WoodmenLife Tower

schumatt · Post by **schumatt** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:36 am

Looks pretty cool tonight. I took a few shots from the roof of my building (The Wire) and didn't realize till later that the colors were slowly cycling. Very nice!

Post by **Coyote** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:44 am

Nice! Thanks for sharing, I was almost ready to go DT to shoot it myself, but you saved me!

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:44 pm

thenewguy wrote:We drove by on the interstate around 9:15 and it was red and green and they had the colors slowly moving evenly across the entire building. Pretty cool lookin stuff.

Yeah I saw that when I actually saw it in person last night. It looked great.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:59 pm

Thanks for posting those pictures Schumatt

Post by **Brad** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:57 am

Coyote wrote:Nice! Thanks for sharing, I was almost ready to go DT to shoot it myself, but you saved me! :lol:

Saved you? I would hope you take photos because you enjoy it...

I would have love to get out and photograph it for my collection, but we had too much family stuff going on over the holidays.

Turtle9160 · Post by **Turtle9160** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:57 am

Iowa courts Woodmen, hoping it might move its HQ across the river

Not about the tower it self, but the company itself considering a move to Iowa, didn't think them not getting that tax exempt deal would take it down this road

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:30 am

Turtle9160 wrote:Iowa courts Woodmen, hoping it might move its HQ across the river

Not about the tower it self, but the company itself considering a move to Iowa, didn't think them not getting that tax exempt deal would take it down this road

Not cool, Iowa.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:58 am

RNcyanide wrote:
Turtle9160 wrote:Iowa courts Woodmen, hoping it might move its HQ across the river

Not about the tower it self, but the company itself considering a move to Iowa, didn't think them not getting that tax exempt deal would take it down this road

Not cool, Iowa.

Agree. Lets hope something can be worked out to keep Woodmen in Omaha (they are one of the oldest companies in the city and state and we wouldn't want to lose that)

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:00 am

KC, KS syndrome finally hitting the Iowa side of the river.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:01 am

"...5 years to for the office market to recover..."

We may as well forget about Lanoha ever happening and Civic would be pushed back years. They ought to re-examine their tax proposals, but we should be careful throwing out tax exempt status to any big company that threatens to move.

Turtle9160 · Post by **Turtle9160** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:33 am

RNcyanide wrote:"...5 years to for the office market to recover..."

We may as well forget about Lanoha ever happening and Civic would be pushed back years. They ought to re-examine their tax proposals, but we should be careful throwing out tax exempt status to any big company that threatens to move.

No kidding, it would put to question rather or not Lanoha and Civic build to there original plans or scale them back should Woodman leave, there would be a large amount of office space open then and I can't see the building two new high rises if there isn't need for them.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:39 am

If Woodmen were to leave there would be some massive holes in our DT office market. PacLife is leaving a lot of space at the Landmark Center and there have been rumblings about an unstable future for tenants at CPP as well.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:40 am

Turtle9160 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:"...5 years to for the office market to recover..."

We may as well forget about Lanoha ever happening and Civic would be pushed back years. They ought to re-examine their tax proposals, but we should be careful throwing out tax exempt status to any big company that threatens to move.
No kidding, it would put to question rather or not Lanoha and Civic build to there original plans or scale them back should Woodman leave, there would be a large amount of office space open then and I can't see the building two new high rises if there isn't need for them.

One possible silver lining here is that, should Woodmen vacate a majority of their office space, they could convert much of the office space to flats, lofts, condos, or apartments with the best view in town.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:42 am

iamjacobm wrote:If Woodmen were to leave there would be some massive holes in our DT office market. PacLife is leaving a lot of space at the Landmark Center and there have been rumblings about an unstable future for tenants at CPP as well.

