With a grain of salt...

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:12 pm

WARNING! What I am about to post is the extent of what I know about this. I am holding nothing back.

I was sitting in a restaurant in Downtown Detroit today. My guests weren't there yet so I was just sitting there, minding my own business.

There were a half dozen or so people at the table next to me and they weren't speaking softly, thus I wasn't eavesdropping. I was hearing.

They were talking about some business deal that they were working on for Detroit when one of them says out of the blue "We should have gotten what Omaha is about to get. It hasn't been announced yet but I wish we had what they have." Another one said "How did they land that?" The first one said "Their Chamber really outdid ours. They had the answers before our chamber finished writing down the questions." "New construction?" "Yep. Right downtown." "That's a ton of new jobs for a city that size." "Think we can change their mind?" "Nope. Already tried. Dallas too." "They beat out freakin Dallas too??" "From what I heard Dallas was out of it before we were." "That's two deals Omaha got this year alone." "What's the other one?" ......

At that point my guests showed up and it would have been kind of hard to ask my guests to shut up and sit down so I could hear the other table. I didn't hear everything they said and I didn't hear anything more after "What's the other one?" The other table left about 5-10 minutes after my guests arrived so there probably wasn't much more to hear.

(Is that enough for you to go on, Local Monopoly Fishwrap? Do I need to give you the number at the Chamber or do you remember the number for 411 to find it on your own? I just hope this isn't some carefully crafted hoax.)

Anyway, it should be interesting to see what comes out of this....and no, I'm not going back to that restaurant tomorrow just to see if they come back.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:27 pm

Well this just sparks an extreme amount of interest. It sounds big whatever it is.

delinea design · Post by **delinea design** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:12 pm

hmm, I'm trying to think of big projects downtown that the three cities' chambers could be competing for. All I can speculate is streetcar, but that doesn't seem to quite fit.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:18 pm

delinea design wrote:hmm, I'm trying to think of big projects downtown that the three cities' chambers could be competing for. All I can speculate is streetcar, but that doesn't seem to quite fit.

Yeah it doesn't seem like the cities would compete for streetcar service.

OmahaJaysCU · Post by **OmahaJaysCU** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:19 pm

A corporate relocation?

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:27 pm

OmahaJaysCU wrote:A corporate relocation?

Thats what I was thinking I mean I can see us beating out Detroit for hopefully a Fortune 1000 company. I hope if the deal is basically finalized it will be announced some time this summer. What else would make sense downtown?

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:46 pm

delinea design wrote:hmm, I'm trying to think of big projects downtown that the three cities' chambers could be competing for. All I can speculate is streetcar, but that doesn't seem to quite fit.

As much as I'd like to hope it was federal funding for streetcars, I can't see how it could be; Dallas already received TIGER funding and there isn't another planned major transit disbursement until next year.

If there is anything to this rumor, corporate relocation seems to be the most likely. Maybe they're a prospective tenant for Wall Street Tower!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:16 pm

Comerica?

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:17 pm

I agree, if there is any merit to this at all, definitely corporate relocation. I could envision a conference which the local chamber would be explaining and offering incentives, and clearly the most motivated and knowledgeable would have an advantage. Either way, I just wish the chamber was even remotely as eager to express interest in new small business, too.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:25 pm

DTO Luv wrote:Comerica?

They do have their name on a building in Dallas and a baseball field in Detroit. That would be quite a get.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:27 pm

iamjacobm wrote:
DTO Luv wrote:Comerica?
They do have their name on a building in Dallas and a baseball field in Detroit. That would be quite a get.

Comerica was based in Detroit and then moved hq to Dallas. Not a ton of jobs. Just hq. They moved to Dallas because they wanted to be in Texas.

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:27 pm

so if that were the first, what could be the second? It's crazy, but there could be 3 more towers in downtown within a few years.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:29 pm

whats the deal with pac life? I thought they were supposed to relocate to omaha this year?

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:34 pm

thenewguy wrote:so if that were the first, what could be the second? It's crazy, but there could be 3 more towers in downtown within a few years.

Good point on the other thing too ahh this stuff is too exciting. Omaha is a hot commodity obviously.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:39 pm

I think Comerica was a good guess. Maybe a division moving to Omaha.

OmahaJaysCU · Post by **OmahaJaysCU** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:54 pm

My key thing to take from that is jobs. I would immagine that the most likely would be a new division of a company that will be hiring a good number of new people. Corporate relocation, at least in my eyes, would bring more people here as opposed to hiring new.

