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Jay Lund - Blackstone · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothard. Peyton high Locked, my
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Speaker 1: producer is also here. Good morning, good morning Jeans, and
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Speaker 1: happy birthday. Thank you, thank you Peyton's birthday today. I
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Speaker 1: wanted a surprising by saying that on the air, but
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Speaker 1: thank you all for being with us today. We want
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Speaker 1: to hear from you. We want to get your feedback.
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Speaker 1: We want to hear comments, concerns, questions, complaints, anything goes
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Speaker 1: with us, and we won't back away from anything, will we,
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Speaker 1: Peyton nothing, whether it's city, state, national, the world, the
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Speaker 1: streetcar and we will have great guests which we have
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Speaker 1: won this morning, and of course you will hear plenty
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Speaker 1: of opinions from me, but it is your chance to
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Speaker 1: speak up and sound off. You can send your emails
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Speaker 1: to comment at kfab dot com or you can call
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Speaker 1: us at five five eight eleven ten. And we are
0:45
Speaker 1: happy that you are with us today, and we are
0:47
Speaker 1: happy that Jaylund is with us today. Good morning, good morning,
0:51
Speaker 1: happy to be here. Well, thank you. Jay Lund is
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Speaker 1: the principle of Greenslate Management. Matt Dwyer is one of
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Speaker 1: your partners too. We're going to talk a lot, but
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Speaker 1: Jay is a I would call you a developer in Omaha.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to go into a little bit. You have
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Speaker 1: extensive real estate background. Your father, John Lund, who is
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Speaker 1: also a developer, all around good guy lun company. I
1:15
Speaker 1: know you see those signs every where now it's Cushman
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Speaker 1: and Wakefield lun Company. John. We're going to talk about
1:22
Speaker 1: a little bit of what he has done too, or
1:24
Speaker 1: a lot what he has done too. But again, he's
1:26
Speaker 1: a great guy. That is your dad. You probably had
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Speaker 1: good conversations around the Thanksgiving dinner table about property development. Okay, Jay,
1:35
Speaker 1: what we are before we even start, and I'm going
1:38
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about what you do.
1:40
Speaker 1: But for our listeners, when I say developer, that is
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Speaker 1: one thing that I think the mayor of Omaha works
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Speaker 1: with a lot more than anything. If you really are
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Speaker 1: concerned about economic development, just say, in your words, what
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Speaker 1: does a developer do?
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Speaker 2: So people know, Oh, that could be a little hard
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Speaker 2: to sum up quickly, but we usually start the project
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Speaker 2: in the project and everything in between.
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Speaker 3: So that's coming up with the idea.
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Speaker 2: That's hiring architect design team to say, hey, what fits
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Speaker 2: on this piece of land, Hiring a contractor, lawyers, working
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Speaker 2: with the city monitoring the entire construction process, moving tenants,
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Speaker 2: and managing the building.
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Speaker 3: So it's really a sort.
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Speaker 2: Of a hub and spoke right where we're managing the
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Speaker 2: entire process.
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Speaker 1: It's a lot of things that go into that, but
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Speaker 1: basically you are developing property and everything in between. We
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Speaker 1: are okay and you, I said, you have extensive real
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Speaker 1: estate experience, but all property types. I mean, you do industrial, hospitality, office, retail, multifamily,
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Speaker 1: you do it all.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we do, But I will say what we do
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Speaker 2: is also quite specific to what I would call We're
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Speaker 2: developing undeveloped property or underutilized property, and a lot of
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Speaker 2: that property is in the urban core.
3:01
Speaker 3: And I know we'll talk a lot about that today.
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Speaker 1: And I really like that you said that because when
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Speaker 1: I was just doing a little research about you, one
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Speaker 1: of the things that you said is that you are
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Speaker 1: listening to what Omaha locals want and you feel what
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Speaker 1: is missing from their city. And you said, your vision
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Speaker 1: is to create a neighborhood destination filled with unique experiences,
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Speaker 1: and you want to make Omaha a place where residents
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Speaker 1: and businesses will be happy to call home. You focus
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Speaker 1: on urban infill projects, and the one thing we really
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Speaker 1: want to talk about today A lot is I think
3:35
Speaker 1: one of your star developments that you have is the
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Speaker 1: Blackstone District. Everybody knows about the Blackstone, but I don't
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Speaker 1: think everybody realizes that it was you and your team
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Speaker 1: at green Slate that developed the Blackstone property. So let's
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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that because I just remember
3:52
Speaker 1: in the very very beginning, I know that it started
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Speaker 1: out with one I think it was one property. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: if a building, but first describe what where the Blackstone
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Speaker 1: is from where to where?
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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, thanks for having me, and thanks
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Speaker 2: for all the nice comments on Blackstone. Before I kind
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Speaker 2: of get into that, I do take I get a
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Speaker 2: lot of credit for Blackstone, but really it's hundreds, if
4:17
Speaker 2: not thousands of people that have contributed to this neighborhood
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Speaker 2: in so many ways. The small businesses that are there
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Speaker 2: every single day are truly what make it unique. And
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Speaker 2: that was I think what that quote was was based
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Speaker 2: off of because it.
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Speaker 3: Was it was a forgotten neighborhood.
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Speaker 2: So Blacktone District is generally about forty first in Farnham
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Speaker 2: to roughly thirty fifth in Farnham. Okay about thirty history, Yeah,
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Speaker 2: it was, there's definitely a historic building stock that we've
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Speaker 2: done the best we can to preserve where we can.
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Speaker 2: But really, when my partner Matt and I started thirteen
4:59
Speaker 2: is years ago, oh it was. It was something that
5:03
Speaker 2: people comment today a lot on looking back, saying that
5:06
Speaker 2: it was obvious. Well, the comment is saying, well, the
5:10
Speaker 2: University of Nebraska Medical Center is on the western side
5:12
Speaker 2: of this fortieth Street, and then you have Berkshire, Hathaway
5:16
Speaker 2: and Kewit's headquarters and Mutual of Omaha headquarters on the
5:20
Speaker 2: east side of it. But then in between you have
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Speaker 2: this six blocks stretch that was really hollowed out. And
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Speaker 2: I'll never forget. I believe it was your first term
5:31
Speaker 2: as mayor. We were standing in front of what was
5:34
Speaker 2: our first building, which is the mullah archetype coffee and
5:38
Speaker 2: scriptown building. It all started there, which where we had
5:42
Speaker 2: a ribbon cutting for the two way street conversion. So
5:47
Speaker 2: going back to that time, that was we had sort
5:51
Speaker 2: of we had one up two goals at that point
5:53
Speaker 2: when we and we didn't know we were starting a neighborhood.
