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.