OMAHA WORLD- HERALD. Friday, October 28, 2011

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1 OMAHA WORLD- HERALD Friday, October 28, visions offered for site downtown Developers submit proposals for the former Pinnacle Foods property. B Y JUAN PEREZ J R. AND JONATHON BRADEN WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS SHAMROCK DEVELOPMENT INC. Hotel rooms: 350 Hotel operator: Mar riott Hotels & Resorts Apar tments: 200 market rate units, 80 affordable units Office/residential space: 140,000 square feet Enter tainment/retail space: 61,300 square feet Cost: $176 million December 2014 View of proposed hotel, facing northwest from 10th Street and Capitol Avenue

Hotel rooms: 350 Hotel operator: Mar riott Hotels & Resorts Apar tments: 200 market rate units, 80 affordable units Office/residential

2 BUCKINGHAM COS. Hotel rooms: 250 (plus 150 for extended stay) Hotel operator: Dolce Hotels and Resorts Apar tments: 231 Office space: 20,100 square feet Enter tainment/retail space: 41,406 square feet Cost: $148 million May 2014 Overall view of development, facing east from 12th Street and Capitol Avenue

and Resorts Apar tments: 231 Office space: 20,100 square feet Enter

3 NEXUS TEAM (NODDLE COS.) Hotel rooms: 350 Hotel operator: not yet selected Apar tments: 100 Office space: 122,200 square feet Enter tainment/retail space: 84,200 square feet Cost: $168.5 million December 2016 View of proposed hotel, facing northwest from 10th Street and Capitol Avenue Proposals: Developers probably will be interviewed next month The look of Omaha s burgeoning north downtown district could be about to change again. Three development teams submitted proposals to city officials this week to transform the former Pinnacle Foods site now a tree-lined parking lot southwest of the CenturyLink Center Omaha into apartments and retail space, anchored by a large hotel. Each proposal envisions a hotel flanked by 100 to 200 apartments and a parking garage. The proposals range in cost from $148 million to $176 million. Local officials have long wanted to see a full-service convention hotel at the site. Roger Dixon, president of the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, said an additional

downtown district could be about to change again.

4 250 to 350 rooms near the CenturyLink Center convention center and arena would help sell the city as a meeting and convention destination. The more that we have, the better we are, he told The World-Herald. It adds to the overall atmosphere and the look of downtown. We don t have parking lots everywhere. We re starting to see development. A team of six people representing the city and MECA will review the proposals and make a recommendation on the best plan. Two of the three prospective development teams have local ties and have been involved in other notable Omaha projects. Shamrock Development, 1414 Harney St., has pitched the most expensive project $176 million to be finished by December Noddle Cos., 2285 S. 67th St., wants its project chosen before a hotel operator is selected. Buckingham Cos., based in Indianapolis, has also completed mixed-use projects in Lexington, Ky., and South Bend, Ind. City Attorney Paul Kratz said the team members, whom he declined to identify, would scrutinize each proposal and likely interview the three development groups by mid-november. The team will consider numerous factors, including the developer s financial arrangements, site design and ability to generate activity in the north downtown area, Kratz said. Among its options, the selection team could reject all three proposals. Assuming it selects a plan, months of negotiations would begin with the developer on matters including whether taxincrement financing would be used. Negotiations would address what will happen if the developer fails to build on the site, Kratz said, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the stalled WallStreet Tower proposal at 14th and Dodge Streets. That deal lacked a provision requiring ownership to revert to the city if the development didn t happen. We ll do things differently, Kratz said, noting that the land likely won t be sold to the developer until all the project s financing is in place. A development agreement would be drafted and signed once negotiations are complete. Omaha s Planning Board and City Council would vote on whether to green-light the deal, along with MECA s board of directors. The new proposals come as the Hilton Omaha nears completion on a 150-room addition. Even before the expansion, the 450-room Hilton was the state s largest hotel. Dixon said MECA is also in the early stages of considering a 100,000-square-foot expansion to the convention center. Any expansion would come after construction of a second convention hotel, he said. MECA also plans to install more than 600 parking stalls north of the CenturyLink Center to help replace parking lost to the new hotel project.

We re starting to see development. A team of six people representing the city and MECA will review the proposals and make a recommendation on the best plan.

5 Mike Moylan, president of Shamrock Development, said his group has designed a project that fits downtown, with square windows, buildings extending up to the street line, brick facades and steel beams above entryways. We also wanted it to feel like Omaha. We didn t want it to feel like just any other building, Moylan said. Moylan said Shamrock plans to request tax-increment financing, which allows developers to use tax revenue on increased property value to offset construction costs. Shamrock developed the $30 million Paxton development at 14th and Farnam Streets, with office, retail, residential and parking space. The company also developed buildings on 10th Street between Dodge Street and Capitol Avenue that house DJ s Dugout, Capitol Lounge and Nosh Wine Lounge. Tenth Street is an extremely important street for downtown, said Moylan, who has lived at 10th and Dodge since It s an entrance for all the entertainment. Noddle has had its hand in numerous Omaha projects, including the mixed-used Aksarben Village, which was developed in phases. Jay Noddle, president and CEO of Noddle Cos., said the company also would develop the Tenth and Capitol project in phases, with an expected 2016 completion date. That s not that far away not for this kind of work, Noddle said. No one is going to build this whole thing at once. Noddle s project includes parking, a fitness center and a spot for a grocery store. If the project moves forward, Noddle said he d prefer joint selection of a hotel by his firm, the city, MECA and perhaps representatives of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the Hilton. The group also plans to seek tax-increment financing. This is an incredible opportunity to do something very special, sort of as one of the final pieces of the whole downtown entertainment-athletic redevelopment, Noddle said. Buckingham Cos. is the midst of a major development in downtown Indianapolis. The project will feature a hotel, apartments, restaurants, retail space and a YMCA, along with green space and a public-art component. We are excited about this project, Erik Johnson, a spokesman for Buckingham, said of the Omaha project. It is very consistent with other projects that we ve developed or are developing, like our CityWay development in Indianapolis.

Moylan said Shamrock plans to request tax-increment financing, which allows developers to use tax revenue on increased property value to offset construction costs.

S. BLOCK 68 REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA

S. BLOCK 68 REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA 1. Revitalization Project Description The Block 68 Redevelopment Project Area is located on the block bounded by 10 th, 11 th, M, and N Streets, and is comprised