5:56
Speaker 2: We were just buying a building and I thought we
5:58
Speaker 2: would put some fun tenants in there.
6:00
Speaker 1: And you talked to your dad John about that building too.
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Speaker 2: We did, and it could have been torn down over
6:05
Speaker 2: the years because it was in really and most of
6:11
Speaker 2: the block was was boarded up. If you go back
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Speaker 2: onto Google street View and slide the ruler back in time.
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Speaker 2: But anyways, when we started Blackstone, it was two major goals.
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Speaker 2: One was to get the street converted to a two way,
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Speaker 2: which which Midtown Crossing had already done with their with
6:29
Speaker 2: their development.
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Speaker 1: And he explained why prior explain why making Farnham two
6:34
Speaker 1: way was so important for the development of the Blackstone.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so nationally two ways, I'm sorry. One way streets
6:43
Speaker 2: became quite popular in the sixties and seventies, and we
6:47
Speaker 2: have them. With the the advent of suburban living and
6:54
Speaker 2: the automobile becoming more prevalent. Was the the traffic engineers
6:59
Speaker 2: at the time to turn into that one way streets
7:01
Speaker 2: are a lot more efficient than two way streets. Well,
7:04
Speaker 2: that was true for moving cars. What they also became
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Speaker 2: very efficient at is sort of ruining retail and placemaking,
7:12
Speaker 2: or roads became.
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Speaker 3: A singular purpose.
7:15
Speaker 1: They're dangerous.
7:16
Speaker 3: They were.
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Speaker 2: Sort of absent to any other user of the road,
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Speaker 2: pedestrians or businesses or anything.
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Speaker 3: It was just move cars. As fast as you can.
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Speaker 1: And that's what they do. The cars move too fast,
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Speaker 1: they do, And.
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Speaker 2: So nationally there's there was, you know, has been a
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Speaker 2: trend now for you know, I'm sure twenty thirty years
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Speaker 2: to take what all these one way streets and convert
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Speaker 2: them back to two way streets so you have more
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Speaker 2: of a multipurpose situation. So so that was our first goal,
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Speaker 2: is to convert that street to a two way.
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Speaker 1: And you talked about us standing there in front of
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Speaker 1: that building. We were saying, this is what we're going
7:54
Speaker 1: to do. And there's there was also an accident at
7:56
Speaker 1: several of pedestrians being hit there too, So yeah.
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Speaker 2: And even more, you know, that has becomes a risk
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Speaker 2: more and more every day as businesses open and the
8:04
Speaker 2: neighborhood is more and more popular. So and then our
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Speaker 2: second goal was, you know what a lot of people
8:11
Speaker 2: don't know, or maybe they forgot, is the name of
8:16
Speaker 2: the district. Blackstone also did not exist. It was just
8:20
Speaker 2: sort of a stretch of town that really nobody knew
8:24
Speaker 2: a whole lot about. So the name itself was was
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Speaker 2: not unique. We named it after the Blackstone Hotel and
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Speaker 2: the Blackstone neighborhood Association. But our main goal was, Hey,
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Speaker 2: we want people in Omaha to refer to this neighborhood
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Speaker 2: just like they would Dundee or the Old Market or Benson.
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Speaker 2: And so that's where the Blackstone District came.
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Speaker 1: And I might say that the historic Blackstone Hotel is
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Speaker 1: now the Cottonwood Hotel, and we're going to get to that.
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Speaker 1: But what we saw and what I know you want
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Speaker 1: to talk about is once Farnham was converted to two ways,
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Speaker 1: development just took off and the customers started flocking to
9:02
Speaker 1: that area.
9:03
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
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Speaker 2: I think it was the small businesses really again back
9:07
Speaker 2: to giving them as much credit as they deserve.
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Speaker 3: It was that. I remember the day Archetype Coffee opened.
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Speaker 3: It was young moms with.
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Speaker 2: Strollers and dogs walk in and it was like everybody
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Speaker 2: in the in the immediate proximity of the neighborhood was
9:26
Speaker 2: just so eager to support these businesses. And they're like,
9:30
Speaker 2: yes we want a coffee shop, Yes we want a restaurant,
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Speaker 2: yes we want a bar. So that was really the
9:37
Speaker 2: the market speaking quite loudly saying that, and that's why
9:40
Speaker 2: we kept going. And so we didn't stop with that
9:43
Speaker 2: first building. We're like, oh, you know there's a lot
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Speaker 2: more here, and there's more room for small businesses, and
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Speaker 2: there's more people that want to support these businesses, and
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Speaker 2: it's really just been completely organic.
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Speaker 1: And it's it's it's like the trendy area. I mean,
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Speaker 1: people love that. And also you mentioned the Med Center.
10:01
Speaker 1: Basically we used to look at the Med centers west
10:04
Speaker 1: of forty second, but it keeps on creeping a little
10:06
Speaker 1: bit further and further east with what they're building. And
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Speaker 1: right now there's that new building that they're putting up
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Speaker 1: on forty second in Farnham, right there on the corner.
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Speaker 1: So let's talk about let's move to the Cottonwood Hotel,
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Speaker 1: the former Blackstone Hotel. First of all, tell our listeners
10:24
Speaker 1: why you couldn't call it the Blackstone.
10:27
Speaker 2: Well, there was another hotel in Chicago called the Blackstone Hotel.
10:32
Speaker 2: Omaha was I'd like to say, Omaha is maybe a
10:35
Speaker 2: more famous version of it, or we can say that.
10:38
Speaker 2: But but the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha stopped being a
10:42
Speaker 2: hotel in nineteen seventy nine, and so it was converted
10:47
Speaker 2: to an office building at that point and then remained
10:51
Speaker 2: as such for the next forty years.
10:56
Speaker 1: And that hotel dates back to nineteen sixteen. I believe. Yes,
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Speaker 1: really it's really old. It's it's iconic. It's right there
11:04
Speaker 1: at six or thirty six in Farnham, correct, very historic.
11:07
Speaker 1: I got to just tell the listeners, I love this hotel.
11:10
Speaker 1: I mean it's just got you walk in and it's
11:12
Speaker 1: got this old vibe there, the floors, the old floors.
11:16
Speaker 1: What you did in the in I would call it
11:18
Speaker 1: the basement, but with the old Cottonwood bar down there.
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Speaker 1: And I got to tell you my absolute favorite steakhouse
11:23
Speaker 1: in Omaha is the Committee. It's the steakhouse at the Cottonwood.