In relation to my last post, I think it would be interesting to see if a conversion to residential space could be possible for CPP. A nice restaurant at the front door, a library on the front porch and the GLM in your front yard -- not to forget about some nice sunrises over the city and Council Bluffs.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:48 am

Although I don't expect Civic or Lanoha to get built without a major tenant anyways. Those two are not being built as spec, which could insulate them from a weakened urban office market a bit. There is great value in building to suit exactly what you want.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:49 am

RNcyanide wrote:
iamjacobm wrote:If Woodmen were to leave there would be some massive holes in our DT office market. PacLife is leaving a lot of space at the Landmark Center and there have been rumblings about an unstable future for tenants at CPP as well.
In relation to my last post, I think it would be interesting to see if a conversion to residential space could be possible for CPP. A nice restaurant at the front door, a library on the front porch and the GLM in your front yard -- not to forget about some nice sunrises over the city and Council Bluffs.

In the ancient days before WST, Townsend actually proposed making the Woodmen his condo project.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:52 am

iamjacobm wrote:Although I don't expect Civic or Lanoha to get built without a major tenant anyways. Those two are not being built as spec, which could insulate them from a weakened urban office market a bit. There is great value in building to suit exactly what you want.

If the rumors of HDR moving into the Tetrad Development are true, I would assume they would build to suit and that project would be in a more definite standing that Lanoha. I wouldn't think they would move into Woodmen, because there would be some irony going from living next door to Leo A. Daly to moving into a building designed by them.

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:03 am

This isnt the first time a company moved from Omaha to CB. I remember a quote from the CB mayor years ago that went something like "Anytime we can (steal) a company from Omaha its great".

The fight between KS & MO over companies moving between the two is different than OMA-CB. KS has Overland Park & tons of class A space. CB would have to have new build. Having said that I imagine given Iowa's liberal economic development policies they would throw millions at Woodmen to move. It's a ton of jobs & an insurance company. Iowa lives for that. What state wouldn't give the moon for 400 pretty high paying jobs in the service sector & an extremely stable company? In addition, it's easier to move across the river where people could still live in Omaha than move to DSM. That isn't a slam on DSM as much as the ability to keep the same employees. They could build close to or on the river. There are some office towers on the Kentucky side of metro Cincinnati on the river because of that.
In the end it sounds like one of two things: Either Woodmen is using the threat of Iowa to get what they want or they aren't that tied to Nebraska. Harper used Knoxville, TN as the threat to move Conagra in 1986 and it worked.

daveoma · Post by **daveoma** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:12 am

I think the proposed Woodmen relocation sounds fishy. I don't know how profitable the firm is (the OWH article only included revenue numbers), but it looks very suspicious that a firmly profitably company (regardless of being a fraternal order) who is in the business of making money would ask for tax exempt status. It sounds like they might be blackmailing the city/county to achieve tax exempt status to maximize profits--perhaps due to recent low financial numbers. I'm not an expert in the insurance business, but I certainly haven't seen the amount of advertising for Woodmen as I have for other big firms like Mutual of Omaha, Liberty Mutual, and MetLife. Does anybody have some inside info from Woodmen on the REAL reason they want tax exempt status?

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:15 am

I think the reason Novak shared relating the issue to Harper moving ConAgra and threatening to leave is a pretty good one. But there easily could be others as well.

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:36 am

daveoma wrote:I think the proposed Woodmen relocation sounds fishy. I don't know how profitable the firm is (the OWH article only included revenue numbers), but it looks very suspicious that a firmly profitably company (regardless of being a fraternal order) who is in the business of making money would ask for tax exempt status. It sounds like they might be blackmailing the city/county to achieve tax exempt status to maximize profits--perhaps due to recent low financial numbers. I'm not an expert in the insurance business, but I certainly haven't seen the amount of advertising for Woodmen as I have for other big firms like Mutual of Omaha, Liberty Mutual, and MetLife. Does anybody have some inside info from Woodmen on the REAL reason they want tax exempt status?

MetLife in in a world of trouble financially. Liberty Mutual is in an amazingly competitive area of the insurance industry(auto) against GEICO, Farmers, etc. Woodmen never really advertised. Apples and oranges. The entire insurance industry lives by a different set of accounting rules, written by themselves. Woodman isn't public but member owned. They want a tax exempt status for one reason, money. Someone came up with an idea and the bosses are running with it.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:12 pm

That's exactly what I thought reading the article. I bet they don't have any intention on relocating rather pitting each other to see what they could get.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:47 pm

Sounds like we're being held hostage again. It's obviously very important to keep them in Omaha, but why are they bringing this up now? Haven't they been profitable enough over the last 100 years they've been here, paying taxes like all (most) of the other businesses? What would stop other businesses from finding a way to claim tax exempt status too?

