney.

“We’re doing larger and larger projects every year,” Hausmann said.

He gives much of the credit to his employees, which include large numbers of graduates from UNL, UNO and UNK. He said he works to put talented people into the right jobs and then, “I stay out of their way.”

When Hausmann faced the biggest hurdle of his life, his wife’s death in 2016 after a short battle with cancer, he said his employees not only kept the company running smoothly, but they also contributed to its growth.

“That’s a testament to the people working for Hausmann Construction,” he said.

Hausmann declined to say how much the company has grown in terms of revenue, but in general terms, he said it has roughly doubled in size about every three years.

In addition to its Lincoln headquarters, the company now has offices in Omaha, Norfolk, Scottsbluff and Denver.

Hausmann said that while it may seem as though the company has grown by leaps and bounds, it’s actually been slow and controlled, which has been key in making sure it doesn’t get overextended or take on projects it can’t handle.

“It’s been a process,” he said. “A lot of people say, ‘Man, I can’t believe how fast you’ve grown’, but for me, it’s seemed like forever.”

SAVANNAH BLAKE, JOURNAL STAR

Kindler Hotel developer Nick Castaneda said Hausmann Construction shared his vision of what he wanted in the project. When Lincoln’s first boutique hotel opens at 11th and P streets, Hausmann crews will move around the corner to begin work on the Lied Place high-rise.

So how has he built such a large, successful company in such a short time?

Hausmann cites a number of factors: * Creative and experienced estimating and project employees who can get bids right and are able to “guide owners to a workable budget.” * Treating not only clients but also subcontractors fairly. * Making himself available personally to clients and subcontractors when they have questions or issues.

Those who have hired Hausmann for projects sing the praises of the company.

Brooke Hay, director of capital construction for UNL, called Hausmann “a strong contractor in the area.”

Hay said the company has done more than a dozen projects for the university, including building its new $44 million University Health Center, a new practice facility for the Husker gymnastics teams and renovating the East Campus Union.

The College of Business, at $84 million, was one of the largest campus building projects ever, and having Hausmann as general contractor on the project “worked out very well,” Hay said.

“They did a good job on that.”

Nick Castaneda, who along with his wife, Brooke, is developing the Kindler Hotel at 11th and P streets, is effusive in his praise.

Castaneda said he interviewed several lo-

cal and national construction firms, many with more experience than Hausmann. But of all the companies, it shared his vision of what he wanted in the project.

“They did a lot more listening to what we wanted as opposed to telling us what we should have,” said Castaneda, who hopes to have Lincoln’s first boutique hotel open by summer.

He sees big things on the horizon for Hausmann.

Ultimately, the pride in their work is what’s going to make the Kindler Hotel a success and make Hausmann “the premier construction company in the Midwest — which is where they are headed,” Castaneda said.

Where the company is headed next, after finishing work on the Kindler, is right around the corner, where work will soon start on Lied Place, a 20-story mixed-use building that will be the second-tallest building in the city.

“That’s going to change the skyline of Lincoln,” Hausmann said.

It seems fitting that the building changing the skyline of Lincoln will be built by the company changing the construction landscape in the city.

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On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L9

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RUNZA

A cure for the cold Runza sandwiches a hot item on Temperature Tuesdays PAT SANGIMINO

Lincoln Journal Star

T

he unintended consequence of a seemingly brilliant marketing campaign — one that is closing in on 4 million signature items sold in its nine years of existence, while ingraining within the community a mindset that comfort food is the remedy for subfreezing temperatures — is that demand sometimes exceeds supply.

And it sometimes can cause a strain on infrastructure.

Such was the case at about 7 p.m. on Feb. 5 when Lincoln Police were called to the Runza Restaurant at 33rd Street and Nebraska 2 to conduct traffic control after the dinner crowd convoy had wrapped around the small parking lot and spilled onto city streets.

Yes, Temperature Tuesdays, those eight or nine days in January and February when the crack-of-dawn thermometer reading determines the cost of a Runza sandwich, have caught on since first being introduced in 2010.

In those nine years, the promotion has delivered an average of 375,000 Runzas a year and helped to brand one of Lincoln’s legacy businesses — a family-owned company that is celebrating its 70th year — while keeping it competitive in the neverending fight for fast-food dollars.

“It’s the only good thing about cold weather,” said Becky Perrett, Runza’s director of marketing.

In this case, freezing temperatures cater to a jam-packed drive-thru lane and wallto-wall congestion inside the dining area, all of which can test an employee, be it a teen in his or her first job or a more-seasoned worker. Temperature Tuesdays have become an all-hands-on-deck occasion at Runza.

“When I first started, I was very intimidated by the long lines,” said Andriy Denysyuk, an assistant manager who has been with Runza for five years. “I was like, L10 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

‘Oh, wow, this is a lot of people coming in.’

I’ve gotten used to it. We know the rush is coming, and we get ready for it.”

The promotion is simple, at least in theory. At 6 a.m. each Tuesday in January and February, the cost of a Runza sandwich is determined by the lowest temperature at any of the chain’s 85 locations throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Colorado.

On a 10-degree day, the cost of a Runza that ordinarily sells for $4.09 is just a dime with the purchase of a medium order of fries and a beverage. That means that the walk-away price of lunch or dinner on a Temperature Tuesday is well below 4 bucks.

Last year, there were four days when the temperature was below zero, meaning a Runza was free. That was also the case this year on the last Tuesday of January, when more than 60,000 Runzas were sold.

The residual effect, Perrett says, is huge.

And the drastic increase in quantity — along with the branding of the product — makes up for the virtual giveaway of the restaurant’s signature item.

“It been great for us,” Perrett said. “It builds over time and you’re almost making a habit. We’ve seen it help with March sales because people get used to coming in.”

Temperature Tuesday actually is a more refined play on a promotion Runza first implemented in the 1980s.

In 1986, the winter sale took root when it was decided it would correlate the cost of a Runza with the temperature for a week to 10 days in January. However, there were production, staffing and logistical challenges with doing it over so many consecutive days, Perrett said.

In addition, even the most devoted Runza consumer — dubbed “Runzatics”

by Perrett — didn’t always know when the promotion was taking place, nor would they eat out every day.

“This is a time-honored tradition,” Perrett said. “People know us for a temperature sale in the winter, but it was really an

GWYNETH ROBERTS, JOURNAL STAR

Customers wrap around the runza location at 33rd Street and nebraska 2 on Jan. 29. With sandwiches going for free on Temperature Tuesday, the location sold 1,500 runzas in a single day. across the chain, 60,000 runzas were ordered on Jan. 29, officials said. operational challenge on the production and the staffing sides — and also in awareness on the customers side.”

Enter Swanson Russell, the Lincolnbased advertising agency, which solved those issues in late 2009 by creating — with a few tweaks — the Temperature Tuesday campaign.

“It was such a good idea for Runza that we wanted to try to keep it,” said Charlie Stephan, a vice president and creative director at Swanson Russell. “It’s kind of quirky and so are they. It fits their brand so well to do a promotion that does more than give a dollar off. It actually has a unique tie to it. It is uniquely Midwestern, because it relies on weather shifts and it being really cold.

“Those are thing that this audience can relate to.”

Preparation for a Temperature Tuesday is constant, Denysyuk said.

“As soon as one Temperature Tuesday ends, we spend the rest of the week getting ready for the next Temperature Tuesday,” he said.

Over the course of the week, Runza’s corporate office is monitoring weather forecasts to determine production and staffing needs. A 10-degree swing in the temperature has a huge impact on a given Tuesday’s demand.

“It’s still a great deal for the consumer and still a great deal for us because it’s a way to get people back after the holiday, but you would be shocked at what we sell if it is 20 cents or 5 cents,” Perrett said.

“There’s a huge difference in the quantity that we move.”

It becomes a guessing game in how many Runzas to make, said Tiffany Wirth, a restaurant general manager who cited the last Tuesday in January, when the polar vortex thrust Nebraska temperatures below zero, as an example.

The production crew gathered early that Tuesday morning to begin making the ground beef-and-cabbage filling along with the dough.

“We ended the night with three Runzas,” said Wirth, who is finishing her 19th year with the company.

The restaurant she manages at 33rd Street and Nebraska 2 sold more than 1,500 Runzas that day.

DINING

What’s new in Lincoln’s restaurant scene?

LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

Every year in Lincoln, new restaurants open, existing restaurants move or expand their footprint, and restaurants close.

Here are some of the noteworthy openings, expansions or moves: National chains Chick-fil-A opened its second Lincoln location at 48th and O streets this month. The 4,000-square-foot restaurant has seating for 88 people inside and 12 outside. It offers a double drive-thru lane. Chick-fil-a also is opening a location in the Nebraska union, which will share space with Lincoln’s first Steak ‘n Shake. both are expected to open in March.

Panera Bread opened a new location at 14th Street and Pine Lake Road at the end of January. It replaces the Panera at SouthPointe Pavilions. Panera also has a new location near 62nd and O streets that replaced a location at Gateway Mall.

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers opened two new restaurants in Lincoln last fall.

a location at 3220 N. 27th St. opened in October and one at 5717 O St. opened in November.

The chain now has four Lincoln locations.

IHOP opened its second Lincoln location in December in the former Jimmy’s Egg location at 6440 O St. Subway opened its Telegraph District location at 330 S. 21st St. in December. It’s the 29th Subway in Lincoln and 32nd in Lancaster County.

The Rusty Taco opened its first Lincoln location in September in the former Wahoo’s Fish Tacos space at 201 N. 14th St. North Carolina-based Salsarita’s opened its first restaurant in Lincoln in February 2018 in the Wilderness Hills shopping center.

Godfather’s Pizza opened a new location at 3301 O St. in april, Little Caesars Pizza opened a new location at 4822 Pioneers blvd. and Domino’s is in the process of converting the former Five Guys burgers & Fries at 1230 P St. into its fifth Lincoln location. among the coffee franchises that opened one or more new locations in Lincoln were Starbucks, Bagels & Joe, Rock ‘n’ Joe, Poin-

dexter Coffee and Scooter’s.

Local restaurants Shokunin, a Japanese restaurant specializing in sushi, opened in January in the former bread & Cup location at 440 N. Eighth St. another local restaurant that opened in January is South 48th Bistro, which took over a space near 48th Street and Nebraska 2 that was formerly occupied by Hickory Road bbQ. One more eatery that opened its doors in January was Seyo Thai Restaurant in the Village Square shopping center near Southwest Fifth and West a streets.

Honest Abe’s opened at 8340 Glynoaks Drive in November. Sebastian’s Table opened at the same address in December, along with Eleanora lounge.

Smoothies & More opened in the Clocktower Shops at 70th and a streets in November. The restaurant offers smoothies, as well as coffee, sandwiches, wraps, pizza, desserts and other items.

Cactus Modern Mexican & Cantina by Venue opened Oct. 31 in the Edgewood Shop-

ping Center in a spot formerly occupied by Chevys Fresh Mex. Koen Japanese BBQ & Sushi opened in September at 2601 Jamie Lane.

Single Barrel, the steakhouse at 10th and P streets, opened a barbecue restaurant, Mulberry BBQ, in July in the belmont Shopping Center.

Aroma Contemporary Indian Cuisine opened May 1 at 114 S. 14th St., in the former Falafel King space.

Grey Whale opened a second location at 1317 Q St., called Grey Whale Poke Bowl, in april. a new Mexican restaurant, Mi Tierra, opened in February 2018 in the Old Cheney Center.

Two new breweries opened in Lincoln last year: Green Flash Brewhouse and Eatery at 16th and P streets (June) and Cosmic Eye Brewing at 6800 P St. (October).

Kinkaider Brewing, based in broken bow, opened a taproom in august in Lincoln Station.

Saro Cidery, the state’s first cider-only operation, opened in September at 1746 N St.

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VIRTUAL INCISION

‘A set of wrenches for surgery’ UNL spinoff keeps building, learning at new Innovation Campus home CHRIS DUNKER

Lincoln Journal Star

A

mosaic of framed photos depicting great American innovators and explorers — the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, Nikola Tesla — are a constant reminder of Virtual Incision’s central ethos.

“We do things, we build things here,” said Shane Farritor, the chief technology officer of the University of NebraskaLincoln spinoff that designs and manufactures small, lightweight surgical robots.

When Farritor, a UNL engineering professor, founded the company with UNMC professor Dr. Dmitry Oleynikov in 2006 after several years of doing robotic research for NASA and the U.S. Army (which continues to this day), they had no home office.

“We’ve always been a virtual company,” Farritor explained, one that existed in the patents awarded and prototypes built.

As attention on its inventions transformed into commercial interest, Virtual Incision established an address at Nebraska Innovation Campus in 2014, a 300-square-foot space in the Innovation Advancement Suites.

More funding — the company received a $2 million investment in 2010; $11.2 million in 2015; and $18 million last year — allowed the 300 square feet to become 600 square feet.

Farritor said the office worked for the company in its early years, when Virtual Incision was focused on adding to its 170 patents and pending applications both nationally and internationally.

The space, however, made manufacturing their creations difficult. Farritor, Oleynikov and CEO John Murphy exL12 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

CRAIG CHANDLER PHOTOS, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Virtual Incision, the unL spinoff co-founded by professor Shane Farritor, continues work to develop surgical robots in the group’s office and lab at nebraska Innovation Campus.

Farritor said the company’s target customers are rural hospitals, or as he calls them, “nebraska hospitals.”

Patents line the walls of Virtual Incision’s new office space on nebraska Innovation Campus. plored hiring a third-party manufacturer to build a line of robots for colon resection.

The team ultimately decided against that, Farritor said, citing “a lot of regulatory constraints on manufacturing medical devices,” as well as the cost.

Fortunately, the Rise Building, an 80,000-square-foot facility built en-

tirely on spec, was under development on Innovation Campus, providing an opportunity for Virtual Incision to grow its footprint and develop its own manufacturing line.

Now at home on the first floor, Virtual Incision’s core mission is evident throughout the office, development and manufacturing spaces.

The lobby features oversized diagrams from the innovative ideas that have driven the company’s work, as well as the first series of prototypes, Alpha I through V, crude machines relative to the newest models.

The research and development lab manned by UNL engineers, many of whom returned to the state after getting advanced degrees elsewhere, is where Virtual Incision’s foundational work continues.

“There aren’t regulations in here,” Farritor said of the research and devel-

opment space, which features computers for drafting schematics, and tools and benches for building them.

Farritor said one of the benefits of the new headquarters is its proximity to Nebraska Innovation Studio, allowing staff to rush across the street to build “prototypes and quick-work things.”

Separate from the research group is the manufacturing facility, where engineers build each machine by hand before running the robots through a series of tests to calibrate the precise movements they must perform.

While Virtual Incision prepares to apply to the FDA to sell its products — Farritor said the company’s target customers are rural hospitals, or as he calls them, “Nebraska hospitals” — the team continues innovating and building.

Already, there have been nearly 70 iterations of the colon-resection device.

It’s like Henry Ford, the pioneer of the automobile who is recognized among the inventors and explorers giving inspiration at Virtual Incision. Ford went through 22 different models before his Model T drew sales of 15 million.

“Anytime you talk about innovation, you hear about ‘fail quickly,’” Farritor said. “I think ‘build and learn’ is better.”

Virtual Incision will keep building, its company, its mature robot design, as well as new robots capable of performing hernia and gallbladder surgeries, what Farritor described as a set of specialized instruments instead of a one-size-fitsall tool.

“You should never use a crescent wrench,” he said, “because it’s never the right tool. It can do a lot of things, but you should have a set of proper wrenches.

“That’s what we think we’re making: a set of wrenches for surgery.” reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @ChrisdunkerLJS

TALENT PLUS

‘A possibility thinker’

Rath reflects on company’s past, looks ahead to future

ALEX LANTZ

Lincoln Journal Star

K

imberly Rath could have taken her business almost anywhere.

As co-founder and chairman of Talent Plus, a human resources consulting firm that has called Lincoln home since it was founded in 1989, Rath certainly had a plethora of options when the question of where to establish the company’s roots came up.

Bigger Midwestern cities like Denver, Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis beckoned. Even some smaller communities, like Colorado Springs, tried to lure the firm. But Rath and other decision-makers Rath within the company stuck with Lincoln, long before it was popular for startup companies to do so — the words Silicon Prairie weren’t even part of the lexicon at the time.

That decision has paid off in the company’s 30-year history, Rath says, with plenty of qualified employees graduating from local universities and a city that appeals to more-experienced candidates who are looking for a place to raise their kids.

“We didn’t look very far,” says Rath, who herself graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I see Lincoln Public Schools as a really pivotal point to get people to move here. And the work ethic and the values of the city are very strong.

People are very productive in companies around Lincoln, and they work hard and they want to make a difference. … And it’s just easier to live and work here.”

So off they went, first starting as a company that created employee assessments and delivered them through an in-person or over-the-phone interview process and later evolving into what Rath calls a “science and technology company” that does most of those assessments online.

GWYNETH ROBERTS, JOURNAL STAR

This year Talent Plus is rolling out a new initiative to better connect with its clients’ employees. The platform will be focused on team dynamics and development, co-founder Kimberly Rath said.

The data from those assessments are then used to form a talent profile that helps employers identify job candidates who would be a good fit.

“When we match an employee to a particular company in a particular role, we believe they have the potential not only to do an adequate job, but we believe they have the potential to excel in that job and really, really like it, and also fit the company culture,” says Larry Sternberg, who has had several roles with Talent Plus since joining the company in 1999, including president.

