Aksarben Village (67th & Center)

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:16 pm

Omahanerd wrote:
Axel wrote:Nice! You know,with so many of us in Chicago, we may just have to organize a meet up of our own.
Absolutely. Let's set this up. You are way more active on the board so I may need to rely on you to round up the Chicagoans.

Let's party.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:45 am

Finally!

Waitt Plaza

http://www.omaha.com/article/20131215/M ... ing-garage

Steve Jordon OWH wrote: By early 2016, a key Aksarben Village intersection will be occupied by an eight-story, $35 million office and retail building and an adjacent $15 million parking garage.

The $50 million Waitt Plaza, with construction starting next summer at the vacant northeast corner of 67th and Frances Streets, will add new retailers, restaurants and office tenants.

This is big for Aksarben. Talk about an anchor to attract more development! It sounds like these are going to be a good couple of years for Omaha development again.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:49 am

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:57 am

Aksarben Village is becoming a huge success story for Omaha.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:42 pm

Great to hear this. I am still waiting to hear something for Pacific Life, but this building seems like a possibility for a relocation.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:34 pm

FIFTEEN hundred parking spaces?! That is one huge parking structure! They must be planning a lot of dense housing for next door.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:49 pm

nativeomahan wrote:FIFTEEN hundred parking spaces?! That is one huge parking structure! They must be planning a lot of dense housing for next door.

Really makes you wonder if we need 2000 surface parking stalls by the arena. A/V is going to be begging for more developable land in a few years, I would hate to see progress slowed by massive paved swaths south of Center.

There is a really good example of building an arena that fits into a growing neighborhood an hour SW of us. Maybe we should learn from them.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 10:29 pm

iamjacobm wrote:
nativeomahan wrote:FIFTEEN hundred parking spaces?! That is one huge parking structure! They must be planning a lot of dense housing for next door.
Really makes you wonder if we need 2000 surface parking stalls by the arena. A/V is going to be begging for more developable land in a few years, I would hate to see progress slowed by massive paved swaths south of Center.

There is a really good example of building an arena that fits into a growing neighborhood an hour SW of us. Maybe we should learn from them.

From what I have heard, AV tenants are somewhat worried about not having parking when the Arena opens. The whole development is dense and with no mass transit in this town, what are people going to do.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 10:54 pm

Brad wrote:
iamjacobm wrote:
nativeomahan wrote:FIFTEEN hundred parking spaces?! That is one huge parking structure! They must be planning a lot of dense housing for next door.
Really makes you wonder if we need 2000 surface parking stalls by the arena. A/V is going to be begging for more developable land in a few years, I would hate to see progress slowed by massive paved swaths south of Center.

There is a really good example of building an arena that fits into a growing neighborhood an hour SW of us. Maybe we should learn from them.
From what I have heard, AV tenants are somewhat worried about not having parking when the Arena opens. The whole development is dense and with no mass transit in this town, what are people going to do.

I know that 7250 of the 7500 will have to the games by vehicle. I still think the city should push hard for an onsite garage, probably not going to happen with the costs involved though.

It is just frustrating to think that A/V is going to have nowhere to grow in a few years. We get this incredibly high quality mixed-use development then limit it to a couple city blocks. I think we might have to look into rezoning the homes east of A/V because there is going to be a lot of demand for larger scale buildings once A/V fills out.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:00 pm

iamjacobm wrote:I think we might have to look into rezoning the homes east of A/V because there is going to be a lot of demand for larger scale buildings once A/V fills out.

I think growth to the south would be more likely. The trailer park east of the Arena, MUD land south of the arena. (That said, I believe MUD is building a large Sanitary Sewer Siphon down there somewhere too). May be even all the way to 60th along the south side of Center.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:02 pm

Brad wrote:
From what I have heard, AV tenants are somewhat worried about not having parking when the Arena opens. The whole development is dense and with no mass transit in this town, what are people going to do.

People are eventually going to realize the bus system we have is quite good for accessing Aksarben Village. You can park and catch a number of buses that will take you directly to or within a few blocks of the core there, and they are rather direct.

11 Leavenworth (Direct)
13 72nd/L/Q/13th
15 Center (Direct)
18 72nd/Ames/20th
32 Grover
55 84th/Q (Direct)

As it currently stands, I would rather use my car because parking is plentiful, but it might become less convenient in the future. Like for me, I only use the bus for downtown events because it's so convenient. Metro is going to have to do some advertizing or something, because 99% of people don't realize Aksarben has some good service.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:08 pm

Busguy2010 wrote:People are eventually going to realize the bus system we have is quite good for accessing Aksarben Village. You can park and catch a number of buses that will take you directly to or within a few blocks of the core there, and they are rather direct.