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Speaker 1: It's fabulous. The restaurant there is just fabulous, and so
11:31
Speaker 1: is upstairs where the bar is. The food there is unbelievable.
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Speaker 1: So you jumped right in with the Cottonwood Hotel, and
11:38
Speaker 1: I just got to say, as far as I remembered,
11:41
Speaker 1: there was at least seventy five million put into that hotel.
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Speaker 3: Yes, yep, it's if you haven't been.
11:46
Speaker 2: Thank first of all, thanks for all the nice comments,
11:48
Speaker 2: and if you haven't been.
11:49
Speaker 3: There, I love it.
11:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great, a unique property. Oh you know, the
11:55
Speaker 2: quick history on our relationship with that building is again
11:59
Speaker 2: it had been owned by keywit Uh and occupied for
12:02
Speaker 2: quite some time as an office use. When they decided
12:06
Speaker 2: to relocate their campus down to the Builders district, that
12:10
Speaker 2: the opportunity was presented to us. I have to give
12:14
Speaker 2: our partner, Tom McLay with Clarity Development a lot of
12:18
Speaker 2: credit here where he's a bit of a historian and
12:21
Speaker 2: and commented on this. Essentially, this was Omaha's last chance
12:26
Speaker 2: to have a historic hotel. There were three in Omaha
12:31
Speaker 2: all time. One was the Paxton Hotel that got converted
12:35
Speaker 2: into condos, and like six o seven there was the
12:38
Speaker 2: Fontelle Hotel that was torn down and it's now an
12:42
Speaker 2: empty not an empty, but it's a it's a parking lot.
12:45
Speaker 2: So that's a tragic that was a tragic loss of
12:48
Speaker 2: architecture and history. And then and then it was down
12:51
Speaker 2: really then to this, to the to the Black Zone.
12:54
Speaker 2: So it was almost and every great city, if you travel,
12:57
Speaker 2: you know, every great city has these historic hotels. And
12:59
Speaker 2: we really recognized that it was you know, maybe almost
13:04
Speaker 2: our duty to try and save this and turn it
13:07
Speaker 2: back into a hotel.
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Speaker 3: And so that's what we.
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Speaker 1: Did and it's doing very well. I mean, you have
13:12
Speaker 1: there's weddings there there's events. There a pool. There's a pool,
13:16
Speaker 1: and I know that you allow some of the neighbors
13:19
Speaker 1: in the area to use that pool. Yeah, they're a membership.
13:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's membership program for the pool. Again, if you
13:24
Speaker 2: haven't been just seeing the historic quality of the of
13:28
Speaker 2: the building, there's a lot of old pictures that we
13:30
Speaker 2: have hung up down in the Cottonwood room with Richard Nixon,
13:34
Speaker 2: John F. Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Ronald Reagan, all.
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Speaker 1: These great stayed there. And the rooms are beautiful too.
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Speaker 1: It opened November twentieth, twenty twenty, and I remember cutting
13:45
Speaker 1: the ribbon and it was freezing.
13:47
Speaker 3: Yeah there that day. We had two ribbon cuttings that day.
13:50
Speaker 1: Oh really, rauh.
13:50
Speaker 3: The Orbit opened the same day.
13:52
Speaker 1: Oh that's right, that's right. And you know I remember it.
13:55
Speaker 3: You part of COVID.
13:56
Speaker 1: You brought me upstairs into that ballroom, me and my
13:58
Speaker 1: whole team, and we celebrated up there because I think
14:02
Speaker 1: you had an old fashioned waiting for me, yes, which
14:05
Speaker 1: which was great. It's a fabulous hotel now right east
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Speaker 1: of that, the big black tall building that he used
14:14
Speaker 1: to be in before they moved down to the builders district.
14:17
Speaker 1: That is something John Lund your dad redeveloped.
14:20
Speaker 3: Correct.
14:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just a continuation of again Quitt building
14:25
Speaker 2: their new headquarters in North Downtown and another opportunity. So
14:32
Speaker 2: it's famous building home to Berkshire Hathaway. The cloud Room
14:39
Speaker 2: that uh uh is an iconic building and it's been
14:44
Speaker 2: completely renovated and back to life.
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Speaker 1: Your dad has done a tremendous job with a Blackstone building.
14:49
Speaker 1: And then he purchased the old WOWT studio and now
14:54
Speaker 1: WOWT is part of the Blackstone Building and he is
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Speaker 1: building a apartments, about a forty five million dollar apartment
15:03
Speaker 1: project along a long and we're going to get to
15:05
Speaker 1: this along the streetcar line right there. So that's it
15:10
Speaker 1: before we I'm going to get to the streetcar here,
15:12
Speaker 1: but before I jumped to that, because it goes right
15:15
Speaker 1: up Farnham to the through the Blackstone is. It was
15:18
Speaker 1: all over the news this morning, Jay, and I'm with
15:21
Speaker 1: Jaylunt here with Green Slight, who was helped with many
15:24
Speaker 1: and many others to develop the Blackstone District. There was
15:28
Speaker 1: what I would call on one of the sidewalks, I
15:32
Speaker 1: think it was about thirty ninth Street, there was what
15:34
Speaker 1: we were calling a cave in, not a I wouldn't
15:38
Speaker 1: call that a sinkhole. But now I before I let
15:41
Speaker 1: you speak about it, I'm just going to say we again,
15:44
Speaker 1: we have five thousand lane miles of road in Omaha.
15:48
Speaker 1: We have waterlines, sewer lines a lot in the historic
15:53
Speaker 1: areas midtown downtown that are up to one hundred to
15:57
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty years old. There could be multiple
16:01
Speaker 1: reasons that there are vaults under the pavement. There are multiple,
16:06
Speaker 1: multiple reasons that we have had a few sinkholes. We
16:09
Speaker 1: have had some cave ins, there are old roads. I'm
16:13
Speaker 1: gonna let you address. I mean, there could be many reasons,
16:16
Speaker 1: and Lord knows, I am not going to blame the
16:17
Speaker 1: mayor for this, because you know people try, they always
16:21
Speaker 1: try to blame the mayor for it, saying why do
16:22
Speaker 1: we have this going on here? You know, you don't
16:25
Speaker 1: know what's under those five thousand lane miles of road
16:28
Speaker 1: and all of the sidewalks in these older historic areas.
16:31
Speaker 1: It could be many, many things. The sinkhole down on
16:34
Speaker 1: sixteenth Street, for example, in the alleyway, is still there.
