Roger Langpaul took a great notion and turned it into a land seller’s dream a few years ago when he persuaded in-laws to donate some Nebraska farmland for a baseball park.

Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers Triple-A baseball team, was the result of that gift, which was given to Sarpy County after Langpaul learned that local officials needed land, but probably couldn’t afford to both buy land and build the stadium.

In exchange for the ground for the baseball complex, Sarpy County built some roads and provided other infrastructure improvements for what has become Pennant Place, a commercial and residential development in Papillion, Neb., about 15 miles south of Omaha.

Langpaul represents his wife, her sisters and their cousins in Schewe Farms Inc., which operates farms purchased in the 1970s and 1980s by Ed and Irv Schewe as an investment that would help provide for their daughters.

For his part, Langpaul said he is just a “dirt seller,” and one with a fair amount of experience. An Omaha native, he has lived in Greater Des Moines since 1987. He was involved in the development of West Lakes as well as other projects.

Pennant Place is winding down for Langpaul. About 58 acres remain for a retail and entertainment district. Papillion is connected to Omaha by five major roads, including Interstate 80, and Langpaul anticipated that the combination of easy access to a city twice the size of Greater Des Moines and the ballpark would draw an early surge of commercial developers.

Instead, the initial development has been in single-family houses and townhouses. The Good Samaritan Society also has bought land.

The retailers are acting like typical retailers.

“The retailers are holding hard and fast to wanting to see rooftops,” Langpaul said.

Though his business is located in Greater Des Moines, Langpaul’s focus in recent years has been the Omaha project and a development in Lake of the Ozarks.

Both projects are “maturing,” and as a result, Langpaul is ready to turn his focus to Greater Des Moines.

He pointed out the similarities in the Greater Des Moines and Omaha markets, where most of the growth in recent years has been to the west of both areas.

“The Omaha market is twice the size, but there are a lot of similarities,” he said.

Read more about Pennant Place.