The drastic change from mostly in-person to mostly online assessments meant Talent Plus had to significantly increase the number of computer programmers and technicians at its headquarters adjacent to Holmes Golf Course near 70th Street and Pioneers Boulevard.

That transition wasn’t easy, but it’s a testament to Rath’s ability to adapt to her surroundings, says Sternberg.

“Kimberly is a possibility thinker, and she insists that everybody in the company is a possibility thinker,” Sternberg says.

“If you go into her office to talk about any situation, and you have some possible recommended actions you’re going to take, she’ll come up with five more that you haven’t thought of, and you come out of there with more ideas and possibilities.

She’s extremely resourceful in that way.”

To that end, Rath is looking forward to a new initiative the company plans to roll out in 2019 that will allow Talent Plus to better connect with its clients’ employees. The platform will be focused on team dynamics and development, Rath says.

“One of the things we know from all the research we’ve done is top performers want to work on a top-performing team,” Rath says. “So one of the ways to retain people in this very tight labor market is (to realize) top-performers want to come in every day and work with people who are hitting it out of the box, are energized

and innovative. So we’re spending a lot of time thinking about how managers can best manage individuals and their team.”

As she looks back on 30 years at Talent Plus, Rath says the company has by and large been able to accomplish what she and other leaders envisioned. They wanted to be a global company that worked with the world’s top brands, and today there is a Talent Plus office in Singapore and bigname clients include the UCLA Health Care System, Delta Airlines and ExxonMobil. They just had to tweak the business model along the way, Rath says.

But none of that would have happened without her, says Sternberg.

“At the end of the day, there really is no substitute for just good-old hard work, and believe me, she puts in the hours,” he said. “She works harder than everybody else in the company.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7230 or alantz@journalstar.com.

DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L13

DON’T PANIC LABS

Employees used Christmas tree decorations to turn a cubicle at Don’t Panic Labs into a giant smiley face.

Need advice?

DON’T PANIC Tech company helping startups, other businesses to find their way ZACH PENRICE

Lincoln Journal Star

Y

ears before Hudl grew into a global tech giant in Lincoln, questions centered on why there weren’t more tech companies in Nebraska.

The answer to that question wasn’t simple, but seeking a solution led to another startup company that has grown to accomplish big things.

Lincoln-based Don’t Panic Labs is a software development company that provides the tools to help growing businesses.

“We are helping other companies succeed at building software and software products,” said Brian Zimmer, a business developer at Don’t Panic Labs. “We help them do that through a variety of ways.”

Indeed, it’s not just a software solution, but in many cases a guidebook for innovation.

Due to the company’s rapid growth and development, CEO Doug Durham doesn’t consider Don’t Panic Labs to be a startup.

But startups make up the bulk of the company’s primary client base.

“A lot of the projects we do are for startup companies that don’t have a technical co-founder,” Durham said. “Or they may have somebody that would want to leverage our experience and our ability to manage a technical project.”

Don’t Panic Labs formed from a different company, Nebraska Global. Founded in 2010, Nebraska Global was, according to Durham, essentially an investment fund.

“The goal was to build and launch software technology startups in Nebraska,” Durham said.

L14 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

KAYLA WOLF PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR

Employees Brian Zimmer (clockwise, from top left), Doug Durham, Carl Steffen and Trent Fellers collaborate at Don’t Panic Labs, a former startup company now intent on helping startups to find their way.

Durham and Zimmer, along with many other Don’t Panic Labs employees, are University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates. When the idea for Nebraska Global came about, there was an aim at retaining some of the brighter technological minds coming out of the university, rather than allowing the continuous stream of graduates who moved away to find work.

“When the idea was first presented to me, the conversation was basically based around the question of, ‘Why aren’t there more tech companies in Nebraska?’”

Zimmer said. “A lot of people were leaving Lincoln to work for other tech companies. Eventually, Nebraska Global kind of became a hybrid answer.”

Don’t Panic Labs has spun off into a

thriving business. However, the idea behind the company was originally much smaller than what it has grown into.

“Don’t Panic Labs was actually the product development side of Nebraska Global,” Durham said. “In the beginning, it was never meant to be a separate company. It was meant to be a way to create a kind of identity and subculture within Nebraska Global.”

Today the company based in the former Salvation Army building in the Haymarket is home to 32 employees and positioned to have its most successful year.

“I think we’ve made a dent in retaining talent and developing talent here,” Zimmer said. “I think we have a working model of a different way things can be done to achieve

a higher level of success.”

Its clients go beyond startups to corporations looking for creative solutions. For Lincoln-based HobbyTownUSA, the goal was to develop technology that would perfect pricing, inventory management and data sharing between its chain stores.

To reach that goal, HobbyTown brought its developers on site to work alongside Don’t Panic Labs developers.

As Don’t Panic Labs continues to seek new ways to grow, there’s a stronger push to make a positive impact on the community.

Last year, Don’t Panic Labs acquired Stone Fin Technology, a company focused on working within the government and health care sectors.

“We’re starting to do more business development and exploration, trying to answer the question of, ‘How can we help the city of Lincoln?’” Durham said. “We want to use software engineering to make an impact on the software systems that the state and local governments might use, for example.”

Neither Durham nor Zimmer could envision the company reaching its current level five years ago. As a result, it’s difficult to fathom where Don’t Panic Labs may be in five years.

But keeping top talent in the state is always among the goals.

Said Durham: “We’re probably going to hire more people this year than ever before.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or zpenrice@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @zacharypenrice1

STARTUPS

Lincoln-based startups make moves in 2018 LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

Compared with 2017, when Hudl opened a new headquarters building and Lincoln startups brought in nearly $67 million in venture capital funding, 2018 was a relatively quiet year for the city’s startups and high-tech companies. but there still was plenty going on in the fast-growing sector. Here are some of the highlights: Hudl, now fully moved into its sleek new West Haymarket corporate headquarters, continued its acquisition spree.

The company, which provides sports video and performance analysis for more than 150,000 teams from the youth to professional levels, announced in January that it purchased a Netherlands-based maker of smart camera technology.

Hudl said its acquisition of Incatec “was instrumental in streamlining our current collection of recording solutions and sets us up to effectively innovate on cutting-edge products that automatically capture and distribute the moments that matter most to teams.”

The company also made news, as its Hudl Sideline product was used in New Jersey to bring instant replay to high school football for the first time ever. The system was used in a few dozen games on a voluntary basis to review scoring plays and turnovers. and Hudl also debuted its new Hudl Focus smart camera system that allows schools to automatically capture video of games with cameras strategically installed around gyms. about 250 schools across the country have been testing the system during this year’s volleyball and basketball seasons.

Spreetail continued to expand its footprint beyond Lincoln in 2018.

The e-commerce company added about 1 million square feet of space at its fulfillment centers, including opening a new center in Savannah, Georgia.

It also opened its first office outside of Lincoln, in Omaha, and its first office outside Nebraska, in austin, Texas. both offices opened in temporary space last year.

The permanent austin office opened at the beginning of February and the permanent Omaha office is scheduled to open later this spring.

Spreetail also expanded into additional space at Innovation Campus, where its cor-

JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO

Employees work a subscription box production line at bulu’s south Lincoln warehouse and production facility in June 2018.

2018

porate headquarters is located, as it added 350 new employees last year companywide, more than doubling its workforce.

Bulu, the Lincoln-based company that does private subscription boxes, expanded as well.

The company opened a second warehouse in Lincoln and added about 50 employees in 2018. It also moved its headquarters from 13th and P streets to Fuse Coworking at Eighth and P. bulu also had a big year in terms of adding some big names to its roster of clients.

The company added Lululemon, Disney and buzzfeed to its roster of private subscription box clients, and it also was chosen to provide a one-time, limited edition goodie box to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Shark Week.

Subscription box shipments more than doubled in 2018, and bulu tripled its annual revenue to more than $50 million last year.

Opendorse, which helps athletes share content on social media, also moved into new office space during the summer.

The company, which had been in the same building as bulu at 13th and P streets, moved a block away to the former university of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Entrepreneurship building at 1320 Q St. Opendorse also continued to add new partnerships, signing deals with Conference uSa and the Women’s Tennis association, among others, and also renewed its deal with the NFL Players association.

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CORDNER COURT

New to the neighborhood Builder turns focus to filling ‘pockets’ in inner city TODD HENRICHS

Lincoln Journal Star

K

elly Langer did his homework.

Langer, who went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be a teacher after graduating from East High School in the ‘70s, never taught a class.

After 15 years working at Cushman — a great job, he says — he went to the Arbor Day Foundation. Then into real estate.

One thing led to another, and he found himself building homes. The Langer big new places sprouting on the edge of the city. His first home sold in Stone Ridge in far south Lincoln in the early 2000s.

Then came 2008, and the builder had to go back to studying.

As the housing market spiraled, he turned to remodeling projects and spent a lot of time thinking.

A large house could sometimes take a year to build, and by the ninth month he often found he was tired of it.

He thought about the city, growing south, pushing southeast, extending northwest. All of that requires infrastructure. Water and sewer, parks and streets.

Was it sustainable?

And he thought about potential buyers.

The numbers indicate Lincoln will keep growing, but it’s also growing in age. What if his focus was meeting the needs of the people wanting to downsize?

“I want to be the guy to do something different,” he said.

The first new home on Cordner Court L16 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

sold last year, a 1,700-square-foot space going for $300,000. The buyers weren’t retirees but instead a young couple sold on an idea of living in a new place in a tightknit neighborhood close to everything.

The lot near 55th and L streets was for decades essentially an in-town acreage.

A century-old house on 1.3 acres just a stone’s throw from O Street, a few blocks from Hy-Vee and Gateway Mall. You could reach downtown from there in a few minutes.

Langer saw potential in the old house he’s now working to restore but also something different. Why not convert a space with one home in the middle of the city to one with eight?

He’s about to begin work on the second new house, a ranch with one bedroom on the main floor and two in the basement, and that’s when the vision for his “pocket neighborhood” will really take shape.

“We’re getting a lot of good feedback with social media marketing,” said Kelby Kraft, a Realtor who is working with Langer on the project.

They’re hearing from people who like that it’s something different, that they don’t necessarily want to drive an extra 10 or 20 minutes to get to work and then home again.

The houses will be close to one another — the lots are essentially 110 feet by 55 feet — but with neighbors as close as what you would find in some of the city’s newer subdivisions, the developer said. The city mandates a 5-foot setback from either side of a property line.

Langer’s business, Nebraska Cottage Co., has a significant presence in Village Gardens, the unique development sur-

COURTESY IMAGE

nebraska Cottage Company built and sold its first home in Cordner Court, a pocket neighborhood being developed off a cul-de-sac north of 55th and L streets.

COURTESY IMAGE

Plans for Cordner Court include five new homes (left) and town homes (right) lining a private drive next to the renovated original residence at 325 S. 55th St. rounding Campbell’s Nursery at 56th Street and Pine Lake Road.

Langer built 24 homes there, clusters of cottages with common green space that were attractive to retirees and young families alike.

Village Gardens was a new development, but Langer believed some of the same things could work in older parts of the city.

He had his eye on 55th and L as a potential pocket neighborhood for years. The

project draws its name from John G. Cordner, who built the original house there and who was an architect involved in designing several notable buildings in Lincoln, including First United Methodist Church in University Place and the Carnegie Library in College View.

Langer says there are other areas in the city perfect for pocket neighborhoods, including a spot near East High School, one in Rathbone and another near 44th and L. He, too, is testing the market with single cottages. When the city tore down a condemned property near 33rd and Randolph streets, Langer went onto the tiny lot with a new two-story home that suits its surroundings.

There are unused or underutilized areas all over town where he’d like to leave his mark. Areas for new, “homey” places where the homeowner actually might use most of the space.

“You’re striking a balance,” Langer said.

“Quality, size and price.” reach the writer at 402-473-7468 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSToddHenrichs

DIPRA JHA

‘How do you stand out?’

DON WALTON

Lincoln Journal Star

N

ebraska has “tremendous potential to grow” its tourism and lodging business, Dipra Jha believes, and he’s helping teach young Nebraskans how to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.

Jha is director of global engagement and associate professor of practice for the hospitality, restaurant and tourism management program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Sit down with him in Leverton Hall on East Campus and you can feel the enthusiasm that he brings to the classroom, an eagerness and energy that last year marked him as the highest-rated UNL professor on Rate My Professors, an online website that allows students to turn the tables and grade their professors.

Jha extends the same kind of enthusiasm to his view of the future of Nebraska as a tourism and hospitality state.

“There is tremendous potential,” he said. “Nebraska is blessed with amazing stuff.”

Nebraska can offer a western, agriculture-based flavor that may be especially attractive to “the traveling public with disposable income that is looking for something other than Orlando or Vegas.”

“Something much more authentic,” Jha said. “Nebraska could be a magnet.”

CRAIG CHANDLER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

In this file photo, UNL associate professor Dipra Jha talks with hospitality, restaurant and tourism management program students at the Hyatt Place hotel in Lincoln’s West Haymarket. Jha has a rich history in lodging and tourism, including work in 2013 at the Venetian-Palazzo casino resort hotel in Las Vegas.

Jha has a rich history in lodging and tourism, including a 2013 stint as professor-in-residence at the Venetian-Palazzo casino resort hotel in Las Vegas, a giant enterprise that features 7,066 hotel suites, almost 9,000 employees and the world’s second-largest convention facilities.

“It’s a city,” he said.

At UNL, Jha teaches courses in lodging man-

agement, guest services and hospitality law in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Jha came to UNL in 2012, accepting a faculty position in what then was a 6-yearold program “because I saw tremendous potential here.”

Seven years later, he says, “I couldn’t have made a better choice.”

Students who have graduated from the program

have become entrepreneurs in Lincoln and elsewhere across Nebraska, as well as filling positions in other states.

“Most of them stay in the state,” Jha said.

And they keep in touch.

His advice to freshmen, as chronicled in a 2018 story in the Daily Nebraskan: “Make friends beyond your immediate circle. Try new things.

Learn and practice the art of

Popular tourism, hospitality professor sees Nebraska’s potential networking. Ask questions.”

Here’s a sample assessment of Jha’s performance in the classroom posted on Rate My Professors by a student who received an A-minus grade: “He’s a fantastic professor and is very knowledgeable in the field of hospitality, specifically lodging.

He truly cares about his students and wants them all to succeed after graduation.”

“When I interviewed here,” Jha said, “I saw the promise and potential of a young program. Seven years later, I am delighted with where we have come.”

As a professor, he said, “I get to see the progress of students through this journey called college. I am in position to have an impact on a young person’s life and I learn from them.”

While most of the students in the program remain in Nebraska, he said, others have scattered elsewhere.

Jha sees opportunities continuing to grow here.

“I believe Nebraska has the potential to be the leader in ag-based tourism in the

same way that Napa Valley is in marketing its wine country” in northern California, Jha said.

And if you’re still wondering about the Nebraska Tourism Commission’s somewhat controversial new tourism promotional slogan of “Honestly, it’s not for everyone,” you can count Jha in.

“Marketing a destination is not easy,” he said. “You need to differentiate. How do you stand out?”

Nebraska’s tourism agency has differentiated, Jha said. It has succeeded in terms of marketing and media.

“Look at the attention they’ve gotten,” he said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSDon ■ Online: Learn what happens behind the scenes at a hotel in a UNLproduced podcast featuring Dipra Jha @JournalStar. com.

March into Spring with a new lease on life.

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DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L17

LIVING DOWNTOWN

Make room for the

young at heart Downtown housing market making shift to adults from college students NANCY HICKS

Lincoln Journal Star

J

ake Larsen likes his clean and furnished fifth-floor apartment with its hardwood floors and private bedrooms.

It’s close to campus, a 15-minute walk from Andersen Hall. Plus the complex has a rooftop patio for relaxing and provides regular bus service to and from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, where Larson is a junior studying broadcasting, advertising and marketing.

This is the second year Larsen has lived at 8N Lofts, 811 N St., the newest downtown apartment complex catering to college students.

Larsen lives with three other students, each with a separate lease, in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment.

Living at 8N Lofts, which costs him $539 a month, is actually less expensive than dorm living, where he also paid for a meal plan, Larsen says.

Now he cooks for himself. Sometimes at night he’ll get an inexpensive steak from the nearby grocery store for grilling and a package of salad mix for a side course.

“For me, at least, it is less expensive,” he said.

Larsen represents one of the three general groups of people most likely to be drawn to living downtown: college students, young professionals or older professionals without children and retirees.

Lincoln’s downtown growth rate, at 1.9 percent per year since 2010, is higher than the citywide growth rate of 1.4 percent. But downtown Lincoln isn’t setting L18 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

any growth records, at least compared to peer cities.

Madison, Wisconsin, and Salt Lake City have had population booms this decade, adding more than 3,000 residents in downtown. The downtown areas in Des Moines, Iowa, and Raleigh, North Carolina, have seen large population gains, growing by more than 25 percent since 2010.

In the past decade much of the new downtown housing in Lincoln has been aimed at college students, beginning with Parkhaus, an apartment complex built in 2012 at 13th and Q with 52 units and beds for 192 residents. New student housing made up less than 2 percent of the housing units downtown at that time.

Today there are 626 newer apartment units targeted at students in the downtown area that could house 2,498 people, according to city records. That’s about 17 percent of the downtown housing inventory.

However many more students live in other, older quarters in the downtown area, said Andrew Thieroff, a city planner.

Researchers, using census and other records, estimate college students account for nearly half of all residents in downtown Lincoln.

Around 33 percent of those living downtown are young professionals, and 16 percent are the Social Security set.