16:38
Speaker 1: It hasn't been repaired yet because they can't repair it
16:41
Speaker 1: until they repair what caused that sinkhole. So I want
16:46
Speaker 1: you to address just let people know what we know
16:48
Speaker 1: so far about that cave in in the Blackstone district
16:51
Speaker 1: on the sidewalk this morning.
16:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was well, it was I got the
16:56
Speaker 2: call at eight thirty this morning on Father's Day yesterday,
17:00
Speaker 2: so it was you know, first of all, just happy
17:03
Speaker 2: that nobody was hurt.
17:05
Speaker 3: It was a scary moment.
17:07
Speaker 2: We did evacuate a property that was next door, just
17:11
Speaker 2: out of an abundance of caution to make sure that
17:13
Speaker 2: everything was was stable.
17:15
Speaker 1: So now the building right there was vacant already correct.
17:20
Speaker 3: Correct.
17:20
Speaker 2: The building where the sidewalk collapsed had been vacant, I
17:24
Speaker 2: believe since the twenty twenty when COVID. So yeah, just
17:30
Speaker 2: happy that everybody is safe, and I'm sure you know
17:35
Speaker 2: they're looking into all the different causes.
17:38
Speaker 3: You know.
17:38
Speaker 2: Kudos to Austin Rouser and Steve Jensen who both reached
17:43
Speaker 2: out to me my personal cell phone right away.
17:46
Speaker 1: And Austin is assistant public works director, and then Steve
17:50
Speaker 1: Jensen of course is involved with the streetcar which we're
17:53
Speaker 1: getting to.
17:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, it seemed immediate response and handled very rationally,
18:00
Speaker 2: and you know, just hope that everything turns out as
18:06
Speaker 2: good as it came right.
18:07
Speaker 1: And usually it's it's not the whole People don't need
18:09
Speaker 1: to be worried that are in the area. It's not
18:11
Speaker 1: the whole area. I mean, you're not going to see
18:13
Speaker 1: the whole area cave in. It's usually one spot because
18:16
Speaker 1: of like I said, it's it could be an old
18:18
Speaker 1: water line, it could be an old sewer line, it
18:22
Speaker 1: could be you know, some erosion because of some issue.
18:26
Speaker 1: It could be a vault. I mean, there's so many
18:28
Speaker 1: things in the older areas that could cause this, but
18:31
Speaker 1: you really don't know, and neither does any mayor. So
18:34
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not sitting here blaming the administration for anything.
18:37
Speaker 1: You don't know what's under but it's up to the
18:40
Speaker 1: city now and to figure out what caused it and
18:43
Speaker 1: then to fix that cause. So we can I think
18:46
Speaker 1: we could tell people you're no danger that now suddenly
18:49
Speaker 1: your house is going to disappear like well that one
18:52
Speaker 1: added exarbon was pretty scary, but they figured out what
18:55
Speaker 1: was the issue and they fixed it. So Jay I
18:58
Speaker 1: cannot let this go. And this is Jaylon with Greenslake,
19:02
Speaker 1: developer of the Blackstone. I cannot let this go without
19:06
Speaker 1: talking about the streetcar and we might have to even
19:09
Speaker 1: come back for a second segment to talk about the streetcar,
19:12
Speaker 1: because I've said many, many times, the streetcar is good
19:16
Speaker 1: for downtown Midtown. It was the number one recommendation that
19:20
Speaker 1: came out from the Greater Omaha Chamber Commerce Urban Core
19:23
Speaker 1: Committee is to build a streetcar to move people in,
19:26
Speaker 1: around and out of downtown in Midtown. Right now, and
19:30
Speaker 1: I will say this many times, half of downtown is
19:33
Speaker 1: dedicated to parking, and at any given time half is empty.
19:37
Speaker 1: We would like to see all those vacant surface street
19:41
Speaker 1: or parking lots filled with businesses and jobs and people
19:45
Speaker 1: to continue to grow our city and thrive. What you know,
19:49
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people that are saying right now
19:52
Speaker 1: that smaller businesses and company are closing and going out
19:56
Speaker 1: of business because of the streetcar. You're not going to
20:00
Speaker 1: hurt my feelings. You tell me, tell me your opinion
20:03
Speaker 1: of the streetcar going right through the Blackstone district, and
20:06
Speaker 1: let's talk about the issues that it has caused some
20:10
Speaker 1: smaller businesses during construction.
20:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, this could we might go on for quite some
20:15
Speaker 2: time here, but we could do it all week. I
20:19
Speaker 2: have a long history with the streetcar project back in
20:22
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, I let a campaign called Modern Streetcar Advocates,
20:27
Speaker 2: And at that point in time, again, it had been
20:31
Speaker 2: talked about even before then for at least ten years.
20:35
Speaker 1: Maybe decade twenty To tell dob was mayor yeah.
20:39
Speaker 2: But what really, what really caused me to want to
20:43
Speaker 2: lead that campaign and be the face of the advocacy
20:48
Speaker 2: for the project at that point in time was my
20:52
Speaker 2: history with Blackstone District and understanding the importance of placemaking,
21:00
Speaker 2: and understanding the importance of density and walkability and seeing
21:04
Speaker 2: that this is uh, this is the future, this is
21:07
Speaker 2: what it's all about, and being a real estate developer,
21:11
Speaker 2: what I see is a lot of opportunity and a
21:14
Speaker 2: lot of empty land. So I would this is something
21:18
Speaker 2: that I do from time to time. I just did
21:20
Speaker 2: it a week or so ago. I walked, walked, and
21:22
Speaker 2: I didn't buke it and get my car. I walked
21:24
Speaker 2: from Blackstone District to downtown.
21:26
Speaker 1: And by the way, you walked to this too, I did.
21:29
Speaker 4: I did.
21:32
Speaker 3: But what I would.
21:35
Speaker 2: Ask some of your listeners to do they maybe don't
21:38
Speaker 2: quite understand the streetcar project or love it or hate
21:41
Speaker 2: it even is walk the route and if you're looking
21:46
Speaker 2: at that from a business a business angle and saying
21:51
Speaker 2: what is this worth and what could this be?
21:53
Speaker 3: When I walked the route, what I see is a
21:55
Speaker 3: lot empty land.
21:56
Speaker 2: And when I bring other developers from out of town
22:00
Speaker 2: and other people that are in the real estate business,
22:02
Speaker 2: they even when I'm driving in from the airport and
22:05
Speaker 2: we get up to our office at Blackstone Plaza is
22:08
Speaker 2: they just say, holy cow, there is a lot.
22:10
Speaker 3: Of opportunity here.
