Grand Island Rumor Mill

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Thu May 05, 2022 7:11 pm

I was driving down S Locust today and saw a sign for another Tommy’s Express Carwash. Can anyone confirm this? Seems strange to add a second one already.

Post by **nebugeater** » Mon May 09, 2022 5:40 am

gisbuxfan wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 7:11 pm I was driving down S Locust today and saw a sign for another Tommy’s Express Carwash. Can anyone confirm this? Seems strange to add a second one already.

The Tommy's Express website lists two GI locations.

1710 S Locust St Grand Island, NE 68801 (says coming soon when you click on details)

710 Allen Dr Grand Island, NE 68803

https://tommys-express.com/locations/

djc311 · Post by **djc311** » Mon May 09, 2022 7:42 am

nebugeater wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 5:40 am
gisbuxfan wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 7:11 pm I was driving down S Locust today and saw a sign for another Tommy’s Express Carwash. Can anyone confirm this? Seems strange to add a second one already.
The Tommy's Express website lists two GI locations.

1710 S Locust St Grand Island, NE 68801 (says coming soon when you click on details)

710 Allen Dr Grand Island, NE 68803

https://tommys-express.com/locations/

Excuse my ignorance, but I have a few questions about this in general (car wash expansion):

-What started this whole thing? I mean I know people appreciate their cars... it seems like I'm seeing more expensive vehicles in Omaha all the time (ie, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, etc), although I'm 99.9% certain these owners don't use automatic car washes, LOL
-I'm sure many of us have tried the washes at gas stations like HyVee, Buckys (now Casey's) and so forth. Generally speaking the wait times at these suck if you find yourself in a line more than a few cars deep - so I see the benefit to faster locations, but why all of a sudden?
-Many new vehicle owners don't want to use a car wash with brushes - I've heard both sides of the story here, from car dealerships saying there's nothing wrong with them, to other car manufacturers saying to never use the brushes. I took my older vehicle through a Rocket Wash and I asked the cashier about having a touchless option and she said they don't have it. However, I went on another visit and they told me you can simply request "no brushes" and they can turn them off. So which is it? If I were buying a decent new car today ($50k+) I wouldn't want to take it through a brush wash.[/list]

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:44 am

For sure car washes like this are trendy right now. The other draw to them is memberships. It’s the appearance of being able to wash all you want for that monthly fee.

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue May 24, 2022 6:55 am

gisbuxfan wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 11:44 am For sure car washes like this are trendy right now. The other draw to them is memberships. It’s the appearance of being able to wash all you want for that monthly fee.

Is there a catch or a limit?

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Thu May 26, 2022 6:22 pm

Not that I have seen. I subscribed a couple of times. I was able to cancel whenever I wanted. It sounds nice and all, but I just don't get to the car wash that often so it wasn't worth it in the end for me.

nebugeater wrote: Tue May 24, 2022 6:55 am
gisbuxfan wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 11:44 am For sure car washes like this are trendy right now. The other draw to them is memberships. It’s the appearance of being able to wash all you want for that monthly fee.

Is there a catch or a limit?

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:30 pm

Anyone have an idea of what’s happening along Diers Ave north of Discount Tire?

badlander · Post by **badlander** » Sun Jun 12, 2022 2:20 pm

Denver Mattress to occupy the spot north of Discount Tire on Diers Ave.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:50 pm

Looks like Denver Mattress is the next one north leaving what is happening next to Discount Tire a mystery.

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:47 pm

gisbuxfan wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:50 pm Looks like Denver Mattress is the next one north leaving what is happening next to Discount Tire a mystery.

Maybe another member of the Furniture Row family??

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Fri Jun 24, 2022 3:30 pm

Just heard about this for the first time this morning from a friend, then a few hours later I was seeing it in the news.. sounds like this is going to be a big event!

Nebraska's '100 Square Body' classic GM truck auction is first of its kind

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/nebraskas- ... ck-auction

Post by **Brad** » Fri Jun 24, 2022 9:06 pm

gisbuxfan wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 3:30 pm Just heard about this for the first time this morning from a friend, then a few hours later I was seeing it in the news.. sounds like this is going to be a big event!

