Could warehouse conversion have worked for Omaha's Jobbers Canyon?
Before demolition of Jobbers Canyon was even a thought, a piece of the historic warehouse district had been turned into a hip place to live. RJ Neary remembers because he not only helped renovate the century-old New Idea building, he lived there after it became edgy apartments in 1986. With its rooftop deck, patio and street-level commercial space, the former farm equipment center at Ninth and Jackson Streets was the first downtown Omaha housing created east of 10th Street in modern times. People were fascinated, Neary said, and the five-story New Idea became a hot spot for guests wanting to check out the repurposed digs. The New Idea renovation provides a glimpse of what might have happened on a broader scale, if the six-block district  including New Idea  hadn't been cleared for the multimillion-dollar Conagra-anchored riverfront project. Todd Heistand of NuStyle Development, another Omaha housing pioneer who has converted many downtown buildings, says the Jobbers Canyon neighborhood in the 1980s was rather rough. He believes construction of the Conagra campus and neighboring Heartland of America park helped accelerate the conversion of other downtown warehouses into cool housing and commercial space. Indeed, he said the suburban-like Conagra complex brought a sense of stability. Without it, he wonders when the hundreds of housing units that NuStyle later developed near it would have come into the market. "Conagra really did change the feel of downtown," Heistand said. "It brought a level of safety to downtown." So goes discussion, speculation and debate  still decades later  over what downtown might be today if the mother lode of historic Omaha warehouses had remained and blossomed into the extension of Old Market lofts and shops that some envisioned. Business and civic leaders say the Conagra project brought jobs to the riverfront and spurred lots of development. Even though Conagra in 2016 relocated its corporate headquarters and top leadership to Chicago, about 1,300 Conagra employees still work on its downsized campus. Others lament the loss of more than 20 buildings that collectively represented an irreplaceable part of Omaha's history and commercial growth. The demolition and its impact remains a case study for urban planning students. "To this day, people still talk about it," Martin Janousek, a local architect with Leo A Daly, said about the fight waged to save the Canyon. "I mean, it rocked a lot of people." The World-Herald, in partnership with History Nebraska, is examining key issues in Omaha's downtown redevelopment over the past 50 years. That includes both the destruction of Jobbers Canyon (bounded generally by Eighth, 10th, Farnam and Jackson Streets) and the recent conversion of numerous vintage structures into worksites, housing and shops. For some, it's hard to reconcile the two facts. "You look at that and say: 'Wow, it could have been so different,' " said Jeff Slobotski, ecosystem and business development manager for the emerging Millwork Commons neighborhood near 12th and Nicholas Streets. The area is near Hot Shops, a former mattress factory dating back to 1886 that turned into an art center in 1999. Launched about three years ago, Millwork Commons developers are trying to create a 45-acre live-work-play campus for tech and other creative businesses. Investors led by Paul Smith and Black Dog Management are directing up to $300 million for the effort. An anchor of Millwork Commons is the recently renovated Ashton warehouse, built in the 1880s, which covers nearly 200,000 square feet. The Ashton features a spacious public lobby called The Dock, where people can watch movies on a giant screen, socialize over a latte from Archetype Coffee or house-made beer from the Kros Strain tap room. The Dock opens up to an outdoor park and event area and a few hundred new housing units under construction. Also there is the 1940s-era Mastercraft, whose lengthy transformation from furniture factory to business office center began under different owners in 2005. So far, Ashton business tenants include WP Engine (formerly known as Flywheel), a clothing boutique, a restaurant-meal deliverer. More are coming, including a home furnishing store and an information technology school. South of the Ashton, another like-sized millwork operation built in 1886 and known as the Disbrow block is soon to be renovated into offices, retailers and residences. While impressive, Millwork Commons is not as huge a redevelopment project as the Jobbers Canyon district would have been. And while the recent efforts are transforming older warehouses (often built in the same era as Jobbers Canyon), the bulk of those structures still sat derelict or underused for a long time. At a different downtown spot, south of the Old Market along 10th Street, another cavernous brick structure stood inactive and mainly used for storage for roughly four decades. Jon Crane of Boyd Jones Construction had the idea to turn the former railroad mail-sorting facility into a now fully occupied, 100,000-square-foot modern worksite. Four years after the renovated Rail & Commerce Building opened, tenants include Boyd Jones, Warren Distribution, HTI Labs and Cafe Postale. There's also a co-working level called Commerce Village, where about 40 entrepreneurs are based. When Crane bought the dilapidated structure, he hoped its location and ambiance would help recruit talent for his company that had outgrown space near 44th and