22:11
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and right now those pieces of land are producing
22:16
Speaker 2: virtually no no revenue for the city because there's no
22:20
Speaker 2: density on them. So not only is it a really
22:23
Speaker 2: bad place to be because when you're walking in places
22:27
Speaker 2: that are empty there they don't feel good and they
22:29
Speaker 2: don't feel safe, and they don't feel interesting, but they
22:33
Speaker 2: also don't produce that much money for the city, so
22:37
Speaker 2: in in tax revenue and tax revenue exactly, or vibrancy
22:41
Speaker 2: or sales tax revenue. So so really, you know, when
22:45
Speaker 2: I when and people talk to me about the street
22:47
Speaker 2: car all the time still, and I really have kind
22:51
Speaker 2: of boiled it down to that, I'm just saying, go
22:53
Speaker 2: look at the route, Go look at all the empty land,
22:57
Speaker 2: See what that land could be. You travel to other cities.
22:59
Speaker 2: You know what it's like to have a great walk
23:02
Speaker 2: in a great city. We could do that, We could
23:06
Speaker 2: be that. You could not only create vibrancy in a
23:09
Speaker 2: place where young people want to live and companies want
23:11
Speaker 2: to locate, but you're also going to create a lot,
23:13
Speaker 2: a lot of sales tax or a lot of property
23:15
Speaker 2: tax revenue.
23:16
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know that's why when I explained the streetcar,
23:20
Speaker 1: and I will say it was originally estimated along the
23:22
Speaker 1: streetcar line that there would be about two billion dollars
23:26
Speaker 1: worth of new revenue that would occur in the first
23:30
Speaker 1: twenty years because of the street new development, new development
23:34
Speaker 1: resulting in revenue, new revenue along the streetcar line. Already
23:39
Speaker 1: before the rails are in, there's about one and a
23:41
Speaker 1: half billion. Now they have changed those estimates to four
23:45
Speaker 1: billion dollars worth of new development along the streetcar line
23:50
Speaker 1: in the first twenty years. It's already happening. It's already
23:53
Speaker 1: happening along that line. However, there are small businesses and
23:59
Speaker 1: companies that people are saying, are they closing and going
24:03
Speaker 1: bankrupt because of the street car? What are you seeing
24:06
Speaker 1: in the Blackstone.
24:08
Speaker 2: Well, we're seeing some people struggle for sure, and we're
24:13
Speaker 2: doing everything that we can to help them. And we
24:15
Speaker 2: have done a lot of that as as landlords to
24:18
Speaker 2: say we understand the value of this tenant. And then
24:21
Speaker 2: the Chamber had a very generous program and and so
24:25
Speaker 2: we're doing all that we can.
24:26
Speaker 1: And the Chambers program was developed. I was involved in
24:29
Speaker 1: that with the city and it was a hardship fund, yep.
24:32
Speaker 1: And it was it was donated money, and it was
24:35
Speaker 1: a hardship fund that that the money could be given
24:38
Speaker 1: out to businesses that are struggling. Now a lot of
24:41
Speaker 1: that has already gone or most of it's gone. I
24:43
Speaker 1: think they need more, they need to figure out more.
24:45
Speaker 1: But a lot of that went to the Blackstone businesses correct.
24:48
Speaker 3: Yes, yep, and incredibly grateful for that.
24:51
Speaker 1: And that was about one point two or.
24:54
Speaker 2: Four million was divided with Midtown Crossing as well. Okay,
24:58
Speaker 2: dollars to Blackstone. So well, you know, the constructions hard
25:02
Speaker 2: that last the first part of the construction of this
25:04
Speaker 2: project was infinitely harder than the current project because that
25:07
Speaker 2: was deep utility work.
25:08
Speaker 1: It was very deep utility work with big holes in
25:11
Speaker 1: the ground.
25:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:12
Speaker 1: But to make that point, Jay and I got to
25:13
Speaker 1: bring it up right now. Is that the reason all
25:17
Speaker 1: that utility work is being done before the rails go
25:20
Speaker 1: in is exactly what we were just talking about with
25:23
Speaker 1: that cave in. Today, we don't know what's under the
25:26
Speaker 1: streets in these old neighborhoods, and it just didn't make
25:29
Speaker 1: sense to us that was planning the streetcar to do
25:32
Speaker 1: all of this work on the surface and put rails
25:34
Speaker 1: in and then take the chance that there could be
25:37
Speaker 1: a cave in or a sinkhole because of old infrastructure underneath.
25:40
Speaker 1: And that's why we work so much with mud and
25:43
Speaker 1: know PPD to say, okay, this area where the rails
25:47
Speaker 1: are coming in, it's right to do it now and
25:50
Speaker 1: get it over with and then put the rails in.
25:52
Speaker 1: And that's why all this work, and that's why the
25:55
Speaker 1: streetcar originally was supposed to be done in twenty twenty six.
25:58
Speaker 1: It's added two more years on it. It's twenty two
26:00
Speaker 1: twenty eight now. But this is why we're doing it.
26:02
Speaker 1: This is why we're doing all of this infrastructure work
26:05
Speaker 1: before the rails are put in. Now. Are you seeing
26:08
Speaker 1: any businesses in the Blackstone that you have seen that
26:12
Speaker 1: have not survived the construction?
26:16
Speaker 2: You know, definitely having conversations every day with anybody that's struggling. Okay,
26:21
Speaker 2: none that I can say specifically closed exactly because of
26:25
Speaker 2: this project.
26:25
Speaker 1: Okay. So and you know, we're keeping a track of
26:29
Speaker 1: the city, can keep track of the restaurants and the
26:32
Speaker 1: bars because of the restaurant tax, and they could see
26:35
Speaker 1: if the restaurant tax is really dropping down. Now, I
26:38
Speaker 1: have been in conversation with Clark Ross, who has formed
26:41
Speaker 1: the Streetcar Impact Alliance. He is telling me, you know,
26:45
Speaker 1: he has the Mercury Bar down on Sixteenth Street. He
26:48
Speaker 1: said his business is down about sixty percent. That's not
26:51
Speaker 1: in the Blackstone, but I mean I know that there
26:54
Speaker 1: are some that are struggling.
26:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are That's not a number I've heard in
26:59
Speaker 2: Blackstone and only things are off. But I think there's
27:01
Speaker 2: a you know, there's the broader economic conditions, you know,
27:06
Speaker 2: in the world, in our country, and there's there's a
27:09
Speaker 2: lot of factors here so.
