OMAHA, NEB. — With its acquisition of two buildings measuring more than 300,000 square feet and plans to invest more than $100 million, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo Inc. has quickly marked its territory in the state of Nebraska.
The company purchased the 300,000-square-foot former Tender Heart Treasure building in La Vista, as well as 35,000 square feet of office space within the First National Bank Building in Omaha. Yahoo will use the buildings to house a Data Center and Customer Care Center.
“It was kind of a perfect storm how it all came together,” explains Trenton Magid, president of Omaha-based Coldwell Banker Commercial World Group, who brokered the $14.8 million sale of the La Vista facility. “I put it on the market April 11, and they closed on it September 24.”
As if Omaha’s central location in the United States was not enough to encourage Yahoo’s investment, the company was lured into the quick deal with many incentives introduced by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. With its purchases, Yahoo became the first company to qualify for certain incentives as part of the new Nebraska Advantage Act.
Yahoo must invest $100 million and employ at least 50 people. Upon doing so, the company will receive rewards including a refund of all sales tax on the project’s capital purchases, a 15 percent investment credit, and personal property tax exemption for all personal property at the project for up to 10 years, according to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development Web site.
With its investment in the Omaha area, Yahoo is joining the ranks of fellow search-engine powerhouse Google, which is currently working on its $600 million project just across the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Additionally, major operations for eBay’s PayPal are situated about 1 mile from Yahoo’s La Vista facility.
In addition to economic incentives, the University of Nebraska’s Peter Kiewit Institute is enticing technology firms to invest in the area. Located in Omaha, the school offers one of the top information technology and engineering programs in the nation. Graduates of the program can feed the growth of the technology business in Omaha, according to Magid.
“We call Omaha the Silicon Prairie,” Magid says. “Just having a company like Yahoo with its stature and size in the area is a wonderful thing, but technology isn’t something new to Omaha.”