Nicholas Streets. That happened, he said. He anticipates further growth, noting the building's design allows for two additional floors. Not every old building is salvageable, Crane said. But he says he is pleased he took on the $25 million renovation challenge at 10th and Mason Streets. "You get to breathe new life into these historic buildings and, in a way, you're living in the best of both worlds." A few other emerging areas:  Flat Iron District: Developers are turning old buildings (and building some new ones) near 18th Street and St. Mary's Avenue into housing, offices, restaurants and other commercial space. Neeraj Agarwal, for instance, is rehabbing a century-old Buick dealership and the historic Standard Oil facility. Dicon Corp. led conversion of the century-old Freiden building into micro apartments. New North Makerhood: The Peter Kiewit Foundation's aim is to turn a worn pocket of structures northwest of 11th and Cuming into an affordable neighborhood for artisans and entrepreneurs. In its heyday, the area was a bustling industrial tract. Next step is turning an old lumber warehouse into artist studios and outdoor event space. At 12th and Jones Streets, the Fairmont Creamery stands as an example of how challenging a conversion project can get. Omahan Paul Waggener bought the former cold storage and meat-processing plant, which dates back to 1898, and planned to create 142,000 square feet of residences, retail and gallery space. The estimated $30 million rehab now has stalled, due mostly to rising wood and steel prices, said Waggener, who is considering bringing on a partner. Earlier, Waggener said he "fell in love" with the structure then only about 20% in use, adding that he "wanted to make sure she was taken care of properly." Neary felt similarly back in the mid-1980s when he walked into the New Idea building then operated by Lindsay Brothers Co. as a wholesale distributor of farm equipment. He thought: "This is a perfect conversion (project)." Within a few months of completing the rehab, its 24 apartments were filled, "proving that demand existed," said Neary, a real estate businessman who recently ran unsuccessfully for mayor. Neary and his partners ultimately sold the property to the Omaha Development Foundation as it assembled land for Conagra's new campus and more. Neary said his group got about $1 million more than its original investment. Heistand  who is Omaha's largest converter of old structures into trendy housing  views demolition of Jobbers Canyon as a "double-edged sword." From a builder's perspective, he is confident that in today's market, the warehouses could have been swiftly turned into the kind of history-filled, mixed-use centers urban dwellers flock to. But, he said, that wasnt as easily said or done in the 1980s when the area was not as appealing for residential living. Heistand said demand for his own early conversion efforts, including the Bull Durham apartments that opened in 1997 at 10th and Leavenworth, likely benefited from the post-Conagra project environment that infused more office workers and corporate feel near the riverfront. NuStyle, boosted also by development tools including tax-increment financing, went on a roll converting old buildings. Around 2002, for example, the company finished transformation of two century-old 11th and Jones Streets warehouses into about 260 Old Market Lofts with street-level business space. The previous owner, Ford storage and moving company, had been downtown about 85 years when it sold NuStyle the nine-story structures and another six-story warehouse at 11th and Dodge (which also became apartments and then condos). Other NuStyle conversions included the eight-story Beebe & Runyan warehouse into condos at Ninth and Douglas in 1998 and Tiptop facility into apartments and commercial space at 15th and Cuming in 2005. Increased popularity of urban core living and working helped create demand for more transformations. Since 2013, NuStyle carved out more than 2,000 apartments from eight aging structures spanning 2.5 million square feet within a few miles of the Missouri River. Most recently, NuStyle turned an old power plant just south of Conagra into a 217-apartment complex called The Breakers. The plant hadn't operated for three decades, and, according to Heistand, was his team's most difficult conversion yet. For starters, it had no traditional floors, only a framework of iron grates that former power plant workers walked around on. Crews had to start from scratch to build an internal structure for individual apartments. NuStyle turned it down twice before buying it in 2015 at a discount price. Soon after opening two years later, the $40 million Breakers filled up. An architect who worked on the design liked the finished product  and its views of the river and casinos to the east  so much that he and his wife sold their house of many years to move there. Heistand recalls a couple of decades back when Omaha's growing urban housing market caught the attention of peer cities. Officials from Kansas City and Des Moines visited to see Omaha's downtown projects. Today, Heistand says he can "feel the loss" of the historic Jobbers Canyon that could have been turned into housing and more. "At the same time," he said, "if they wouldnt have done Conagra, a Fortune 500 company, down there, would those warehouse buildings have sat for another 15 or 20 years like in other cities?  The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. 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