27:10
Speaker 1: That contribute to that. Jay Lend, we got to go
27:13
Speaker 1: for a break. Would you stick with us a few
27:14
Speaker 1: more minutes because I want to get into real quickly
27:17
Speaker 1: why we are using TIFF, that TIF, that tax increment financing.
27:24
Speaker 1: I'm gonna explain it once again along the streetcar route.
27:27
Speaker 1: And then I want to talk about the parking grutch
27:29
Speaker 1: that we built in the project that we built the city.
27:32
Speaker 1: It's called thirty seven West Farnham, and about that development
27:36
Speaker 1: that only helps the development of the Blackstone even more.
27:40
Speaker 1: So we'll get back with you in a few minutes.
27:41
Speaker 1: And I asked Ja Lund with green Slat who was
27:45
Speaker 1: the they managed, and they were they've developed the Blackstone district.
27:49
Speaker 1: To stay on because there's a few more things I
27:51
Speaker 1: have to get in while you are with us today.
27:54
Speaker 1: First of all, we got to touch a little bit
27:57
Speaker 1: and it's so hard to explain. But the streetcar again,
28:01
Speaker 1: how it is being paid for. Folks you are listening,
28:04
Speaker 1: are not paying for the streetcar. This is what is
28:07
Speaker 1: so good about it. It is going to cause economic development,
28:10
Speaker 1: which is already happening. It's creating jobs, and you aren't
28:14
Speaker 1: paying for it. It's the developers along the route that
28:19
Speaker 1: are paying for the streetcar, the new development. The tiff
28:23
Speaker 1: that they are awarded and there are only certain tiff
28:26
Speaker 1: eligible expenses allowed by state law. Portion of their tiff
28:31
Speaker 1: will go to the streetcar because they know they will
28:35
Speaker 1: benefit big time. From the streetcar. Businesses that are already there.
28:40
Speaker 1: Their value of their property is going to go way
28:43
Speaker 1: up because of the streetcar, and that increase value, the
28:47
Speaker 1: taxes that they pay will go towards the streetcar tex.
28:52
Speaker 1: And it's no single family, no duplexes, no condos are
28:58
Speaker 1: your tax is going to go up because of the streetcar.
29:01
Speaker 1: It's the developers that are paying for it. And the
29:04
Speaker 1: developers want that streetcar in there for every reason that
29:08
Speaker 1: we just talked about. It's only going to help these
29:10
Speaker 1: areas that currently may have, you know, property that is vacant.
29:15
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you one example, and then we
29:17
Speaker 1: got to get back. I'm going to let Jay talk
29:18
Speaker 1: about the tiff too. But you may have let's say,
29:21
Speaker 1: an old vacant gas station on a corner and say
29:24
Speaker 1: it's worth a million dollars. I'm just making this up,
29:27
Speaker 1: and that owner is paying taxes on a million dollars
29:30
Speaker 1: and it's just going to keep on decreasing in value.
29:33
Speaker 1: A new developer comes in and says, along the streetcar line,
29:37
Speaker 1: I'm going to build a fifty million dollar development right
29:41
Speaker 1: here on this corner, and I am going to be
29:44
Speaker 1: paying taxes on fifty million dollars now instead of the
29:48
Speaker 1: million dollars, and that money is going to go back
29:50
Speaker 1: into the city confers and so. But the thing with
29:54
Speaker 1: tiff is if these areas, if this developer asks for tiff,
29:59
Speaker 1: and again it's own certain eligible expenses allowed by state law.
30:04
Speaker 1: It goes first of all through the tiff Committee, it
30:07
Speaker 1: goes through the planning board, it is approved, and then
30:09
Speaker 1: it goes through the city council before it is approved.
30:12
Speaker 1: But I mentioned state law. State law says that you
30:17
Speaker 1: cannot award tiff to any development but for it's called
30:23
Speaker 1: the butt four clause in state law, that development. And
30:27
Speaker 1: so it is saying that if you're going to go
30:29
Speaker 1: ahead and build this with or without the tiff, excuse me,
30:34
Speaker 1: you are eligible for tiff if if it's only but
30:38
Speaker 1: for that development, if you can get that tiff, that
30:42
Speaker 1: is what is so important to understand. I remembered when
30:46
Speaker 1: the state auditor Mike Foley brought up tiff along the
30:50
Speaker 1: street car line, and he said that this was a
30:53
Speaker 1: misuse of property tax dollars or he called it a
30:56
Speaker 1: diversion of property tax dollars. But that wasn't not accurate.
31:00
Speaker 1: What Mike Foley said that is only accurate if every
31:04
Speaker 1: bit of this development would happen without the tiff, and
31:08
Speaker 1: it's just not gonna happen.
31:10
Speaker 2: Correct, correct, So there's yeah, there's a lot to unpack there,
31:17
Speaker 2: but way a lot to unpack with tiff. Going back
31:20
Speaker 2: to the I'm gonna go back to the streetcar for
31:22
Speaker 2: a second. So there was early on a lot of
31:26
Speaker 2: comments about the idea that the streetcar is is a
31:30
Speaker 2: fixed rail and the steel is in the ground and
31:34
Speaker 2: it cannot move, and therefore it doesn't make sense because
31:37
Speaker 2: it should move. The exact opposite is actually true. The
31:42
Speaker 2: permanency of the steel rails in the ground is what
31:47
Speaker 2: causes a developer to put a investment on the line
31:52
Speaker 2: because they know it's not gonna move. Right. So then
31:55
Speaker 2: let's go back to all the empty land that's between
31:58
Speaker 2: Saddle Creek and the river. All of this land is
32:02
Speaker 2: our empty parking lots, are just empty land, and it's
32:05
Speaker 2: been that way for twenty forty years. So the folks
32:10
Speaker 2: that I talked to about the streetcar, that I say,
32:14
Speaker 2: this land is going to continue to sit empty for
32:17
Speaker 2: another twenty to forty years unless we do something different. Well,
32:20
Speaker 2: this is this is something different and I would correct
32:24
Speaker 2: you a little bit and say that it's not the
32:26
Speaker 2: developers that are paying for the streetcar.
32:28
Speaker 3: It's the development.
32:30
Speaker 2: You are absolutely the developed and the development and the
32:33
Speaker 2: developments would not happen if the streetcar wouldn't happen, because
32:38
Speaker 2: well they haven't for the last twenty to forty years anyways.
32:41
Speaker 2: The butt four clause in TIF also means that developments
32:46
Speaker 2: wouldn't happen. So developing urban land is a lot harder
32:49
Speaker 2: than developing suburban land.
32:51
Speaker 3: It sure is, and that's why you need that tool.
