The new Zesto planned for downtown is positioning to become more than just a must-have during the College World Series.
Zesto will continue its ice cream and burger-and-fries menu from its future spot at the southwest corner of 12th and Mike Fahey Streets, just outside TD Ameritrade Park. But it will add indoor seating and a drive-through lane and plans to stay busy 365 days a year.
“They really want to make this work year-round,” said Michael Alley, an architect on the project and a principal of Omaha’s Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture.
Tuesday, Mayor Jim Suttle announced that Zesto’s owners plan to buy a triangle of city-owned land in north downtown just outside the new ballpark.
At a press conference outside the ballpark’s construction zone, plans were revealed for a two-story building that will offer counter service, an outdoor ground-level seating plaza, indoor seating on both floors and an upstairs deck that could hold a seasonal beer garden. The drive-through will run in back of the building.
This is the last year the CWS will be at Rosenblatt Stadium. The series moves downtown next year.
“Zesto’s has brought national attention to Omaha as a mainstay and icon of the College World Series,” Suttle said. “This is a bittersweet time as the last games are played at Rosenblatt Stadium as we enter a new era in our developing north downtown.”
It’s unlikely the new building will be up in time for the 2011 College World Series. Construction trailers for the stadium will occupy the site until work concludes, leaving Zesto little time to complete its full construction plans.
If time is too short, Zesto will have a temporary building on the site, co-owner Mike Kelley said.
The deal has been in the works for a year and still needs approval from the City Council.
Kelley approached the city about opening a Zesto in north downtown, and the city offered 10,000 square feet of property. Kelley said he plans to pay the city $270,000, the market value at which the land was appraised.
The site has limitations — a railroad track cuts across the back of the property. Suttle called it “dead land” that would be difficult to develop otherwise.
Kelley acknowledged the site isn’t perfect. Still, he said, “When you’re this close to the stadium, you can’t be choosers.”
In north downtown, Zesto will join a growing entertainment and hospitality district.
The Slowdown entertainment and retail complex, developed by Saddle Creek Records, is a block west. The 22 Floors project, which includes Greenstreet Cycles and Goodnights pizza place, is almost next door. The Old Mattress Factory Bar and Grill is just south.
New hotels are in place along Cuming Street.
Suttle said other announcements will be coming, although he wasn’t specific.
As for the future of the Rosenblatt Zesto, Kelley said he and co-owner Patty Ferguson haven’t decided whether to keep it open. That will depend on business after Rosenblatt is demolished, he said.
“Whether we make it or not remains to be seen,” he said. “After all, the (Henry Doorly) Zoo is still there.”
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