I hope the city & county don't cave and do something drastic like give them the land under the old market for a new corporate campus, to make them stay.

Two HDR folks I talked with recently would not confirm or deny they are moving to Tetrad Civic development. Their current lease is up in 2019, I believe one said. RNCyanide is correct they would NEVER move into Daly's Woodmen though...that would be odd.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:17 pm

I could see them moving into the River's Edge development, if they did move of course.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:48 pm

Garrett wrote:I could see them moving into the River's Edge development, if they did move of course.

That is a good location and would not feel like as big a loss for Omaha. Assuming they could get good flood insurance coverage.

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:14 pm

GetUrban wrote: What would stop other businesses from finding a way to claim tax exempt status too?

Two HDR folks I talked with recently would not confirm or deny they are moving to Tetrad Civic development. Their current lease is up in 2019, I believe one said. RNCyanide is correct they would NEVER move into Daly's Woodmen though...that would be odd.

As to the question about other businesses, the answer is...a lack of a compelling argument.

An aside about HDR moving into "Daley's Woodmen". Here in Detroit GM bought and moved into the Renaissance Center. Who built the RenCen? Ford. GM seems to be ok with it. It's now the GM RenCen

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:39 pm

Of course we are talking about an architectural design firm.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:30 pm

Pink for Creighton's "pink out" game:

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:45 am

skinzfan23 wrote:Pink for Creighton's "pink out" game:

I how they do that. It really goes to show how a good light set up can change a building.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:54 am

NovakOmaha wrote:
GetUrban wrote: What would stop other businesses from finding a way to claim tax exempt status too?

Two HDR folks I talked with recently would not confirm or deny they are moving to Tetrad Civic development. Their current lease is up in 2019, I believe one said. RNCyanide is correct they would NEVER move into Daly's Woodmen though...that would be odd.
As to the question about other businesses, the answer is...a lack of a compelling argument.

An aside about HDR moving into "Daley's Woodmen". Here in Detroit GM bought and moved into the Renaissance Center. Who built the RenCen? Ford. GM seems to be ok with it. It's now the GM RenCen

A better comparison would be how many GM employees drive Fords? I'm sure there are some, but most likely not the upper management. Also, when was the last time HDR's HQ was not in a building they designed?

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:44 pm

Apparently Nashville and Atlanta are contacting Woodmen as well. There is a potential bill in the state senate this year that will allow "fraternal organizations" to be property tax exempt.

daveoma · Post by **daveoma** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:25 pm

I still think this is corporate welfare. I wish the World Herald would be journalists and investigate how exactly a company who makes donations of less than 4% of it's revenue deserves to be called a charity.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:52 pm

I was looking at the DOGIS website and noticed the Woodmen Property is valued at approx. $36 million for 2015 and the FNB tower property is only listed as approx. $4.1 million. On the DC Treasurer's site, a copy of a sales transaction on the property lists the value as $130 million. How does FNB get by with such a low valuation and taxes? No mention of TIF exemptions is listed. Seems that must be the case though. Anyone know?

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:25 pm

The Woodmen is red and black for UNO tonight and it looks awesome.

schumatt · Post by **schumatt** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:37 pm

From UNO's Facebook page. Looks good! Go Mavs!

Post by **BRoss** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:50 pm

That is so awesome!

Post by **Brad** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:30 pm

I ran a longer exposure and got it all red.

Photo Here:
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I still need to upload and post the photo on here when I get a spare moment.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:11 am

Couple recent woodman shots... Mavs and Presidents.

UNO Hockey Game Day:

Presidents Day Red White and Blue:

Post by **Coyote** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:24 am

Great shots!

Post by **Brad** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:37 am

Coyote wrote:Great shots!

Thanks! Now I need to get a CU Blue one. I have shot it from far away, but I need a closeup.