32:53
Speaker 1: Absolutely you will.
32:55
Speaker 2: You cannot get to financing. If your pro forma does
32:58
Speaker 2: not demonstrate that bought for that tool, you cannot do
33:03
Speaker 2: your development. I would, you know, share an example pro
33:08
Speaker 2: forma to say, here's what the project looks like with TIFF.
33:12
Speaker 2: You can't finance it, you can't raise equity. And here's
33:17
Speaker 2: what the project looks with TIFF. It is the bridge
33:21
Speaker 2: to making something not that doesn't work, to something that
33:26
Speaker 2: can't work.
33:27
Speaker 1: And on that same line of thought, you know, and
33:29
Speaker 1: you can explain this in your own words. I have
33:32
Speaker 1: so many people say to me, why are you letting
33:35
Speaker 1: these developers develop all these apartments? We don't need any
33:39
Speaker 1: more apartments. And I will always say these developers are
33:42
Speaker 1: so savvy, they know what is needed. They're what they do.
33:46
Speaker 1: They want to return on their investment, and they do
33:48
Speaker 1: not want to build a bunch of apartments if they
33:51
Speaker 1: think they're going to set empty. What I saw in
33:53
Speaker 1: the twelve years I was down at City Hall is
33:56
Speaker 1: these apartments that the developers are building all over Omaha.
33:59
Speaker 1: They fill up the minute they're open. There's a need.
34:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a huge housing need in O Moha. And
34:05
Speaker 2: we and we and and that's a good thing. And
34:07
Speaker 2: that means that our economy is growing, our employers are
34:11
Speaker 2: continuing to employ people, and the city population is growing,
34:14
Speaker 2: so there is a continued need uh for housing and building.
34:19
Speaker 3: Building.
34:19
Speaker 2: Housing is hard, whether it's a suburban single family home
34:23
Speaker 2: or an apartment building in the city. You know, these
34:25
Speaker 2: things take a considerable amount of time and energy and costs,
34:30
Speaker 2: so our supply.
34:34
Speaker 3: Barely keeps up with our demand.
34:36
Speaker 1: And another thing that I wanted to bring up is
34:38
Speaker 1: in state law, which I wanted to get changed many
34:41
Speaker 1: many times, is as far as tiff goes text increment financing,
34:45
Speaker 1: there there is the term blighted in substandard and people
34:50
Speaker 1: hate that term. There's a lot of controversy going on
34:53
Speaker 1: now with the Old Center Mall or Central Mall. They
34:56
Speaker 1: call it both things. That's on forty second in Center
35:00
Speaker 1: because the area has been deemed an area of community redevelopment,
35:04
Speaker 1: and the people are saying, well, if my house is blighted,
35:07
Speaker 1: my value goes down. If you were in that area
35:10
Speaker 1: of blighted in substandard, it has absolutely nothing to do
35:13
Speaker 1: with the value of your house. The Douglas County Assessor
35:16
Speaker 1: will assess the value of your house based on basically
35:20
Speaker 1: comps from what the housing has been sold in that area,
35:25
Speaker 1: and it's not going to devalue your house. It's in
35:29
Speaker 1: you to be eligible for the tiff and to be
35:33
Speaker 1: considered blighted in substandard. There's six criteria for blighted. You
35:37
Speaker 1: only have to meet one and one might be the
35:40
Speaker 1: buildings are more than forty years old. That's it. So
35:43
Speaker 1: it doesn't affect the value of your house while I
35:45
Speaker 1: still have you. Jay lund is here helped develop the
35:48
Speaker 1: Blackstone area the parking garage. This is another thing that
35:52
Speaker 1: you worked with the city, your company worked with the
35:55
Speaker 1: city with as you needed more parking. People are saying,
35:58
Speaker 1: I want to go to the black Stone, but boy,
36:01
Speaker 1: where do I park? And so this was a great
36:03
Speaker 1: project that opened. I think it opened in October twenty
36:07
Speaker 1: twenty four. I believe I was there standing in that
36:10
Speaker 1: parking garage with you. It's about a three hundred and
36:12
Speaker 1: eighty four stall parking garage. It's part of a development
36:17
Speaker 1: called thirty seven West Farnham and there's retail and apartments
36:21
Speaker 1: wrapped around that garage. Talk about that.
36:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to start to repeat myself here a
36:26
Speaker 2: little bit because it does have to do with empty
36:29
Speaker 2: parking lots, and it does have to do with the streetcar.
36:31
Speaker 2: That was an empty parking lot, yes, and now it
36:34
Speaker 2: has a three hundred and sixty thousand square foot building
36:38
Speaker 2: on one acre of land. So you're talking, you know,
36:42
Speaker 2: ninety million some dollars of value on an acre. Compare
36:46
Speaker 2: that to an acre of land and different parts of
36:49
Speaker 2: the city. These are highly efficient projects that not only
36:56
Speaker 2: adds tax base, but it added parking and it doesn't
37:00
Speaker 2: look like a parking garage. We put a five story
37:02
Speaker 2: apartment building on top of it. We have some great
37:04
Speaker 2: local retailers that are wrapping the street side of it,
37:08
Speaker 2: and the street car itself.
37:10
Speaker 1: Works a great mural on one side of a great marril.
37:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the street car itself works with all these
37:17
Speaker 2: garages where if you think about it almost as like
37:19
Speaker 2: a tram as well, or you can function with these
37:23
Speaker 2: city on garages with this tram that connects them all.
37:27
Speaker 2: So it really kind of hits on so many levels.
37:31
Speaker 1: And you know, the city bills a lot of garages
37:33
Speaker 1: because you pay for it with revenue bonds. So the
37:36
Speaker 1: city pays for the garages with the revenue that they produce.
37:39
Speaker 1: I think it's about two fifty an hour, not a
37:42
Speaker 1: lot to park in that garage in twenty five dollars
37:45
Speaker 1: max daily.
37:45
Speaker 3: We do have first two hours free during construction.
37:48
Speaker 1: All there we go. Sorry, Jay, we have got to break.
37:51
Speaker 1: I could talk to you all day here and probably
37:54
Speaker 1: tomorrow too, because so much is going on in Blackstone.
37:57
Speaker 1: We really appreciate you being on here today. Jay Lund
38:00
Speaker 1: with Green Slate Management, the LUNs have done so much
38:04
Speaker 1: for Omaha. I want to thank you. I go back
38:06
Speaker 1: to your dad. Your dad was responsible for Regency one
38:10
Speaker 1: Pacific Place, the new Blackstone building there where WWT was,
38:14
Speaker 1: the new apartments. He's been a great partner with the
38:17
Speaker 1: city too, So thank you so much to Jayn John Lon.
