Midtown's heart begins to beat

About 500 people watched a 24-by-40-foot American flag rise to the top of a 100-foot flagpole before noon Tuesday as Mutual of Omaha dedicated its $300 million Midtown Crossing at Turner Park development.

Neb. Gov. Dave Heineman praised the project as a "bold and remarkable vision" that will give Omaha an economic boost.

Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle said the development marked "a new era in urban revitalization" that would serve as a blueprint for future projects.

"We truly are at the dawn of a new renaissance," Suttle said.

Signs of change were visible at dusk one recent evening, a group of well-dressed young adults, with the women wearing high heels, walked excitedly from Turner Park toward Midtown Crossing's newly opened Parliament Pub.

Such a procession had been absent in the area around 31st and Dodge Streets until this spring.

“Midtown Crossing is just building its heartbeat,” said Gerald Reimer, whose Urban Village development company will have renovated 150 nearby apartments by the end of June. “It's just starting to turn on and open, to come alive.”

He figures his new tenants already add $7.5 million in annual household income to the area. At least half of them have moved in from west Omaha.

“It used to be if you said you lived at 34th and Dodge you were poor. Now it's OK to live in midtown,” he said. “Mutual of Omaha gave midtown a huge gift.”

Beyond the million square feet of residences and retail spaces of Midtown Crossing, beyond its seven buildings and half-dozen city blocks, Omahans are seeing an entire section of the city go from shabby to cool, from a place many people would avoid after dark to a friendly neighborhood, the project's backers say.

“I think it's going to draw people from all parts of the metro who otherwise would never have gone to that part of town,” said former Omaha Planning Director Steve Jensen. “I think people will see midtown in a whole different way.”

For many years Turner Park was just a green spot motorists passed heading east on Dodge Street or heading west on Farnam Street to avoid traffic on Dodge.

“Now this really makes Turner Park more of a destination,” Jensen said.

Midtown Crossing began with the community group Destination Midtown, which in 2002 turned its attention to improvements in the area, and with Mutual of Omaha, which owned several blocks of unused property. The company had trimmed its businesses, with its home office employment dropping from 6,900 in 1986 to fewer than 4,000.

Exactly five years ago Tuesday, Destination Midtown announced the results of a feasibility study for improvements to the area.

The community group and the insurance company came together in September 2007 when Mutual broke ground on the $300-million project and set an aggressive schedule that would have the entire complex finished by the end of 2010.

“All we wanted to do was make this a destination where people would want to live, to come down and be entertained, and to service this part of the community in a very effective and high-caliber way,” said Dan Neary, Mutual's chairman and CEO.

Neary said Mutual doesn't have a “magic bullet” to invigorate the rest of midtown, but he knows that work is under way.

“This project was built to last 100 years, and a lot of positive things can happen over that kind of time frame,” he said.

Mutual's decision to build the project all at once is somewhat unusual in the commercial real estate business, where such undertakings might be completed in phases over a decade or more.

The all-in plan is bringing success, said Ken Cook, president of East Campus Realty, the Mutual subsidiary that owns the development. Apartments are all rented, and condo sales are exceeding goals, said Cook, without being specific.

Residents are attracted to the development because they know there will be a grocery, restaurants, a health club and other features. And restaurants open because more people will be living nearby.

“The hope is that our willingness to take this first step will encourage and embolden others to follow,” Cook said.

Already, White Lotus Development has converted its Park Plaza building at 105 N. 31st Ave. from apartments to 59 condominiums and office suites.

“Our value proposition is: You're right across the street, walking distance, and the price per foot is substantially less,” said Arun Agarwal, president of White Lotus. “We have similar amenities or at least approximate amenities, and we're so close to Midtown Crossing.”

The pace of condo sales and office rental accelerated as Midtown Crossing neared completion.

“The impact is obviously tremendous,” Agarwal said. “It's definitely breathed new life into the area.”

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss estimates the three-year construction phase created 2,300 jobs, $38.5 million in state and local tax revenue and $470 million in overall economic activity.

Reimer, the Urban Village developer, has invested about $14 million and eventually will invest $20 million in the renovation of apartments, some of which are more than a dozen blocks from Midtown Crossing. Rents have gone from $300 a month to $1,200.

He has built one house and renovated another. Homeowners and merchants are noticing the improvements and will start upgrading, too, Reimer said.

“We aren't even touching the surface,” he said. Apartment dwellers who want to buy houses in midtown will be able to afford $150,000-plus homes.

“I think we'll see an amazing transformation of that area around Mutual of Omaha. When people buy houses and stay in the area and fix them up, that will be the economic engine.”

Jensen, the former city planner, said Omaha's midtown had some good features, including Creighton University, the Nebraska Medical Center, several businesses and dedicated people who want the area to improve.

“The pieces were there, but it took somebody to make that kind of big investment, to really make a statement,” he said. “A little here and a little there is beneficial, but it wouldn't have the impact this has had. It wouldn't change people's perceptions of that part of town as dramatically as this project has.”

Midtown Crossing's rapid development contrasts with downtown's incremental steps over more than 30 years, he said.

“A company like Mutual, they look at long-term, stable investments,” Jensen said. “They did have the vision to see the potential. What great foresight, what a civic gesture. It's beneficial to them, but the spinoff benefits to the community are much greater.

“It's had a huge stabilizing influence on the surrounding neighborhood. It'll be just as impressive 30 or 40 years from now as it is today.”

Contact the writer:

444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com

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