However the student market appears to be saturated at this point, according to research for the city’s downtown master plan.

Canopy Lofts, which opened in 2013

SAVANNAH BLAKE, JOURNAL STAR

Dean Settle first moved into a downtown condominium 29 years ago when he came to Lincoln to head the county Mental Health Center. “I like the feel of downtown, the energy of downtown,” he says.

Housing costs vary downtown Between April 2016 and April 2018, 77 residential properties sold in the downtown area, including 66 condominiums, six single-family homes and five shared units.

In the Haymarket, the median price of 15 sales was $503,000, or $359 per square

foot (three condos each sold for over $800,000).

In the central part of downtown (between L and R streets), the median price of 42

sales was $248,250, or $243 per square foot.

In the Capitol environs, the median price of 20 sales was $57,500, or $80 per square

foot (many were marketed as rental properties).

Source: Zillow

with 203 beds, initially marketed to students but is now shifting its focus toward young professionals, according to the market assessment.

The building adjacent to Pinnacle Bank Arena is transitioning four-bedroom units to two-bedroom units in an effort to boost lease rates.

Planners expect much of the new downtown housing in the future to be aimed at the professional workers and retirees who are attracted to the downtown area.

Over the next decade planners expect between 900 to 1,900 nonstudentoriented apartments or condominiums will be developed in the downtown area,

including the Telegraph District at the eastern edge of downtown.

Dean Settle first moved into a downtown condo 29 years ago when he came to Lincoln to head the county Mental Health Center. And he never moved back to suburbia.

His children were grown. And Settle, who had lived on a 15-acre ranchette in suburban Wichita, Kansas, said he didn’t want to spend his weekends on a mower.

Settle and his wife, Harriet Grossbart, love the convenience of their two-bedroom condo in the heart of downtown, with the daily newspaper delivered to their front door.

“I like the feel of downtown, the

energy of downtown,” he says. The couple can walk to the movies, to a restaurant, to church. Settle, who retired from his county job several years ago, now owns Metro Gallery in downtown Lincoln and can walk to work.

But living downtown can be expensive, with condo prices rising, Settle says.

In fact the recently released downtown master plan report pointed out that housing costs for nonstudents in the downtown area are rising.

In the Haymarket area median sale prices over the last two years moved north of $500,000, and three units sold for more than $800,000. Lincoln’s median home value during that time was about $172,000, the report points out.

“Now the city needs to address affordable downtown living,” Settle says.

Planners also expect that a national trend where young professionals are moving from very expensive cities, like Denver, to smaller cities will bring more people to Lincoln’s downtown.

These young people are looking for affordable living in an active and interesting downtown area, consultants say.

It will be important for new development downtown to provide a variety of unit types and prices to accommodate a “multi-skilled workforce of different interests and incomes, consultants say.

To that end, work on Lied Place Residences is expected to begin later this year, with high-end condominiums rising 20 stories above Q Street. Condos at The Schwartz and neighboring Raymond Bros.

Building either have come online or are coming onto the market soon.

For renters, apartments at Canopy Row are now part of the West Haymarket housing marketplace. In the heart of downtown, new apartments will open soon in the renovated Swanson Russell building at 1222 P St. Reach the writer at 402-473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSNancyHicks

SAVANNAH BLAKE, JOURNAL STAR

Artwork dots the condominium of Dean Settle and wife Harriet Grossbart in downtown Lincoln.

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DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L19

LINCOLN CHILDREN’S ZOO

Expansion plans aimed high Giraffes among new attractions following $24 million project JOANNE YOUNG

Lincoln Journal Star

B

y now Lincoln Children’s Zoo enthusiasts know about the coming $24 million expansion of one of Lincoln’s premier family entertainment and activity centers.

The zoo opens March 8 for its yearround venture. And the ribbon cutting on the expansion will be May 10.

The expansion will include more exotic animals, including giraffes, Sumatran tigers, spider monkeys, ways to interact with those animals and adventures that will make the zoo an even stronger draw for Lincoln families and tourists from outside the city.

Visitors will explore a rain forest from a suspended platform, side-by-side with spider monkeys, in the repurposed historic Ager Center. They’ll be able to feed lettuce to giraffes in their enclosure, or walk through the new red panda habitat.

If the original expansion wasn’t enough, the zoo announced earlier this month it will also create cheetah and anteater habitats, an outdoor play area, year-round café and an outdoor event space.

With the added attractions and new habitats, the number of people in and around the zoo is growing, too.

Lincoln Public Schools’ Science Focus Program, with a new 15,000-square-foot building, will not only expand its physical space, but the enrollment will increase.

Visitors to the zoo are expected to grow to 350,000 to 400,000 in the next seven to eight years. That compares to 240,000 who came through the gates last year. Half of the zoo’s attendance comes from outside of Lincoln, said zoo Executive Director John Chapo.

L20 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

SAVANNAH BLAKE, JOURNAL STAR

Work continues this month on the giraffe exhibit at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. Sections of the expanded zoo are set to open later this spring.

The number of people working at the zoo is also growing, from 118 employees to 150 full-time and part-time workers. Add to that hundreds of volunteers, including 350 on the Zoo Crew youth program Chapo and 350 adults.

Parking will grow with the expansion, from 197 stalls to 375 stalls for visitors and employees.

And while the physical space and attractions are expanding, so is the zoo’s worldwide role in conservation.

In October, the Lincoln zoo became one of 230 in the country accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a nonprofit dedicated to conservation, education, science and recreation, Chapo said.

These zoos meet the highest standards in animal care, fun and educational family experiences. They dedicate millions of dollars to scientific research, conservation and education programs.

The zoo has been breeding the endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle for about nine years, he said.

A year and a half ago, the Lincoln Children’s Zoo hired a veterinarian, Dr. Trent Shrader, to be the director of medicine and conservation. Since then, Schrader has been traveling to locations in Nebraska and Colorado, Botswana and South Africa, to do research, draw blood and semen samples and help other researchers.

Shrader is a native Nebraskan who graduated from Elmwood-Murdock High School in 2008 and from the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015, specializing in exotic and zoo animal medicine. He interned at the Dallas zoo and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and worked for a time at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo before coming to Lincoln.

The local zoo was able to raise millions of dollars in its Love Your Zoo campaign.

“We are humbled by the exceptional love for the children’s zoo and we are excited for what this means to the children and families of our community,” Chapo said.

The Lincoln Children’s Zoo gets no money from tax dollars for operations,

and it’s been that way for the zoo’s 53 years, he said. That puts it in a small minority of zoos across the country that don’t get tax dollars to operate.

The zoo’s operating expenses are 85 percent earned through admissions, food sales, train rides, camps, fundraisers, zoo crew tuition and sales in the gift shop. Last year more than 1,900 kids participated in zoo camp.

It also gives back to the community, Chapo said. The past seven years the zoo has spent a quarter of a million dollars in philanthropy such as free admission for low-income families.

The children’s zoo is home to more than 350 animals, including more than 40 that are endangered. Those include the Humboldt penguin, snow leopard and Matschie’s tree kangaroo.

And Chapo and his staff are continuously looking at opportunities to bring in new animals, he said.

It takes years of work and planning to find the right animals, he said. Getting the giraffes, for example, took four years of planning, and working with the breeding group on what was available.

“We want people to have a rich experience when they visit,” Chapo said. reach the writer at 402-473-7228 or jyoung@ journalstar.com.

On Twitter @ LJSLegislature

COMING SOON

Hotel, SouthPointe garage among planned openings LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

In September, the new $85 million, 220,000-square-foot Scheels opened its doors, offering visitors to SouthPointe Pavilions not only more merchandise but also a Ferris wheel, aquarium and other amenities.

There aren’t any projects that large on the docket scheduled to either start or finish construction in 2019, but there are plenty of noteworthy projects worth updating. Here are a few: In tandem with the new Scheels store is a $20 million, three-level parking garage going up at SouthPointe, 27th Street and Pine Lake Road.

The garage, which is being paid for through an additional 1 percent sales tax on purchases at the mall, will have approximately 1,000 stalls and 22,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

SouthPointe Marketing Director Julie Lattimer said construction began on Jan. 2, and the garage should be open by the end of the year. a couple of downtown redevelopment projects are scheduled to open later this year.

Nick Castaneda, who is developing the Kindler Hotel at 11th and P streets, hopes to

have the first phase of the 49-room boutique hotel open by sometime in the spring, possibly as early as april. a second phase that includes some of the hotel rooms, a fitness center and business center on the second floor of the neighboring Commercial Club building, should be open by summer.

Castaneda wants to have the $19 million project wrapped up by the time Husker football season rolls around at the end of august. a block and a half east of the Kindler is an apartment building called The Stack.

Matt and Jane Stricker, who own Footloose & Fancy, bought the 130-year-old building on P Street from Swanson Russell and did a $4 million redevelopment project to transform it into a five-story apartment building with 29 units and 3,800 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Jane Stricker said in an email that the first two apartment tenants moved in at the beginning of February. The Strickers do not have a retail tenant lined up yet. They are planning an official ribbon-cutting for the building in april.

It looks like work will finally begin soon at

the site of the former Skate Zone near 48th and O streets.

Kirk Hanson of Omaha-based access Commercial Real Estate said construction should start this spring on a 6,400-square-foot retail building. He said the building is pre-leased, but he declined to disclose the tenants.

Hanson said he also is still planning a hotel on the site, which currently is in the design phase.

The estimated cost is nearly $11 million. a couple of miles north on 48th Street, the redeveloper of the shopping center at University Place hopes to have its first apartments available for lease later this year.

Chris Erickson, co-owner of Omaha-based City Ventures, which is developing the $35 million project, said there has been strong interest in the apartment portion of the project, which includes 184 units in two buildings. The buildings will have a combined 28,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floors.

Construction is also now underway on Lincoln’s newest sports complex in west Lincoln.

The 80,000-square-foot facility will have eight basketball courts that can be converted

to 12 volleyball courts. Sam Manzitto Jr., who is developing the project, said the building, which is being built at Southwest 14th Place and West O Street, may also include space for baseball batting cages or indoor golf practice.

Manzitto said he’s hoping to have the $8 million facility open by fall. a potential second phase of the project includes a 20,000-squarefoot commercial building.

Though construction on the long-awaited South Beltway is not expected to start until next year, much of the prep work will be completed in 2019.

The Nebraska Department of Transportation said in December that final design work for the 11-mile four-lane expressway is finished and it will begin contacting impacted property owners this spring to negotiate the purchase of necessary rights of way. The state also plans to start doing the work of relocating utilities this year.

On Feb. 11, state officials announced a new accelerated construction plan that will allow the expressway linking u.S. 77 and Nebraska 2 to be built in three years. Officials had originally said construction would take five to seven years.

DIRECTIONS • SuNDay, FEbRuaRy 24, 2019 • L21

FALLBROOK ASSISTED LIVING

More options for seniors Experts say growing marketplace needs ‘affordable’ housing VICTORIA AYOTTE BROWN

Lincoln Journal Star

S

eniors in Lincoln have abundant choices for housing following the opening of several communities in the past few years, joined this month by Fallbrook Assisted Living & Memory Care.

“In the last 18 months (to) two years we have seen a plethora of living communities and options being developed here in Lincoln,” said Kristine Dykeman-Schoening, director of development Dykemanfor Bridge to Better LivSchoening ing and member of the Seniors Foundation board of directors.

Bridge to Better Living provides consultants to match seniors and families with the best fit for housing and services.

“Thank heavens for the building that happened in 2018.”

Woodlands at Hillcrest near 98th and O streets, Pemberly Place at Nebraska 2 and Pine Lake Road and The Knolls on the site of the former country club along Old Cheney Road all opened last year.

This year, Fallbrook Assisted Living & Memory Care opened in early February behind the Super Saver off U.S. 34 in northwest Lincoln. Fallbrook has 54 assisted living units — studio, onebedroom and two-bedroom — and 17 memory care studio apartments.

Executive Director Virginia Cole said interest from prospective residents has been good, with several commitments L22 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

and others getting ready to sign. “Fallbrook has been so welcoming. Everyone wants to support us, wrap their arms about us.”

The northwest Lincoln community was developed by Nebraska-based MJ Senior Housing, and Cole says “it truly is all about you” — the resident. The staff is trained to help people keep as active and involved as possible while respecting their privacy. Each apartment has a microwave and refrigerator, and there is a fully-equipped kitchen available for residents as well as the dining room with multiple options for each meal and an always-available menu of favorites.

Residents can get together outside their apartments if they prefer with a billiards room, salons, a chapel, a theater and multiple common areas.

Providence Place Memory Care next to the assisted living community has journey stations in the hallways to help residents remember favorite hobbies like gardening — gloves, a watering can and other items are set out to handle and talk about. A sensory room helps agitated residents calm quickly with their favorite music, shows and an LED touchable light feature. Artwork on the corridor walls is textured for residents to touch and features names of popular songs to bring back memories.

Independent living villas are planned in the next phase of the Fallbrook development, Cole said.

Theron Ahlman, owner and adviser for CarePatrol, another company that helps seniors find the best fit for housing, said he is excited for Fallbrook and likes the approach the company Ahlman has taken. “It feels more

GWYNETH ROBERTS, JOURNAL STAR

A one-bedroom apartment is among the options at Fallbrook Assisted Living & Memory Care. like a home.”

Things look to be slowing down in the near future for senior housing development, though, city planner Andrew Thierolf said. He said interest from developers was high three to four years ago, but recently it has tapered off.

Transition specialists shied away from saying Lincoln is overbuilt but agreed that options are abundant for seniors.

However, the community owners likely don’t want to have so many units open, they said.

“I’ve heard anecdotally that several of our senior housing facilities are operating well below capacity today,” Thierolf said.

Dykeman-Schoening said there are still wait lists for some types of housing at some properties. If a senior doesn’t immediately need the housing, he or she will put a deposit down and wait until the perfect unit becomes available, she said.

Ahlman said it was tough to find seniors in emergency situations an appropriate placement a few years ago. Now most communities have a few available rooms, so seniors have quite a few options “unless they’re really picky on view.”

Figures on how much senior housing is available in Lincoln vary. The citycounty planning department estimates

there are 4,500 beds, with 1,000 of them built since 2010. Dykeman-Schoening estimates there are about 1,200 independent living apartments that offer a meal plan and other amenities, 1,100 assisted living units and 400 memory care apartments in Lincoln.

One option for seniors that’s in short supply is that “really, really affordable community,” Ahlman said. He works in both Lincoln and Omaha and said Omaha is a little bit more affordable, with communities putting out specials and more options below $4,000 per month for assisted living. Ahlman would also like to see Lincoln have the option of small home environments for seniors with four to six people living together vs. the bigger communities.

Thierof said seniors account for about 12.5 percent of Lancaster County’s population, and that number is expected to grow to 18 percent with more than 75,000 people being age 65-plus by 2040, according to comprehensive plan projections.

“We’re trying to get ahead of the tsunami of aging,” Dykeman-Schoening said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7338 or vayotte@journalstar.com.

HEALTH CARE

Hospitals, other facilities continue to expand LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

Bryan Health has been on a spending spree over the past few years.

The hospital system opened a new $25 million surgical hospital on its Bryan East Campus last spring, and it just started work on a $47 million renovation project to enlarge and modernize the surgical rooms at its main East Campus hospital building. bryan also rolled out palm-scanning technology to its hospitals and doctors’ offices during the summer.

While bryan has been undertaking some of the biggest health care projects in town over the past couple of years, other area health care providers have also been expanding and upgrading to keep up with the ever-changing world of medicine.

Here is a rundown of some of them: Catholic Health Initiatives merged with Dignity Health to form CommonSpirit Health as of Feb. 1. The local health centers, however, are keeping the CHI Health name, meaning Lincoln’s other main hospital will still be known as CHI St. Elizabeth.

? me o s we et. s A arp ’ t a C wh of w o r o n p u k er Yo at W

COURTESY IMAGE

The first phase of an expansion project at bryan East Campus involves constructing a two-story addition between the main hospital tower (right) and the medical plaza building.

While St. E’s did not undertake any mega projects in the past year, it does have some significant smaller ones on tap.

In November, the hospital started doing hyperbaric oxygen treatments. It started with two chambers and already has added a third due to high demand for the service.

CHI St. Elizabeth also is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation of its burn center.

The project, expected to be completed sometime during the summer, will enhance

the clinic space for nurses and physicians and will also create an “improved healing environment” for patients, said spokeswoman Kathy Sarantos-Niver.

The hospital also plans a project to combine its emergency pediatrics and inpatient hospital pediatrics departments together in one space. The project currently is in the design phase, and St. Elizabeth hopes to have it open by sometime in the summer.

St. E’s also plans to add a new magnetic resonance imaging machine that will have enhanced capabilities for cardiac imaging and replace one of its Interventional Radiology Suites.

CHI Health’s other hospital in Lincoln, the Nebraska Heart Hospital, is planning renovations this spring to improve access to the catheterization lab for patients who are brought to the hospital by ambulance. The hospital also is adding another cardiac CT scanning machine.

The new surgery center under construction at Advanced Medical Imaging is on track to open this summer. Physicians at

the practice plan on seeing patients as soon as July. The surgery center, which is attached to aMI’s Imaging Center at 7600 Pioneers blvd., will provide the practice’s radiologists an additional 10,000-plus square feet of space and new state-of-theart equipment.

“We specifically made space for additional parking and comfortable waiting areas to provide the best patient experience,” Georgia blobaum, chief operations officer at aMI, said in a news release. “as Lincoln grows, it is important to instill confidence in our community that they can receive the best and most convenient care anywhere.”

Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals just recently completed a $2 million expansion of its transitional care unit, which is a shortterm rehabilitation facility for people who need to recover from an injury, surgery or illness but don’t need hospital care.

Chris Lee, Madonna’s vice president of rehabilitation, said the expansion gives the facility 26 private rooms. It previously had 11 private rooms and five semi-private rooms.

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TELEGRAPH DISTRICT

Work shifts to residential focus Apartments geared toward professionals, entrepreneurs and empty-nesters

Telegraph Flats

Telegraph Lofts West Telegraph Lofts East

RILEY JOHNSON

Lincoln Journal Star

B

uildings featuring 150 apartments geared toward young professionals and empty-nesters and new commercial and office space in Lincoln’s Telegraph District are primed for openings in 2020.

The latest large-scale downtown residential projects, these buildings should be an attractive option to the 1,000 workers now employed by Nelnet and Allo in the Telegraph District and enhance the southeastern gateway to the city’s urban core, said Mike Tavlin and Ken Fougeron of developer Speedway Properties.

The first piece in the $72 million second phase of Telegraph District development, Telegraph Flats will be completed in April 2020 on the site of the Fisher Foods plant at 20th and N streets.

At four stories, the 120,000-squarefoot Telegraph Flats will run the length of the block on 20th Street and feature commercial retail and restaurant space on the north and south ends of the property.

Apartment amenities will include stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and in-unit washers and dryers, with covered parking stalls on the lower level and a fitness room on the first floor, according to Speedway Properties.

Some will have balconies and views of the state Capitol, according to the developers.

A unique feature of Telegraph Flats will be 14 live-work lofts that may appeal to artisans, small business owners and entrepreneurs, said Fougeron, director of operations.

These two-story units will include workspace at the front of the apartment, according to renderings.

L24 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

N Street Allo, Mill Coffee and Subway

Nelnet 21st and L

The next phase of development in the Telegraph District will shift to residential projects along N Street, beginning with Telegraph Flats and Telegraph Lofts East.

“One of the typical users might be an artist who has a studio down below and has living quarters up above,” Fougeron said. “It’s something relatively new for Lincoln.”

The upper floors of Telegraph Flats will feature more traditional one- and twobedroom apartments.

Plans for an outdoor commons area include a mini basketball court, kitchen space in a community building, indoor and outdoor seating and a grilling area.

Initial construction plans for Telegraph Flats were to renovate the Fisher Foods building which dated to the 1920s, but following a fire in 2015 those plans to preserve the character and ambiance of the brick building’s steel frame were deemed

CLARK ENERSEN PARTNERS, COURTESY IMAGE

An illustration of the proposed Telegraph Flats, looking southeast from 20th and N streets.

KAYLA WOLF, JOURNAL STAR

Work is underway on Telegraph Flats, the first large-scale residential project in the Telegraph District. economically unfeasible, Fougeron said.

“It was a great idea, but it just didn’t work,” said Tavlin, the company’s chief financial officer.

A second residential building, Telegraph Lofts East, will rise five stories with commercial retail and restaurant space on the first floor. The upper floors of the building at 21st and N streets will be separated into commercial office space on the north side and 60 apartments to the south.

These one- and two-bedroom units will feature similar amenities to Telegraph Flats but with views of Antelope Creek.

Telegraph Lofts East will also have covered parking on the lower level, according to project plans.

Both residential buildings are going up adjacent to the N Street bike lane, allowing ease of access for cyclists bound for other areas of town. Tavlin and Fougeron said bikeability is one of the district’s biggest draws.

Common areas of both residential buildings will feature exhibits from the Frank H. Woods Telephone Museum, which for years operated at 21st and M streets.

Plans for a third apartment building intended for space between the two initial

residential projects, called Telegraph Lofts West, will be evaluated based on the market’s response to Telegraph Flats and Telegraph Lofts East, Tavlin and Fougeron said.

The site of that proposed project, the southwest corner of 21st and N, is the staging area for construction of Telegraph Flats and Telegraph Lofts East.

A successful first phase of the Telegraph District development included renovation of once-vacant buildings into workspace for Nelnet and Allo employees. A new Mill Coffee opened in the area, followed by a Subway restaurant.

With work now transitioning to the residential phase, the developers are confident these new apartments will draw tenants.

In November, an Allo employee contacted Speedway about getting on the wait list for an apartment in the new buildings, Fougeron said.

He was still interested even after they told him the wait was nearly 18 months.

“Before the footings even got in, they’re already thinking about living close to where they work,” Fougeron said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2657 or rjohnson@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSRileyJohnson DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L25

HEXAGON

Tanks for everything Natural gas storage leader now leading the charge in hydrogen technology ELLIS CLOPTON

Lincoln Journal Star

E

ighteen of the 19 warmest years on record globally have occurred since 2001, an ominous statistic highlighting the importance in transportation circles for finding ways to cut carbon emissions while sustaining an effective energy plan.

A Lincoln company is playing a leading role in providing a solution.

Hexagon Composites, the Norwegian owner of Hexagon Lincoln, a facility that manufactures storage tanks and distribution systems for natural gas and other alternative fuels, is moving into hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Lynn Lyon, vice president of strategic marketing at Hexagon Composites, said the company began exploring hydrogen two years ago as a possible energy solution, and it has looked to its Lincoln operation as its premier composite tanks manufacturer to lead the charge.

“It was a natural transition for us to expand the product line to address the needs of hydrogen fueling, as well as natural gas,” Lyon said.

She said Hexagon sees the Lincoln group as a reliable and trustworthy partner filled with exceptional leaders and a long track record of success going as far back as the early days of the space program. The partnership between NASA and the Lincoln company’s previous owners demonstrated a certain level of capability and expertise needed for Hexagon to dive into energy solutions involving hydrogen.

“It’s that partner-trust status that’s so important. They were trusted to make tanks for the space shuttle and they continue to have customers in the spaceship industry right now,” Lyon said. “In natural L26 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

gas, you don’t get a second chance. Safety is paramount to everything we do.”

As Hexagon Composites expands its hydrogen business unit, other companies, including the Nebraska Public Power District, are looking into hydrogen as an effective energy solution. Alan Dostal, NPPD’s director of research, said hydrogen fuel cell technology is becoming a more viable energy source as the technology costs have come down and reliability has improved.

He said the transportation and automotive industry are areas where every day consumers will see the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell technology. It’s similar to the inner workings of an electric car, but the main differences lie in how the vehicle’s battery is powered. A series of hydrogenfilled tanks power a stack of hundreds of fuel cells, each producing a volt of electricity that then powers the motor. A battery attached to the hydrogen tanks stores any leftover energy recovered as the car decelerates.

“They’re amazing,” Dostal said.

“They’re quiet, they start up quickly and they have a range of about 400 miles.”

However, Dostal said the technology will likely first benefit heavy-duty trucks, tractors and other commercial vehicles, which currently account for half of all carbon emissions tied to transportation.

Nebraska car shoppers shouldn’t dig too deep into buying a hydrogen vehicle just yet, since equipping a private refueling station in your home will cost well over $1 million. Fewer than 60 public hydrogen fueling stations exist in the United States, 39 of them located in California.

But as the technology improves, Lyon said the reliability of hydrogen energy will give it an advantage over the oil industry in those industrial transportation applications.

“Imagine a company has a fleet of trucks that ship products around the country, and every year you have to guess what your budget is going to be for diesel,” she said. “Imagine if you knew that it was

GWYNETH ROBERTS, JOURNAL STAR

Hexagon Lincoln employee Brock Bauer moves an all-composite vessel for compressed natural gas onto a cart to be transported to a paint booth. The tanks allow large quantities of natural gas to be transported and stored for use in regions not served by natural gas pipelines. going to pretty much always stay at $2 a gallon. That’s the kind of reliability that hydrogen provides.”

Earlier this year Hexagon said growth in orders for its mobile pipeline products, which are compressed natural gas composite tanks mounted in semitrailers, led to an increase in employment at Hexagon Lincoln.

That has led to more people working at its manufacturing plant in the LNK Enterprise Park near the Lincoln Airport.

Hexagon Lincoln is led by president Jack Schimenti, a University of NebraskaLincoln graduate who has worked for Hexagon Composites since 2005.

“The leadership that is based right there in Lincoln is the top expertise in the world, in my opinion,” Lyon said.

Lyon said Hexagon Lincoln will work to assist the needs of all major players in the hydrogen energy industry, including members of the Hydrogen Council, which is made up of 39 companies seeking to promote hydrogen technology as a viable

energy solution to reduce emissions and slow the acceleration of climate change.

Hexagon had said in November that it planned to add 20 to 30 additional employees for the hydrogen segment in Lincoln.

The fuel tanks to hold the hydrogen will be made at Hexagon Lincoln. It already has the contract to provide fuel tanks for the first hydrogen-powered boat in the U.S., as well as contracts to provide hydrogen tanks for fuel cell electric vehicles for major automotive makers.

“Our goal is to reduce carbon emissions to zero,” Lyon said. “And Hexagon feels that this is the best solution to reach that goal.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7214 or eclopton@journalstar.com.

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Watch a video to learn more. @JournalStar.com

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We are Celebrating 50 Years!

As of 2019 Weathercraft Company of Lincoln marks its 50th year in operation. We are grateful to all of our valued customers who have allowed us to be successful for so long. We owe our dedicated and talented employees thanks and gratitude for ongoing superior quality and integrity that they give to Weathercraft. Our success in the past 50 years has always been a result of being blessed with fantastic, loyal employees that want to install the best roof for the customer while taking pride in doing it right. Our company has a tradition of giving a gold diamond ring to all employees who have given us 10 years of continued service. To date we have given 124 rings.

Weathercraft’s largest emphasis is and always has been commercial re-roofing and service work. We do a small amount of residential roofing (mostly with our existing customers) and a considerable amount of low slope flat roofs on homes. Additionally we do a fair amount of commercial new construction such as the Pinnacle Bank Arena, the sloped roofing on the new Scheels, the Verizon building, and more. We do most types of roofing including hot asphalt, single-ply membrane roofs, tile, slate, standing seam metal, copper, shingle, and architectural sheet metal.

We believe that, rather than subcontracting work, having our own employees install the roofs is the key to continued superior quality. The growing trend in the roofing industry is companies doing all or most of their work through subcontractors. While subcontracted shingle roofing can be done successfully in certain circumstances, such as under constant supervision and accountability of an exceptional subcontractor, this tends to lower the quality of work in the low slope commercial flat roofing industry with major problems arising that we didn’t see in the past.

In 1984 Firestone created the Master Contractor program, which recognizes their contractors who achieve a certain high volume and level of quality on roofing projects each year. Weathercraft has been a part of the program since Firestone created it 35 years ago. Earning the status Master Contractor is no simple task. The volume of work and inspection ratings on the roofs has to be in the top 250 contractors in the country. Weathercraft has earned this honor for the past 35 years, one of 13 contractors to make Master Contractor every year since the beginning of the program.

I am most proud of my father and the type of business he built using key Biblical principles he applied to the foundation and operation of Weathercraft. It has been an honor and privilege to see and be a part of business being done using these principles. My father, who turned 81 this past December, is still involved with the company.

Weathercraftlincoln.com

A great city is defined by a relentless desire and energy to become a better place to live. We invite you to join us as we pursue our goal of “Lincoln Forever.”

www.LCF.org

OLSSON

COURTESY IMAGE

Olsson is building a second office building south of its existing headquarters in the West Haymarket. It’s expected to be completed in 2020.

DOUBLING DOWN F SHELLY KULHANEK

Lincoln Journal Star

aster-than-expected growth forced Olsson to start construction last year of a bookend building south of its West Haymarket headquarters, finished just four years ago.

The engineering and design firm has grown from 600 employees in 2010 to 1,200 and more than doubled its revenue in less than a decade, according to CEO and chairman Brad StritStrittmatter tmatter.

“I think you’ll continue to see us grow and continue to grow in Lincoln because our overall company is growing.

That’s what I get excited about,” he said.

Previously known as Olsson Associates, the firm supports design and construction of infrastructure projects. That includes everything from planning to engineering, from field services to environmental and technolL28 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

ogy expertise.

The Lincoln office employs engineers, scientists, surveyors, administrative support and the firm’s corporate leadership and business operations staff.

Among some of Olsson’s notable projects in Lincoln are SouthPointe Pavilions, the Fallbrook development, Nebraska Innovation Campus, reconstruction of the Northwest 48th Street interchange and Antelope Valley.

Clients appreciate that Olsson can offer multiple services on any given project, Strittmatter said. Those clients say, “I need you to design a road and also do the environmental permitting for that and the construction oversight.”

In Lincoln, Olsson is working on the Allo/ city fiber project, the redevelopment of the VA campus, construction of a new service center for Lincoln Electric System in southeast Lincoln and development of Wandering Creek, a residential project in the Stevens Creek watershed basin.

Strong growth leads firm to add second building in West Haymarket

But one of its most notable local projects has been Lincoln’s West Haymarket, home to Olsson’s headquarters at 601 P St., a fourstory, 82,000-square-foot building.

In 2014, the firm moved in to 46,000 square feet and signed long-term leases for the rest of the space with tenants, which today include banking technology company Q2, accounting and business consulting firm Lutz, HopCat restaurant, Which Wich sandwich shop and Java Depot.

The newest $19 million building will be 74,000 square feet of office space and 5,800 square feet for retail on the first floor.

Expected to open in early 2020, it will be similar in design and density to the original headquarters building when it’s full, with close to 400 workers.

Strittmatter said he knew the West Haymarket would be attractive from an employee recruitment and retention standpoint. But it’s also impressed clients.

“People love coming to the West Haymarket. Honestly, we couldn’t be more thrilled

with how it’s worked and we have no reason to believe it will be any different in the future.”

He said the city’s commitment to parking in the West Haymarket has been a huge benefit.

Strittmatter said they’ve had strong interest from office tenants. While they don’t have the new retail space leased yet, he anticipates interest will pick up as the building nears completion.

In addition to expanding its footprint in the West Haymarket, the company’s field services office in Lincoln is relocating to a building that will offer 20,000 square feet compared to the previous 6,000.

With 1,200 employees spread out in 30 offices in eight states, the growth of Olsson’s headquarters has come naturally as the company has expanded, both by opening new offices and acquiring firms mainly in southern states, Strittmatter said.

“When we grow we look for ways to add those different expertise and skill sets. It’s

been a real advantage for our clients and for us.”

Strittmatter said the company is proud to be headquartered in Lincoln, where it started in 1956, but it works consistently in about 35 states.

“We’re doing work all across the U.S. for the most part. It keeps it fun for our employees,” he said.

Strittmatter said Lincoln is doing the right things to encourage development.

The private sector wants to see the city succeed and the government is willing to work with the private sector in a partnership, he said. That isn’t always true in other communities the size of Lincoln or bigger, he added.

He pointed to what he called the city’s “rebirth” in the late ’90s and 2000s with Antelope Valley, Innovation Campus and the West Haymarket area.

“When we looked at where we wanted to be long-term, those (projects) reaffirmed for us where we wanted to be.”

He also highlighted the company’s strong

Other projects Olsson works regularly in 35 states.

Here’s examples of some of its projects outside of Lincoln: A community park with a skate

COURTESY PHOTO

Olsson partnered with the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District to plan Lake Wanahoo, the dam site near Wahoo.

relationship with the University of Nebraska and working to graduate the type of students Olsson needs. Many begin as interns, just as Strittmatter, an Auburn native, did 23 years ago when he was studying civil engineering at UNL. “We have, at any given time, 60-70 students on staff, so we depend on that partnership and close proximity.”

Mayor Chris Beutler said Olsson has been

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a key partner in city projects that have reshaped the community.

“The company has a long and proud history in Lincoln and a rapidly rising national reputation,” he said. “I appreciate Olsson’s continuing investment in the future of our city.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7253 or skulhanek@journalstar.com.

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LEARN MORE AT: www.hexagonlincoln.com DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L29

We are Celebrating 50 Years!

As of 2019 Weathercraft Company of Lincoln marks its 50th year in operation. We are grateful to all of our valued customers who have allowed us to be successful for so long. We owe our dedicated and talented employees thanks and gratitude for ongoing superior quality and integrity that they give to Weathercraft. Our success in the past 50 years has always been a result of being blessed with fantastic, loyal employees that want to install the best roof for the customer while taking pride in doing it right. Our company has a tradition of giving a gold diamond ring to all employees who have given us 10 years of continued service. To date we have given 124 rings.

Weathercraft’s largest emphasis is and always has been commercial re-roofing and service work. We do a small amount of residential roofing (mostly with our existing customers) and a considerable amount of low slope flat roofs on homes. Additionally we do a fair amount of commercial new construction such as the Pinnacle Bank Arena, the sloped roofing on the new Scheels, the Verizon building, and more. We do most types of roofing including hot asphalt, single-ply membrane roofs, tile, slate, standing seam metal, copper, shingle, and architectural sheet metal.

We believe that, rather than subcontracting work, having our own employees install the roofs is the key to continued superior quality. The growing trend in the roofing industry is companies doing all or most of their work through subcontractors. While subcontracted shingle roofing can be done successfully in certain circumstances, such as under constant supervision and accountability of an exceptional subcontractor, this tends to lower the quality of work in the low slope commercial flat roofing industry with major problems arising that we didn’t see in the past.

