Wohlner's to join Midtown Crossing

Wohlner's Neighborhood Grocery plans to open a store next August in Midtown Crossing at Turner Park, landing the Mutual of Omaha project its third and final anchor.

“This is a very significant development for Midtown Crossing,” Mutual spokesman Jim Nolan said this morning. “From the beginning, we felt that having a grocery store ... was critical to the success of the development.”

The announcement marks another milestone.

“With the Wohlner's announcement, over half of our retail space is committed,” Nolan said. “We're in serious negotiations with a number of other businesses, and we feel like over the next month or two or three we're going to have other significant announcements on the retail perspective.”

Midtown's two other retail anchors are Marcus Midtown Cinema, which opened Nov. 6, and Prairie Life Fitness Center, scheduled to open Monday. Fashion Cleaners also is expected to open for business Monday.

Other previously announced tenants are The Loft 610 restaurant, Tru Salon and Spa, and Parliament Pub, a nightclub now at 16939 Wright Plaza.

Wohlner's Midtown Market and Deli will be the grocer's second location and will occupy 16,200 square feet on the ground floor of the Element by Westin hotel building, now under construction at 33rd and Dodge Streets, which is the west end of the development.

“I've been talking to them even before I opened up this store,” Wohlner's owner Mike Schwartz said, referring to his grocery at Aksarben Village.

In 2008, Schwartz moved the longtime neighborhood grocery store at 52nd and Leavenworth Streets.

“It was quite a long time ago. We kept the contact going, and we finally decided, let's do it. I'm really excited to have two stores in midtown.”

The new store is one of many changes to the midtown and downtown grocery market in recent years, as Omaha's demographics continue to shift.

The November 2007 opening of Patricks Market at 1416 Howard St. marked the first full-service grocery to operate in downtown Omaha since 1969 and was meant to serve a growing downtown population.

An 8,000-square-foot store, Cubby's, at 13th and Jackson Streets, had filled the gap by offering a selection of food items surpassing traditional convenience stores.

Also in late 2007, a Food Bonanza at 2900 Leavenworth St. switched to an Avanza Supermarket, a store designed to serve the Latino audience and carry an extensive variety of authentic Latino products.

Nolan said that a Destination Midtown study had identified a growing need for grocers in the midtown area. Midtown Crossing's apartments and condominiums will fuel that demand.

He declined to release leasing or sales numbers for the 196 apartments and 297 condominiums but said that Mutual is pleased with how the residential aspect of the project is going. Apartment leasing is healthy, and some tenants already have moved in, he said.

The first condos will be available for occupation in early December.

“We have signed contracts for condominium residences,” he said. “We feel good about where that's headed.”

Ken Cook, president of East Campus Realty, the Mutual of Omaha subsidiary that owns the Midtown Crossing development, said in a statement that the developers' vision for an upscale, service-oriented urban market led them to Wohlner's.

“They were our first choice from the beginning and are a terrific addition to Midtown Crossing and a great resource for the entire Midtown community,” Cook said. “We are gratified that Mike shares our vision and commitment to Midtown Omaha.”

Wohlner's Midtown Market and Deli will feature meat cut and wrapped by on-site butchers, a full-service takeout deli with hot prepared foods, fresh produce, a full selection of groceries and sundries, and an upscale wine, beer and spirits department.

“It's basically about the same size as the one here at Aksarben, and it's quite a bit larger than the one on Leavenworth,” Schwartz said.

The Midtown Crossing store also will be similar to the Aksarben Village store in its offerings.

One difference is it will not have a sit-down, full-service restaurant. The deli will feature hot food that can be packaged to go and will have seating for 18 people if they want to eat there. But the area is not designed to be a restaurant, he said.

The store will have free parking in a garage at 33rd Street adjacent to the store. It will feature an entrance that opens directly into the garage's dedicated grocery parking area.

Schwartz said that although he previously operated a wholesale meat market in Fremont, the Midtown Crossing store will be the first time Wohlner's has operated two retail locations.

Schwartz's grandfather in 1918 opened a grocery store just a few blocks from Midtown Crossing at 33rd and California Streets. In the mid-1930s, the store moved to 5205 Leavenworth St., where it stayed until moving in October 2008 to Aksarben Village, another new mixed-use project in midtown, northwest of 63rd and Center Streets.

Contact the writer:

444-1183, christine.laue@owh.com