Hopefully there is some truth to this. That would be an amazing get. I hope they meant Omaha, Nebraska and not Omaha, Arkansas

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:53 am

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:42 am

Brad wrote:UFL?

while i'm happy Omaha got a team, i'd be disappointed if that was what one of the things were.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:12 am

Brad wrote:UFL?

Lol. Actually, I think they were talking about us getting a new Wal-Mart :;):

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:08 am

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Actually, I think they were talking about us getting a new Wal-Mart :;):

Don't be cruel!

ShawJ · Post by **ShawJ** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:42 am

I highly doubt they were talking about the UFL. Dallas has an actual NFL team. Also, I don't see the UFL "bringing in a ton of jobs" if that's what they said.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:19 pm

ShawJ wrote:I highly doubt they were talking about the UFL. Dallas has an actual NFL team. Also, I don't see the UFL "bringing in a ton of jobs" if that's what they said.

Yeah and they were saying it hasn't been announced yet, Detroit had an NFL team already too they could probably care less about that.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:28 pm

Iowa Cubs? Neither Dallas nor Detroit have MLB clubs. :;):

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:58 pm

Detroit Tigers
Texas (Arlington) Rangers

I still think it's a Wal-Mart...

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 2:45 pm

Probably just another crappy insurance domicile. That, or another shipment of Sudanese immigrants... I always heard we were second only to Detroit in Sudanese.

Seems like every 5 years or so you throw one of these at us Bob... have any of them ever materialized into anything?

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:09 pm

Stargazer wrote:Probably just another crappy insurance domicile. That, or another shipment of Sudanese immigrants... I always heard we were second only to Detroit in Sudanese.

Seems like every 5 years or so you throw one of these at us Bob... have any of them ever materialized into anything?

Well Jeff, the only other one of these I threw actually did come to pass.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:13 pm

This is interesting.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:26 pm

What did you give us previously? the Cheesecake Factory or something? (or was that Lou?)

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:39 pm

Stargazer wrote:What did you give us previously? the Cheesecake Factory or something? (or was that Lou?)

Lou was cheesecake. He found it on the Heating and Air website!

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 3:46 pm

S33 wrote:Detroit Tigers
Texas (Arlington) Rangers

Like I said... no MLB.

S33 wrote:I still think it's a Wal-Mart...

Maybe it's THE Wal-Mart? Jeff would be half right... Arkansas is a lot like the Sudan.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:24 pm

Big E wrote:
S33 wrote:Detroit Tigers
Texas (Arlington) Rangers
Like I said... no MLB.

Well they did each finish second in their divisions last year. But yes, they fielded some awful teams as of late.

StillErik · Post by **StillErik** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:57 pm

I doubt had anything to do with pro-sports. Detroit already has MLB, NBA, Hockey, Soccer and Football so I don't think they were fighting Omaha to get a second team in any of those sports.

I cannot help but to now have a lot of excitement for the next few months.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:28 pm

Wow. This might actually be the best Omaha development rumor EVER!!!

This really sounds like a doozy. I wonder if it has any relation to the new North Downtown rumor... ?

It would be kick |expletive| to have a few big announcements this summer, especially as I will be heading to grad school in the Fall. It would give me some great projects to follow for the two years or more I'll be away.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:20 pm

StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Wow. This might actually be the best Omaha development rumor EVER!!!

This really sounds like a doozy. I wonder if it has any relation to the new North Downtown rumor... ?

It would be kick |expletive| to have a few big announcements this summer, especially as I will be heading to grad school in the Fall. It would give me some great projects to follow for the two years or more I'll be away.

Where will you be studying?

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:44 pm

I've been accepted to one and I'm still waiting to hear from two more... Not sure yet. Stay tuned...

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:16 pm

Maybe it's CenturyTel merging with Qwest and moving their Fortune 500 company HQ to Omaha from Monroe, LA. That would be cool.

mcarch · Post by **mcarch** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:33 am

That could be a possibility! Sucks for Denver though... bu oh well =)

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:24 am

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. They have said however that the headquarters would be moved from Denver to Monroe... so it does suck for Denver.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:30 am

Stargazer wrote:I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. They have said however that the headquarters would be moved from Denver to Monroe... so it does suck for Denver.

Denver will be fine. How would you like to be one of those "lucky" ones who gets transferred to Monroe?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 03, 2010 7:53 am

Coyote wrote:I think Comerica was a good guess. Maybe a division moving to Omaha.

If not Comerica, I'd take Kramerica. That oil bladder thing could really prove useful still