In 1984 Firestone created the Master Contractor program, which recognizes their contractors who achieve a certain high volume and level of quality on roofing projects each year. Weathercraft has been a part of the program since Firestone created it 35 years ago. Earning the status Master Contractor is no simple task. The volume of work and inspection ratings on the roofs has to be in the top 250 contractors in the country. Weathercraft has earned this honor for the past 35 years, one of 13 contractors to make Master Contractor every year since the beginning of the program.

I am most proud of my father and the type of business he built using key Biblical principles he applied to the foundation and operation of Weathercraft. It has been an honor and privilege to see and be a part of business being done using these principles. My father, who turned 81 this past December, is still involved with the company.

Weathercraftlincoln.com

A great city is defined by a relentless desire and energy to become a better place to live. We invite you to join us as we pursue our goal of “Lincoln Forever.”

www.LCF.org

CANOPY STREET MARKET

CHECKING OFF THE LIST Downtown grocery filling gap in former food desert of downtown LORI PILGER

Lincoln Journal Star

C KAYLA WOLF PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR

Canopy Street Market opened in August, giving people who work or live in downtown Lincoln or visit the Haymarket a convenient full-service grocery store.

anopy Street Market opened its doors at the start of the Husker football season with tailgaters coming in by the droves for extra lemons and paper towels starting that first weekend in September.

But others still are finding out about the 8,000-square-foot, full-service grocery store, with a meat counter, deli, fresh produce and beer, wine and liquor.

“It surprises us how many people say, ‘Oh, there’s a grocery store there?’” said Jill

Moline, who along with her husband, Allo Communications president Brad Moline, partnered with Mark Whitehead of Whitehead Oil to open the store at 140 Canopy St. “They didn’t all just come rushing in at one time.”

She said people have steadily wandered in this winter, before concerts at Pinnacle Bank Arena or Husker basketball games.

Jill Moline said they get a nice lunch rush at the deli from employees at nearby businesses like Hudl, Olsson and Lutz. A lot of their traffic is from people walking or biking. Bus drivers have discovered them, too.

But others have been a bit slower to find the downtown grocery store.

Maybe it’s because they’re on the edge of the Haymarket, just south of the O Street viaduct, or because they don’t look like a typical grocery store, Moline said.

They keep working on getting their name out there, putting out more street signs, printing maps, going to expos and other downtown events to introduce themselves to the area.

It’s all come as a bit of a surprise, she said, given so many people said they wanted a grocery store downtown.

“They were saying that this was a food desert, and it kind of was,” she said.

“Hopefully we’ve plopped ourselves down in that desert.”

Justin Spooner, who lives downtown to be close to work at Hudl, said he’s a big fan of the market and stops in a few times a week.

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and in the Haymarket.

“And somewhere to shop for food will make a difference in people’s decisionmaking process,” Spooner said.

Plus, he said, he expected the prices at a boutique-style grocery store to be expensive. That hasn’t been the case, he said.

Spooner said a lot of people he works with at Hudl have taken advantage of the proximity to the store, too, whether stopping in for a soda or snack during the day or coffee or breakfast in the morning.

“One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m constantly seeing co-workers at the store when I’m there in the evening just shopping for myself. I imagine that’s the case for others who work and live in the Haymarket,” he said.

Which fits the store’s philosophy.

Moline said she sees Canopy Street Market as a small-town setting, like the three other stores she owns, one in her hometown of Imperial and two in eastern Colorado.

“None of my stores are cookie-cutter,” she said.

KAYLA WOLF, JOURNAL STAR

Canopy Street Market features a fresh produce section.

And they’ve been getting to know their Lincoln customers, who are looking for smaller, single-size portions of fresh, local foods, Moline said. So they started carrying farm-fresh eggs, getting bread daily from Le Quartier, stocking Kitchen Sink cookies and flower arrangements from Grow with the Flow.

“It’s impressive how much we can get locally,” she said.

Moline brings in flour in cloth bags from Wauneta Roller Mills and Jim Baldridge Seasoning from North Platte.

She said people here appreciate organic items more than at her other stores.

They’re looking for grass-fed meats and

prime meats out of the case.

They’ve recently expanded their ethnic food options and plan to add more things like aspirin or shampoo that someone living nearby might stop in for. They’ve added earbuds and electronics, cheater glasses and plungers and other basic tools.

It’s kind of like a little general store, Moline said.

They’re adding online ordering and delivery, which they’re hoping makes them more accessible, she said.

“I do feel like a lot more people are moving down here,” she said. “And hopefully this is one reason that it makes their move a little bit easier.”

In the spring, Moline said, they’re looking forward to meeting more people who come roll past on the bike trail, or find them on the way to the farmers market.

“We’re excited to be here and the city has been very welcoming to us,” she said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSpilger

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CONVENTION CENTER

A gathering space As competition mounts, Lincoln officials ponder a feasibility study L. KENT WOLGAMOTT

Lincoln Journal Star

E

very December for decades, the Nebraska Association of County Officials held its annual conference in Lincoln. But a few years ago, the conference’s exhibition space requirements outgrew the supply available in the Capital City and it moved, first to Omaha, then to La Vista and now, for the long term, to the Younes Conference Center in Kearney.

That’s just one example of the conventions, conferences and similar gatherings that Lincoln is either losing or missing out on because it has no downtown convention center.

“From our perspective, there’s definitely a need for a meeting and convention space in Lincoln in the downtown area,” said Derek Feyerherm, director of sales and operations for the Lincoln Feyerherm Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re seeing more and more events, conferences and conventions that are going to other cities that have more meeting and convention space to offer.”

The lack of a convention center is mentioned in the city’s new downtown master plan, which notes that among Lincoln’s peer cities, Champaign, Illinois, is the only one that also does not have a downtown convention center.

Instead, the report notes, Lincoln relies on a number of venues — Pinnacle Bank Arena and the Cornhusker Marriott are the largest — to satisfy the needs of event planners and convention organizers.

But Denver-based Progressive Urban Management Associates, which put toL32 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

gether the master plan, said further research is needed to determine whether Lincoln should build a convention center.

PUMA, as the consultants are known, used a complicated formula — 1,197 hotel rooms in downtown Lincoln multiplied by a median of 132 square feet of convention space per hotel room — to determine that Lincoln would need a convention center of approximately 150,000 square feet.

A 150,000-square-foot convention center would be larger than those in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Lexington, Kentucky, and Lansing, Michigan, three of the peer cities mentioned in the downtown Lincoln market assessment. But it would be smaller than those in Madison, Wisconsin, Des Moines, Iowa, and Raleigh, North Carolina, and about half the size of the convention center at Omaha’s CHI Health Center.

The report also found that combining Lincoln’s 88,100 square feet of hotel convention space with space available at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Pinnacle Bank Arena, the city has 198,650 square feet of downtown convention space and suggested that “there may be ways to maximize this above-average supply of existing space before investing in a convention center.”

To some measure that is already happening, especially at the arena.

“We do FFA, FCCLA, Business to Business,” said arena manager Tom Lorenz.

“We’ve done food shows for (Sysco) that take all of the floor and concourses. We’ve acted as a convention center-type facility.

But we’re not a convention center.”

In fact, a convention center was intentionally excluded when plans for Lincoln’s downtown arena were drawn up in 2010.

At that time, the Cornhusker Marriott had the second largest convention space in Nebraska, and there appeared to be little need to attach a convention center to the arena.

However, things have changed in the last nine years with the opening of con-

JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO

Homestead national Monument park ranger nicholas Manes discusses employment opportunities with FFa students attending the state convention in 2016. Without a convention center, Pinnacle bank arena, including its seating bowl and concourse areas, offers the most hospitality and convention space in downtown Lincoln.

Convention space even without a convention center, Lincoln’s arena, campus facilities and hotels combine for nearly 200,000 square feet of downtown hospitality and convention space.

WEST HAYMARKET Pinnacle bank arena, 60,000 sq. ft.

CAMPUS nebraska union, 27,000 Lied Center, 19,550 Multicultural Center, 4,000

vention centers among clusters of hotels in La Vista and Kearney and the possibility of other Nebraska cities also opening larger convention and meeting spaces.

Feyerherm acknowledged Lincoln will be competing primarily with other Nebraska cities for regional and state conventions, rather than those larger gatherings that would likely choose Omaha if they were to come to Nebraska.

“It would be difficult for us to go after big national conventions with the Omaha convention center and the airport and flights there,” he said, confirming one of the PUMA study’s findings.

For that reason, a Lincoln convention center would likely be positioned to attract new regional conferences and keep those that regularly come to the city.

Meanwhile, there’s competition brew-

HOTELS Cornhusker Marriott, 46,000 embassy Suites, 20,000 The Graduate, 15,000 Courtyard by Marriott, 2,800 Hyatt Place, 1,800 Source: downtown master plan

ing. Developer Paul Younes, who already has a 70,000-square-foot convention space in Kearney, plans to build a fivestory, 164-room hotel connected to a new 100,000-square-foot convention center only blocks away.

Younes said demand is driving the estimated $34.6 million project.

For Lincoln, the drawing card for state and regional events has always been a safe and easy-to-navigate downtown area sandwiched between state government offices and the UNL campus.

“With the Capitol and the Legislature here, we should be doing all the politically related conventions, where people want to meet with legislators,” Feyerherm said.

“But we may be losing some of them, too.”

At present a convention center feasibility study is not yet planned or funded.

PINNACLE BANK ARENA

Venue still performing strong in sixth year LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

Pinnacle bank arena continues to be one of the world’s top arenas, placing 119th on Pollstar’s 2018 year-End Top 200 arena Venues list, a ranking based on ticket sales.

In the united States, the 5-year-old arena ranked 64th, far higher than the size of the Lincoln market, which ranks about 130th in the country.

“It’s a very strong market and still a new market for many of the artists,” said arena manager Tom Lorenz. “To have a relatively affluent community that continues to support live music is really beneficial for us to get the shows.”

The building itself also helps in attracting top shows to Lincoln. The arena’s ease for production crews, and basketballcentric design, has impressed tours from Paul McCartney to Eric Church and the Zac brown band, the latter two having used Pinnacle bank arena for rehearsals before opening tours there.

“The production capabilities are well known and makes it very attractive for shows to come in and add a date to their tour or make it a routing stop,” Lorenz said.

The arena’s concerts in 2018 included: avenged Sevenfold, breaking benjamin, Pink, Lorde, brad Paisley, Chris young, the Zac brown band, Journey, Def Leppard, Metallica, Odesza, Fall Out boy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Fleetwood Mac, Thomas Rhett, Twenty One Pilots and Five Finger Death Punch.

Several of those shows sold out, including Rhett’s concert, which drew 13,800 to the arena — a record for the country star.

“In my whole seven years of touring, I’ve never seen a crowd this large and engaged,” he said during the October show, repeatedly commenting on the audience’s volume.

The arena has already hosted three concerts in 2019 — Disturbed in January and Excision and James Taylor with

bonnie Raitt in February — with six more shows announced through June.

Those shows are: Shinedown, March 15; Michael buble, March 23; Styx and Larry The Cable Guy, March 27; Kenny Chesney, May 18; New Kids on the block, June 8; and Carrie underwood, June 23.

More 2019 concerts, most of which will take place from July through December, will be announced soon. Concerts for 2020 also are already being scheduled, Lorenz said.

“We’re going to have a very strong year, both the calendar year and our fiscal year look very good,” Lorenz said.

Sporting events are not included in the Pollstar venue ranking. If it was, the arena would likely be even higher.

For the 2017-18 season, Nebraska men’s basketball drew 246,832 fans to 16 games, an average of 15,427 — ranking 11th in the NCaa. The Nebraska women FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO drew 70,087 fans to 16 games, an aver- Pop icon Pink performs “Get The Party Started” as she rides a age of 4,380 — ranking 20th in the NCaa. chandelier during her 2018 concert at Pinnacle bank arena.

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SAVOX COMMUNICATIONS

Life-saving operations When disaster strikes, Lincoln business equips rescue personnel COLLIN SPILINEK

Lincoln Journal Star

A

nytime there’s a catastrophic event somewhere in the world, Joel Johnson scans the television coverage for something specific.

In many cases it’s “bittersweet,” but Johnson says there’s a sense of pride in seeing the tools he helped to develop in Lincoln making a difference in life-ordeath situations worldwide.

“You’re sad to see those events happen, but yet, it’s also nice to see the searchand-rescue guys pulling somebody out of a rubble pile holding one of our pieces of equipment,” Johnson said.

Savox Communications certainly isn’t a household name, nor is it a Lincoln manufacturer that many in the community are aware of, its employees say.

Savox’s product line includes professional-grade tools to aid search-andrescue operations and support communications between rescuers but also with victims. These include life-detector systems, cameras that can be inserted into small locations, and radio communications.

The tools have been used in response to major disasters, including the pedestrian bridge collapse at Florida International University last year and the Chilean mining accident that captured the world’s attention in 2010. They’re used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of State and NASA. About 40 to 50 percent of the company’s sales are international, said Johnson, director of engineering and product management.

The Lincoln location near Folsom and West South streets was established in 2005 by Con-Space Communications, a company based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, and ran by former employees L34 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

of Telex Communications in northeast Lincoln. Con-Space also owned Search Systems, a similar company based in Bakersfield, California.

Con-Space was acquired about a decade ago by Finland-based Savox, a company known for two-way communication accessories. The company eventually moved Search Systems’ resources to Lincoln, which operates today as the primary office for Savox in North America.

The company’s search-and-rescue cameras allow for easy inspection of disaster areas. The cameras, which have LED lights attached, can be inserted into a drilled hole to search a scene.

The Delsar life detector system from Savox involves up to six small sensors seeking to pick up vibrations and can multiply sound 10,000 times.

“You have these sensors that you can place around the pile, and you can detect if there’s someone tapping or making noise or scratching,” Johnson said. “You can basically listen for survivors that are trying to signal through the rubble piles.”

The company’s hardline communications for rescuers have been designed for use in tight areas like trenches or tunnels.

“And because it’s wired, it works every time, whereas in certain environments, even with all the advancements in radio technology, sometimes it just doesn’t work,” Johnson said.

Search-and-rescue isn’t the only field that Savox serves. It also assists in covert communications required by the Secret Service, for example, or by law enforcement teams when scanning large crowds for perpetrators.

“These devices are so discreet and so covert that I could be standing right next to you, and it would look like I was just walking around with a set of car keys,” said John Stinglen, North America service manager for Savox. “But in fact, I could be standing right next to you, and if it’s noisy enough, I could say, ‘OK, I’m next to them right now. When I give the signal, let’s apprehend them.’”

COURTESY PHOTOS

A first responder works with search-and-rescue equipment from Savox Communications at a training site in 2016. The tools have been used in response to major disasters worldwide.

Savox’s product line includes professionalgrade tools to aid search-and-rescue operations and support communication between rescuers but also with victims.

Stinglen, who has worked with the company for nine years, coordinates repairs and product upgrades for Savox. He said the Lincoln facility is the only one that can repair the products due to the certifications that are required, including making sure they are safe.

“That means that our products are designed and tested and certified, that during use, they will not cause a spark that will create an explosion that will cause injury or death,” Stinglen said. “We are very restricted on what we can do because of that rating.”

Johnson, a University of Nebraska product who started with the company in November 2011, constantly monitors new and emerging technologies the com-

pany can use, including those developed by competitors. Some of these include equipment for thermal imaging and wireless communications, which would allow different sensors to compile and accumulate data, he said.

Another advancement Savox is exploring is a 360-degree camera, although the technology isn’t where they want it to be just yet, Stinglen said. The company is also planning to integrate some of its existing products.

“Instead of having to buy two or three systems, we’re thinking of combining them into a bigger overall system that would provide the needs for the end users without them having to carry so much around,” he said.

As for Savox’s public image, Stinglen said it’s not that the company tries to be secretive. It’s just not something that the everyday consumer would need.

But the niche filled by Savox worldwide can’t be taken lightly.

“It’s very serious stuff, so I take my job really seriously,” Stinglen said. “But I also take pride in the products that we make, because they are designed and developed to save lives.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7241 or cspilinek@journalstar.com.

TOTAL IMAGE UNLIMITED

Rooted in customer service Second-generation owner reps boutique from head to toe CINDY LANGE-KUBICK

Lincoln Journal Star

J

asmin Stewart-Handy had just moved to Lincoln and was looking for a place to buy hair.

She’d grown up in Los Angeles, a city where shops that sold extensions and wigs were everywhere, but Lincoln was different.

“Where can I get some black hair around here?” the mother of two young sons asked after she stopped in a chain beauty supply store and found nothing.

Just one place was the answer.

Total Image Unlimited, Evelyn and Anthony Kelley proprietors.

Evelyn was behind the counter in the small shop on Randolph Street that day in 2002 when Stewart-Handy walked in.

“She was just so welcoming, like a breath of fresh air,” Stewart-Handy said.

The owners have retired to Scottsdale, Arizona, now, nearly 20 years after they started their business with “$500 and a prayer,” said Anthony Kelley.

Evelyn was the driving force behind the business, he said. A woman who always wanted to be her own boss.

“That’s why she is known in our family as ‘The Boss Lady.’ She has the ideas and I put things together. We al-

ways work as a team.”

Anthony was working full-time at the Lincoln Regional Center in the late ‘90s. The former professional baseball player began selling ball caps and jerseys and jackets out of the trunk of his car in a parking lot at 27th and Holdrege streets.

He started consigning the clothing at Jai Jai’s Salon down the road and in 1999 the Randolph Street store opened — Evelyn had grown weary of driving to Omaha for her hair needs, so they added hair care — with a second store at Gateway Mall selling men’s and women’s clothing.

Today, Total Image is tucked in tight at 125 S. 27th St., a small brick storefront with a blue awning.