Nebraska's '100 Square Body' classic GM truck auction is first of its kind

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/nebraskas- ... ck-auction

Dang, Derek from Vice Grip Garage would be in heaven. He just rescued another square body on his newest video that came out this evening.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:33 am

Just heard a whopper of a rumor..

BIG changes coming to Conestoga Mall. Sounds like the north part of the mall is in for some major renovation and south part of the mall will be torn down. Dillards which is the only remaining large box store at the mall besides Best Buy will either move to the north end or move to Prairie Commons. After demolition of the south side, Target will be building on that side. From what I hear everything hinges on Target at the moment, but if it goes through I think it's probably a pretty big win for all involved.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:46 pm

I'm surprised that Allegiant hasn't added more destinations from GRI

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:08 pm

Bob from Omaha wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:46 pm I'm surprised that Allegiant hasn't added more destinations from GRI

CNRA is planning an expansion. I’m wondering if this will attract new flights. Kearney can’t seem to pull in the contracts it needs to keep up.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Fri Jul 01, 2022 4:59 pm

gisbuxfan wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:08 pm
Bob from Omaha wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:46 pm I'm surprised that Allegiant hasn't added more destinations from GRI
CNRA is planning an expansion. I’m wondering if this will attract new flights. Kearney can’t seem to pull in the contracts it needs to keep up.

Seriously? An expansion so quick after opening the new terminal? Wow. I just think there are many possibilities for growth at GRI. I've said before, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, either all or most, as well as leisure destinations by Allegiant. In a 75 mile radius there are over 330,000 people.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:45 pm

Bob from Omaha wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 4:59 pm
gisbuxfan wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:08 pm
Bob from Omaha wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:46 pm I'm surprised that Allegiant hasn't added more destinations from GRI
CNRA is planning an expansion. I’m wondering if this will attract new flights. Kearney can’t seem to pull in the contracts it needs to keep up.
Seriously? An expansion so quick after opening the new terminal? Wow. I just think there are many possibilities for growth at GRI. I've said before, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, either all or most, as well as leisure destinations by Allegiant. In a 75 mile radius there are over 330,000 people.

Yeah, they want to bring in larger aircraft. Here is a brief article on it..

https://nebraska.tv/amp/news/local/gi-c ... -aircrafts

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Jul 05, 2022 10:19 am

Homes in Hall, Merrick counties damaged in Monday tornado

Fourth of July tornado roared through a stretch of Hall and Merrick counties for 19 minutes early Monday morning, reaching a peak speed of 110 mph. No injuries or fatalities were reported, but six to eight homes were damaged in eastern Hall County and southwest Merrick County, according meteorologist Jordan Thies of the National Weather Service in Hastings. The tornado touched down at 12:51 a.m. four miles south of Grand Island and continued until 1:10 a.m. 4.8 miles southwest of Chapman.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Jul 05, 2022 6:12 pm

EF-1 tornado drags 10-mile path starting southeast of Grand Island

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Thu Sep 15, 2022 10:08 pm

Despite your personal opinions on the use of TIF funds, this is a big move.

New Grand Island Conestoga Mall managers plan $150 million development

https://theindependent.com/news/local/ ... ca798.html

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:25 pm

The story doesn’t give the reader a clue what on earth they are talking about doing.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 9:14 pm

nativeomahan wrote: Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:25 pm The story doesn’t give the reader a clue what on earth they are talking about doing.

From what I understand they will be tearing down a huge section of the mall for the purpose of redevelopment. The rumor is the developers are wanting to put a Target into this space. It's all been hinging on declaring the area blighted which was just passed by the city council last night

https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2022/11/09/c ... claration/

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:43 pm

It’s amazing that GI hasn’t had a Target. Kearney and Norfolk have had Targets operating for many years.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Wed Dec 14, 2022 9:20 pm

Noticed fencing up around a property on the southeast corner or Hwy 281 and Capital Ave. next to Axe Holes and Harbor Freight. Any ideas what is happening here?

