OMAHA—Nebraska's largest city is widely recognized as the hometown of Berkshire Hathaway, but serving as the seat of Warren Buffet's sprawling investment empire is hardly the only thing Omaha's got going. In recent years, the city's downtown has undergone extensive development, in terms of both redevelopment and greenfield projects. “There's a lot that has contributed to this,” says Jay Noddle, CEO of Noddle Cos. “The growth that we're seeing now is equally as remarkable.”
The growth of Noddle Cos. parallels that of the Omaha region. Founded in the early 1970s as a small regional shopping center developer, the company has undertaken more than 150 office, retail and mixed-use commercial developments in 17 states, currently including a 200-acre MXD in the Denver suburb of Thornton, CO. However, Noddle tells GlobeSt.com, “Over the past few years, our focus as far as new development is concerned has been fairly close to home, principally because the Omaha region has been very active. There have been quite a few opportunities right on our doorstep.”
As a case in point, Noddle Cos. is serving as master developer on two global headquarters projects in Omaha: HDR's 10-story LEED Gold campus in Aksarben Village and, in an assignment announced earlier this month, global contractor Kiewit Corp.'s new corporate headquarters in North Downtown Omaha. It is also partnering with Applied Underwriters, a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company, on a 500-acre MXD known as West Farm Development.
Along with retail and residential components, the West Farm project will include a new campus for Foster City, CA-based Applied Underwriters. “We find ourselves working for HDR, Kiewit and Applied Underwriters/Berkshire Hathaway all at the same time, all with significant campus or headquarters projects in this market,” says Noddle.
Noddle Cos. is also partnering with its two headquarters tenants in various capacities. It's a logical partnership, since HDR and Kiewit bring complementary skill sets to the projects, which follow up on Noddle Cos.'s development of Kiewit University, Kiewit's national training and innovation center, a couple of years ago.
On the HDR project, “we're the developer, they're the architect, Kiewit is the contractor and we're the owner,” Noddle says. “On the Kiewit headquarters, we're the developer, HDR is the architect and Kiewit is the contractor.”
HDR has also designed projects for Noddle Cos., while Kiewit has built more than a dozen. “It's sort of a triangle with these three firms, and it's very interesting when you are both a client and a vendor for another organization,” says Noddle. “Everybody has a complete perspective of the other organization and their leadership.”
He observes, “For a small company like ours, to be building a global headquarters is saying a lot. To be doing two at a time is rather remarkable.”
Helping to fuel the development climate that has given rise to three simultaneous large-scale projects for Noddle Cos. is the fact that, as Noddle observes, “Our economy is very diverse. Unlike many people have perceived until recently, this is not just an ag economy here. Depending on what year it is, we're home to anywhere from five to seven Fortune 500 companies. For a community of our size to have that kind of corporate presence is significant; we're just now reaching one million people” in the Omaha metro area.
Looking at the second tier of Omaha-based employers—say, Fortune 1000 companies—“Omaha's got a very good representation of decision-makers,” says Noddle. “We've got great leadership in our community, both public and private; we've got some pretty remarkable philanthropy in our community, largely as a result of the Fortune 500 companies.” With the presence of Berkshire Hathaway and others, “there's a great deal of wealth and philanthropy available, which not only supports public/private partnerships but also inspires them.”
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