You’ll find I’sha Kelley inside, one of the Kelleys’ three kids and the woman who has taken over the shop.

“She’s got that flair, just like her parents did,” Stewart-Handy says.

The business has changed since the 37-year-old officially took charge, with social media specials and

a steady online presence, email coupons to entice customers, new clothing lines and an aesthetician specializing in eyebrows and lashes.

The “500-pound cash register” her parents used is gone, replaced by paperless transactions, although the customer service remains unchanged.

It’s what they built the business on, I’sha Kelley says.

Stewart-Handy remembers that early customer service when she found out the check she’d written for her hair care wasn’t going to clear the bank. Evelyn was happy to hold it for her so she didn’t owe the fee.

“It’s why I became a lifelong fan, that trust,” she said. “Where I come from, people don’t do that.”

Customer appreciation, Anthony Kelley said. “We appreciate each and every one of them.”

And the second-generation owner is a walking advertisement for what the Kelley family built.

“Everything in my shop, from the clothing to the hair

EVERY

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SAVANNAH BLAKE, JOURNAL STAR

Second-generation shop owner I’sha Kelley works on labeling new products at Total Image Unlimited. The Lincoln boutique was founded by Kelley’s parents and features a photograph of Evelyn Kelley modeling the store’s products. to the products, I use,” I’sha Kelley says.

She’s made other changes since she took over a year ago, downsizing the clothing section, focusing on quality over quantity.

She carries brands that are hard to come by in Lincoln, Kelley says, lotions and hair butter and hair in every color, sold to a clientele that represents a rainbow.

“People automatically think it’s a black shop,” Kelley says. “Hair doesn’t discriminate. We have transgender customers, black, white, people with cancer,

people with alopecia.”

The owner had worked at the family business on and off since before her college years, when she played guard for the Huskers her freshman year, finishing her degree at the University of Central Missouri.

After a segue into TV news production, she returned to Total Image as manager. Her parents had considered shutting down after the store was vandalized and set on fire in October 2016, but their daughter said “I don’t think so.”

Business is good, Kelley said.

She’s looking ahead to the 20th anniversary of her parents’ dream this fall.

In the early days of Total Image, her dad — “Pops” — had bought billboard space at 25th and O to give the fledgling business a boost, and three years later, he hired a local rapper and filmed a commercial.

“It was pretty dope,” the store-owning daughter says. “I’m thinking of doing something like that again.”

Reach the writer at 402473-7218 or clangekubick@ journalstar.com.

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LCF.org 215 Centennial Mall S 402-474-2345 Thanks to the foresight of generous donors, Lincoln Community Foundation a record $13 million in 2018. These grants were distributed to 974 nonprofit organizations with 85% of the grant dollars staying in Lancaster County. Grants support a variety of donor interests including health and human services, community improvement, education and youth, arts and culture, environment and animals, and religion-related.

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HomeServices Title, formerly Nebraska Land Title and Abstract, is pleased to announce the company’s recent name change. The change comes in tandem with a new location as a celebration of the company’s growing business and a continued commitment to the community and industry.

This past fall, HOME Real Estate was voted Best of Lincoln for real estate services. This marks the 20th consecutive year HOME Real Estate has received this honor. They thank their great clients and their family of agents for going above and beyond for their clients and community.

4500 S 70th St. Suite #116, Lincoln, NE 68516 402-817-6850 freedomhealthcareusa.com

Atwood, Holsten, Brown, Deaver & Spier first opened its doors nearly two decades ago.

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Help us celebrate our 150th anniversary in 2020! For 150 years, our work has shown unwavering commitment to making Lincoln the best place to live and do business. Our namesake, Abraham Lincoln said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” As we continue to work together as a Chamber and a community, we are creating Lincoln’s future. Share your stories about building Lincoln.

Visit the Hive! The Hive is a small business coffee meetup. All of you work so hard to grow your businesses in Lincoln, so The Hive is where you can keep up on the latest buzz.

Instead of minding your own beeswax and doing your own sting, you can stick close to your other small business owners.

Held bi-monthly at various locations.

4720 Randolph St, Lincoln, NE 68510 Growing in Lincoln since 1955, LincOne Federal Credit Union is a community credit union serving the personal financial needs of their membership.

As a community credit union, LincOne’s field of membership includes persons who live, work, worship, or attend school in, and businesses and other legal entities, located within Lancaster County, Nebraska.

Find out more at one of LincOne’s 3 Lincoln locations or linconefcu.org

(402) 486-8520 Nonprofit Tabitha is Nebraska’s industry-leading and quality award-winning Senior Care expert. Serving friends and neighbors for over 130 years and encompassing 28 Nebraska counties, Tabitha offers results-driven rehabilitation, convenient home health care, innovative living communities and compassionate hospice services.

Tabitha is Your Answer for Senior Care.

Overhead Door™ is a leading provider of overhead and garage door systems. From residential garage doors to commercial overhead doors and openers. Overhead Door Company of Lincoln™, provides the solutions, service and support you need to ensure your home or business is safe and has reliable access everyday.

Overhead Door Company of Lincoln™ was founded in 1977. With local service in Lincoln, Nebraska and backed by a nationwide network of more than 450 authorized Overhead Door™ Distributors, Overhead Door™ stands at the ready to provide quality products and professional service.

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LincolnLiving Helping You Find A Place to Call Home

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We got our start more than 15 years ago providing phone service to businesses across the state of Nebraska. With our unparalleled reliability and local customer service, we mean business – and we want to help take yours to the next level with ALLO Business.

Founded in 1967, the Downtown Lincoln Association was originally established as a merchants’ association by downtown retailers who recognized the need for an organization to serve downtown’s unique needs. DLA has since evolved to a multi-faceted organization supporting a wide range of programs and activities including maintenance, economic development and advocacy

L36 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

1640 Normandy Ct # A, Lincoln, NE 68512 (402) 423-6811

1640 Normandy Ct # A Lincoln, NE 68512 (402) 423-6811

Aspen Builders is one of Nebraska’s premier custom home builders and developers.

In celebration of over 25 years of experience, Aspen Builders will surpass the mark of helping over 1,000 families realize their dream of building a home.

Your new home starts at Aspen Builders! To view all of our featured developments and subdivisions, visit our website at: aspenbuildersinc.com.

Aspen Builders is celebrating over 25 years of building dream homes! We will help you create the house you have always envisioned, where the possibilities are endless! Aspen Builders has a library of floor plans to choose from, or we will work with you to custom build the house you have always wanted. Call us today!

For more info or to advertise: (402) 473-7373 Lincoln-Living.com or facebook.com/lincolnlivingmag

Founded in 1917, Union Bank & Trust (UBT) is a local, family-owned and thriving bank. UBT offers a full line of personal and business banking and lending services.

Union Bank & Trust has been recognized for innovative and progressive ideas; and has also been voted Lincoln’s best bank, Best Customer Service, and Best Work Environment in the Lincoln’s Choice Awards 7 years in a row!

BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS | 2018 RIBBON CUTTINGS Last year, the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce marked new businesses, businesses with new owners, relocated businesses, expanded businesses, renovated businesses, business anniversaries, ground-breaking ceremonies and new chamber members with nearly 80 ribbon-cutting events.

March Blumenstock Family

January 5055 Building at Bryan

East Campus, 5055 A St. Lincoln Stars Foundation,

1880 Transformation Drive

Eyecare, 1501 Pine Lake Road, Suite 1 Food Bank of Lincoln, 4840 Doris Bair Circle, Suite A Keller Williams Lincoln, 301 S. 70th St., Suite 200 Makovicka Physical Therapy, 333 S. 70th St. Production Creek ScreenPrint & Embroidery, 3301 S. 13th St. Source Eat Fit, 5020 N. 26th St.

June Christensen Hearing Ana-

lytics, 6140 Village Drive Classic Wood, 7100 Saltillo

Road Lincoln Federal Savings,

One Up Gym, 1137 Saun-

April

ders Ave. Nutrition Zone, 400 N.

48th St., Suite B Roper & Sons Lincoln Cha-

pel, 3950 Hohensee Drive Stur 22, 2110 Winthrop

5705 S. 86th St.

Catalyst Chiropractic,

Malone Community Cen-

ter, 2032 U St.

5400 S. 56th St., Suite 314 Fuse, 151 N. Eighth St., Sec-

McDonald’s, 547 N. 48th

ond floor LocalAnyDay, 151 N. Eighth

St. McDonald’s, 1028 Saun-

St., Suite 330

Road Tip Top Tux, 4848 Normal

Blvd., Suite D February 9Round, 2800 N. 83rd St., Suite C Adorned Bridal, 1265 S. Cotner Blvd., Suite 27 Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, 201 N. Seventh St., Suite 101 Lucero Activation Pizza Ranch, 8420 Lexington Ave. Screamers Dining & Cabaret, 803 Q St.

Olsson’s Newton Receives Women’s Leadership Award Melissa Newton, executive vice president of talent and organizational strategy at Olsson, was honored as the winner of the Excellence in Business (large) category at the Inspire Women’s Leadership Awards.

The Inspire Awards celebrate women who have excelled not only in their professional world, but as leaders and role models.

Institute (Course Restaurant), 8800 O St. Stratum Productions, 285 S. 68th St. Place, Suite 328 Stubbs Chiropractic, 8380 Old Cheney Road, Suite 2 TOOfast Supply, 2140 Cornhusker Hwy. Wheelie Good Bikes, 5633 S. 16th St., Suite 400

Sport Clips, 2712 Corn-

ders Ave. Red Thread Creative, 201

husker Hwy., Suite 101

N. Seventh St., Suite 208

Wireless World/Verizon,

Silverhawk Aviation, 1751

1535 N. 86th St.

May Exit Realty Professionals, 8320 Northwoods Drive, Suite 500 Nebraska Sports Council, 3260 Folkways Blvd.

Pemberly Place, 7655 Archer Place Quality Resource Group, 2120 S. 56th St., Suite 202 SCC Great Plains Culinary

W. Kearney Ave. Strictly Business Magazine, 9200 Holdrege St. Walmart, 8700 Andermatt Drive Willard School, 1245 S. Folsom St. WoodRiver Energy, 233 S. 13th Street, Suite 1100

July First Nebraska Credit

Union, 8101 S. 40th St.

601 P St #200, Lincoln, NE 68508 (402) 474-6311

weathercraftlincoln.com

Olsson.com

Weathercraft Co. of Lincoln

Olsson, a nationally recognized engineering and design company, launched a new corporate brand, name and website, www.olsson.com.

The firm was formally known as Olsson Associates.

Olsson has more than 1,000 employees and is one of the top 100 design firms in the country, according to Engineering News-Record’s annual list.

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Juniper Spa & Yoga Stu

dio, 245 S. 84th St. Little Caesars Pizza, 4822 Pioneers Blvd.

Nebraska Safety Center, 2021 Transformation Drive NorthPointe Family Medicine, 5901 N. 27th St., Suite 102 SAC Federal Credit Union, 2500 Jamie Lane

Monolith, 2610 W. L St. Moxie Mitsubishi, 3330

201 N. Seventh St. Koen Japanese BBQ &

Sushi, 2601 Jamie Lane, Suite 100

Nelson Contracting LLC, October 4108 Progressive Ave., Ambassador Health, 4405

Suite 6 Normal Blvd.

Capital Cigar Lounge, YOUniq Health, 2120 S. 5505 S. 16th St. 56th St., Suite 104

EDCare, 2917 Pine Lake Road, Suite A December Rock ‘n’ Joe Coffee Bar, Ascend Chiropractic, 5611 August 5025 Lindberg St. N.W. First St., Suite 105 Eustis Body Shop, 8820 Charter West Bank, 4400 Amber Hill Court S. 86th St., Suite 101 November Express Life Chiropractic, Dimensions Education Round 1 Bowling & 8550 Andermatt Drive, Program, 7700 A St. Amusement, 6100 O St., Suite 2 No. 198 HopeSpoke, 2444 0 St. Five Points Bank, 8500 S. JTK Cuisine & Cocktails, T & L Fitness LLC, 914 N. 30th St. Hausmann Construction Inc., 8885 Executive Woods Drive Pet Central Station, 5591 S. 48th St. Superior St.

September

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Athletico Physical Ther-

apy, 5633 S. 16th Street, Suite 600 Classic Garage Solutions, 2111 Magnum Circle, Suite 2 Integrity Dermatology, 1620 S. 70th St., Suite 103 The Knolls Senior Living, 5801 Norman Road Marco, 6940 O St., Suite 324.

Men With Dreams, 2124 Y St., Unit 135

The Lincoln Track Club, Inc. was established in 1975 to promote running throughout this area and provide educational assistance for its runners.

The one ingredient that makes LTC work is its volunteers, please consider joining one of Nebraska’s finest volunteer-run organizations.

Woodsbros.com In 2019, Woods Bros Realty is celebrating their 130th year of serving Nebraska. To celebrate this anniversary, they have committed to performing ‘130 acts of kindness’ to give back to the communities that have supported them for the past 130 years.

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Realty Works is proud to announce we were awarded “2018 Landlord of the Year” by the Lincoln Homeless Coalition.

WE ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS! Call us to learn more about our Property Management and Real Estate Investment Consultation services.

The first ever Lincoln Littles giving day, held on February 12, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, raised $637,397. Hosted by Lincoln Community Foundation, the giving day raised funds for tuition assistance for children in need to access quality early childhood education. This funding is a significant development toward the Prosper Lincoln Early Childhood community agenda.

DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L37

WORKPLACE

Where it all began Large Lincoln companies work to maintain look and feel of startups RYLY JANE HAMBLETON

For the Lincoln Journal Star

F

our people with an idea started Nelnet in 1976.

The term “startup” hadn’t even worked its way into our lexicon and yet, that is what it was. Today, Nelnet has more than 6,000 associates — that’s what they call their employees — and has an international footprint centered on Lincoln.

And yet, walk into Nelnet’s office space in the Hudl headquarters building and you might think it was a thriving startup.

Associates moving about an open office space with no specific “home.” Attire is casual and work and play spaces — a large break room with free fruit, a patio area fit for work or play (when it’s not snowing), a ping-pong table — are barely delineated.

“As you grow, it’s hard not to fall into a rut,” said Nelnet CEO Jeff Noordhoek. “You have to keep innovating, with new businesses and a workplace that’s friendly.

“Things evolve and the Noordhoek speed of things changing is exponential.”

Like Nelnet, an educational services and technology company, Assurity and NRC Health are larger businesses in Lincoln that L38 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR

Workspaces at nelnet offices in the West Haymarket allow for plenty of flexibility, with chairs, desks and monitors that adjust to the individual user. have adopted the look and feel of startups.

“We tried very hard to keep our culture what it was as a startup back in 1981 to now with 450-plus associates,” said Jona Raasch, the chief culture officer for NRC and also CEO of The Governance Institute, a service of NRC Health. “A lot of organizations, when they start to grow, they start invoking rules and policies. The emphasis from that is usually somebody isn’t doing something the way somebody else wants them to do it.

“We tried to subscribe to the theory that you don’t implement a policy, you go to the source. For example, a company may create a dress code to thwart shabbily dressed people even though it wasn’t a widespread problem. For us, we would just go to the person and say ‘you’re dressing like a slob, so clean it up.’ Not that we had to do that.”

Sweeping policies just inhibit workers and often add complexities to the workplace, according to these company executives.

“A company in Wisconsin we just acquired last year has a more traditional setup, with cubicles and office spaces, but they love our new layout here,” Noordhoek said.

All three companies have an open workspace and employees dress in casual attire, but there is more to the relaxed attitude.

When the clock hits 4 p.m. on Fridays, it’s “beer:30” at NRC Health offices at 13th and Q streets.

“I’m a 34-year-long associate and we have had that from the very first Friday of the existence of our company,” Raasch said. “The whole purpose of beer:30 is that it’s a chance to share the successes of the week and celebrate them, or if it’s been a stressful week, talk about the stress and then let it go.”

Not surprisingly, at one point, the company’s chief financial officer calculated the cost of beer:30 to see if it was sustainable.

“Our founder, Mike Hays, and I said he was looking at it all wrong,” Raasch said.

“It’s less costly per associate than most benefits, and it is equally important, if not more so, as we grow.”

All three companies stress wellness activities and health-related concerns. Nelnet has health clinics at two of its sites in Lincoln, which are free for associates with the company’s health insurance plans.

“We talked about on-site gyms and child care ...,” said Noordhoek, “but we have excellent gyms in Lincoln and excellent child care, so we decided against those for now.

So we subsidize gym memberships.

“Every business is working to get more women into the workforce. We have maternity leave and mother’s rooms,” Noord-

hoek added. “Every time we upgrade facilities, we have that in mind.”

There is a dedication to the community, as well. Each company stresses volunteer activities for its associates.

“Assurity likes participating in things together in the community,” said Susan Becker, vice president of human resources.

“Some of the things we do are impromptu, because of something that happened Becker in the community, or they are traditional events that are favorites.”

Raasch and Nelnet’s Mairead Safranek said their companies’ volunteer emphasis was inspired by associates.

“We have volunteer time-off benefits because that’s how our associates were already choosing to spend their time,” Raasch said of NRC’s program.

“We are extremely proud of giving back to our nonprofit community,” said Safranek, a senior communication specialist.

“Our associates get 90 minutes a week of paid time to volunteer.”

The approach to work attire is laid back, to say the least.

Noordhoek and Safranek were quick to show off a workspace filled with employees sporting a variety of Nelnet-branded

clothing. Noordhoek himself works in a T-shirt with the circle-n logo and said it’s common to see employees wearing the unofficial uniform. Each associate gets a Tshirt when hired and can purchase more for $5.

