After churning out loaves of bread in days gone by, Omaha's former Omar Bread bakery is poised to rise again as home to a mix of businesses, offices and industries.
PropertyBanc Commercial Real Estate has gutted and started redeveloping the industrial building at 43rd and Nicholas Streets.
For years, the property was a central bakery for Omar Bread, which Omar delivery men then carried to customers across the region.
A PropertyBanc affiliate purchased the building for $230,000 in 2008 and developed a $2.18 million plan to make over the 80,000-square-foot building that had fallen into disrepair.
Bid Taylor, a broker with PropertyBanc, joked that it was “an act of idiocy” that drew developers to the project. When they bought the property, Taylor said, it was impossible to walk through the building because of all the stuff that the previous owner had accumulated.
Seeing the project progress has been rewarding, Taylor said. As the economy has improved, he said, interest from potential tenants has picked up.
“It's going to happen,” he said. “It's just a question of getting the right mix to make that a successful location.”
Developers say they expect to profit from the project, which features Old Market style with exposed beams, refinished wood floors and exposed wood beams, a midtown location and affordable rents. The project is receiving $650,000 in property tax incentives.
PropertyBanc already relocated to the building, moving its offices from Millard to the bakery's former cooler. Company cubicles now sit amid two-foot thick walls and next to an original heavy-duty scale.
The company attracted a satellite dish company and is working on a lease with a grant-writing firm for another office space.
PropertyBanc's president, Ray Trimble, has moved into a 1,700-square-foot condominium on the property. After a fire during construction, Trimble said, he took an opportunity to design his own loft, making sure to include views of St. Cecilia's Cathedral and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Much of the building's space can be delineated to suit a tenant, developers said.
In addition to office users, PropertyBanc is marketing the property to nonprofits and light industrial users who could use dock access and drive doors. The site will have 230 parking spaces.
Taylor said prospective users need to be able to visualize the possibilities in an open space. Some businesses might look down on the property and think, “Oh, my God,” Taylor said, but others will see potential and rave, “Oh, man.”
“It gives us a lot of flexibility,” Taylor said.
Contact the writer:
444-1128, jeff.robb@owh.com
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