7000 people leaving a Hockey game at 10:30PM on a Friday or Saturday night?

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:13 pm

Brad wrote: 7000 people leaving a Hockey game at 10:30PM on a Friday or Saturday night?

Well, no, I didn't say it was good for night life, but there's also more to Aksarben than night life. A simple fix though, Metro can't be that far off from extending hours. For the majority of the day and week, the bus isn't a bad way to get there for a lot of people. They just don't realize it.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:18 pm

Well your right about that. And yes, I agree that Metro could easily add buses.

Last spring I went to a Caps game in DC and it was awesome seeing 20,000 fans file out of the arena and the vast majority went right down in to the metro.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:23 pm

A big reason UNO wants a lot of parking down there is that they need to replace their space at Crossroads too.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:36 am

That place looks fantastic!!! Aksarben is kicking |expletive|!

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 1:16 pm

Awesome project!

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:16 pm

Post by **Brad** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:56 pm

Wow, I guess I haven't driven through the village lately! Thanks for the update Coyote!

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 8:32 am

I haven't driven through there in a while, but wow, that is looking good!

Post by **Brad** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 8:42 am

The ceiling and light fixtures are mostly in on the second floor of the Gordmans building.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:27 am

Personally I attribute the success of Aksarben Village to its proximity to the Walmart on 72nd. They always drive growth. Nothing like a Walmart near the entrance to a development. Now I gotta have me some National Coffee!

Post by **Brad** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:55 pm

Photo Update - New Gordman's Headquarters.
1.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:54 pm

The street barricades are now down in front of the Gordmans building!

Post by **Brad** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:26 pm

Coyote wrote:The street barricades are now down in front of the Gordmans building!

Lol, yesterday the wind took several of them down!

Good to hear, it looked like they were finishing up some of the planters and what not the other day.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:29 pm

They still had some equipment on the sidewalks. They look like huge sidewalks from what I saw at night...

Post by **Brad** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:41 pm

Quick one from Thursday evening:

1.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:45 pm

Nice! Gotta love the way the evening light will hit that building!

Post by **Brad** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:48 pm

Coyote wrote:Nice! Gotta love the way the evening light will hit that building!

Thanks! I made it up there with a couple min to spare on the light, and got out of there about 5 seconds before the frontline security guard caught up to me!

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:52 pm

Brad wrote:
Coyote wrote:Nice! Gotta love the way the evening light will hit that building!
Thanks! I made it up there with a couple min to spare on the light, and got out of there about 5 seconds before the frontline security guard caught up to me!

Don't we have one of 'them' posting here that you can *ahem* *cough* *cough*, you know....

Post by **Brad** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:56 pm

Coyote wrote:
Brad wrote:
Coyote wrote:Nice! Gotta love the way the evening light will hit that building!
Thanks! I made it up there with a couple min to spare on the light, and got out of there about 5 seconds before the frontline security guard caught up to me!
Don't we have one of 'them' posting here that you can *ahem* *cough* *cough*, you know....

He was, but disappeared a while back... May be need to hit him with an email.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:13 pm

Does anyone know if this Residence Inn will have any impact on the current one behind Office Max?

Omaha_Gabe · Post by **Omaha_Gabe** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:46 pm

iamjacobm wrote:Does anyone know if this Residence Inn will have any impact on the current one behind Office Max?

Rumor has it that the new RI was trying to buy out the flag from that one so they would be the only on in the midtown area. Not sure if the old will switch flags or sell the property

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:55 pm

What do you mean by buy out the flag?

Omaha_Gabe · Post by **Omaha_Gabe** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:00 am

A name of a hotel is a flag. Hotel franchisees pay to have the name like Residence Inn for a certain amount of years.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:48 pm

Gordman's looks more or less finished. All the design elements on the building look like they are up, just landscaping and finishing touches now. The original open date was March 2014.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:57 pm

The offices have looked done for a couple weeks, but the south end lobby and the ground floor looked like they had a ways to go.

Post by **Brad** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:44 pm

Gordmans HQ Update:

1.

2.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:48 pm

That is looking nice! Is that a patio on the SE corner of the second floor?

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:42 am

Looks great!! What was the date they said they were going to start on Waitt Plaza?