At Assurity, a company that dates to the 1890s, the code is simply “dress for your day.”

“We used to have casual Fridays before we changed, and a lot of our associates wear jeans and T-shirts on a daily basis,” Becker said of Assurity’s modern offices overlooking Antelope Creek in Union Plaza. “I base how I dress on what my calendar looks like — jeans one day, more business attire the next. I think our associates enjoy the flexibility.”

Raasch said NRC has come to similar conclusions.

“Most of our associates choose to wear NRC Health-branded clothing from our ‘swag shop,’” she said. “Within our open, office-free environment, our associates can collaborate comfortably, whether at a sitting desk or standing desk, on a medicine ball or a couch.”

At Nelnet, any given group of associates often includes someone standing, someone sitting and another pacing about.

The approach to the workplace environment and community involvement has a direct affect on morale and productivity.

While it is a relatively new concept in the workplace, even longtime associates have

embraced the change.

“Our older workforce is used to it and celebrates it, and adapted very well,” Noordhoek said.

Teamwork is critical in all three businesses and the workplace has contributed to the success of team concepts.

“We are all working together,” Becker said of the employees at Assurity, which work at providing insurance and employee benefits. “We are a midsized company, so a lot of us get to wear different hats. A lot of teams are project-based, with a variety of assignments.”

At Nelnet, each associate working in the Hudl building in the West Haymarket has a small locker to keep their personal items because they often move about the building as projects and teams change.

“It’s a very collaborative approach. With floating teams, you create new relationships,” Noordhoek said.

One of the benefits of that approach is company loyalty.

“We feel blessed that in our recruiting efforts, more than 60 percent of our new hires come from internal referrals or associates moving within the company,” NRC’s Raasch said.

Nelnet’s Safranek agreed.

“The benefit of the diversified approach is that associates can move laterally within the company or move up,” she said. “In this space, everyone is out in the open, even the executives, and that has been a good thing.”

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NRC Health employees rewarded for their quality work participate in a coffee tasting at Los Sueños Resort in Costa Rica in January. The company also reserves time on Friday afternoon for what it calls beer:30. “We tried very hard to keep our culture what it was as a startup back in 1981 to now with 450-plus associates,” said Jona Raasch, chief culture officer.

DIRECTIONS • SuNDay, FEbRuaRy 24, 2019 • L39

ANNUAL EVENTS

A second home Sports car enthusiasts, roller skaters are regular visitors to Lincoln TODD HENRICHS

Lincoln Journal Star

W

hen looking to land a signature event, cities often can tout glitzy new facilities — arenas and stadiums — in trying to draw visitors.

But for Lincoln, landing an event worth $2 million to $3 million in annual economic impact came down to a giant slab of concrete.

Since 2009, the Sports Car Club of America has brought 1,000 or more participants to Lincoln Air Park, where 91 acres of apron from the former Air Force base is transformed into a weeklong playground for enthusiasts competing in the Solo Nationals.

“First and foremost, the site out at the airport is A-1,” said Howard Duncan, senior director of the event for the SCCA. “Second has been the great welcome we’ve gotten from the community. By now these participants feel like this is a second home for them.”

Indeed, only 300 of the record 1,375 participants in 2018 were newcomers to the event, which spent 14 years in Topeka, Kansas, before first coming to Lincoln.

It’s booked at Lincoln Air Park through 2022, with an option to extend the contract through 2027.

That’s good news for local hotels and restaurants, and the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Derek Feyerherm, director of sales and operations for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the median income of participants is estimated at $130,000 a year. The vast majority stay in Lincoln hotels multiple nights, sometimes paying a premium for rooms when the Solo Nationals overlap a Nebraska football L40 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

weekend.

The event generally shuts down at dusk, so visitors have time to spend their evenings in the Haymarket.

Annual events like the Solo Nationals and the Roller Sports National Championships are big business.

The Roller Sports championships, an almost-annual staple at the Pershing Center before the downtown arena shut its doors, most recently played out on the wood floor put down at Speedway Village in southwest Lincoln. The earliest the skaters will return to Lincoln is 2021.

The event, which has grown to four weeks in length, has an estimated annual economic impact of $7 million to $8 million.

Unlike the sports car drivers who perennially return to the same location, the roller sports enthusiasts have looked to move the event around on occasion.

In these so-called hobby sports, competing at the national level is often a vacation week for participants, Feyerherm said. As a result, roller sports organizers seek to change the location in an attempt to keep participation at high levels.

Lincoln has an advantage though in that it’s centrally located to participants from both coasts, and like the Air Park apron for drivers, its city-owned wood floor has been a favorite of roller sports participants for decades.

Officials are hoping the city will put its arms around another annual event set to debut in Lincoln in 2020.

The Lancaster Event Center will host the National High School Finals Rodeo for the first time. It will return in 2021 and again in 2026 and 2027.

Each annual rodeo is expected to draw 50,000 visitors and competitors from more than 40 states, Canada, Australia and Mexico, competing in 13 events, from bull riding to barrel racing, pole bending to breakaway roping.

Each rodeo is expected to generate an estimated economic impact of $16 million in

FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO

Drivers and crew members prepare their Street Touring Extreme-class vehicles for runs during the Sports Car Club of America’s Tire Rack Solo Nationals at the Lincoln Air Park in 2016.

JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO

The crowd cheers as Ziarira Woodard races by in the primary girls speed race at the USA Roller Sports National Championships in 2017 at Speedway Village.

Lincoln alone, drawing competitors — and their families — from around the country who likely wouldn’t otherwise visit.

Feyerherm believes having the high school rodeo in Lincoln may open up the

market to other rodeo events.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7468 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSToddHenrichs

B&R STORES

Growing bigger in smaller markets

An average home creates 40 lbs. of dust every year.

Lincoln-based grocer adds stores in Beatrice, Waverly

Before Local photos taken by Duct Medic!

After

MATT OLBERDING

Lincoln Journal Star

I

t’s been nearly three years since B&R Stores has opened a new supermarket and six since it opened one in Lincoln.

But that doesn’t mean the Lincoln-based grocery store chain isn’t expanding its footprint.

In less than two years, B&R has bought three grocery stores in nearby communities and rebranded them as Russ’s Markets.

In May 2017, the company bought the family-owned Lovegrove’s Grocery Store in Waverly.

Last September, it bought a Beatrice grocery store from Kansasbased Heartland Foods.

Less than a month later, B&R announced it was buying the Newman’s Thriftway in Glenwood, Iowa.

Marty Jarvis, B&R’s marketing director, said the purchases were coincidental, timed to available opportunities and “not part of a specific growth strategy.”

But that could change.

“We are looking at some of these smaller towns a little more now,” said Pat Raybould, B&R’s president.

“This is like a new venture for us.”

Operating in the smaller towns is now easier for B&R Stores because of a move it made several years ago to switch to Associated Wholesale Grocers, Raybould said.

“We have a great wholesaler behind us; that helps,” he said, noting that Associated Wholesale Grocers already has a lot of customers in smaller markets.

Raybould said buying stores in smaller communities does not necessarily mean less competition. Wa-

Locally Owned & Operated

402.858.4250 www.ductmedic.com FRANCIS GARDLER PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR

Russ’s Market Express employee Jack Cheesman assists a customer at the grocery store in Waverly. B&R Stores bought the former Lovegrove’s store in 2017 and converted it to a Russ’s Market Express.

The Russ’s Market Express in Waverly is only about 8,500 square feet, much smaller than other Russ’s Market stores. verly is a short drive from Lincoln, for example, and Beatrice has other grocery stores and a Walmart.

And B&R has worked hard to make sure its prices are competitive with other stores.

Anecdotal evidence from customers in Beatrice, for instance, suggests prices are generally lower at the Russ’s Market than they were when the store was owned by Heartland Foods.

Because of the stores’ sizes, B&R has had to make some other adjustments as well.

All three are much smaller than a typical Russ’s Market. For example, the former Lovegrove’s location in Waverly is only about 8,500 square feet, less than a third the size of the

smallest Russ’s in Lincoln.

“We don’t have all of the departments, services and programs in those locations,” Jarvis said. “Examples include very limited bakery, delicatessen and floral. No pharmacy or cafés in the locations.”

The Waverly store actually was branded as a Russ’s Market Express, which the company at the time said would be a new, smaller Russ’s Market concept.

B&R has not added any other Express stores, but said it will consider them in the future if it acquires more small groceries.

That’s certainly a possibility, as Jarvis said B&R will continue to be open to opportunities to acquire small stores, “as they present themselves.”

But brand-new stores are certainly not out of the question, either.

“We’ve always done a good job of acquiring and building new,” Raybould said. “That’s our history.”

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Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L41

MALCO PRODUCTS

Replacing

AN ICON New tool to be manufactured in DeWitt, where Vise-Grip made its name ZACH HAMMACK

Lincoln Journal Star

D

ave Rentschler can sense a buzz around DeWitt — and it’s again linked to a pair of locking pliers.

Rentschler, who lives in the Saline County town of about 500 people, is a process specialist at the newly opened Malco manufacturing plant that was once home to Vise-Grip — and Rentschler’s old job.

In October, Minnesota-based Malco Products announced the plant would once again make a locking tool similar to the iconic Vise-Grip — this one called the Eagle Grip.

Rentschler worked for 20 years before Newell Rubbermaid shuttered the DeWitt plant in 2008 and shipped Vise-Grip production overseas.

“Since I own a house in town, I guess when the plant was closed, it made you realize how much your house is really worth,” Rentschler said in early February. “When it reopened, the town was excited about it.

Whenever I come in contact with someone in town, (they say) it means a lot.”

After losing his job, Rentschler spent some time studying graphic design but had trouble finding jobs in the field and worked at a Lincoln car dealership.

“It paid well, but I lived in DeWitt,” he said. “I wanted a job here.”

The return of locking-plier production was the perfect fit. As a process specialist, he’s one of the around 10 employees gearing up for production this spring.

Since Malco purchased the plant in 2016, L42 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

it’s been busy bringing it back to life — reinstalling utilities, specific equipment and lighting, working on the infrastructure.

After Vise-Grip left, the building was essentially gutted and used only for storage, according to plant superintendent Lucas Runke.

“This was 8 acres of concrete floor,” he said. “There was nothing inside.”

When everything is set, production can begin on the Eagle Grip — a tool with the basic design of locking pliers but with improved quality and strength, Runke said.

Malco’s tools are mostly geared to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry, but Runke said they will be sold through distributors to various retailers.

Manufacturing roots run deep in DeWitt, where Danish immigrant Bill Petersen invented the Vise-Grip in 1915 and began production after he patented the locking plier design in 1924. Petersen Manufacturing Co., which later became Irwin Industrial Tools, was purchased by American Tool in 1993. Newell Rubbermaid then purchased American Tool in 2002 before leaving DeWitt six years later.

At its height, the plant had more than 600 employees in DeWitt. For a time, American Tool also operated a second plant in Beatrice with more than 200 workers.

Runke said manufacturing’s return to DeWitt is symbolic — the Malco plant opened 10 years after the Vise-Grip plant closed.

He said he understands why people feel the way that they do about the plant’s clos-

GWYNETH ROBERTS PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR

David Harms, a process specialist, places a hot lower jaw piece straight from the forge press onto the trim press at Malco Products’ manufacturing plant in DeWitt. The plant reopened in 2018, 10 years after a previous owner shut down operations.

In October, Minnesota-based Malco Products announced that the plant it purchased in DeWitt would once again make a locking tool similar to the iconic Vise-Grip — this one called the Eagle Grip. ing, and that Malco can bring back more than just manufacturing to DeWitt.

“Everyone that is working down here has the feeling that they’re part of something special,” said Runke, who previously worked in Malco’s main facility in Annandale, Minnesota. “We’re trying to build a company in a new place that’s going to stand the test of time and give people the opportunity to buy more

American-made products.”

Ron Packett worked for years in both the DeWitt and Beatrice plants. He’s now a tool and die specialist with Malco.

“You see some of the former employees, and they’re all for it,” Packett said.

While the plant currently only has a handful of workers, there are plans to hire more throughout the year as more equipment is installed and the product line is launched.

That will mean a lot for DeWitt, a town many people left when their jobs disappeared. Runke, a fellow Midwesterner, sees only opportunity in Malco’s move to expand here.

“Making the decision to come down here wasn’t just about taking another job,” he said. “It was about being part of something special.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7225 at zhammack@journalstar.com.

■ Online: View more photos from the

DeWitt manufacturing plant as it gears up for expanded operations. @JournalStar.com

WAVERLY

Growth in the pipeline Waverly anticipates sewer expansion will sustain city’s growth JOHN SCHREIER

Lincoln Journal Star

W

averly recently repainted its water tower, adding its motto — “a great place to grow” — to the landmark visible to drivers along Interstate 80.

That same message certainly applies to the area itself, with a project completed in 2018 set to give Waverly the space it needs to grow long into the future.

Nearby fields are set to become prime growth territory for the booming bedroom community, which grew to 3,838 people according to census estimates last year. With work now finished on a new sewer system that can serve 1,700 undeveloped acres east of Waverly, city leaders are excited to convert the slogan into reality.

“When developers want to move, they want to move,” Waverly Mayor Mike Werner said. “They won’t wait 18 months for infrastructure. You build the infrastructure; they will come. We needed to make that investment.”

When that area is built up, Werner believes his community will double its housing stock. He estimates the east trunk sewer can support between 1,200 and 1,500 new homes — roughly the number that presently exist in Waverly — in addition to new industrial sites along Cornhusker Highway.

City Administrator Stephanie Fisher said the city issued 50 new home permits in 2017 and 55 in 2018.

The only problem is that Waverly is running out of room for new construction within its city limits, even as demand has remained high — hence the need to look for space to spread

out, as the city has done in recent years.

Waverly is effectively boxed in by Salt Creek to the north, and the interstate runs south and west of the community. To the east, however, fields of opportunity await — with the longawaited sewer serving as the catalyst.

In 2008, the city’s existing water treatment facility was upgraded to accommodate future growth. The 2013 comprehensive plan forecast Waverly would see its population increase by nearly half in 20 years, with a 2016 east trunk sewer study identifying how future extensions could be added to facilitate this level of growth.

With the bids let in 2017 and the 6,250-foot, 18-inch gravity-fed sewer main completed last spring, Waverly declared the area east of town open for development.

Though the city is yet to purchase any land in the sewer’s service area, Werner and Fisher said they’ve had informal discussions with developers.

A few landowners east of town have also expressed interest in selling their property for new residential subdivisions as well.

“Lots of great things are happening,” Fisher said. “Never a dull moment — it’s always progressive stuff.

It just takes time to get to completion.”

In 2017, Waverly officials celebrated the completion of a flood-control project aimed at clearing a number of existing properties in the city from the floodplain.

As the city’s population has grown, retail expansion has followed. In 2017, Tractor Supply opened a retail store near its expanded distribution center in Waverly.

However, the additional growth city leaders are anticipating brings with it growing pains. Waverly isn’t immune, though its officials are prepared for and welcome the challenges ahead.

SAVANNAH BLAKE, JOURNAL STAR

New housing continues to go up adjacent to Waverly’s water tower, which proudly claims the city is “a great place to grow.”

Roads present perhaps the most significant need regarding the community’s continued expansion.

The only links directly connecting Waverly to Lincoln are Cornhusker Highway and 148th Street, with the latter seeing traffic increases of 4.5 percent per year and serving as a de facto East Beltway, according to a Lancaster County engineering study.

Quality-of-life amenities and retail options also factor prominently into the city’s plans, Fisher said.

“We have developable land in our corporate limits for commercial and retail,” she said. “We’d love to see more of that. We’re always open to ideas, and we’re ready for more residential.”

Facilities such as the community center and swimming pool would likely need to be expanded to handle a rapidly growing population, and new neighborhoods would require the parks, green space and trails young families — the bulk of Waverly’s newest residents — desire.

But, as Werner notes, these problems are good ones to have — and far better than those faced by many small communities across Nebraska.

“If you stay the same, you’re losing if nothing’s ever changing,” he said.

“We’ve got some things going on and evolving here.”

Reach the writer at 402-473-7434 or jschreier@journalstar.com.

DIRECTIONS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • L43

COLLEGE TOWNS

Good neighbors Colleges help keep small Nebraska towns feeling young KEN HAMBLETON

For the Lincoln Journal Star

A

midnight deadline to lock down Doane’s connection to Crete had faculty and townsfolk knocking on doors to keep the college where it had been since 1872.

“Beatrice made a bid to meet the bills and take the college,” said current Doane University President Jacque Carter. “The people of Crete came through.”

Thirty miles up the road, Concordia University’s president, Rev. Brian Friedrich, tells the story of the school founded in Seward in 1894 providing for the town band, a high school, even a housing development.

He uses the term “symbiotic” for Concordia’s relationship with Seward.

Carter said partnership is the key to the conjunction of Doane and Crete.

Without the schools, the towns would be no different than many other Nebraska communities.

Without the cooperating cities, the universities wouldn’t be thriving engines of the local economy.

Neither school nor city can afford to go it alone.

“If you think about economic development in Seward or the growth of Concordia, you have to consider how they work together,” said Ellen Beck, a member of the Seward City Council and author of “Break Forth and Sing for Joy: Concordia Nebraska’s Song for 125 Years.”

“The city has to put itself in front of the university students, and the university has to take part in the city,” Beck said.

When citizens attend campus-related music, drama and educational events, such as the annual Plum Creek Children’s Literacy Festival, the town shares in Concordia’s wealth of talent.