38:20
Speaker 1: Jay is with us today and thank you for all
38:23
Speaker 1: you do for Omaha. We really appreciate you being here today.
38:26
Speaker 2: Well right back at you, thank you for everything that
38:28
Speaker 2: you did, and thanks a lot for having me.
38:30
Speaker 1: You bet all right now we need to take a
38:32
Speaker 1: break because Peyton has given me the stinky over there.
38:36
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for tuning into the KFA B
38:38
Speaker 4: comment line this morning here on a Monday, we had
38:42
Speaker 4: Jay lundon this morning and we have one caller following up.
38:45
Speaker 1: Pete.
38:46
Speaker 4: You are now live with Geene Stauthart here on eleven
38:48
Speaker 4: ten KFAB Good.
38:49
Speaker 5: Morning, Good morning, Gene. I hope you're having a great
38:54
Speaker 5: day and had a fabulous weekend.
38:55
Speaker 1: I did, and we're.
38:58
Speaker 5: I know we're short on time, but you brought something
39:01
Speaker 5: up that's always been on my mind about the these
39:04
Speaker 5: Tiff project, because I've always felt like Tiff was being
39:08
Speaker 5: misused and there's that blighted language.
39:12
Speaker 1: Yes, and we hate language.
39:15
Speaker 5: It makes sense like, oh, we've got this, you know,
39:18
Speaker 5: we've got this place where hey, nothing's happening. The place
39:22
Speaker 5: is really subpar. Nothing's gonna happen unless we give really
39:27
Speaker 5: favorable financing and make it happen. But then you know,
39:30
Speaker 5: it happens in places like Tdummeritory, got that nice building
39:35
Speaker 5: built and that Now we're looking at Blackstone, like the
39:38
Speaker 5: hottest neighborhood in Omaha where you can buy a twelve
39:41
Speaker 5: dollars coffee if you want, How in the world did
39:44
Speaker 5: that area get blighted? You know?
39:46
Speaker 1: And I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that up, because
39:48
Speaker 1: this is what's so hard to understand about tiff and
39:51
Speaker 1: it's what is written in state law, and it says
39:53
Speaker 1: the area must be deemed designated blighted in substandard. And
39:58
Speaker 1: then the state goes on in the law to say
40:01
Speaker 1: what blighted means, and you only have to meet one
40:05
Speaker 1: of the criteria out of all of them. And for instance,
40:08
Speaker 1: one of the criteria is the buildings are more than
40:11
Speaker 1: forty years old. I mean, that's what you could apply
40:13
Speaker 1: to the Blackstone. It doesn't mean that your properties are
40:17
Speaker 1: falling apart. And you might look at the Blackstone and say, well,
40:21
Speaker 1: look at all these great buildings and restaurants, but then
40:24
Speaker 1: there's one building that's totally vacant, like the one just
40:28
Speaker 1: adjacent to where the cave in was this morning on
40:30
Speaker 1: the sidewalk and so and that same with downtown. You know,
40:34
Speaker 1: you might be building a you know, eight hundred million
40:37
Speaker 1: dollar new skyscraper for Mutual in this area that received TIFF,
40:41
Speaker 1: but right across the street there might be an old
40:44
Speaker 1: vacant building and a surface parking lot that nothing's happening.
40:47
Speaker 1: And so that's really how they determined that. But I
40:51
Speaker 1: have been trying to get the state to change that
40:53
Speaker 1: terminology ablided and substandard for years because I don't think
40:57
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense. It's not really what's happening in
40:59
Speaker 1: that day are It.
41:00
Speaker 4: Kind of feels like it has a negative connotation.
41:02
Speaker 1: It absolutely does, and people don't want to think that
41:05
Speaker 1: they live in an area that's flighted in substandard. But
41:09
Speaker 1: it has nothing to do with the value of your property.
41:12
Speaker 1: It's not going to devalue your property. In fact, when
41:15
Speaker 1: a new development happens, it increases the value of your property.
41:20
Speaker 1: It does just the opposite. So that you know, we
41:23
Speaker 1: could talk about TIFF again till forever, but I could
41:27
Speaker 1: explain almost anything that anybody wants to understand about TIFF.
41:31
Speaker 4: Something that also gets a pretty negative connotation, as fireworks
41:34
Speaker 4: and gene I think that we're going to wait and
41:37
Speaker 4: talk about that tomorrow because we're getting closer to the
41:39
Speaker 4: fourth of July. But something more relevant to today is
41:43
Speaker 4: today is the championship game of the College World Series.
41:45
Speaker 1: It is, and you know, I'm excited about it. I
41:48
Speaker 1: kind of thought maybe it would be over yesterday, but
41:50
Speaker 1: obviously the Oklahoma one one North Carolina one yesterday. I've
41:54
Speaker 1: been down there every single day except one. It will
41:59
Speaker 1: be decided that champions will be decided this evening. The
42:02
Speaker 1: game is at six pm, and it'll be a lot
42:06
Speaker 1: of fun. But Peyton, why is it that I have
42:09
Speaker 1: these these season tickets. I've had them for thirteen years.
42:11
Speaker 1: I pay for them myself. I love the crowd. Everybody's
42:15
Speaker 1: in a good mood generally, but I always am sitting
42:17
Speaker 1: in front of that person that is pretty anebriated and
42:22
Speaker 1: is yelling profanities at the team and cussing at the
42:24
Speaker 1: team and saying things that I wish they would stop.
42:28
Speaker 1: I want to let you all know this, everybody, most
42:30
Speaker 1: of the people are very well behaved, but if you
42:33
Speaker 1: are like me, there is a number that you can
42:36
Speaker 1: text and nobody knows you're doing that, and it's four
42:38
Speaker 1: O two six two four four four four one. And
42:42
Speaker 1: if you are sitting by somebody that is absolutely obnoxious,
42:46
Speaker 1: you can call that number and they will handle that.
42:48
Speaker 1: I'm just saying just in case that happens to you,
42:52
Speaker 1: But most of the crowd has been fantastic. I'll be
42:55
Speaker 1: down there tonight. And that is it for us today.
42:58
Speaker 1: I want to thank you all for spending this hour
43:00
Speaker 1: with us and for listening. We'd love for you to
43:03
Speaker 1: join us again tomorrow. We're gonna cover fireworks big time tomorrow.
43:07
Speaker 1: And I'm Jean Stothart and this is eleven ten KFA
43:09
Speaker 1: B