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:20 pm

Dillards has posted signage in it's Conestoga Mall store that it's closing, not relocating. The citizens are up in arms on social media. That store was rumored to be closing back around 2000 and it survived the rumors and continued on, but apparently the thought of relocating during the massive mall remodel wasn't of interest to them.
I'm not sure we've heard the last of this, though...

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:23 pm

Another big retailer is shutting down operations in Grand Island. Bed Bath and Beyond is closing its doors. https://theindependent.com/news/local/b ... OGS05DPc7M

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:26 pm

I was reminded of a development that was supposed to have happened in 2022. Anyone know what happened with the Family Fun Center that was planned for the corner of Claude and Faidley by KER Enterprises LLC? They received a unanimous vote for TIF funds back in October but it seems the project never began.

gichick · Post by **gichick** » Wed Feb 08, 2023 7:41 pm

For that family fun center, I think I remember reading that if construction didn't begin by November, then the project would be a no-go.

There hasn't been anything happening at the corner there and for sale signs are still up.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Mar 03, 2023 8:06 pm

Nebraska company buys Conestoga Mall

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - The deal is done. Woodsonia Real Estate of Elkhorn had closed on a deal to buy the Conestoga Mall in north Grand Island Friday, according to Hall County Regional Planning Director Chab Nabity. Woodsonia bought the mall from Namdar Realty Group out of New York, the former owners of the Imperial Mall in Hastings. The Elkhorn company has plans to remodel and rename the mall to the “Conestoga Marketplace.”

They are planning a more than $200 million redevelopment to the area, with plans to make the stores outward facing, as well as improving eating and entertainment options on the grounds, and adding a hotel and housing. Woodsonia has been working for several months with the city including getting plans through planning commission and council on their proposed project.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:10 pm

In no surprise to the Connestoga Mall development Target has been officially announced.

https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2023/03/08/ ... utType=amp

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:48 am

Gosh, it’s about time for GI to have a Target!

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:28 pm

Grand Island Veterans Home moves forward with redevelopment

https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2023/03/08/ ... velopment/

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:16 am

$250 million redo of tired regional mall signals further change in Nebraska’s fourth largest city
Grand Island leaders see future payoff in hefty public incentive package

GRAND ISLAND — A dying 1970s-era shopping mall is about to get a $250 million makeover that local leaders hope will help return a retail sparkle and regional tourism draw to Nebraska’s fourth largest city. In its next iteration, the 50-acre Conestoga Mall site is to feature apartments and a hotel around a modern, downsized shopping complex that will offer a Target and a national tenant lineup yet to be identified.

Incentives, public subsidies

Working with Omaha-based developer Woodsonia Real Estate, city officials have agreed to a package of public subsidies and incentives covering about a third of the project cost.

The outside of Grand Island’s Conestoga Mall on March 19, 2023. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)

Included in the assist is $26 million in city-approved tax-increment financing and an occupation tax on on-site transactions that over time is expected to generate nearly $37 million to pay off financing bonds. The city over multiple years is to contribute about $10 million from its general fund. “This will re-energize shopping in Grand Island,” said Hall County regional planning director Chad Nabity. “And we desperately need the housing — it’s just a quick walk to go to restaurants, the movies, Target. All of those things play into making a better place.” The future Conestoga Marketplace is viewed as a key commercial revival for this central Nebraska city of about 44,000 people that, overall, is seeing a burst of housing and economic development energy.

Growth in Grand Island

Among that other activity:

The regional Grand Island Medical Center opened in the summer of 2020, near the start of the pandemic. And the Prairie Commons health care campus, where the hospital is planted, continues to grow. This month, for example, Tabitha Senior Living Community, with about 160 units, celebrated the grand opening of its roughly $50 million investment, which is expected to add some 70 new professional jobs when fully staffed. Nearby, 90 luxury apartments just opened as the first phase of a new and developing 200-acre Prairie District, which upon completion in a decade or so is to be a village of hundreds of residential dwellings, a hotel and commercial structures around a trail system and three new lakes. Soon to start transforming into housing and more is the historic Veterans Home, a roughly 50-acre campus a brief drive from the Conestoga mall.