Students in turn work in internships with local business and teach in the Seward L44 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

schools.

“The faculty and staff of Concordia are a part of the city, members of the Rotary, service clubs — neighbors and friends,” said Friedrich. Residents in Seward take pride and help fill seats for Concordia’s football, basketball, track and other sports programs.

A number of Seward citizens take classes at the university.

“Sure, we sell Seward to the students because this is where they’re going to live for four years and, as it turns out, maybe many years more,” Friedrich said.

The same goes for Doane and Crete, said Tom Sorensen, a financial adviser with Edward Jones.

As a member of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, Sorensen knows Crete needs students downtown. The city needs to take part in the university, as well.

“A great ‘for instance,’ Crete’s Great Pumpkin Festival — parade, celebrations, food and fun for the whole town — was rained out, and Doane invited the festival up to the field house,” Sorensen said. “It worked out great for everybody.”

Sorensen noted university students help with the community garden, a local soup kitchen and in general maintenance around town.

“Crete gives back with fundraising and taking part in the offerings on campus,” he said.

Dan Papik, who owns the Crete Ace Hardware, tells the story of moving his store a few blocks.

“I had a chance to get a lot more space for the store, and I had just a short time to make the move,” said the nephew of legendary Doane coach Al Papik. “It was a holiday weekend, and the only students on campus were the football team and the band.”

The students showed up with pickups and doughnuts, and Papik directed the

GWYNETH ROBERTS PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR

With Merrill Tower in the background, Doane University students pass the Cassel Open Air Theatre between classes. Doane is Nebraska’s oldest private college, founded in Crete in 1872. logistics and got the coffee and food. The move, which got underway at 5 p.m. Friday, was wrapped up in time for the new store to open the next day at 8 a.m. The students were rewarded with T-shirts.

That kind of cooperation comes natural in Seward, too, according to Beck.

“From the beginning, when four residents made the effort to start Concordia and acquire the land in Seward, the relationship has been very close,” said the longtime journalist.

“To this day, some students live with families in town and new growth in the city is tied to Concordia,” she said.

The Seward High football team plays on Concordia’s field (yes, that’s also the case in Crete). Most of the teachers in the Seward schools live next door to somebody who works at the university.

“When you ask ‘What’s going on?,’ you are asking about the town and the university because they work in tandem on so many things,” Beck said.

Friedrich said the phrase is lifted from

many sources, but added it is true that “What’s good for Concordia is good for Seward, and what’s good for Seward is good for Concordia. The booster clubs for our teams are filled with Seward people and the Seward High events include plenty of fans and volunteers from Concordia.”

He said that Seward has had a Parade of Homes in recent years. “That’s significant.

There is demand for new housing because the community — the university and town — are growing together.”

Crete is growing, too.

“The most recent real estate listings show just four houses for sale in Crete,” Sorensen said.

There’s a new hotel going up. New restaurants are opening, and the local scene is constantly changing.

Doane’s Carter wants the university to help with the effort to dress up Crete’s Main Avenue and to make the town more friendly to bicycle and foot traffic.

“We’re no longer the ‘college on the hill’ that you saw up the street from downtown

Crete years ago,” Carter said. “Now, you walk off campus in any direction and you’re in Crete, because the town has grown.

“It’s important to keep our relationship growing and improving. You want students to be a part of the community and the community to feel a part of the university.”

Doane has added staff to work with the city and Saline County, an area that has evolved from the significant numbers of immigrants of Czech and German heritage decades ago. Now a majority of the area’s new residents are Latino.

“The changes mean we have to change, too,” Carter said.

Friedrich said Seward and Seward County are always in the minds of Concordia leaders.

“52 percent of the people who live in Seward work in Seward,” he said. “We have people who travel to Lincoln and other towns for work, but this is their home. It’s home to Concordia, too.

“That’s why you see so many graduates from Concordia sticking around the area.”

By the numbers CRETE Population: 7,160 Doane undergrads: 1,011

SEWARD Population: 7,181 Concordia undergrads: 1,247

GWYNETH ROBERTS, JOURNAL STAR

Downtown Seward bustles with activity on a February weekday. The town’s growth is tied, in part, to record enrollment at Concordia University.

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BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS | MILeSTOneS LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

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he Journal Star invited businesses and other offices celebrating an anniversary divisible by five this year to share their history with

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The Time Shoppe 30 YEARS The Time Shoppe is owned and was founded by david and Vickie Wolfe, both still active in the business. also employed are daughter emily ehly and granddaughter Grace ehly. The Time Shoppe sells watches and watch bands, installs watch batteries, and repairs modern and antique watches. all work is done in the store at 6450 O St. tslincoln.com

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Wyuka Cemetery 150 YEARS Wyuka Cemetery, which embodies nebraska history, was established by the nebraska Legislature. The rolling terrain created a park-like cemetery with curving roads following the lay of the land. Trustees, appointed by the governor, named it Wyuka, a blending of Otoe and english languages meaning “place of reclining.”

JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO The cemetery comprises 140 acres, with a funeral home employing 15 Military headstones at Wyuka Cemetery, peppered by a mix of snow and people, the historic rudge Chapel fallen leaves, are decorated with flags in honor of Veterans day in 2014. and a restored stables where Shakespeare and community events are HopeSpoke in the community’s talent. Its cast/ held. crew/orchestra are all community70 YEARS wyuka.com HopeSpoke, formerly the Child based volunteers. pinewoodbowl.org Guidance Center, is celebrating deSchwarz Paper Co. cades of inspiring healthy futures for 120 YEARS children and their families through Parkway Bowl Locally owned Schwarz Paper Co. 60 YEARS comprehensive behavioral and menwas originally called nebraska bag 48 bowl Inc., comprised of Holtal health services in Lincoln. HopeCo. and was located near the presSpoke, founded by the Junior League lywood bowl and Parkway Lanes, ent-day Journal Star building. The of Lincoln and the Community Chest, celebrates Parkway’s 60th anniSchwarz brothers move to eighth and the precursor to the united Way, em- versary. The bowling centers are O streets in 1917. The business is now ploys 105 full- and part-time staff, locally owned and provide Lincoln near 14th Street and Pine Lake road. including licensed therapists, psy- and the surrounding communities Knox Jones is president of the comchologists, support staff and treat- with affordable family entertainment pany. He followed his father, dave, focused on value and customer serment specialists. who followed his father, J. Knox. at vice. 48 bowl gives back to Lincoln hopespoke.org one time, the company was the largmore than $20,000 annually through est toy wholesaler between denver Lincoln Trap & Skeet organizations such as Pins for Pups, and Chicago. Schwarz has 12 employJunior achievement, the Lincoln Chil70 YEARS ees and sells janitorial supplies and Lincoln Trap & Skeet, 4855 n. dren’s Zoo and other organizations. industrial paper.

48bowl.com 48th St., is the oldest clay target, schwarzpaper.com shotgun range in nebraska. It is open to the public with recreational Lincoln Sport Parachute Runza Restaurants shooting, league shooting and com- Club 70 YEARS petitions.

60 YEARS Sally everett and her brother, alex lincolntrapandskeet.com The Lincoln Sport Parachute Club, brening, founded the company and which has nearly 70 members, ofopened the first location near Pio- Pinewood Bowl Inc. fers a variety of skydiving classes to neers Park with a $500 investment.

70 YEARS first-timers, as well as a place for exIn 1966, Sally’s son, donald everett, Pinewood bowl Inc. celebrates perienced jumpers. It also performs purchased the rights to the runza seven decades of summer musicals demonstration jumps into events sandwich, trademarked the name presented at Pinewood bowl in Pio- and stadiums. Founded by Marion and opened his first runza restauneers Park. Volunteers started what “Shorty” Janousek and Ken Sisler, it’s rant at 56th and Holdrege streets. is now the Pinewood bowl tradition one of the oldest, continuously runas the chain expanded, don ensured with the first musical in 1949 and ning skydiving facilities in the world. quality was never compromised for volunteers work all year to preserve In the early ‘80s, it relocated to the the sake of growth. this uniquely Lincoln theater expe- Weeping Water airport. runza.com rience. Pinewood bowl Inc. believes skydiveLSPC.com L46 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO

Owner david Wolfe stands in the Time Shoppe in 2008.

Barstow Alexander Technique Institute

Advanced Office Automation 30 YEARS advanced Office automation sells and services Savin multi-function copy equipment, high speed duplicators and printers. Founders Paul evans and david Kyncl employ 12 people both in Lincoln and Omaha. a lot has changed in 30 years, but putting the customer first has never changed for aOa. aoa-ne.com

45 YEARS The barstow alexander Technique Institute was founded by Lincoln native Marjorie L. barstow to share the principles and discoveries of F.M. alexander regarding conscious change and use in movement. barstow was Guld Edge 30 YEARS the original graduate and the only established by Mark and Cheri american in alexander’s first trainbelger as a decorative hardware ing program in London.

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C and L Dairy Sweet Guld edge displays the largest selec40 YEARS Celebrating 40 years at 2101 W. tion of cabinet and door hardware Van dorn St., C and L dairy Sweet in Lincoln. guldedge.com serves its signature lemon cones every Tuesday and Wednesday. Clarice “Hap” Loomis orchestrated the ServeNebraska 25 YEARS move from West O Street to its curServenebraska, the nebraska rent location and still takes an acVolunteer Service Commission, cotive role in serving treats from april through September to those visiting ordinates ameriCorps programming nearby Pioneers Park. Hap’s three in the state. It works to grow the culdaughters and all six grandchildren ture of service in nebraska through have been a part of the operation. promotion and recognition of volunteer efforts, training and technical assistance, celebration of national Coddy’s Indian Jewelry days of service and sparking cre35 YEARS Coddy and Tom Houchen started ative partnerships. Its mission is to Coddy’s Indian Jewelry in 1984 at mobilize nebraskans to strengthen 3200 n.W. 12th Street in the best their communities through volunWestern airport Inn. Its Indian jew- teering, collaboration and national elry comes from new Mexico and ar- service programs. servenebraska.gov izona. It’s all handmade and sterling

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640 L St. #A Lincoln, NE 68508 402-475-3213 info@coppleinsurance.com coppleinsurance.com

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BASEMENT REPAIR Block & Beam Construction 4511 Baldwin Ave. Lincoln, NE 68504 402-467-5196 blockandbeaminc.com

info@christianrecord.org

blockandbeaminc.com

christianrecord.org

COMMERCIAL ROOFING

FOUNDATIONS-EDUCATION, PHILANTHROPY, RESEARCH

Skyline Construction, Inc.

Arbor Day Foundation

2541 Randolph St.

211 N. 12th St.

Lincoln, NE 68510 402-875-5876 sales@skylineconstinc .com skylineconst.com

Lincoln, NE 68508

TRAVEL AAA Nebraska 2900 O St. Lincoln, NE 68510 402-441-4500 nebraska.aaa.com

Elite Tours

402-474-5655

1603 Farnam St.

info@arborday.org

Omaha, NE 68102

arborday.org

800-488-2114 elitetours.us

CABINETS

DUCT CLEANING

Campbell’s Kitchen & Baths, Inc.

DuctMedic Air Duct Cleaning

4001 S. 8th St.

5200 N. 57th St. #2

AAA Nebraska

WATERPROOFING & MASONRY RESTORATION

Lincoln, NE 68502

Lincoln, NE 68507

2900 O St.

Gagner Restoration

402-477-4003

402-435-3828

Lincoln, NE 68510

ckcinc83@yahoo.com

info@ductmedic.com

402-441-4500

campbellskitchensdesign.com

ductmedic.com

nebraska.aaa.com

INSURANCE

1992 Lake St. Lincoln, NE 68502 402-474-6557 gagnerrestoration.com

BBB® is supported by approximately 10,000 Accredited Businesses that have voluntarily committed to adhere to BBB’s Standards of Trust. The companies listed are the sponsors of this page in the interest of consumer education. A complete list of BBB Accredited Businesses can be found at bbb.org. BBB does not endorse or recommend any company, product or service. Start With Trust® at: 402.436.2345 – 800.649.6814 – bbb.org.

L48 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 • DIRECTIONS

BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS | MILESTONES SuperGlass Nebraska Windshield Repair

Palmer’s Music

10 YEARS SuperGlass Nebraska Windshield Repair is part of the largest repaironly franchise worldwide, providing services to individuals and fleet managers. Its exclusive resin is designed to match the optical refractive index of glass for a quality repair. Repairing saves your windshield’s factory seal and is also environmentally responsible, keeping glass out of landfills. superglassnebraska.com

FIVE YEARS Palmer’s Music is a family-owned and -operated business founded by Kevin Palmer and his son Matthew. It specializes in repairing and restoring woodwind, brass and stringed instruments. Matthew is a fourth-generation repair technician, carrying on the legacy of his great-grandfather O.W. Palmer. In five years, it has expanded its shop to include four full-time technicians. www.palmersmusicstore.com

CountryHouse

Endacott, Peetz & Timmer

10 YEARS CountryHouse, 25th Street and Old Cheney Road, provides progressive memory care in homelike surroundings for individuals with alzheimer’s. It’s one of 11 CountryHouse communities across the country owned and operated by agemark, a senior-living company founded in 1987. agemark built two JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO CountryHouses in Lincoln; each employs more than 45 staff members.

Some of the first residents of CountryHouse work with program director Julie bisset to make football throw countryhouse.net pillows celebrating Super bowl week in 2010.

FIVE YEARS Endacott, Peetz & Timmer is a startup small business with 14 employees. The three attorneys who started the firm wanted to focus exclusively on helping clients with wills, trusts and estates. They are located in one of Lincoln’s oldest buildings, the Kennard building at 10th and K streets, and have other locations in Newman Grove and bruning. www.eptlawfirm.com

What DIRECTION are your Finances Headed?

IS HERE TO HELP Did you know you can get a lower “new auto loan rate” on 2017 and newer models when you finance at Lincone?

And if you don’t KNOW your rate, you could be paying too much!

For more answers to everyday personal finance questions, contact LincOne and join today!

We are growing with you, Lincoln!

402-441-3555 Become a Member! | 402-441-3555 • www.linconefcu.org DIRECTIONS • SuNDay, FEbRuaRy 24, 2019 • L49

BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS | beST In buSIneSS LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR

The Journal Star invited readers to share honors businesses or employees received in 2018 as best of state, region or nation. also included is a recap of the major awards presented by business organizations locally.

In the national art exhibition “american Landscapes 2018,” Lincoln paper artist Linda Stephen, founder of Linda Stephen Origami art and unfolding Communications, was awarded the Juror’s Choice award for “recess at Freeman School, beatrice, nebraska.”

Handersen Publishing, an independent press focused on creating engaging books for young readers, won five national awards for children’s books in 2018. “Cinderella’s Other Shoe” won the Purple dragonfly book award for best humor. “yam Hill” by Lincoln author Tevin Hansen was a finalist for the next Generation Indie book awards for best science fiction.

Honorable mention from the Purple dragonfly awards went to “The Thumb book of Kindness” for school issues, “So you Want to Learn Juggling” for educational, and “Felice the Christmas Fairy” for holiday.

JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO

Lincoln e-commerce company Spreetail has its home office at nebraska Innovation Campus.

Tom Miller, president of Lincoln Tent Inc., received the Legacy award from the Cattleman’s ball association for his longstanding support of the event. Lincoln Tent has provided services for the Cattleman’s ball since 1992.

Spreetail, a growing local e-commerce company, was recognized with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce’s top annual business

award. Other Celebrate business award winners included Richard Herink of First national bank of Omaha, Food bank of Lincoln executive director Scott Young, along with Strictly Business Magazine, Zoetis, Scheels, Don’t Panic Labs and the Lancaster Event Center.

Lincoln Trap & Skeet received the Club of the year award from the national Skeet Shooting association for having thrown the most competition skeet targets by a facility with six skeet fields. This is the third time in 10 years LT&S has been honored.

Woods Tennis Center was named Missouri Valley Tennis Facility of the year. More than 25 years ago, a group of Lincoln tennis enthusiasts who made the bubbles in Woods Park a reality dreamed that someday those bubbles would be replaced with a permanent building. That happened in 2017, with the dedication of the indoor facility with six courts.

Woods Tennis Center executive director Kevin Heim was named national recipient of the Tennis Industry association magazine’s “Wheelchair Tennis Champion” and was also named one of 10 regional Wheelchair net Gen-

eration Coaches for the united States Tennis association. Other nebraska Tennis association and Missouri Valley Tennis association honors for Woods employees were: Heim, Outstanding diversity achievement; Talor Wain, Contributor to youth High Performance; and Kaitlin roselius, Contributor to youth Programs.

Leadership Resources was recognized for its achievements in leadership development, with its clients chosen by Leadership Management International Inc. as World Client of the year.

Beatrice Ford Lincoln was selected as dealer rater’s 2018 & 2019 Ford & Lincoln dealer of the year. beatrice Ford Lincoln has been honored 15 times.

Canopy Street Market, the first full-service grocery store in downtown Lincoln in decades, was presented the downtown Trailblazer award. Other downtown Impact award winners included bar owner Matt Taylor, along with Hudl, BikeLNK, The Schwarz and the block of businesses on 14th Street between O and P streets.

Support These Local Businesses! streckcareers.com

IT’S NOT A JOB, IT’S A CAREER. 4001 S. 8th Street Lincoln NE 68502 402.477.4003 • campbellskitchensdesign.com

L50 • Sunday, February 24, 2019 • dIreCTIOnS

C O N T I N E N TA L - J O B S. C O M