Scaled-down Dodge Plans Still Upscale
OMAHA, NE - Omaha World Herald
October, 2009 - A new development at 80th Street and West Dodge Road is scaling down from 12 stories to four.
When announced in early 2007, 80Dodge turned heads with its proposed 12-story condominium tower featuring a contemporary look on a corridor that city planners hoped would become known for its urban design.
Tuesday, a ceremonial groundbreaking started construction on a four-story extended-stay hotel that will take the condos’ place.
The 80Dodge name is gone, along with the project’s nearly $100 million scope. Nevertheless, the developers, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce President David Brown and Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle praised Staybridge Suites for making an economic impact during a recession.
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To the developers, a climate of slow condo sales and tighter financing made a shift in their project necessary.
“You have to address the market, and the markets said no to condos and yes to the hotel,” said Jerry Slusky, a developer and real estate attorney working on the project.
Dodge is one corridor that the city considers an “area of civic importance” — a more stringent zoning designation that applies to certain high-profile streets and intersections. It’s an outgrowth of the Omaha By Design initiative that created comprehensive urban design rules across the city.
As part of that initiative, planners envisioned remaking the area around 72nd and Dodge Streets into a downtown in the center of Omaha, with high-rise offices, a renovated retail presence and a neighborhood of new condos and apartments.
The 80Dodge condos fit that vision.
As the condos’ replacement, Staybridge Suites is promoted as an upscale brand. A potential building design touted Tuesday shows an earth-toned exterior with stone accents.
Slusky said the hotel, which doesn’t front West Dodge Road, met the city’s more stringent urban design standards on such items as landscaping, lighting and signs.
A spokeswoman for the developer declined to give the construction cost for the hotel, which is due to open in fall 2010. She said the project would create 75 construction jobs.
The hotel developer, Midas Hospitality, said it wants to build close to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and Methodist Hospital to meet the area’s unmet demand for an extended-stay hotel.
Staybridge Suites has 167 hotels open and another 147 in the works. The brand is owned by InterContinental Hotels Group, the world’s second-large hotel operator.
Suttle called the hotel “a great project at a great time. This is going to be a tremendous success story.”
He said a “renaissance” still will take place along Dodge.
“This is still a dynamic corridor,” Suttle said.
The development already has led to visible changes on Dodge. The neighboring Beverly Hills Plaza underwent a $2 million renovation to coordinate with the new project.
The project developers still plan new retail space fronting West Dodge Road immediately west of Beverly Hills Plaza.
Tom Adams, vice president of commercial real estate firm First Management Inc., said the project is working with two potential tenants.
Since the retail would front Dodge, part of it would need approval from the city’s new Urban Design Review Board.
OMAHA, NE - Omaha World Herald
October, 2009 - A new development at 80th Street and West Dodge Road is scaling down from 12 stories to four.
When announced in early 2007, 80Dodge turned heads with its proposed 12-story condominium tower featuring a contemporary look on a corridor that city planners hoped would become known for its urban design.
Tuesday, a ceremonial groundbreaking started construction on a four-story extended-stay hotel that will take the condos’ place.
The 80Dodge name is gone, along with the project’s nearly $100 million scope. Nevertheless, the developers, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce President David Brown and Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle praised Staybridge Suites for making an economic impact during a recession.
Advertising
To the developers, a climate of slow condo sales and tighter financing made a shift in their project necessary.
“You have to address the market, and the markets said no to condos and yes to the hotel,” said Jerry Slusky, a developer and real estate attorney working on the project.
Dodge is one corridor that the city considers an “area of civic importance” — a more stringent zoning designation that applies to certain high-profile streets and intersections. It’s an outgrowth of the Omaha By Design initiative that created comprehensive urban design rules across the city.
As part of that initiative, planners envisioned remaking the area around 72nd and Dodge Streets into a downtown in the center of Omaha, with high-rise offices, a renovated retail presence and a neighborhood of new condos and apartments.
The 80Dodge condos fit that vision.
As the condos’ replacement, Staybridge Suites is promoted as an upscale brand. A potential building design touted Tuesday shows an earth-toned exterior with stone accents.
Slusky said the hotel, which doesn’t front West Dodge Road, met the city’s more stringent urban design standards on such items as landscaping, lighting and signs.
A spokeswoman for the developer declined to give the construction cost for the hotel, which is due to open in fall 2010. She said the project would create 75 construction jobs.
The hotel developer, Midas Hospitality, said it wants to build close to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and Methodist Hospital to meet the area’s unmet demand for an extended-stay hotel.
Staybridge Suites has 167 hotels open and another 147 in the works. The brand is owned by InterContinental Hotels Group, the world’s second-large hotel operator.
Suttle called the hotel “a great project at a great time. This is going to be a tremendous success story.”
He said a “renaissance” still will take place along Dodge.
“This is still a dynamic corridor,” Suttle said.
The development already has led to visible changes on Dodge. The neighboring Beverly Hills Plaza underwent a $2 million renovation to coordinate with the new project.
The project developers still plan new retail space fronting West Dodge Road immediately west of Beverly Hills Plaza.
Tom Adams, vice president of commercial real estate firm First Management Inc., said the project is working with two potential tenants.
Since the retail would front Dodge, part of it would need approval from the city’s new Urban Design Review Board.
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St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 866-945-7177
Fax: 636-724-1601
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