A tourist pull

Cindy Johnson, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, said the Conestoga property was key to keeping intact Grand Island’s heritage as a shopping “destination.” In its better days, she said, the mall lured 250,000 people a year from the surrounding 90 miles who sought dining and other services in the city. Grand Island is just off Interstate 80 and accessible to traffic from U.S. Highways 281, 30 and 34. “The reason that site is so important to us is we have the reputation of being the retail hub of central Nebraska,” Johnson said. “To have it go from being such a gem of the community to a less-tended-to property, in a bit of disarray, was really hard for Grand Island.” Originally opened in 1974, the enclosed Conestoga Mall (not including the smaller retail structures around it) spanned some 550,000 square feet, Woodsonia said. Over the decades, it hosted anchors including J.L. Brandeis & Sons, JCPenney, Sears, Younkers and Dillard’s. None of those department stores remain, however, and in the last few years maintenance of the mall and remaining stores had been spiraling downward under out-of-state ownership, Nabity said. Local officials were concerned, he said, that the property might meet the fate of other condemned malls, including one the landlord had owned in Hastings.

ita · Post by **ita** » Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:21 am

Edit: That's the proposed redevelopment.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue Mar 21, 2023 4:44 pm

That is a very comprehensive article on the mall and the retail future of GI.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:49 pm

JoAnn files suit against Conestoga Mall owners in Grand Island

https://theindependent.com/news/local/j ... -top-story

Before the ground breaking of the mall redevelopment ever happened, there is drama between current tenants of the mall and the new owners. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I wouldn't be surprised to see AMC Theaters to be added to this suit against Woodsonia.

Groundbreaking is set for April 14th.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 7:11 am

Nebraska’s first veterans home campus to begin transformation into modern housing
History of the Grand Island site goes back to 1887

GRAND ISLAND — For 130 years, the sprawling campus with its own lake, majestic front lawn and patriotic street names reigned as the State of Nebraska’s longest-standing veterans home. That is, until four years ago, when state officials carried out a locally unpopular move and relocated the vet services to a neighboring city, rendering eight connected buildings obsolete. Now, about 45 core acres, which recently were designated as historic, are getting a projected $50 million transformation. Developer White Lotus Group is to launch construction this month at what will become Liberty Campus — an example of one Nebraska city’s efforts to help counter a statewide affordable housing gap that officials have labeled a crisis. The early phases of repurposed building space are to create affordably priced dwellings for low-income veterans and their families, seniors and for new workers of area businesses. An overarching goal, in addition to helping fill housing demand, is to preserve historical elements and pay homage to the population they represent, said White Lotus development manager Alex Bullington.

Original Soldiers and Sailors Home (Courtesy of Historic Resources Group Inc.)

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:05 pm

The former Panera Bread looks to be under renovation. Anyone know what is moving in?

Also, Office Max will be closing and from the sounds of it the building already has a lease with a new tenant.

NEDodger · Post by **NEDodger** » Sun Apr 30, 2023 7:56 pm

gisbuxfan wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:05 pm The former Panera Bread looks to be under renovation. Anyone know what is moving in?

Also, Office Max will be closing and from the sounds of it the building already has a lease with a new tenant.

I do NOT know how the Office Max/Office Depot places stay open. The footage required for the buildings is enormous, and yet I barely have ever seen more than a few cars in one at any time.

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Sun Apr 30, 2023 8:30 pm

NEDodger wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2023 7:56 pm
gisbuxfan wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:05 pm The former Panera Bread looks to be under renovation. Anyone know what is moving in?

Also, Office Max will be closing and from the sounds of it the building already has a lease with a new tenant.
I do NOT know how the Office Max/Office Depot places stay open. The footage required for the buildings is enormous, and yet I barely have ever seen more than a few cars in one at any time.

Not to mention Eakes holds most of the business in GI for the same product types.