COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACE
A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
July 26, 2019
Development of urban hubs takes shape throughout the metro area by Michelle Leach get coffee, and connectivity,” he said. The development of urban centers of The hub is set to generate $1.2-plus billion commerce and community in suburban areas in annual economic impact, 6,500-plus permais changing the metro landscape. nent jobs and 7,500-plus construction-related Recently, Jasper Stone Partners an- jobs. nounced the Omaha City Council unanimous“We’re not just looking for national retailly approved Avenue One, a three-phase, $1.2 ers, as good as they may be, we are jealously billion, 15- to 20-year mixed-use looking for homegrown talent — it undertaking at 192nd Street and could be a barber, or coffeeshops, West Dodge Road. or other types of retail services,” “I purchased my first piece of he said. ground 16 years ago, and the vision When asked for year-on-year for Avenue One began to come market updates, Investors Realty together 10 years ago — it’s been Principal and Vice President Tim a long process, because there were Kerrigan indicated the biggest so many complicating factors,” change is the balance between subsaid Managing Partner Curt Hofer. urban and urban core development Issues surrounding the project for office users. were “circumstantial,” unique to “New office space in suburban Kerrigan the area. Omaha has far outpaced downtown “The intersection was built as a over the last year,” he said. “Both rural farm and not as an urban, high-vehicular parts of the city have lots of good news but, demand intersection,” he said. while downtown has seen some employers Intersections at 132nd and 144th streets, grow and some exciting redevelopment, in for instance, were designed as urban inter- terms of new office space, downtown is getchanges. Continued on page 3. “This intersection drew the ‘short straw,’ and we couldn’t expand usage or development at that intersection,” Hofer said. He indicated creative solutions were crafted alongside the likes of state economic development and department of transportation partners. “The other primary issue is 192nd had been built by the county, not by the city, so it didn’t meet city standards,” Hofer said. “It was up to us, as the primary developer, to figure out how to pay for the removal of the road … we had to start from scratch.” With a groundbreaking slated for Aug. 13, the first projected $262 million phase spans market-rate, multi-family housing, retail and significant infrastructure, while Hofer noted phase two includes senior housing and a “Main Street” district to connect Millard and Omaha. “Great numbers of people can come here for retail and maybe some civic and government offices serve the needs of west Omaha, instead of people having to truck downtown,” he said. The third phase will be “market-driven;” given the unique opportunity that comes with 200 acres of park space, Hofer noted trail connections to Lawrence Youngman Lake and, ultimately, the Papio system. “These urban cores create an area where the revenue that the state and city can get out of them far outweighs the cost to service — fire and police — and it also gives all those neighborhoods some place to walk the dog,
Reaanddit
Curt Hofer, managing partner at Jasper Stone Partners.
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THE BUSINESS NEWSPAPER OF GREATER OMAHA, LINCOLN AND COUNCIL BLUFFS
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VOL. 45 NO. 30
LightEdge grows Papillion data center by targeting regional clients
THIS WEEK 'S ISSUE:
by Richard D. Brown
Abundance of interest meets evolving clarification on ‘opportunity zone’ requirements. – Page 2
40 er d Un 40 Alexander Wolf turns age from a barrier into an advantage at Koley Jessen. – Page 3
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Area organizations, partnerships work to make up for shortfalls in funding, high costs for seniors. – Page 23
LightEdge Solutions, a Midwestern-based operator of seven data centers, over the past 18 months has seen significant growth in its Papillion data center — so much so that the firm that just completed an expansion and renovation of its building is already mulling an additional build-out by the end of 2020. “Omaha has been a target market for us since 2000 and with our facility we’re finding there’s a growing acceptance by businesses in this region of the cloud infrastructure, services and products compared to companies on the coasts,” said Omaha-based Dan Kurtz, vice president of business development. Kurtz, a 1997 management information systems graduate of Bellevue University, said his nearly five years with LightEdge have convinced him the more than $20 million investment the privately-owned firm has made in its Sarpy country facility has been well warranted. LightEdge at present has 10,000 square feet of the 16,377-squareContinued on page 5.
Vice President of Business Development Dan Kurtz … Aiming for continued expansion of local data (Photo by MBJ / Becky McCarville) center.
Anderson Partners focuses on niche food ingredient industry, health care by Becky McCarville
As one of only a few marketing and communications firms in business-to-business food ingredient marketing nationally, 30-year-old Anderson Partners, co-owned by President Deb Murray and CFO Krista Meisinger, has positioned itself as an industry leader. With clients like Kraft Heinz, Ardent Mills and Corbion, Murray said the firm, which has been in the
food ingredient realm for 20 years, got into business-to-business social media marketing about 10 years ago and started a food ingredient group to see what people in the industry are talking about. She noted that Twitter is a major platform for business-to-business communication because it’s easy to follow and photographs of food ingredient applications and end products make Continued on page 5. Deputy Director Cammy Watkins, left, and Executive Director Maggie Wood … Demand is growing for safe places within businesses and the community were individuals can talk about inclusivity and diversity.
Inclusive Communities expands service area, launches LeadDiversity program by Savannah Behrends
Co-owners CFO Krista Meisinger, left, and President Deb Murray … Marking 30 years in business and 20 years in the food ingredient industry.
What started locally in 1938 as an organization to combat religious bigotry, Inclusive Communities has continued to remain relevant by collaborating with like-minded organizations and evolving with community issues. Now in its 81st year, it’s launched LeadDiversity. LeadDiversity is aimed at collaborating with the business com-
munity to cultivate and empower diversity and inclusivity leaders in the workplace and community. “Really showing folks that in order to have great outcomes you need diverse input and then what diversity looks like and how do you incubate and grow it,” said Deputy Director Cammy Watkins. The first class of participants, dubbed advocates by the organiContinued on page 4.