Astro Theater at La Vista City Centre to stage first outdoor show late summer

The new Astro Theater at the La Vista City Centre plans to stage its first outdoor show in late summer, a big step for the venue and the development it anchors.

The project’s developers are looking at summertime for many of the project’s initial pieces to come together, fulfilling the vision of a place for entertainment, events, dining, gathering and living, a spokeswoman said.

“We’ve been under construction for a few years now and excited for what 2023 will bring,” said Elle Hansen, marketing and communication manager with Nine Zero Properties, the property management company.

Already 384 new luxury apartments, Vivere Apartments, are built and open, and a locally owned pub is tipping the tap along the development’s new Main Street strip.

A 570-stall public parking garage is expected to be completed at the end of May.

The theater, described by the developer as a state-of-the-art music venue, is the focal point of the residential, business and entertainment district taking shape on the east side of 84th Street, half a mile south of Harrison Street.

Construction of the theater is well along, and it’s easy to see how the theater with its plaza out front will anchor the north end of the district’s Main Street business strip.

The Main Street, with wide sidewalks and strings of light bulbs overhead, holds the business bays that will feature restaurants, bars and other retail and service offerings. The street will serve as a place for community gatherings and events, Hansen said.

The Heights Draft Room pub is already open for business on Main Street and offering 32 beers on tap and other libations. A restaurant called City Pub is slated to move in and offer a variety of games, food and drinks.

Located south and west of Main Street are Chili’s, First National Bank, Waxing the City, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Rocket Carwash.

Nine Zero Properties says the next round of tenants will include Stretch Lab, L’Elle Nail Spa and Turf Tank.

The project will transform a site formerly occupied by a Walmart store.

Joey Jones, owner-manager of the Heights Draft Room, said his family has been in the Papillion and La Vista area for 60 years.

“All 13 of my aunts and uncles went through Papillion La Vista High School, my brothers and I, so we’re very well entrenched in this area, and really have a stake in our livelihood in this area,” Jones said.

His dad, Mike Jones, worked 28 years for the Nebraska State Patrol and is a former chief deputy of the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.

La Vista has grown, but it never really had a downtown or district area where people could go out, have dinner and drinks and “commune as people,” Joey Jones said.

Papillion and La Vista have always been seen as suburbs and bedroom communities, he said.

City Centre can give people a reason to come together and “show people that there are things to do on the south side of Harrison Street — for some people, the south side of Center.”

As a kid, he said, he was familiar with the location where the development now sits. The Walmart was demolished.

“We’re actually in the old Walmart strip mall, specifically where the Hobby Lobby used to be,” he said. “I grew up going to Hobby Lobby, buying model cars and airplanes and making my own cars and airplanes. The Astro Theater is sitting on what used to be La Vista Falls golf course, where I grew up playing every summer.”

The Heights Draft Room has a clean, warm, inviting feel. Jones said they wanted a setting that felt “elevated,” but not so much that people felt they needed a special occasion to walk in the door.

“We wanted to feel like a brewery, but not be sterile and cold,” he said. “A lot of breweries are, you know, they tend to be in industrial areas or warehouses and big ceilings. A lot of steel, a lot of cement, and we wanted to be something a little more comfortable.”

The City Centre development is a collaborative effort of the City of La Vista and the developers.

City+Ventures applied for tax increment financing to redevelop the 84th Street corridor for the purposes of constructing La Vista City Centre, said city spokesman Mitch Beaumont. The TIF for City Centre is divided into four phases and total estimated TIF funds for all phases is $22.6 million over a 15-year period.

City Centre Music Venue, LLC, was awarded a $3 million construction grant as well as a $2.5 million loan, which will be repaid with interest no later than September 30, 2029, and is secured by a letter of credit through the city’s Economic Development Program, Beaumont said.